BUILD IT, DON T FIND IT!

THE PYR AMI D G NIN EAR OF L LEVEL 4 ATTITUDE ATTITUDE PRE-SHOT ROUTINE PRACTICE DRILLS AND PETE COWEN "SIGNATURE EXERCISES" LEVEL 3 POWER HAND/EYE...
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THE PYR AMI D

G NIN EAR OF L

LEVEL 4 ATTITUDE ATTITUDE PRE-SHOT ROUTINE PRACTICE DRILLS AND PETE COWEN "SIGNATURE EXERCISES"

LEVEL 3 POWER HAND/EYE CO-ORDINATION ANGLE OF ATTACK • SPEED & PRESSURE

LEVEL 2 DYNAMIC MOVEMENT BALANCE • BODY ACTION • ARM SWING HAND ACTION • PATH & PLANE

LEVEL 1 SOLID FOUNDATIONS AIM • STANCE • POSTURE ARM HANG AND GRIP • BODY POSITION My philosophy when it comes to teaching golf is very simple, I call it the “Pyramid of Learning”. And when I start to teach new pupils I always use the analogy of building a house. Before you can start to build walls you need to build solid foundations. Before you can add the roof you need to build solid walls. The same principles apply to the golf swing, and my Pyramid of Learning demonstrates how the basis of any good swing depends entirely on solid foundations. Level 1 of the Pyramid concentrates on the basics of the swing: i.e. aim, stance, posture, arm hang, grip and body position relative to the ball. Only when you have mastered all of these basic fundamentals will your game progress to the next level. The Pyramid of Learning will provide a progressive journey through the entire golf

By Pete Cowen PGA MASTER PROFESSIONAL

swing, and includes useful tips, practice drills and exercises for both on and off the golf course. Contrary to the popular saying, practice does not make perfect. PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. Learn and develop the basic principles of the swing and your game will go from strength to strength. Hopefully my Pyramid of Learning will give you a simple and easy guide to successful building a golf swing. It is a technique that has helped many of Europe’s most successful tour players and I am confident it will bring you similar success.

BUILD IT, DON’T FIND IT!  By building your golf swing in accordance with the Pyramid of Learning you will learn how to ‘develop’ your golf swing and not ‘find’ it.

 By achieving constants in your golf swing you will become more consistent in terms of your ability to make and repeat a swing that enables you to hit your target.  By understanding how to put the building blocks in place your practice sessions will become increasingly more productive which – and as a result you will more quickly realise your golfing potential and increase your enjoyment of the game

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Establishing good aim is the start of building good foundations. If you do not learn how to develop good aim then the rest of your swing is compromised.

  

As with all aspects of the set-up it is possible to achieve perfect aim and alignment. Attention to detail is vital. Quality is always better than quantity. 10 minutes quality practice will al ways be more productive than endless hours of poor practice. To enable you to practice properly, I suggest you should always practice within a ‘work station’ fea turing clubs on the ground that correspond with your target. The simplest way to construct your work station

is to lay clubs on the ground to correspond with your target line and to provide a perpendicular in dication of the ball position (see example below).

HOW TO BUILD YOUR WORK-STATION

Placing a second club perpendicular to the first helps you to identify the right ball position for the club you are using – and guarantees that you maintain that position as you practise

WORK-STATION

(As below) Place Club A on the ground 6 inches outside the strike area, parallel to the intended line of flight/target line. Place Club B parallel to Club A between the strike area and your intended stance. Place Club C at 90 degrees to Club B, pointing at the strike area. To achieve a square clubface, the club is placed directly behind the ball with the leading edge at 90 degrees to clubs A & B. Your feet, knees, hips, forearms and shoulders should be aligned parallel to Club B. Working within this work station will ensure that your practice drill is 100% productive and will soon give you the overall sensation of square alignment, and therefore perfect aim.

C B

Spot Alignment Tip Stand behind the ball and pick out a distinctive spot about two feet in front of the ball between the ball and the target. This could be an old divot, a shaded patch of grass or a worm cast – anything that gives you an easier target to focus on. Referring to this line, place the clubface squarely behind the ball and align your feet, hips, forearms and shoulders parallel to this line. 4 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM JAN/FEB 2010

Use a club to measure off the exact width of your shoulders Here is a common alignment fault: the clubface is not at 90 degrees to the target line. The bottom or ‘leading edge’ of the clubface is ‘open’ (i.e. pointing to the right of target line). The likely result? Shots that fly away to the right.

STANCE

This is what you are looking to achieve for a regular straight shot: the leading edge of the clubface is set at 90 degrees (i.e. it’s ‘square’) to the target line.

A

Use that measurement to determine the ideal width of stance for a 5-iron

‘SQUARE’



‘CLOSED’

Placing a club on the ground parallel to your ball-to-target line provides a vital source of reference that enables you to guarantee good alignment

‘OPEN’

AIM

When the clubface is at less than 90 degrees to the target line it is described as being ‘closed’ (also known as ‘shut’ or ‘hooded’). As a result of this fault, the shot will generally go to the left.

The width of your stance will vary slightly according to the club you are using. As a general guideline (and this will give you a good starting position), I recommend that the stance for a 5 iron should correspond to the width of your shoulders (i.e. the distance between the insides of your heels should equate to the width of the shoulders – as I am demonstrating here). To establish this on the practice tee, take a club, hold it up to your shoulders, measure off the width and then translate that measurement to the ground, so that the insides of your heels are that same distance apart. [Like I say, this is a standard width for a 5-iron; for longer clubs, your stance should be slightly wider and for shorter clubs slightly narrower.] Check your stance regularly when you practise. A wider stance will give you good stability but poor mobility. A narrower stance will give you more mobility but less stability. A common misconception with the stance is to aim your feet, hips and shoulders directly at the target, whereas in fact they should aim ‘parallel left’ to allow for the swing plane. The work station referred to opposite will help you to practise and get used to the sensation of assuming good posture, stance and alignment in relation to the target.

The insides of your heels are now shoulderwidth apart – that’s ideal for the 5-iron

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A

B

C

Stand in good posture and locate your hip bones

Bend from the hip bones – not from the waist

Flex your knees to achieve perfect balance

Having assumed a good posture, let the arms hang freely in front of your body

1 POSTURE

‘ARM HANG’ & GRIP

If you can get your posture right then the game will definitely become easier. The reason for this is that your posture controls the ‘balance points’ in your swing, and good balance is vital in helping you develop your game to its full potential.

Once you are in the correct posture, simply let your hands hang freely in front of your body. When you allow your hands to hang naturally and freely, natural forces will enable the arms to swing at their optimum speed and efficiency. Most golfers are taught to take a neutral grip with both thumbs pointing down the middle of the shaft. This is a potential recipe for disaster as a neutral grip

To achieve perfect posture start by placing your thumbs on your hip joints (you can do this with or without holding a club). This ball and socket joint is where you bend, not from the waist as you see many amateurs do.

A

Lean forward putting your weight on the front of your feet and stretch your legs. This will give you the sensation that your heels are coming off the ground.

B

Finally, flex you knees, feeling the pressure on your thighs. This movement will bring the balance to the balls of your feet and calves. This gives you a solid dynamic sensation with balance all around your feet.

C

A common fault is the tendency to sit back on your heels when your knees are flexed. Ensure the sensation of balance is maintained underneath the sternum and onto the balls of your feet.

