the a to c of golf swing training

8/8/2019 The A TO C Of Golf Swing training

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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without

expressed written, dated and signed permission from the author.

DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES

The information presented herein represents the views of the author as of the date of publication. This

manual is for informational purposes only and the author does not accept any responsibilities for any liabilities resulting from the use of this information. Although the suggestions may be helpful, it is always

your choice as to how you interpret and act upon this information. Accordingly, Darren Golsby expressly disclaims all and any liability in relation to any act or omission that is done by any person in reliance on all

or any part of this material, information or opinion.

While every attempt has been made to verify the information provided here, the author cannot assume

any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies or omissions.

by Darren Golsby Member of the Australian Professional Golfers Association (P.G.A.)

Copyright © 2009

www.golsbygolf.com/

Manual layout and editing by Margaret Zsigmond www.shirewebwriter.com.au/

Graphics by Haiying Xiong

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Swing patterns and actionsLike a doctor who diagnoses illnesses, such as flu and chicken pox, there are only so many different

swing faults, such as shutters, tilters, and x-liners, to name a few.

What we do once we know what is wrong with our swings is take the necessary action steps to fix them.

With practice, we can eliminate the fault although it can creep back if we don’t stay on top of it and thisexplains why the same golfer doesn’t win week after week.

We all fight a swing fault, and as I mentioned, mine is the tilt, formed as a result of the wrong concepts

when I started playing golf. I still take action to keep my swing more level, but the good news is: that’s it.

I know my pattern and I now know how to fix it.

What I have learned from all this experience is a good teacher will not backtrack in a series of lessons.

Instead, he or she will pick up on your swing pattern in the very first lesson and develop a plan to fix it. A

good teacher is organized and knows patterns.

Fixing Golf SwingsI once heard a teaching professional say he doesn’t like to fix a student too fast, stating his business

would suffer because students would stop coming for lessons.

Wow! What an excuse for otherwise saying, “I don’t know how to fix this person”. It’s crazy to think the

student would stop coming if they were improving. You know what we are all like once we get to a

handicap of 20 we then aim for 15 and then 10 and 9 and 5 and so on.

It is important to understand that if a pattern is not diagnosed in the first lesson, you will be trying one

thing one week and another thing the next. Like everything we do at school, university and business,there is a point of completion. You can actually finish building your golf swing.

Note: It is important to recognize the correct starting point for your progress. In other words, it’s no

good doing downswing work if your backswing is in the incorrect position.

Finally you need to understand your swing as a whole, because swings have matching moves. For

example, if you shut the club on the backswing you will need to clear your body more to open the

clubface at impact. As long as the moves match, your swing will work. Become mismatched and you are

in a worse position than when you started.

This is the reason people may comment after taking lessons with their professional they actually gotworse, because they were no longer matching up their movements.

I can help you create a plan for your game improvement and communicate with you through my

website. Send me a video of your swing via the swing analysis page at

www.darren-golsby-golf.com . To get the most out of this manual, it is important that you understand

your swing pattern so that you can take the most appropriate cause of action.

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INTRODUCTION The A to Z of Golf Swing Training contains ideas, concepts and actions to help you realize your golfing

potential. It shows you how to fine tune your golf swing mechanics, strategies, short game, putting and

develop your mind in order to achieve a winning golf game.

This manual will challenge you to think outside the box in your approach to golf training. It is for all

levels, from beginners, intermediate to advanced, including juniors. It doesn’t matter if you’re male or

female, young or old the ideas CONCEPTS and actions that I present in this manual will work, simply

adjust them to your own level and capabilities.

As a certified P.G.A. golf instructor I have read volumes of instruction publications over the years and

noticed the majority of related questions revolve around actions to take for swing improvement. Solve

your golfing problems with clear concepts and at the same time appropriate actions to take.

Also, I am sure you will discover nuggets of wisdom that you can apply to your game to gain instantresults, like the Wilkinson idea.

Let’s look at the types of learning that take place in the process of good golf.

Whole Skill Learning: In the ideal world a skill should be taught as a whole so the player can appreciate

the complete movement and execution of the skill.

Part Skill Learning: When a skill is complex it is more appropriate to break down the movement into its

elements. The elements can then be taught separately and linked together to develop the final skill.

Combination: Try the whole skill, break it down into elements, and train with these. Then bring it all

back together again.

Before we get into the “details” of training to play great golf, it is important to understand that the #1

reason why most people fail to ever achieve results .In order to ever be successful at anything, all

excuses need to go out the window. There is no such thing as poor genetics; no such thing as “not

enough time”; no such thing as “it's just too hard” ... no excuses at all for not achieving what you set out

to.



HOW TO USE THIS M ANUAL This manual is meant to be used like an encyclopedia. It’s meant to be a REFERENCE, not a novel.

Find the parts you like and note the ideas, skills, and techniques you would like to work with. Then

either write them down or print them out so you can review and practice them.

You don’t have to read this manual in one sitting, work through it at your own pace and implement it

into your training sessions, concentrating on the most important parts related to your game.

There is one other thing, whilst we are looking at your thoughts in the form of concepts and the

movements in the form of actions, I would also like to draw awareness to your speech or what you say.

