James Douglas Edgar on "The Movement"

There's a good chance you don't recognize J. Douglas Edgar's name, but his work is foundational to much modern instruction and it's likely you've heard him mentioned on some of GC's instructional shows. You can check out some of Edgar's fascinating history at his Wikipedia page; I'll just mention that he still holds the record for the largest margin of victory at a PGA Tour event -- 16 strokes at the 1919 Canadian Open.

It's also likely that you've never heard of his slender book The Gate to Golf. Fortunately for you, I have a copy and today's quote comes from it.



I'll tell you what "The Movement" is in a moment. But here is Edgar's rationale behind his enthusiasm for it:

The manner in which the club-head meets the ball is the essential part of the golf swing. It is in the two or three feet immediately before and after impact where the real business takes place; it is there that the master-stroke is made and the duffer's shot marred, and it is to this part of the swing that I am referring when I speak of the movement.

It is not the position of the hands, wrists, elbows, body, etc., at the top of the swing that makes the shot, nor is it a wonderful follow through. It must not be concluded, however, that the position of body and hands at the top fo the swing is of no account. On the contrary, it is a matter of considerable importance, for only an artist can be hopelessly wrong at the top and yet be able to adjust himself in time. But what I do want the reader to remember is that though the position at the top is important, far, far more essential is the movement.

However fine golf may be for the few lucky natural golfers, I think that for those who have acquired the movement -- and all can certainly do so by exercising self-control and by practice -- golf is intoxicating. It has the exhilarating effect of champagne, without the after-effects. [p18]

You probably recognized a number of things in that quote that are part of modern teaching, especially the emphasis on the impact area. Edgar goes on to say that:

While addressing the ball, the player should have the feeling of being about to throw the ball to its destination, and not to lift it there. In his backward swing he should get the feeling of throwing the club round the right hip; also, he should not be afraid of letting his body go well round also. [p21]

The following photo is taken from the book, and it will go a long way toward helping you understand why modern instruction so often seems contradictory. You see, "The Movement" simply means you hit the ball from the inside, and this photo shows two things.

The first is that while we describe Hogan as having a flat plane, Hogan is positively upright compared to Edgar. Look at how far his hands are below his shoulders at the top of his backswing! This is the swing of players like Paul Azinger and Rosie Jones, both players who -- though not the longest of players -- are incredibly accurate ballstrikers.



And the second thing? Look at those dark blocks around the golf ball. They create the gate in the book's title. They are the aid that helps you learn to hit the ball from the inside. I'm sure you recognize the layout -- you see them used by almost every instructor from Martin Hall to Michael Breed.

As for his remark about throwing the ball to the target, that was his way of teaching the use of the hands and wrists at impact.

As I said, Edgar's book is foundational to modern teaching. And the basic idea is applicable to almost any swing method, whether your swing is flat or upright. But I think I'd try to get my hands higher than Edgar teaches. You can be very accurate that way but you won't hit the ball as far as you'd like.

Matt Kuchar's Swing: The Anti-Spieth Approach

Since Matt Kuchar and Jordan Spieth are the main contenders in today's final round at The Open -- and I looked at Jordan's swing a couple of days back -- I thought it might be fun to take a quick look at Matt's swing. The photo below comes from a Golf Digest sequence of Matt's swing from 2010 (I think) but it's still accurate.



Now THAT is a flat swing plane! The difference between Kuchar and Spieth is even more dramatic when you consider that Matt is 6'4" and Jordan 6'1", a difference of only three inches. I chose this angle because it makes the flatness of Matt's swing very clear. (The photos from his other side look just as flat, but seeing it from his back seems clearer to me.)

As with most swings, there are good and bad points to this type of swing. Here's a short summary.

A swing this flat requires you to drive your legs pretty hard to make sure you get your lead hip out of the way. Otherwise, you'd tend to "get stuck" and push your shots. Your clubface isn't on the target line very long, so it can be a bit tricky to hit the ball on line consistently. And if you miss the fairway, you'll have a much shallower approach into the ball. That could make it harder to get the ball up and out of the rough.

But there are also definite benefits to this swing, which Matt may take advantage of today. If the winds get up as expected, Matt's lower swing plane may help him stay more steady during his swing. His flatter plane will automatically launch the ball on a lower trajectory, which should minimize the wind's effect on his shots. And the lower launch angle should give him more run on the links fairways, which helps offset his need to keep the ball low.

Matt starts the day three shots behind Jordan and, unless they mess up, the rest of the field will have trouble chasing them down. If the wind gets up as expected and Matt can keep his ball in the short grass, he just might grab his first major win today.

A Lesson from George Knudson (Video)

Actually, I have two videos. I found these on YouTube, from an old teaching DVD by George Knudson called The Swing Motion. Since Knudson is one of Canada's legends and this is RBC Canadian Open week, I thought you all might like to hear some of Knudson's beliefs about the golf swing.

The first video is on this YouTube page, and the second video is on this YouTube page. (Just in case the videos don't show up in this post for some reason.) They're both very short.





