“No matter how perfect the backswing may have been, if the hands, or the arms, or the shoulders start the downward movement, the club immediately loses the guidance of the body movement, and the benefit of the power the muscles of the waist and back could have contributed. When this happens, the turn of the body during the backswing becomes entirely useless, and the club finds itself in midair, actuated by a pair of hands and arms having no effective connection with anything solid. I think we may well call this the most important movement of the swing.” Bobby Jones.
“And we will fail to drive the ball far and straight as soon as we fail to take control of the club from the top of the swing with feet, calves, and thighs.” Percy Boomer.
“So we must incorporate into our swings a hip movement which we can recognize and control by a definite feel, so that by feel we may control the degree and direction of power in our swings. The clutch in the golfer’s mechanism is the hips . . . .” Percy Boomer.
“The power is largely produced by the feet and legs, but it is the force-center (somewhere in the pit of the back), which collects it and is responsible for its transfer to the arms and then out to the clubhead.” Percy Boomer.
“The left hip, with the right immediately joining it, leads me into the downswing.” Sam Snead.
“It slowed me down, and this time I remembered, on my downswing, to let my left side and hips lead my arms into the ball—rather than rushing out of my pivot with a fast arm action—and to uncock my wrists smoothly.” Sam Snead.
“It is important that this be a well-timed sequence. You should have the feeling that the left foot, left knee, left hip and left shoulder all start the downswing together. This leading left side then carries the left arm and hands down into the hitting area. The clubhead is being returned to its original position, ready to be released by the hands and wrists at the proper time.” Byron Nelson.
“Feeling leisurely is a thought that worked. In my earlier days, I developed what felt like a complete hesitation. It was very brief, and I probably never did come to a full stop at the top. So the smoother and slower you can be at the very top of the swing, and then starting down, the better you’ll strike the ball.” Byron Nelson.
“The hips initiate the downswing. They are the pivotal element in the chain action. Starting them first and moving them correctly—this action practically makes the downswing. It creates early speed. It transfers the weight from the right foot to the left foot. It takes the hips out of the way and gives your arms plenty of room to pass. It funnels your force forward toward your objective. It puts you in a strong hitting position where the big muscles in the back and the muscles in the shoulders, arms and hands are properly delayed that they can produce their maximum performance at the right time and place. To begin the downswing, Turn your hips back to the left. there must be enough lateral motion forward to transfer the weight to the left foot.” Ben Hogan.
“If you clear the left hip early.” Hogan once assured Claude Harmon, “you can hit it as hard as you like with the right hand.”
“To start the downswing the left hip bumps the target, then turns through the shot.” Claude Harmon.
“You start the downswing by unwinding from the ground up.” Jack Nicklaus…shades of Alex Morrison!
Check out the position of the knees and right foot in the photos on left vs. the photos on right. The hands are being led into impact by the lower body. Shades of MacDonald Smith: “Hit it with the butt end of the club.”
Hitting Through in One Cohesive Movement
“The ordinary golfer is an unrepentant end-gainer. When he sees the ball, he becomes obsessed with the idea of hitting it; the ball is made the climax or the end of his activity.” Percy Boomer.
“Because it is no use trying to write an intelligent book on golf and leaving rhythm out, for rhythm is the very soul of golf . . . and the best definition I know of it is, co-ordination of mind and muscle which enables the player to do exactly the right thing at the proper moment. So you must find your own rhythm.” Percy Boomer.
“Timing, then, is (1) The gathering of speed through the ball from correct mechanical movement and (2) a correct conception of the location of the swing center. These two can only be blended into a whole which can be faithfully repeated time after time by our sense of rhythm.” Percy Boomer.
“Golf rhythm is a delayed dragging feel of the clubhead, developed from the power of the legs, kept under control by the braced turning of the hips, and finally loosened into a free, untrammeled movement of the arms outward and around the left side. We lose rhythm as soon as we hurry, and we hurry as soon as we are afraid.” Percy Boomer.
“As I have said before, the swing is a continuous unbroken movement that cannot be cut into sections for analysis.” Percy Boomer.
“Always remember that your swing does not end at clubhead impact with the ball. You must hit completely through. The ball is hit from impact on through, and not to the ball. This holds true for all clubs. My hands are still firmly in control of the club at the finish of the swing. The supposition that the eyes must remain fixed throughout the follow through on the spot from which the ball was hit is completely erroneous. This is unnatural and retards the free and full turn of the shoulders.” Byron Nelson.
When I started bugging my dad for instruction, he was teaching 24 hours a day, so he would just tell me two things: on the backswing point the club to what I was shooting at and finish with the shaft of the club on the back of my neck—just bang it against your neck. In essence what he told me to do, was develop the golf turn and then finish the swing.” Jackie Burke, Jr.
“The difference between swinging hard and over swinging was a big one for me. At 100 percent of powers, hitches appeared in the transference of weight from left to right and back again. The only time I dared hit flat out—with everything I had—came on the unusual occasion when I felt perfectly balanced and my timing was exact. Experimenting again with shoes off, I found that I naturally cut down until I was using just the right medium of swing, or about 85 or 90 percent of full power, without thinking twice about it. The reason was that a man won’t over swing if he doesn’t have spikes gripping the turf for him. Barefoot, your nerves are exposed to the ground. You’re able to ‘feel’ balance, to judge how big a turn and windup is possible without disturbing the leverage of your body. You get that shade of restraint that counts.” Sam Snead.
Slowing it down . . . “your problem is a swing that’s too fast and jerky to be effective, there are a couple of things you can do to slow yourself down. First, slow down your breathing. Breathe a little deeper. You’ll catch yourself breathing particularly fast during moments of pressure on the course, and you’ll have trouble making a good swing if that’s happening. Calm down your breathing and you’ll calm down your body. Another good antidote to quickness is to move your feet more slowly during the address and waggle. Make a deliberate effort to do this, and you’ll find it one of the easiest and best ways in the world to slow your swing down.” Byron Nelson.
“The movement of the hips inaugurates a whole chain of actions. Tied in with the hips, the left leg begins to break back to the left and the left knee turns a bit toward the target. Starting the hips back also takes the pressure off the right leg, and as this happens, the weight flows to the left leg. The right knee breaks in, definitely, toward the target, boosting the mounting velocity of the swing. This is, in truth, what each element does as it joins in the downswing. It adds its contribution to the multiplying speed generated by this cohesive movement of the body, legs and arms toward the target. This speed multiplies the golfer’s power 10 times over. In the chain action of the swing, the shoulders and upper part of the body conduct this multiplying power into the arms . . . the arms multiply it