I believe the biggest advantage professional golfers have over amateurs is the conversations they

engage in with their caddy before playing every shot. Phil Mickelson is perhaps the most talkative

decision maker on tour. So remember to talk positive about both your practice and your play.

Within this manual all aspects of the game are covered, including putting which makes up 45 per cent of

the total game and wood play which is a further 25 per cent. The short, medium, long irons and trouble

shots make up the other 30 percent.

One last thought: Many players buy books about golf without applying what they read. If you are just

going to read these ideas, you’ll probably stay at the same level. In fact, the term Kung-fu can be

translated as hard work, or more precisely the time and energy spent mastering a craft or skill, so yes,

golf could even be classed as a form of Kung-fu. If you actually practice what is in this manual until you

achieve a desired result, your game is going to improve dramatically.

In conclusion, think of your practice time as golf swing training (paradigm shift), so like other sports

training you work with a plan or structure.



ACCELERATE Concept Have you ever run a 100-metre sprint race? In golf we use the word “follow”

which means to come after, assuming that once we have hit the ball we canslow down.

Wrong! The fastest point in the golf swing should be after we have made

contact with the ball in the same way a sprinter runs through the finish line ina running race.

Action Without a ball, use an impact bag to practice reaching the point of maximumextension in your swing. Practice maintaining swing speed all the way into thebag placed 1 foot past impact. This will retrain your subconscious mind intoswinging past the ball which can add 10-20 miles per hour to your hitting zone,resulting in more distance off the tee.

AEROPLANE

Concept Building the right set-up position is crucial for developing the correctsequence in the golf swing. In golf we swing on an arc, so we need to set thespine tilt away from the target.

Action Bend from the hips and stretch your arms out parallel to the ground. Tilt your arms like an aeroplane making a right turn. This will place the top of your spinefurther from the target than the base of the spine. Now bring your arms downand grip the club.

Remember within the golf swing everything travels at the same RPM so the

outside of your swing is travelling faster than the inside.



ALIGNMENT Concept Aiming in golf is fundamental. What can make it difficult to do are the eyes

viewing the target from a place in between the club head and the body line,creating an optical illusion and causing golfers to aim right.

Action After taking your set-up, place the club head in front of the ball towards thetarget. Next lift the club head back over behind the ball without moving your body. As you do this, the right side of your body will turn more into the leftside, aligning your body parallel left of the target.

Note Nobody with a straight gun barrel would aim away from the target, so if youhave developed other habits, for example, aiming left to allow for a slice, thenfixing your alignment should be secondary. Instead, work on your swing pathand club face angle until you begin missing shots to the left.

APPLE C ART Concept One of the most common mistakes people make is casting the club and letting

the club head overtake the hands coming into impact. This causes the arc ofthe swing to bottom out before it reaches the golf ball.

Action Store the power source and expend it all on the ball.

If you are advised not to upset the applecart you do not disturb the way thingsare. Place four balls in a row about one grip length from the back of your ball,like a dam. Take your normal set-up position and swing back without hittingthe balls, then swing into impact without hitting the balls. You will feel like the

clubhead is coming into the ball from a higher point.

ARM SPEED “Art said he wanted to get more distance. I told him to hit it and run backwards.” —Ken Venturi, talking

about Art Rosenbaum.

Concept Centrifugal force in the golf swing involves the outside point of the golf swingor the club head accelerating from the inside. The mistake golfers make istrying to get club head speed from the club head.

Action Use a cut-down club to bring the swing arc closer to your body. Take your normal grip and swing the club back and forth in small amounts as if you areputting.

Start slowly, and then increase the speed and keep the movement small.

Your arms will start burning if you are doing this correctly. Let the force comefrom your body into your arms and finally into the club head.



B ACK OFF Concept The human vision system is binocular.

Our eyes are placed some distance apart, with a divider (the nose) in between,creating the ability to observe two separate images. In golf, coming over thetop or clearing too early is a disastrous mistake caused by our binocular visionsystem.

Action Take your normal stance and address the ball. Place a shaft along your feetline and turn your feet so your toes are facing directly away from the target.Whilst making full swings, keep your back to the target. Your shoulder angleon the downswing will allow your arms to travel on the correct inside path.Repeat this action 10 times to develop the correct feel before you square your stance and hit a ball.

B ALL BELOW FEET Concept The correct swing involves an equal amount of push and an equal amount of

pull.

Action Hitting balls below your feet is great when you are in the habit of lifting or straightening your spine on the downswing. The ball below your feet keepsthe forward lean in your posture and will teach you to stay balancedthroughout the swing. If you are lifting, the result will be a thinned or toppedshot.

Note On the course when the ball is below your feet the awkward nature of this liewill tend to limit your body rotation. Your inhibited turn will cause thebackswing to be more arms-dominated, and therefore shorter and more

upright. You will need to use more clubs to compensate for lost power.

B ASEBALL Concept Hit a home run with your driver. In my research into the golf swing over the

years, I have often drawn on my 14 years of baseball experience.



Remember: Woods make up 25 per cent of the game, so you must get controlof your driver. Swinging too vertical makes this an impossible mission.