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2

As you draw hands towards each other, squeeze the thumb and forefinger together

FINDING YOUR NATURAL GRIP Having adopted the correct arm-hang position relax the muscles as much as possible. You will find that your arms hang with the palms of both hands naturally facing towards the middle of your body. They will be equally opposing. This means that your arms and hands will be mirror images of each other. This is your unique arm-hang position and will not be the same for everybody.

1

Now squeeze your thumbs against your forefingers. This will highlight the muscle between the thumb and forefinger which keeps the thumb in place during the swing, maintaining constant pressure on the grip

2

With your hands equally opposing, let the thumb of your left hand fit in the groove beneath your right thumb and forefinger.

3

4

Simulate this motion onto the grip of your club. This will give you your natural grip. Regardless of the starting position at address, the hands will always try to find their natural position when in motion. Consequently, achieving a natural grip is paramount to delivering the clubhead squarely to the ball on a repetitive basis.

3

Let the thumb of your left hand fit snug into the groove at the base of the right thumb

Simulate this on a golf club and you have your perfect, natural grip

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The most efficient position of the head and spine is behind the ball at impact...

SWING SECRETS FROM THE TOUR

...which is why it makes perfect sense to establish that relationship at the set up

I very much hope that you find the first lessons in part 1 interesting and that they provide you with a practical starting point when you get to work on your game. It is impossible to over-emphasise the importance of a good grounding in these fundamental lessons. Believe me, when your swing goes awry, nine times out of 10 the problem can be traced directly to some aspect of the grip and/or the set-up position. That’s why the best players in the world spend so much time out on the range fine-tuning these basics, checking their posture and alignment and basically getting their ‘static’ and ‘dynamic balance’ right – which brings me neatly to Level 2 of my Pyramid of Learning.

LEVEL 2 – THE ‘DYNAMIC BODY ACTION’

BODY POSITION – ESTABLISH EFFICIENT IMPACT DYNAMICS AT THE SET-UP Most sports are moving ball sports which rely on instinct and reaction to play them. In a game of tennis or football you automatically place your body in the correct position relative to the ball when hitting or kicking in a certain direction. Imagine playing tennis on an uneven surface. It would be almost impossible to perform well as you would not be able to anticipate where the ball would be when you strike, and therefore unable to assume the correct body position relative to the ball. This would result in you having to make quick changes in your technique to compensate for poor ball/body position. And those compensations invariably spell inconsistency, as it is simply not possible to get the compensations right – especially when under pressure. All of these rules apply equally in golf. Although the ball is static, poor body position in relation to the ball will result in variable compensations in your technique. The most efficient position for the head

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and spine at impact is behind the ball, and thus if you assume this position at address there will be no need to compensate during the swing. This body position will provide two constants which are vital for a sound repetitive motion. So that’s the foundations of the golf swing. You may think you know it all already and your basics are fine, but in my experience they are probably not. Most of the best players in the world check these fundamen-

tals consistently every time they practice and play. Most of the top players continue to see a golf coach regularly and more often than not it is simple tweaks to the basic foundations of their swings that can have a significant impact on their results. It’s simple to achieve and if you can build a consistent foundation then you have every chance when swinging of making your body and arm movements consistent enough to produce quality strikes on the ball.

BEFORE THE NEXT ISSUE SPEND SOME TIME TRYING TO GET THESE FIVE BASICS RIGHT Aim Hit balls at the range using the practice station outlined in this article. Stance Vary it slightly according to the club you are using. Posture Get it right to control the balance points in your swing. Arm Hang/Grip Find your natural position and grip, and practise making it. Body Position Ensure that your head and spine are behind the ball at address. If you really want to improve your game get these basics right. Ask someone to check your positions or use a mirror to check (just remember to rotate your head when looking at a mirror behind you rather than lifting it which may alter your spine angle).

In Level 1 we built the foundations of the Pyramid; now, in this section, it’s all about building the structure of a sound swing – the walls. Without a solid foundation and properly constructed walls, the Pyramid will crumble. Build your golf swing on trial and error – rather than on proven, solid foundations and principles – and you will find that your game will often crumble, too. We’ve all been there: you hit the ball great one day, but the next you have lost the feel and coordination; you hit it great on the range, but for some reason your game deserts you the moment you set foot on the course. More often than not the reason for this sort of inconsistency is simply that your technique is not up to the pressures that a round of golf can place on it. To remedy that, you need to build your swing on solid foundations and principles, and focus on rehearsing certain methods and exercises that enable you to develop a subconscious feeling for the right series of movements that make up a sound golf swing. This will give you a system of producing consistent golf, one that will enable you to correct your own game when things do go a little off key – which they will, but hopefully rather less often than before! So, to that end, in this level we are going to cover some of the key areas involving body, arm, hand and club movement in the swing:

BALANCE • BODY ACTION • ARM SWING HAND ACTION • PATH & PLANE By the end of this section you will have the technique and some of the exercises and drills you need to start building a consistent swing. Set yourself a simple task of spending up to 15 minutes a day getting the fundamentals in Level 1 right and trying some of the exercises in Level 2. That’s all it takes; 15 minutes a day without even hitting a golf ball and you will be playing more consistent golf within a month. The complete series – Parts 1-4 – can be found within the digital page-turning version of this supplement at Gi’s website (www.golfinternationalmag.com) If you feel brave enough, contact me at my Academy and let me know how you get on. Send your email to: [email protected] Due to coaching commitments, I cannot promise that I’ll be able to respond to all emails – but I’ll try!

LEVEL 4 ATTITUDE ATTITUDE PRE-SHOT ROUTINE PRACTICE DRILLS AND PETE COWEN "SIGNATURE EXERCISES"

LEVEL 3 POWER HAND/EYE CO-ORDINATION ANGLE OF ATTACK • SPEED & PRESSURE

LEVEL 2 DYNAMIC MOVEMENT BALANCE • BODY ACTION • ARM SWING HAND ACTION • PATH & PLANE LEVEL 1 SOLID FOUNDATIONS AIM • STANCE • POSTURE ARM HANG AND GRIP • BODY POSITION

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BALANCE POINTS

EXERCISE FOR A ‘BALANCED’ ARM & BODY ACTION

Balance is the key to a good golf swing. Without balance you will never be able to fully maximise the centrifugal forces that are generated by the rotation of the body, and thus fail to maximise your potential for speed and power. Which is why it’s vital that you ensure the ‘balance points’ that I have identified here all work in harmony throughout your swing. That way you will enjoy the consistency, stability and efficiency of a sound golf swing. One of the key points to keep in mind as you prepare to work on your body position and the ‘dynamic body action’ is that, in the golf swing, every action has a reaction. For example, if your hips go forward at the start of your downswing, your head will automatically go back so as to keep you balanced. Any such action will have a direct effect on the golf club because the club would always follow your balance points. [The problem for the majority of golfers is that the swing becomes a series of compensations, all of which, effectively, drain the swing of efficiency.] On the previous page I mentioned that if you can spend just 15 minutes a day rehearsing just a few good exercises you can get better without hitting a ball. How? Well, think about the time and amount of work you actually put in to making a swing during the course of a round of golf. A golf swing takes around 1.5 seconds from start to finish. A pro may hit 40odd full shots in 18 holes. So that adds up to about one minute’s work – and of those 40 swings he might hit, say, five or 6 good shots. That’s 10 seconds good work out of the minute (or 50 seconds spent making bad swings!). Now, let’s say you go to the range and hit 200 balls. That’s 5 minutes of work in terms of making a golf swing. So it takes you all day to do five or six minutes work – not a great rate of return. In other words, you are not improving your swing by hitting balls. But if you did 15 minutes of conscious exercises (such as the feet-together drill opposite, the spiral staircase overleaf), it’s the equivalent of doing a full day’s work and hitting most of the shots well. These conscious exercises will allow you to play subconsciously on the course.

