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Tips to Improve Your Downswing

September 26, 2008 | under Beginners, Golf Tips, Golf Swing |

Believe it or not, the downswing is a very important or rather the most important aspect of a golf swing.  The back swing is important as it may affect the path for the downswing.  However, the downswing actually determines the impact of the clubhead with the ball.  Just look at Jim Furyk, his backswing is not in line with the plane but his downswing actually helps him hit the ball well.

The first thing people find hard to believe, apparently, is that a golf ball is driven straight by hitting it from the inside.

The average player has the almost overpowering conviction that if he hits the ball from inside this line it will fly far out to the right. He cannot see how anything else can happen. He also knows that when he takes the club to the top of the backswing it is well inside this line.

His first instinct, when he starts the club down, is to manipulate the head out onto the line or near it, so he can bring it down along the line and so knock the ball straight. When the player does this the first movement he makes takes his hands and the club away from his body. The instant they move away they get outside the plane they must be in to hit from the inside.

Before we go further, let’s look at the plane of the swing. It is extremely important. If we understand it, learning the right action will be easier.

From the top of the backswing to a point near the end of the follow-through, the head of the club describes what we can call, for convenience, a circle. It isn’t a true circle but that isn’t important. Suppose we liken this circle to the rim of a wheel. Then we cover the wheel with skin, let’s say, so it’s like the head of a drum with a hole in the center for our head to stick through. We now have a flat circular surface, the plane.
 
During the swing this plane inclines or leans toward the player from 25 to 40 degrees, the exact amount depending on the length of the club used and on whether the player is an upright or a flat swinger.

When we start from the top to move the club out onto the line of flight with either our hands or our shoulders, we don’t change this plane a little bit, we change it a great deal. The result is that we can’t help but bring the club in from the outside when we hit. In this respect it is well to know, too, that at the top a very slight move by the hands forward, or toward the line of flight as they start down, moves the head of the club a comparatively great distance.

A mere two inches by the hands moves the club head out a foot, throwing it outside. It is, as we say, already outside as it starts down. When you realize that this slight move of the hands is instinctive you don’t know you make it—then you can understand how hard a pro has to work to cure hitting from the outside.
 

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5 Comments so far

  1. Tips to Improve Your Downswing on September 26, 2008 5:19 pm

    […] Random Feed wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptBelieve it or not, the downswing is a very important or rather the most important aspect of a golf swing. The back swing is important as it may affect the path for the downswing. However, the downswing actually determines the impact of the clubhead with the ball. Just look at Jim Furyk, his backswing is not in line with the plane but his downswing actually helps him hit the ball well. The first thing people find hard to believe, apparently, is that a golf ball is driven straight by hitting […]

  2. golf irons on October 8, 2008 3:29 am

    Great, valuable information! Thank you for the posts.

  3. golf marketing on October 14, 2008 12:44 am

    Interesting. I had never thought of it that way. Great explaination.

  4. Jack on October 17, 2008 3:19 pm

    I posted an article on this very same thing recently. One observation I’ve made is that no matter how hard I promote an easy and smooth back swing, most beginners still have that overpowering urge to try and crush the ball coming down. If they could just think of the entire swing as one smooth pendulum I think most golfers would see an immediate improvement.
    Tempo truly will cure a lot of woes, especially swinging down.

  5. dezz on October 18, 2008 8:35 am

    Jack, this is the actual situation with many beginners. I started out that way too :-). Many assumes thta power means distance and with that the “killing the ball” down swing takes place.

    Agree… tempo cure a lot of woes :-)

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