Action Use a tee ball stand and baseball bat and hit baseballs. Or take the bat to thedriving range and use golf balls. If you don’t have access to this equipment

hold a club above the ground and make baseball swings, working on flatteningyour swing arc.

Note In regards your concept unlike croquet, where the handle of the club is abovethe mallet’s sweet spot (vertical) and players swing on a perfect straight-linependulum, our handle joins the club head on an angle, making it necessary toswing on an arc.

BUNKER BOARD Concept Because of the visual explosion of sand produced from a bunker shot, taking

the correct amount of sand can be interpreted wrong, with players oftentaking too much sand.

Action Teach yourself to handle bunker shots with a bunker board by hitting throughthe sand under the ball at the right depth. Place a board in a practice bunker along your target line and perpendicular to your feet. Put 2 to 3 inches of sandon top of the board, leaving the ends of the board uncovered so you don't hitthe end when you swing.

Using your sand wedge hit the ball from its position on the sand above theboard, trying not to hit down on the board. Remember, a sand wedge comesbuilt with bounce (the back of the club is higher than the front), so it is notdesigned to dig.

BELT BUCKLE

Concept There are a few techniques golfers can use in order to fix a push. It ’s best tostick with the basics. Turn your hips fully on the downswing so your beltbuckle is pointing towards the target at the end of your swing. In order toachieve this, you must shift your weight completely from your right foot to theleft foot.

Action At first, try practicing this weight shift without a club by bringing your arms

back and through while consciously transferring your weight from the back tothe front. What’s weight?

Once you are confident you have the proper swing technique to eliminate thepush, pick up your club and practice the same movement repeatedly. Alwayscheck the position of your belt buckle at the end of each swing.



Note The right foot can be used like the rudder on a boat. If your toe is pointing tothe right, the ball will generally head right; if the toe is pointing left the ballwill go left!

Extra In the finish position check your knees are they touching? This demonstrates

that you have cleared your hips correctly.

BONUS Tricky Bunker Shots. Bunker shots, while fun, are never easy. If you have ever

faced a shot where the ball is halfway up the face of the bunker, or at the backof the bunker, then you know how tricky this can be. Whenever you areswinging on an uneven surface in the bunker you must adjust your shouldersat address to follow the slope.

Here are the instructions you need:

The Uphill Shot: Tilt your shoulders until they are parallel to the ground. If you

do not adjust your shoulders, your swing will literally run into the ground.Allow for the ball to fly higher.

The Downhill Shot: With the downhill shot you also need to tilt your shoulders, but make sure they mimic the downward slope in the bunker. If youtilt back, the club will hit behind the ball (or on top of the ball). Allow for theball to fly lower.

CHIPPING WITH A BROOM Concept One of the golden rules of chipping is “the hands lead the club head through

the hitting area”.

Action Use a long stick or broom and allow the extra length to sit by your left sideand practice making chip shots with the stick in front of your body. If you flickyour wrists, the stick will fling back and hit your body.

Warning Most times, the wrong wrist conditions are a product of incorrect body anglescaused by the player trying to lift the ball.



Once you establish the correct wrist conditions at impact you can then workon variations with your chip shots.

CHAIR ROCKING

Concept There is so much confusion in golf as to what should start the downswing.Over the years, I have been asked this question countless times and havealways given the same answer:

What starts your backswing?

Action Take your golf stance and place a chair on the outside of your left leg. Swingto the top of your backswing without moving off the chair. On thedownswing, bump slightly into the chair, enough to tip it off the legs closestto you. This is the correct hip movement.

In the swing, there needs to be this slight lateral motion first before the hips

go around. Get this movement correct and you will drop the club into thecorrect slot, creating the required linear path through the ball.

CIRCUIT TRAINING Concept Circuit training is an excellent way to simultaneously improve mobility,

strength and stamina.

Action Add a weighted golf club to your training program to increase your swingspeed, power and distance. This is as golf-specific as you can get. By using thistraining principle you will accelerate your results.

So set up a work station, so to speak, with a weighted club and spend five-minute intervals there during your practice session.

CLAP H ANDS SPLIT H ANDS Concept Through impact, the golf swing travels on a linear path or along the target line

for a length of time. (Not all the time.) To make this happen, the left shoulder moves up through the ball as the right arm pushes down.

Action Take your set-up position and clap your hands together sliding your right handdown as you pull the left arm and shoulder up, simulating impact. Your left

shoulder moving up creates the correct shoulder angles through the ball.

Note This up and down movement is what a lot of commentators cannotunderstand in Tiger Woods’ swing. From the top of his swing, Tiger drops hishead before springing back up through impact. This is how he creates thelinear path.



COMPETITIVE N ATURE Concept The golfer who is able to sink putts under intense pressure is not talented, he

is gifted! And being gifted comes from practicing your skills.

Action Measure a putter length and place a tee in the ground. Sink 20 putts in a row.

If you miss one putt you must start again. It’s amazing the pressure you will beunder on the 19th putt knowing if you miss you will have to start again.

Tiger Woods does this drill and gets well into the thousands before he misses.

the a to c of golf swing training

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