Hitting balls with your feet together is a simple and effective drill that helps you to harmonise the swinging of the arms with the rotation of your body. The key is to focus on these balance points and keep them all working together for the good of the swing. Another benefit of this drill is that it encourages you to keep your knee and chin levels constant throughout, which is important.

EXAMPLES OF POOR BALANCE…. For every action in the golf swing there is a reaction. These poor positions are the result of a certain reaction as balance points struggle to be maintained: (right) if the hips ‘spin out’ at the start of the downswing, the head will automatically go back in an effort to maintain balance, while the arms and the club are thrown off course; (far right) manipulation will involve hand action, which can never be consistent.

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For the sake of visualisation, the top of the spine equates to your sternum, the base of the spine becomes your mid-riff area, and then of course you have your two feet. These are what I term the key ‘balance points’ in the body as they relate to making a good golf swing. The secret is to keep these balance points working in harmony as the body rotates and the arms swing the golf club

Give it a try next time you are at the range. Just try hitting a few sets of 10 balls with a 7iron (I’d always suggest playing the ball off a tee-peg to get you going) and then go back to hitting balls normally (i.e. with a regular stance) to see the difference as you improve your balance and the harmony between arms and body. Try and maintain this balanced feel in your full swing to build consistency and control.

REMEMBER: You swing in balance. You do not swing to stay in balance. It is very important to make this distinction, and your PGA professional can explain this to you. I see too many golfers doing this exercise incorrectly; they swing their arms but keep their body still. They are swinging to stay in balance, and not enjoying a swinging motion that is the result of the body and arms working together.

As you start your swing, encourage this early wrist action to get the club elevated and swinging up on plane

With your feet nicely together, you want to feel that your balance points are in harmony

Balance points remain in harmony as you rotate your body and swing the arms

Focus on the back of the ball as you unwind and prepare to clip it off the tee-peg

Again, balance points are aligned, arms and body working together in harmony

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“THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE” – A PETE COWEN ‘SIGNATURE’ EXERCISE

The body starts to open up as the coil moves up and around your body

From the top, reverse the process from the ground up

Adopt a good posture, find your natural arm ‘hang’, then pre-set your wrists

As you say the words below to yourself, feel your arm and body move in unison

FROM THE TOP OF THE BACKSWING YOU INITIATE THE DOWNSWING BY SIMPLY REVERSING THE PROCESS FROM THE GROUND UP: RIGHT ANKLE TO LEFT FOOT RIGHT SHIN TO LEFT ANKLE RIGHT KNEE TO LEFT SHIN RIGHT THIGH TO LEFT KNEE

Get yourself fully coiled at the top of the backswing

NOW FROM HERE YOUR BODY STARTS TO OPEN UP AS THE COIL MOVES UP AND AROUND YOUR BODY

BODY ACTION

RIGHT HIP TO LEFT ABS RIGHT ABS TO LEFT CHEST RIGHT CHEST TO LEFT SHOULDER RIGHT SHOULDER…

A lot of golf instruction and wellmeaning tips you have no doubt heard from fellow players surround the subject of weight transfer during the backswing and downswing. You have probably heard how important it is to transfer weight to your right foot during the backswing and the left on the downswing; you may have even suffered the dreaded ‘reverse-pivot’ at some point in time. What you may not have heard is that the weight does not just transfer laterally from left to right foot during the backswing. Your weight actually travels up and around the body from the ground up on the backswing; and down and around on the downswing, starting again from the ground up. Think of it like a ‘spiral staircase’ (as per the effect on the images above), a three-dimensional movement (and not simply a lateral movement) and you will encourage a better body action which will help you swing in balance, position the club correctly on plane and create a consistent action for a

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powerful delivery. The “Spiral Staircase” is an exercise many of my players do every day, and you will often see players such as big hitting world-ranked No.6 player Henrik Stenson doing this on the range. Take your normal address position with perfect posture (right hip and shoulder slightly lower than left). Then find your natural arm hang and grip position (as described last issue) and pre-set your wrists as pictured. You simply do this by allowing a gentle rotation of your forearms and hands approximately 45 degrees to the right (as seen in the first picture in this sequence). This should feel natural – do not force this movement. From this pre-set position it is easy to find your natural swing plane. Now start your backswing by slowly saying the following to yourself and at the same time feeling the corresponding movements in your body. Your arms and hands will move in unison following the spiral as you turn away from target.

PLEASE TRY THIS SLOWLY AND GRADUALLY AT FIRST, AS FOR MANY PLAYERS (OF ALL STANDARDS – EVEN PROFESSIONALS!) THESE MOVES AND SENSATIONS MAY BE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FROM NORMAL LEFT FOOT TO RIGHT ANKLE LEFT ANKLE TO RIGHT SHIN LEFT SHIN TO RIGHT KNEE LEFT KNEE TO RIGHT THIGH LEFT THIGH TO RIGHT HIP LEFT HIP TO RIGHT ABS LEFT ABS TO RIGHT CHEST LEFT CHEST TO RIGHT SHOULDER LEFT SHOULDER …..by now you should be at the top of your backswing in a great position, coiled up like a spring waiting to be released. (i.e. your weight has fully rotated into your right side, the shaft is pointing ‘parallel left’ of target, your clubface and left arm are nicely parallel to your swing plane, and your balance points are in line.

...By now you should be in a great follow-through position – i.e. your weight has almost totally transferred over your left foot; your hips point towards target, your shoulders point left of target, sole of right shoe faces away from target and you are in perfect balance.

Weight now almost totally on left foot, hips point towards the target

YOU CAN ALSO START THIS EXERCISE BY HOLDING A CLUB ACROSS YOUR SHOULDERS WITH BOTH HANDS INSTEAD OF THE PRE-SET POSITION DESCRIBED ABOVE. I COVER THIS ACTION EXTENSIVELY ON MY DVD AS I BELIEVE IT IS ONE OF THE BEST EXERCISES YOU CAN DO TO IMPROVE YOUR GOLF WITHOUT HITTING A BALL AND IN MY EXPERIENCE IT WILL BENEFIT THE MAJORITY OF CLUB GOLFERS OUT THERE. EVERYBODY CAN DO THIS, BUT ONLY TO THEIR OWN PERSONAL PHYSICAL ABILITY. I’M NOT ASKING YOU TO BE A YOGA EXPERT, DO IT UNDER YOUR OWN STEAM.

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Arms & body in balance, a ‘neutral’ plane. No compensation necessary through the hitting area

A

Arms & body out of balance, club too flat. Hands and arms have to compensate

B

45º

The correct ‘hingeing’ of the wrist is a side-toside motion, like the opening and closing of a door

Arms swinging in towards the body, too steep

C UNDERSTAND THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN ‘HINGEING’ AND ‘COCKING’ OF THE WRISTS For the past 25 years or so golfers have debated whether the hands are used in the golf swing or not. The truth is that there is hand ‘action’ in a correct on-plane golf swing and hand ‘manipulation’ in an incorrect off-plane (and out of balance) golf swing. When thinking about hand action, and applying it to your golf swing, you must first understand the distinction between two phrases you have probably heard of – ‘hingeing’ and ‘cocking’. Some coaches regard these as one and the same. But there’s a definite difference, as you can see here.