Although Knudson was a Hogan fan and most teachers compare his swing to Ben Hogan's, I think Knudson's approach was much simpler than Hogan's. I actually think it's closer to Bobby Jones than Hogan. He approached the swing more like the old hickory shaft players, in that he focused on centrifugal force rather than power to create clubhead speed.

You've got to love this: He says he divides the swing motion into two general categories -- voluntary actions you have to learn, and involuntary actions which happen naturally. (That's something Jones talked about as well. I quoted him saying almost the same thing in this post.)

And here's something you don't often hear nowadays: If you watch the slo-mo part of the first video closely, you'll see that he lowers his head and shoulders slightly during his backswing, then stays down in that position until the ball is struck. It's easiest to see in the "down-the-line from the front" view against the black & white grid. (Most modern players lower themselves during the downswing.) This helped him hit the ball solidly, because he wasn't changing height and trying to create clubhead speed at the same time.

You can also see how flat his swing is; his lead arm is actually slightly below his trailing shoulder at the top of his backswing. This makes his swing appear very short, and makes it feel a bit like swinging a very light baseball bat. (He actually takes the club back more to the inside to start his backswing, rather than a one-piece takeaway. Then he moves upward slightly, above his backswing plane, when he changes direction at the top. Those are more reasons his swing reminds me of Jones.) It's a very rotary action, and he creates it by bracing his trailing leg during the backswing. You can see that clearly in the face-on view against the black & white grid.

And here are a couple more points that are keys in his swing:

• There is no talk about keeping the head down. He says the head does nothing during the swing except rotate around with the body.
• And he divides the swing into two simple motions, back and through. He rolls his ankles on the backswing and downswing (that's the bit about the ankles being pivot points). This is probably why he also lowers his upper body during the backswing.

There is absolutely no talk about driving the lower body. HE DOESN'T NEED TO! If you brace your trailing leg during your backswing the way Knudson does, there's no way to avoid a forward weight shift during your downswing.

All-in-all, it's a very simple approach to the golf swing.

For those of you who want to see it, here's the Amazon link to Knudson's book The Natural Golf Swing. The DVD is out of print, although you can find it through the used book channels.

Which Is More Important... Swing Path or Clubface Angle?

Lately I've been seeing more commercials for training aids that focus on your plane. I won't name them, and I'm not saying that they're of no use. But amazing claims are being made for some of them -- how much they will help your game, that is -- and I'm shocked at just how little thought is being given to what's really important in a golf swing.

In this post I want to focus on what will improve your game more quickly than this obsession with plane.

While there are a number of variables that can affect ball flight and shot shape, the most important are swing path and clubface angle. Swing path is the primary source of sidespin on the ball, and clubface angle is the primary source of aim.

And it really bugs me that so much emphasis is being placed on swing path, which is basically the same as your plane, and so little on clubface angle. Think about this for a moment:

• When you see a pro hit a double cross -- they mean to hit a fade but end up hitting a pull-hook -- the problem is clubface angle, not plane.
• When you see a pro get stuck -- they swing the club on too much of an in-to-out path -- and they either push-slice the ball or snap-hook it, the problem is still clubface angle more than plane. I'll explain this apparent contradiction in a moment.

In both cases, had the clubface been aimed properly at impact, the ball would have likely ended up somewhere close to the pro's intended target. Why is this so?

As I said, the swing path creates sidespin. BUT -- and this is important -- regardless of which way the ball is spinning, whether the ball is hooking, slicing, or flying straight, the ball will always land on a line straight in front of where the clubface is aimed. After the ball hits the ground, the sidespin will cause it to bounce in the direction the ball is spinning -- for example, a hooking ball will get a "ground hook". But unless you've put a huge amount of sidespin on the ball, it won't hook too dramatically after it hits the ground.

In the double cross, the swing path is the same for the correct swing as for the faulty swing. But since the clubface is closed relative to the flight path, the ball hooks. Had the clubface been properly aimed at the target, it would have been OPEN relative to the flight path and the ball would have sliced.

And while the plane is incorrect when the pro gets stuck -- the pro made an in-to-out swing when he or she intended a straight or out-to-in path -- the ball would have flown toward the target if the clubface had been aimed correctly. If the ball was a push-slice, the face was open relative to the target line; if the ball was a snap-hook, the face was closed relative to the target line.

So I think that when you make a shot, your primary goal should be to make sure the clubface is aimed where you want the ball to land. When the ball hits the ground it will bounce in the direction of its sidespin, so you want to allow for the ball to bounce that way after it hits. If you mean to hit a fade but your swing path is wrong and you end up hitting a draw, the ball will still hit the ground where you planned if your clubface is aimed correctly. The ball will just move a little farther sideways away from the pin than you intended... but it should still be in play.

I did a post on clubface awareness a couple of months back, and I included a video from Martin Hall where he explained clubface awareness. Here's a still I snagged from that video, where Martin put a glove on his trailing hand and drew a clubface to help you imagine where the face was pointing and how you should move your hand to get the face square to your target.



How do you improve your clubface awareness? My suggestion is to practice it on the range. Start with a chipping stroke -- no wrist cock. Take the club back so the shaft is parallel with the ground, then try to square the clubface at impact. Don't make a huge exaggeration with your swing; I'd suggest trying to get the clubface square about six inches before impact, and try to keep it square until it's about three inches past the ball.

