Power Source. A key factor in the making of a player. I'm not talking about breaking 100 here. That is not even in our sights. I'm talking about breaking 80 and beyond. Now don't get all huffy and start running to the refrig. for a beer.
Keep reading.
Even though you may think it is absolutely nutty to think that you could shoot in the 70's, I believe that if you did one or two things in your swing consistently, you could get there. Wild and wooly thoughts? No not really.
What do you think would happen if you were able to hit your drives reasonable straight and reasonable long most of the time? Would you save a few shots a round?
What if you were able to hit your approach shots closer to the green, or better yet closer to the pin?
If you hit your driver longer you would have shorter approach shots. These shots are easier than hitting a 3 iron into a flat green. Right? Save a shot of two there also.
What if you were able to tap into your power source and harness the talent that has been hiding for so long? Wouldn't that be great. You would certainly be an example of how it can be done.
You must know that the power source comes from several places during your golf swing. But one of the most powerful thoughts that you can have is " control" this means that it is far better to hit the ball with the middle of the clubface with less clubhead speed than it is to hit it off center with more clubhead speed.
So start there. Gear down enough to make sure you can hit the ball with the middle of the clubface. Whatever it takes to do that.. do it. Only then can you capture what follows. For it is truly within the power source to have control. No control.. no power.
What follows is a no nonsense, straight to the point lesson on how to develop your power source. If you elect to ignore the basics here you will continue to be confused and in correction during your golf swing and advancement will elude you.
So here we go.
I have said many times that ALL good players have great angles. There is no getting around this. No angles, no power.
Creating these angles is relatively simple. The hard part is keeping them through the impact position or at least so near impact that it's hard to tell the difference.
Here, I make a great leap of faith in hoping that readers have a clue as to grip and setup. I am not going to get into these basics with you. Just know this, never has there been a good player with a bad grip. You know what a good grip is. Just do it. Even if it feels like crap. Do it.
And you know that your setup is key. Keep you back fairly straight and once you create this spine angle it must be maintained throughout your swing. No exceptions.
This is very very important. It's one of the angles. Maintain your set up spine angle through out the swing.
Another angle is the angle between the back of the right hand and the right forearm. At the top of the swing this is often referred to as the "trayed position" this is a key angle. If you bend your right hand back toward your forearm you will see this angle.
The other angle is the one between the left arm and the clubshaft. This one will happen if you have bent your right hand back toward your right forearm. This angle is also key, it is the one that great players maintain for so long into the impact position to create tremendous power. It is the same one that helps create "lag"
The last angle is no angle at all. It is a flat position of the left hand at the top of your backswing. This is the opposite of a "cupped left hand"
You should note the position of Tiger Woods left hand at the top of his swing. It is flat, not cupped. There are a few good players that work with a cupped left hand at the top, but not many. It is a position that will require correction somewhere during the downswing to square up the clubface.
That is not something you do not want to do. So flat left hand. Just like Tiger, is there a better model?
You can create these angles by pushing your right hand bent slightly while at the setup position. Then just turn your center ( chest) to start the backswing.
But this is where most of the trouble starts. That cussed downswing. The problem is that most players allow the clubhead to out race the hands in their effort to create power and hit the ball.
This is exactly the opposite of what should happen. At the worst case, your hands and the clubhead should arrive at impact at the same time. But that is not ideal. Ideal is hands first. Clubhead last.
You are in a race.
The participants are the clubhead and you hands.
The finish line is the ball.
Your hands must win this race if you are to use your power source. Angles.
Now here is what happens. As you attempt to hit the ball with speed, you are transferring speed from your hands to the clubhead. As soon as the clubhead is moving faster than your hands, it will win the race. As it passes your hands it is instantly slowing down when what you want is constant acceleration.
Your hands must get there first. If you have ever taken an apple and stuck it on the end of a stick to throw the apple, you know exactly what is happening if your cluhead wins the race.
You see the clubhead is the apple. In the apple on the stick example, you throw the apple by whipping the stick and suddenly stopping your forward motion with your hands. All the energy gets transferred to the end of the stick where the apple happens to be. Off goes the apple, well ahead of your hands.
In this case the apple wins the race. In the case of the clubhead, it is exactly the same thing. If you slow down your hands the energy will transfer to the clubhead and race ahead of your hands assuring you of reduced power because your angle is gone as the clubhead wins this race to the ball.
This is a major power drain as the angles that are your source of energy transfer, are now expended. This energy is used up by the clubhead as it races past your hands. The angles are used to create leverage. As you use up the leverage in this energy transfer cycle, you have lost your power source as well.
It is the same as the apple. You can hit the ball this way, no doubt. It is just not efficient or powerful. The sad part of this is that at some point in your swing, the power was available to you. Then, because you are not aware of how to use it, you attempt to create a different power source with the clubhead and all is lost.
If you did this in slow motion, you would be able to see why the clubhead winning this race is a power drain. The position of the clubhead is now moving up, not down as it should be. The release, if there is one, has already happened before impact.
The angle between your left arm and the clubs shaft is gone and the clubhead is slowing down. Also the angle between the back of the right hand and it's forearm is also gone. What ever angles you created during the setup and back swing are totally gone before there is impact. The clubhead wins and you lose.
And even less obvious is that your spine angle has changed to accommodate the motions of this early release of angles, a move required in order to get the clubhead into the back of the ball at all.
The solution is simple. Make your hands go faster than the clubhead and keep them on path and plane.
Here is a little drill.
Take no more than a 7 iron. Setup and with a smaller than normal backswing. Hit balls making absolutely sure of two things. Your hands get to the ball first. And they never slow down. You can add a dimension here too that would help. Hit down on the ball with your hands.
You will hit the ball like magic if you can figure out in your mind that you need to create angles and keep them through impact making sure you hands win the race every single time.