THE ARM-SWING AND UNDERSTANDING ‘PLANE’ Efficiency is the key to getting the most out of your golf swing. And to do this we must use natural forces such as centrifugal force and gravity to our best advantage. We must therefore swing our arms in balance. In the first image above all natural forces are working together. The arms are swinging freely underneath the body with centrifugal force and gravity sending the clubhead towards the ball on the correct path. This is a position the one-arm only drill (right) can help you to achieve. If you swing the club in balance, it’s immediately more efficient.

A

Problems! In the second of the images above, the arms are swinging out and away from the body, similar to a baseball swing. Therefore, natural forces are forcing the club away from the impact area. From this position you have to work very hard to get the clubhead on the correct path which will result in compensations during the swing. Poor balance, hip drive and body falling back.

B

Another common sight: in this position, the arms are swinging into the body and, once again, it will require a lot of effort and compensation between here and the moment

C

of impact to get the clubhead approaching the ball on the correct path. From here, I would expect to see ‘hip-spin’ through the ball, pulling the shoulders out of plane and getting too steep on the ball. The arms and the club are out of balance because the body is out of balance.

THE 45 DEGREE PRACTICE DRILL How can you begin to correct either of the two faults illustrated above? Well, the simple drill you see here (right) is one way to realise the correct arm swing – I call it my 45degree drill, and you can do it with both the left and right hand. To start, get yourself into perfect posture and find your natural ‘armhang’. Then, repeating the good body action, allow your right arm to swing and fold into this 45-degree position. This will give you the sensation of the body action and arm swing working in harmony. Repeat the exercise with the left arm allowing the wrist to cock up to find this same 45 degree position.

The right arm folds as the arm swings the club up to approx 45degree angle. Here the swing is in a good neutral plane

Rehearse this in front of a fulllength mirror to check your angle as you make your swing with one arm only. It’s a good idea to put some tape on the mirror as a guide

HINGEING THE WRIST (ILLUSTRATED ABOVE) When you assume the correct ‘arm-hang’, the hinge of the wrists is from side to side, similar to the opening and closing of a door.

COCKING (ILLUSTRATED BELOW) Again assuming the correct arm-hang, the cocking of the wrists is an up and down motion, similar to cocking a gun. A sound swing demands the correct blend and balance of hingeing and cocking. Too much hingeing of the hands will take the golf club away on a horizontal plane (i.e. too flat), where it will be off balance. This will generally lead to a ball flight which is low and to the left. Too much cocking of the wrists, in contrast, will generally see the club follow too vertical a plane, resulting in a ball flight which is predominantly high and to the right. When they are playing well, you’ll often hear good players say that they do not feel as

though they are using their hands in the swing at all; when they are struggling they often complain that their swing feels much too “handsy”. The truth is that they are using a correct natural- feeling hand action when they are swinging well and on-plane; when they are swinging off-plane they are relying on years of practice, experience, talent and hand-eye coordination to get the club on the ball. That last point explains the huge difference between tour players and amateurs; even when he is swinging badly, a tour player they can use incredible hand-eye coordination to get the ball around in a decent score, something that is beyond most amateurs (in Level 3 we I discuss how you can improve your natural hand-eye coordination – see the complete series on the Gi website).

Like the ‘cocking’ of a gun, cocking the wrist is an up and down movement 45º

[Note: The 45 degree angle is an approximation – the exact angle will vary from club to club, player to player.]

The relevance of this drill can be seen clearly in the good image (A) above – the swing is in a good, neutral position.

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UNDERSTANDING PATH & PLANE The most destructive golf shots which you will hit will invariably be the result of the club arriving at impact in the wrong position. To hit consistently good shots, we need to ensure that the club is on the correct plane relative to the direction in which it is travelling (i.e. the ‘path’ of the swing), as per the sequence of good images below (see the Lee Westwood sqing sequence in the main issue for a great example). The correct swing-path, therefore, is one which returns the club to the ball at an angle of approximately 45°. This swing plane will allow for a margin of error of around 5-10% either way within which good shots will still result. To further clarify this in your mind, look at these two contrasting faults (above). In picture A, the club is arriving at the ball in a horizontal position, the clubface likely to be either square or open. This will result in the shot being hit right of target. In picture B, meanwhile, the club is arriving at the ball in a vertical position with the clubface square or closed. This will result in the shot being hit left of target.

ACHIEVING THE CORRECT PATH & PLANE Assuming the perfect set-up, you want to feel that you initiate the backswing with the club, hands and arms moving away from the ball together. As you do this you will begin to feel your body action starting to work with your right foot creating pressure into the ground. As this happens the weight of the club and centrifugal force will encourage the hingeing and cocking of the hands. Your body action, arm swing and hand

B

A

Out of sync: these common faults illustrate the extremes of being either too flat, with the clubshaft nearly horizontal (left), or too steep on the ball, the clubshaft almost vertical approaching impact. Either way, you’re in trouble.

action are now working in perfect harmony. With all these elements working in harmony it will be simple for you to achieve the correct swing plane and path. Notice the 45 degree lines: the clubshaft is at approximately 45 degrees halfway back; the left arm is at approximately 45 degrees at the top of the swing, and that symmetry continues into the downswing. It’s a mirror image. Approaching impact we can identify with 45 degrees and if we were to continue the exit line through the ball, the shaft would come out at 45 degrees on the way to the finish. Let me stress, the 45 number is an approximation, and there is a margin for error 5-10% either way. But if you get it even nearly right, you will hit more solid golf shots. In the two contrasting faults above, the incorrect path is a direct result of poor balance which has forced the club into an extreme position. Remember, the club will always follow your balance points. Slowly work your way through the exercises

to try and find the right positions. By combining your solid foundations from Level 1 with solid walls, you will build a great golf swing. By building constants into your swing, you will ingrain more consistency into your game. Your game will stand up to pressure better and you will play better golf more often. Once you have worked on Levels 1 and 2, in the next issue we look at “Power” – everyone’s favourite subject, as everyone wants to hit it further. I want everyone to hit it STRAIGHTER and further! So practise the positions from Levels 1 and 2; and in the next issue we next time we will work on three factors to give your swing more power: • Hand-eye Co-ordination • Angle of Attack • Speed & Pressure. Oh, and please remember my simple philosophy: Practice does not make perfect. Only PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.

With your arms and body working in unison, and in perfect balance, you will find that you are able to make a neutral swing that runs approximately to this 45 degree plane. There is a margin for error of a few degrees either way

45º

16 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM JAN/FEB 2010

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SWING SECRETS FROM THE TOUR LEVEL 4 ATTITUDE ATTITUDE PRE-SHOT ROUTINE PRACTICE DRILLS AND PETE COWEN "SIGNATURE EXERCISES"

LEVEL 3 POWER HAND/EYE CO-ORDINATION ANGLE OF ATTACK • SPEED & PRESSURE

LEVEL 2 DYNAMIC MOVEMENT BALANCE • BODY ACTION • ARM SWING HAND ACTION • PATH & PLANE

LEVEL 1 SOLID FOUNDATIONS AIM • STANCE • POSTURE ARM HANG AND GRIP • BODY POSITION

18 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM JAN/FEB 2010

By Pete Cowen

Get yourself a copy of Pete’s brand new DVD (or check out www.golfinternationalmag.com) to revise Levels 1 & 2 of Pete Cowen’s ‘Pyramid of Learning’, as followed by the big-hitting Swede Henrik Stenson.

PGA MASTER PROFESSIONAL

I’m often asked which driver or which ball a player should play to get maximum distance. It seems these days that even absolute beginners want to try and smash the ball 300 yards. Everyone seems to be obsessed with hitting the ball further and further. Well, I am not going to disappoint; if you want to hit the ball further then I can show you how – but you will only have some success if you follow the advice given in the previous two issues and focus on the fundamentals in Levels 1 and 2 of the Pyramid of Learning. Unless you can master the basics of the set-up, balance and body action, then you are not going to have solid enough foundations on which to build a powerful ball striking swing. Tour professionals are always checking these basics and so should you. If you cannot get the fundamentals right then I would suggest you don’t even bother reading on. But if you choose to follow this advice, you might achieve some improvement and once in a while hit a career best 250 yard + drive. But only once in a while. I want you to hit the ball well more often with greater distance and consistency. If you really want to improve, make sure you are making good progress with the work on Levels 1 and 2 to give you a sound platform for success.

Power vs Accuracy When working on ‘Power’ you must ask yourself what you are trying to achieve. If you are not naturally a good athlete or are not physically able, then you are unlikely to hit the ball miles. I would recommend that you spend more of your practice time on other aspects of your game. Play to your strengths. If you can develop a good short game then you will be more than a match for most of the longest hitters at your club. Even if you are not that athletic you can learn to improve the quality of your strike and to hit the ball more consistently. You can learn to build more speed and pressure into your strike, and most importantly make more strikes out of the middle of the club. Most golfers would hit the ball further by swinging at 75% speed and striking the middle of the clubface than by swinging at

flat out and striking the ball inconsistently out of different parts of the club. So my advice is not to strive for the perfect strike that will send your ball careering 250+ yards straight down the middle. You may achieve this once in a while but more often than not you will fail. You should be more concerned about the consistency of your drives in terms of distance, flight and accuracy. I tell my players – including Henrik Stenson (above) – that it’s not the quality of their best shots that I care about; it’s how good their bad shots are. If we can narrow down the number of bad shots and the variety of bad shots then we are on the road to success. I call this a ‘Deviation Pattern’.

Deviation Pattern Next time you practice, go through your bag and take a number of shots with each club at a specific

target. Record the total distance travelled (in the air and roll on landing), the trajectory of the flight and the accuracy (missed 10 feet left, 15 feet short, etc). Keep a score. Then try and beat that score next time you practise. It’s a fun game and an easy way to measure your improvement in ‘Power’ through recording changes in length and in ‘Accuracy’ through your deviation pattern. You can use this exercise to set yourself reasonable goals: If you are hitting the ball a long way but all over the driving range, then you might want to focus on building accuracy into your game using the techniques from the Pyramid of Learning before trying to build more power in your game. If you are a short hitter but fairly accurate then you may want to focus on improving your length without compromising on accuracy.

Once you have set yourself some realistic goals and have a yardstick for improving results, then you have a platform from which you can build more of the key swing elements which – if implemented correctly – will aid you in your pursuit of a more consistent swing, a cleaner ball strike and greater (control of) distance.

Level 3 – Power In my opinion there are four key elements to increasing ‘Power’ in the golf swing: • Hand/eye co-ordination • Angle of Attack •Speed & Pressure • Leverage Let’s take a look at each over the page.

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HAND/EYE CO-ORDINATION After a good round, players can often be heard to say they didn’t feel like they used their hands today; and after a bad round you often hear them say that they felt very ‘handsy’. The reality is that when players are swinging the club well their hand action is very natural; however when the best players in the world are having a bad day and are not swinging the club correctly then they rely on tremendous hand/eye co-ordination to strike the ball. • There is hand action in a correct onplane golf swing. • There is hand manipulation in an incorrect off-plane golf swing. Most of the best players in the world are naturally talented athletes and are born with very high levels of hand/eye coordination so they can salvage a poor offplane swing into a reasonable result. Unfortunately, everybody is born with different levels of hand/eye co-ordination and for most amateurs the same type of poor swing is often unrecoverable and results in a really poor result. Hand/eye co-ordination will help if you are out of position and while you may not be blessed with as much natural ability as tour professionals you can still improve. Good hand/eye co-ordination alone can allow a golfer to play golf to a reasonable standard with poor technique. However, it should not be relied upon as it can often breakdown in a pressure situation. A combination of good technique and good hand/eye co-ordination is the recipe for a solid golf game in any situation. To improve your hand/eye co-ordination here are a few simple drills for you to practise:

BEGINNERS Practise throwing balls into a bucket about four feet away. As your co-ordination improves, increase the throwing distance by moving the bucket further away.

ADVANCED

20 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM JAN/FEB 2010

To improve hand/eye co-ordination, place a line of tees in the ground and try to clip them away, one by one. Then repeat the excercise with your other hand

SPEED & PRESSURE Imagine a boxer swinging wildly at his opponent with no balance or focus. He will be using a massive amount of effort with little effect. The same principle applies equally to the golf swing and I see a lot of wasted energy particularly in the swings of higher handicap golfers because they are unable, through poor technique, to apply the necessary pressure to the ball to achieve good shots. Most golfers would equate increased distance with increased clubhead speed. In other words they would try to hit the ball further by swinging the club faster. It is not exclusively clubhead speed which generates distance, but a combination of clubhead speed and pressure applied to the ball. Increased clubhead speed will only influence the length of the shot if the speed of the club is transferred to the ball efficiently. The most efficient way of transferring energy from the clubhead to the ball (i.e. pressure) is to ensure dead centre hits, with the clubhead hitting the ball on its sweetspot. Study the sequence of Henrik Stenson (over the page) and see if you can identify with all of the following points regarding speed and pressure through impact: • Right knee fires ‘parallel left’ of target applying pressure • The left side has cleared • Back of left hand leads the clubhead • Pressure is concentrated on the equator of the ball • Maintain posture and balance through impact • Hands feel low through impact • Right side applies pressure Remember: less clubhead speed transferred with more pressure will enable you to hit it further than faster clubhead speed transferred with less pressure © Peter Cowen Golf Academy 2007.

A common denominator among the really powerful ball strikers on tour (such as we will see in a moment with Henrik Stenson) and most long driving specialists is what I call ‘Stretch Leverage’. If you can learn to harness this natural leverage in your own swing then you will start to strike the ball more powerfully than ever. What is ‘Stretch Leverage’? Well, you create stretch leverage in your swing by coupling the correct body movement in the swing with the angle of your left arm to the shaft. Setting the angle between the left arm and the shaft during the swing creates the main lever in the swing. To optimise the efficiency of that lever – and thus gain maximum benefit – you must actually allow that lever to straighten at impact (below). Many players have a tendency to roll the wrists or uncock the wrists at impact in an attempt to get extra momentum into their swing. This unnecessary manipulation of the hands leads to inconsistency in direction and power. If you have used my ‘Spiral Staircase’ drill by now (see last issue) you should understand that it is the left side opening up and stretching which allows you to retain the angle between the left arm and the shaft and this means you do not have to uncock the wrists through impact. When experimenting with this concept in your swing, please remember this key point. Do not think of straightening the lever as an independent movement. Instead concentrate on encompassing this movement into a controlled opening and stretching of the left side as your body rotates through impact to the finish.

ANGLE OF ATTACK Along with clubface and swing path, the angle of attack is a major factor on the flight of the ball. • If the angle of attack is too steep (red line) the strike will tend to be heavy and impart too much spin on the ball resulting in a high weak flight. • If the angle of attack is too shallow (yellow line) the strike will tend to be off the bottom of the clubface resulting in a low weak flight. • The correct angle of attack (green line) will result in the desired penetrating flight with minimal side spin. • Poor angle of attack can be greatly influenced by poor balance and lack of constants as referred to in Level 2 (see balance). • With shorter irons a steeper angle of attack is needed to produce a descending blow. • With longer irons and woods, feel as if you are sweeping the ball away delivering a shallow angle of attack (exactly as Henrik describes in his sequence).

P EE ST

• Take this a stage further, and practise hitting balls with your dominant hand until you feel the strike improving. Once you have achieved this, then hit balls with your other hand until the quality of strike is similar.

From the set-up, the left arm is instrumental in your ability to create leverage in the golf swing, this angle between the left arm and the clubshaft critical at the top

O TO

• Place tee pegs in the ground and try to knock the tee peg out of the ground swinging the club using your dominant hand (as I am doing here with a mid-iron). After a few min utes, repeat the exercise with your other hand.

LEVERAGE

NA ILE DI T!

TOO SHALLOW

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PREPARE FOR LIFT OFF! The swing sequence you are about to enjoy overleaf will give you some idea of how much power Henrik Stenson has at his disposal, as he demonstrates a wonderful body action that provides the ‘engine’ to the swing. Following on from that, the immediate start to the downswing is a terrific example to all golfers of the way in which players of this calibre then retain the power for impact. One of my favourite quotes is “The road to success is always under construction.” Those of you who are serious about taking your game to a higher level need to work on improving your body action – the body is the engine room, the arms and the club are the steering wheel. If you’ve got a good engine, it’s easy to steer. And Henrik’s firing on all cylinders!

HENRIK STENSON SEQUENCE BY DAVID CANNON/GETTYIMAGES.COM THE MAKING OF THIS INSTRUCTION STORY FEATURING HENRIK CAN BE VIEWED AT WWW.GOLFBUGTV.COM

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Arms hang from the shoulders – no stress in the hands, arms or upper body. The lines are square

Great dynamic balance – Henrik uses his full height

Simply great body angles and positions on line at the top

Hands, arms and the club in perfect balance – and on plane

The initial coil starts from the ground up – as it must (Refer to the ‘Spiral Staircase’ drill last issue.)

Relatively late wrist cock suits a player with such a strong body action

As he reaches the top, left leg is already preparing to support the reverse-coil and pave the way for ‘stretch leverage’ through impact

FREE WHEEL AND ‘COLLECT’ THE BALL

24 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM JAN/FEB 2010

Look at how well Henrik maintains his spine angle as he unwinds to impact

What I feel with the driver swing, by Henrik Stenson HENRIK STENSON TALKED TO RICHARD SIMMONS • FRAME-BY-FRAME ANALYSIS BY PETE COWEN

to achieve a better strike and get more distance with the driver? The swing thoughts that I have are the ones I have in general when I play, or for that week. They don’t really change much between clubs. It’s more you want to hit the ball in the right place, and to hit it long and straight you need to hit the equator of the ball just as your swing shallows out at the bottom of the arc so that you create the right spin and enjoy the maxi-

mum efficiency in terms of transferring clubhead speed into ball-speed and distance (for which you also need the right driver and the right loft, so see your pro and get properly fitted). Making sure that you are correctly set-up, with the ball position forward in the stance (as you see here, I play it just inside my left heel) is a simple but very important part of getting ready to hit a good drive. Q. What shape of shot do you see?

Positive body rotation all the way through the shot, the shaft exits in perfect plane

Again, reverse-coil starts from the ground up – and just look at the massive leverage created through the change of direction

Left arm/left leg form a distinct ‘power line’ at moment of impact

Hint of the early ‘pre-set’ evident in this frame

Q. You are one of the world’s longest and straightest drivers of the ball. What is it you think about when you stand on a tee with a driver in your hands? To hit it long and straight! Q. Fair enough. But are there any specific swing thoughts you have, any last-minute reminders that you rely on to make your best swing? No, seriously, that’s what I think about. I make sure that I get a really good fix on my target out there in the distance, and then I picture the flight of the ball. Q. Without giving away any classified secrets, any swing thoughts that you feel might help club golfers

Left side has cleared as right side applies maximum speed and pressure. Good posture is retained to impact

When I’m driving it well, I put very little side-spin on the ball. It’s pretty much a straight ball flight, and with a fairly high trajectory. If anything, I have changed over the last couple of years from a fade to a slight draw. Q. At the very start of your swing, you appear to have a very definite pre-set of the clubface. What is that designed to achieve? That’s the one part of my swing I get a lot of questions about. It’s all about getting my left arm/left wrist ‘pre-set’, which is a deliberate move that helps me to get my hands, arms and the club working in plane. Q. Is there any particular feeling that you have through impact that helps to promote the trajectory

Strong left side and terrific extension through the ball as body opens to the target

you are looking for? Obviously there are natural differences in your posture and the way you are set-up to the ball, given the characteristics of the golf club. A driver is a lot longer and sits flatter than a 9-iron. You accommodate those differences as best you can, making sure that you maintain a tall posture, your weight slightly favouring your right side (don’t over-do that). I don’t feel that my swing is any different, necessarily, but the strike I am looking for is obviously different. The best way to describe it is that I am looking to sweep the ball off the tee – not hit ‘at’ it, which I think is a trap that many amateurs fall in to. Q. Would that be one of the most harmful faults you see in pro-am partners and amateurs in general?

Strong balanced finish with the right shoulder leading the way

Definitely one of them. The problem is, if you place too much emphasis on the strike, and hitting the ball, you can end up thinking the swing finishes there, when what you are looking for is a motion of gradual acceleration all the way through impact and on to a full, committed finish. The swing should be one smooth continuous motion, which you have more chance of achieving if you think of collecting the ball off the tee. Just let it get in the way of the clubhead and sweep it. Q. What’s your average carry in good conditions? When I’m striking it really good my carry is close to 300 yards through the air. Q. Thanks for that, Henrik. Now if you’d just go and fetch those balls, we’ll see you back at the clubhouse.

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SWING SECRETS FROM THE TOUR PYRAMID OF LEARNING - LEVEL 4

When you work on your swing, make a habit of laying clubs on the ground to create a ‘practice station’ that guarantees good alignment and a consistent ball position

ATTITUDE ATTITUDE PRE-SHOT ROUTINE PRACTICE DRILLS AND PETE COWEN ‘SIGNATURE EXERCISES’

LEVEL 3 POWER HAND/EYE CO-ORDINATION ANGLE OF ATTACK • SPEED & PRESSURE

LEVEL 2 DYNAMIC MOVEMENT BALANCE • BODY ACTION • ARM SWING HAND ACTION • PATH & PLANE LEVEL 1 SOLID FOUNDATIONS AIM • STANCE • POSTURE

PGA MASTER PROFESSIONAL

ATTITUDE In between the downpours that seemed to have constituted our summer, I hope that many of you will have had the opportunity to put the principles and techniques I’ve outlined so far in ‘The Pyramid of Learning’ to the test. You will have changed your existing bad practice habits and will have started to make major improvements to your swing…

you will be... LEVEL 4

By Pete Cowen

1

practising your swing using the ‘practice station’ I set out in Level 1 – i.e. placing clubs on the ground to help alignment: Solid Foundations.

you will be...

2

working on grooving the fundamentals – Aim, Stance, Posture, Arm Hang & Grip and Body Position.

you will be...

3

you will be...

doing your daily exercises – using my signature “Spiral Staircase™” exercise to develop the crucial correct body action.

On the other hand… you will most likely be doing nothing of the sort! Why? Because while every golfer I meet wants to improve his or her game, very few golfers actually display the right attitude that will enable them to work constructively on improving their golf. Unfortunately, in this technology-driven environment we live in, the majority of golfers – high- and low-handicappers alike – would rather lavish their hard-earned cash on a flash new driver than invest in a series of lessons from a suitably qualified PGA professional. But take a wild guess at which course of action is really going to reap dividends in the long-term. Too many people are looking for a ‘quick fix’, the latest tip or piece of kit that is going to transform their game. And while every now and then it is possible to find something that seems to work, it is rarely permanent. This is what I refer to as the ‘Find It, Lose It’ syndrome. One day you seem to have it, the next you don’t. One day you’re hitting the ball great and the next you’re all over the place. One moment you’re hitting balls solidly on the range the next you’re spraying them all over the course. Sound familiar? The root of this sort of inconsistency, I believe, can be traced to a player’s attitude. If you can develop the right attitude to practising and playing the game, then you can set down positive patterns that over a period of time will become permanently ingrained into your swing and which will lead – inevitably – to a better and more consistent game. So let’s take a closer look at the various components of ‘attitude’.

4

using the balance drill (i.e. feet together exercise) to start to learn to swing in balance rather Get on a roll: thanPlace swinging a club two feet beyond the hole to fineto stay in tune your sense of distance balance.control. You either want to hole the putt or have the ball finish within this safety zone for a simple tap-in

YOU CAN BREAK DOWN ‘ATTITUDE’ INTO THE FOLLOWING AREAS: • EXPECTATIONS/OBJECTIVES • KNOWLEDGE • PRACTICE • PLAY Gi // THE BEST INSTRUCTION ON THE PLANET 27

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ATTITUDE GREAT EXPECTATIONS Your attitude to learning fits right on top of the pyramid, because without this you will always be struggling to move to your next level. Almost all golfers get frustrated and angry because they fail to live up to the expectations they ‘set’ for themselves. More often than not these expectations are hugely unrealistic; just because you have just broken 80 for the first time does not necessarily mean that you should now expect to shoot 79 or better every time you go out to play. However, with the right attitude, knowledge and application, you could realistically expect to build towards achieving a consistent level of scoring in and around this number. There are some golfers who have no expectations whatsoever regarding their game and who never set themselves a target. A recent survey of golfers by www.dizzyheights.com showed that whilst 54% had a specific handicap target to reach, 25% had no target (but admitted they probably should have!) while 21% didn’t feel it was important. In my view, if you don’t know where you want to go, then you’re unlikely to get anywhere! Invest your time and a little money in visiting a PGA professional who can make an impartial and realistic assessment of your game and you will be on the road to potential improvement. (A good pro will also personalise the knowledge you will have gained if you have read the first three levels of ‘The Pyramid of Learning’).

Placing a club on the ground parallel to your ball-to-target line provides a vital source of reference

WORK-STATION

ATTITUDE PRACTICE Once you know what to do and how to do it, you simply have to get out there and practice. In the same survey 7% of players said they never practice and 28% only ever practice before a round. You will never improve unless you practise; and you will get out what you put in if you practice properly. Strive for quality not quantity in your practice sessions. You need to discipline yourself to making your practice productive so that you can advance through the different levels of the Pyramid of Learning. There is no doubt that you can significantly improve your golf game with only 10 minutes practice per day. While playing a round of golf you will hit approximately 40 full shots. Given that each full shot takes approximately 1.5 seconds to execute, your engine is only working for 1 minute during a four-hour round of golf. I see many golfers fail to improve because they do not practice the correct drills or exercises. Ten minutes good practice is better than hours and hours of poor practice. Throughout the previous levels of the Pyramid of Learning I have shared with you some of the exercises and drills used by some of the best players in the world to improve their game. Time is often cited as a factor that prohibits regular practice, but I can guarantee that you can practice all of my exercises without going to the driving range or the course.

A C B

Rehearsing these exercises for just 10 minutes a day out in the garden will make an incredible difference to your instincts for adopting good swing fundamentals. Laying one or two clubs on the ground to create a ‘practice station’ (left and above) simply teaches you to identify with the good alignment of the clubface and your body in relation to the ball-to-target line. The simple posture routine (below) quickly reminds you of the sensation of standing correctly and with an ‘athletic’ poise over the ball. Remember, the majority of swing faults originate in a faulty set-up position, so the more often you work on fine-tuning these basics, the less likely you are to fall into bad habits.

ATTITUDE KNOWLEDGE Knowledge obviously comes with experience and with the right support. The higher your interest in the game and willingness to learn and to practice new skills in the right way, the better your chances of progression and the more you’ll enjoy the game. Going back to that survey, 80% of golfers said they had played for over two years and 65% over five years, and yet 46% of them had taken just five lessons or less since they took up the game, and only 17% of active golfers claimed to be currently having lessons. (Think about this for a minute; professional golfers do not stop having coaching once they reach the dizzy heights of the European Tour!) Even more remarkable, the same survey found that 94% of the golfers questioned claimed to have a ‘good’ or ‘very good’ grasp of swing basics (i.e. the grip, posture, setup etc). Well, that’s news to me. Stand with any club professional on the first tee at your local course on a Saturday morning and you will soon see that is not a reflection on reality. Unfortunately, where the average golfer thinks his game is and where it actually is can be a long way apart. PGA Professionals can assess your current level of performance, check the fundamentals set out in Levels 1 to 3 of my Pyramid of Learning, and agree goals for you to help you progress your game. They can help you ‘know yourself’ and your game; advise you on the right equipment and improve your knowledge of all aspects of the game. If you are serious about improving then you should not be a stranger to your local PGA professional!

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Level 1 Solid Foundations: Practice the correct set-up, arm hang and posture in front of a mirror

Bend from the hip bones – not from the waist

Stand in good posture and locate your hip bones

1

2

Practice these exercises for just 10 minutes a day and you will experience real improvement – 10 minutes a day is all you need to find!

Simulate this same feel on a club and you will have a perfect natural grip

Let the thumb of the left hand fit snug into the groove at the base of the right thumb

3

To see my full demonstration of the Spiral Staircase exercise, along with the ‘Axe Drill’ that you will see overleaf (and to review levels 1-3 of my Pyramid of Learning), go to www.golfinternationalmag.com

Level 3 Power: To develop the sensation of a truly dynamic swing with the correct wrist and arm action, practice The Axe™ drill (see overleaf)

Good posture controls the ‘balance points’ in your swing, and is therefore vital in helping you develop your game to its full potential. A common fault is the tendency to sit back on the heels when the knees are flexed. Ensure the sensation of balance is maintained underneath the sternum and onto the balls of your feet As you draw your hands towards each other, squeeze the thumb and forefinger together

Without a club, but joining your hands with a proper grip, rehearse your backswing and get fully coiled at the top

Level 2 Dynamic Movement: Rehearse both the Spiral Staircase™ & the Feet Together drills (right)

Flex your knees to achieve perfect balance

Let the arms hang freely

The ‘Spiral Staircase’ is an exercise many of my players do every day, including the long-hitting Henrik Stenson who regularly does this on the range. This is the exercise I use to convey the reality of weight shift being a three-dimensional movement (and not simply a lateral movement) as a player uses his body to rotate and wind/unwind a dynamic golf swing.

Once you are in the correct posture, simply let your arms hang freely in front of your body. When you allow your hands to hang naturally and freely, natural forces will enable the arms to swing at their optimum speed and efficiency.

Your ‘balance points’ should remain in harmony as you rehearse the feettogether exercise, which helps you to match the swinging of the arms with the rotation of the body

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THE AXE DRILL: use it to optimise the power & pressure of your swing The Axe Drill™ is one of my signature exercises and I use it to help players of all standards get from the plane you stand in to the plane you swing the club in in. It will help you to get into the right position on the backswing and create the right angle of attack on the downswing, optimising the power and pressure you can exert on the ball. Imagine you are chopping a log of wood. Think about how easy it is to generate power by using the leverage creat-

ed by your arms, wrists, shoulders and body driving the axe down into the log. Now, imagine that the axe is a golf club. If you could translate that same kind of power into your swing just think of the speed you could generate. Lots of players I see struggle to get from a good set-up position to a good position at the top of their backswing. Common mistakes include (1) too much rotation of the forearms on the way back and (2) too much rotation of

the body and (3) getting the shaft in plane but not the clubface. The Axe Drill™ will help you develop a correct feel for the initial ‘setting’ of the wrists and the arms on the correct plane in the backswing. From this position it is relatively straightforward to then complete a good backswing. From a powerful position at the top, this exercise helps you to get into a great delivery position and to exert maximum power and pressure through impact.

Remember: If your angle of attack is too shallow, you lose power and pressure. If your angle of attack is too steep, you lose power and pressure. You need to get it just right. The Axe Drill™ helps you to get it right.

From the set-up (left) simply hinge your wrists up to create this angle in the clubshaft (right|). Try to keep the upper part of each arm passive

Having now raised the club up over the head, the combination of upper body strength and wrist action has you ‘loaded’ with power

Standing in good posture, repeat the first two steps of the sequence opposite to hinge your wrists and the club up to this angle...

...then rotate your hands, forearms and the club through a full 90 degrees before aiming the toeend of the club at the back of the bucket (inset below)

The key ‘pre-set’ move that gets you ready to go A

A

To start, take up a good address position and posture. Complete your grip on the club as normal but with the clubface pointing to the ground (toe down) as you see illustrated.

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B

B

From the set up – and this without moving your arms – cock your wrists to raise the club up to waist height. The arms must remain hanging naturally in the address position.

C

C

To complete the sequence, raise your arms above your head. From here (if you so wished!) you could drive the club into the top of the bucket, just like chopping a log. You only need do this once to appreciate the tremendous source of power generated by this movement.

The exercise you see me demonstrating here is essentially designed to help better players get the feeling of the correct wrist and forearm action in the golf swing that delivers the maximum pressure and power on the back of the ball at impact. I strongly advise you to view the video of me rehearsing this drill at the magazine’s website (www.golfinternationalmag.com) to further enhance your understanding of it. The key to getting it right is to pre-set the hands/wrists and the club before making the swing. Those of you who follow Henrik Stenson will have noticed that he repeats this exercise regularly out on the course during a tournament. This is how it works: • Assume the same starting position as in figure A opposite (i.e. with the toe of the club pointing downwards • Hinge your wrists to angle the club up (as per figure B opposite – and repeated above). Then rotate your hands, forearms and the club through fully 90 degrees to your right. As you do this, try as best you can to keep your upper arms ‘quiet’ and hanging naturally; do not straighten or tense them. Looking down, you should now see the top of your left forearm and the inside of your right forearm (above right). • Now, having effectively ‘pre-set’ the wrist and forearm position that I want you to achieve, aim the toe-end of the club at the back of the bucket without disturbing the relative position of your hands and arms (inset right). You should now be looking down on a very strong grip (i.e. your hands turned to the right). This is the correct starting position for the Axe Drill – for the swing sequence itself, see overleaf.

The starting position: wrists/forearms pre-set for the Axe Drill proper – see overleaf

Gi // THE BEST INSTRUCTION ON THE PLANET 31

BEST INSTRUCTION

ON THE PLANET

The Axe Drill continued… • To make the first move in the swing, simply encourage your right elbow to fold naturally as you begin to rotate your shoulders. As a result of you assuming that distinct starting position, the right elbow is inclined to fold away, and doing this will will get the club to halfway (1). • From halfway back, complete your turn in a co-ordinated fashion, allowing your right arm to continue to fold as your left shoulder turns under your chin (2). [Remember, keeping the chin and knee levels constant throughout will help you to swing in balance – one of the vital keys to power and consistency.] • From this great-looking backswing position, you are now ready to unleash the power you have created: allow your arms/body to unwind together towards the target. In a great delivery position (3), you can now co-ordinate the turning of the lower body with the correct rotation of the forearms and the ‘release’ of the clubhead for impact. • And here’s the secret to this drill (as I hope you can identify in my impact position): via the correct release of the wrists and forearms, you return the club to the bucket in this toedown position – i.e. you want the back of club to make contact with the bucket (not the toeend as per the starting position). This latter point really is key in helping you to deliver the club to the ball correctly in your swing proper. The feeling you need to develop is one where your lower body rotates as your forearms release into the ball. The forearms then extend down the target line as your lower body completes its rotation and the upper body starts to open up. [Note: If you incorrectly attempt to return the club to its original starting position – i.e. returning the toe-end into the bucket – you will experience a totally different series of sensations as you unwind to impact. Almost certainly you will sense that your weight is going backwards with your arms working on the inside towards the target. You will not be able to ‘sequence’ your delivery correctly and it will feel like either your lower body or the clubface is racing ahead of the other through impact.] When I work with tour players I ask them to try to experience the wrong delivery position (i.e. the one that returns the toe-end of the club to the bucket), and this very quickly highlights the subtle differences in the movement of the lower body and the forearms through impact. Try it for yourself. Once you can feel this difference, stop, and do not practice the incorrect movement again! Now you are ready to practice the Axe Drill correctly on a daily basis. A couple of minutes a day doing this will help you develop a much more dynamic, ‘on plane’ swing, one that will enable you to deliver maximum power to the ball through impact.

From the starting position, let the right elbow fold away to get to halfway back

1

2

3

4

As you unwind the arms and the body ‘together’ to this delivery position, the toe of the club should be pointing at the ground

Great backswing position, the left shoulder turned fully under the chin

Correct hand/ forearm action in the release then delivers the back of the clubhead into the bucket

ATTITUDE – PLAY

ON THE COURSE

Once you have worked on your swing you need to let it all flow. People talk a lot about ‘rhythm’. According to the Oxford English dictionary, ‘rhythm’ = ‘regular movement or pattern’. With ‘routine’ defined similarly as, ‘activities done regularly’ it is easy to understand how developing a good routine will give you good rhythm.

When you are playing golf, resist the temptation to get angry with yourself. If things are not going your way, anger will only be detrimental to you and your performance. In my opinion anger is a three stage emotion which begins with irritation (e.g. missing two short putts); is followed by frustration (more missed putts!); finally resulting in anger. Do not get angry with your golf game. Get curious. Where have all the putts missed? Left or right? Was distance control the problem? Start asking pertinent questions and you will find the specific answers to the problem...and stop the anger. Resisting anger will allow you to say to yourself at the end of the round, “That was the best score that I could have made today, because I tried on every shot”. If you can say that after every round you play then you will have good attitude. As a final thought, remember that the road to success is always under construction, but with good attitude you will always keep improving.

Remember, golf is a game of constants and repetition. If your preshot routine is inconsistent it will result in inconsistent swings. GOOD HABITS... • A sound pre-shot routine will promote positive mental attitude • Allow you to focus on each individual shot • Ensure good fundamentals at address • Promote good tempo and rhythm “It is impossible to hit good shots all of the time, but you can COMMIT to hitting good shots all of the time”.

© Peter Cowen Golf Academy 2007. 32 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM JAN/FEB 2010