A quick side note: I'm not crazy. That's only nine inches, and I know you won't be able to be that exact. But that's enough to get you thinking about squaring the clubface without altering your swing in some bizarre way. Unless you've been twisting your forearms a lot when you swing, this should be enough to get you "thinking square." If you HAVE been twisting your forearms too much, this should help you quiet them down.

Now, as I was saying, start with a chipping stroke. Once you can do that pretty well, add a little bit of wrist cock. DON'T make the swing longer, just add a little wrist cock. When you can hit that pretty well, make your full wrist cock on this short swing. Are you with me so far?

When you can hit that short shot pretty well -- and try mixing up your practice, with varying amounts of wrist cock -- when you can hit that shot pretty well, try a longer chipping backswing (maybe with your forearms parallel to the ground) without any wrist cock. Work through all three levels of wrist cock with this backswing.

Then try all three levels of wrist cock at a three-quarter swing. Once you get that trio of shots down, you should be able to make reasonably square contact with a full swing.

REMEMBER: If you want to really improve your shotmaking, then you want to work on getting your clubface square at impact. If you want, you can work on your plane also; there's nothing wrong with that. But time spent developing clubface awareness will give you quicker results in less time.

More on Wrist Cock and Swing Plane

In some ways I suppose this post could be called The Bent Trailing Elbow Drill, Part 9 since it adds some thoughts to that series. But this is some general info that can help all of you, no matter what your swing looks like.

This post is about how your swing plane can affect how your wrists cock and uncock during your downswing. How you think about your swing has a lot to do with your mechanics and how well -- or how badly -- you manage to keep your swing working.

I spent a fair amount of time talking about wrist cock in the elbow posts. I divided wrist cock into two parts:

• The first was sidecock, the wrist movement you use if you make a karate chop with the side of your hand.
• The other I dubbed backcock, where the back of your hand hinges toward your forearm.

I also talked some about downcock, a term most instructors use to describe wrist cock that happens during the downswing, after the change of direction. I said that we tend to think of it only in terms of sidecock, but backcock is actually a very important part of the action. Because of that, the place of sidecock in a swing is a bit difficult for most weekend players to get a handle on.

One of the reasons sidecock is a challenge has to do with your swing plane. Most of you know that your swing plane can be either flat or upright -- Dufner has a flattish swing while Bubba's is wildly upright, for example. If you're somewhere in the middle, teachers will often refer to that swing as a neutral swing.

But the part of your swing from around waist high down to the ball -- the impact zone -- acts pretty much the same no matter what your plane looks like. And that probably needs some explanation.

Here's the picture of HaNa Jang that I used in a lot of the elbow posts, showing her as she enters the impact zone:



At this point, your wrist cock is mostly backcock. Backcock is the easiest way to chip, which is the way Pete Cowen, one of the top instructors on the planet, teaches chipping. This post included a video where he demonstrates the technique. And as you swing back to the position where HaNa Jang is in the photo, you bend your trailing elbow and that brings your backcocked wrist up into the position she's in.

Is that clear so far? No matter how flat or upright your plane is, at impact you're still swinging the club out away from your body as you turn and shift your weight to your lead foot, so you get the same basic rotary motion regardless of your swing plane. The distance your club travels in the impact zone is pretty much the same for an upright or a flat plane.

However, it's different with the upper part of your downswing, depending on how flat or upright your swing plane is.

• In a flat swing, the down part is roughly the same as the around part. That is, you travel downward very close to the same amount you're moving toward the ball in a flat swing. Because of that, backcock is responsible for a lot more in a flat swing. A good example of this is a two-handed tennis forehand, where it's all backcock and there's no sidecock at all, simply because your arms travel parallel to the ground throughout the stroke. 
• But an upright swing travels more down than around. Because of that, you create a lot more sidecock in the upper part of your swing. The backcock becomes most pronounced as you near the impact zone, simply because the momentum of the clubhead tries to stay on the plane as you come down. You try to turn, the momentum resists, and your trailing wrist bends backward more as your body turns to face the ball. Otherwise the club would ALWAYS come over-the-top on the way down.

My point here is that sidecock plays a much bigger part in an upright swing than in a flat swing. This may be why many instructors believe an upright swing creates more power than a flat swing, but it's also why it's harder to square the clubface with an upright swing than a flat swing. The flat swing primarily uses backcock so there's very little rotation involved when you square the face. But in the upright swing, it feels like you need to twist your wrists in order to square the face.

In the elbow series I focused on a flatter plane swing -- which most modern instruction also teaches, so most of you are probably more familiar with it -- because the swing is simpler to understand. I have an upright swing so, although I use a lot of backcock in the swing, I use a lot of sidecock as well. But my understanding of my swing -- my swing image, if you will -- uses lead shoulder rotation (which I talked about in the first few elbow posts) to smooth out the transition from mostly sidecock to mostly backcock during the downswing. That's a lot more difficult to explain in blog posts although the drills would help you create the move, even if you didn't understand it.

The purpose of this post is much simpler. I just want you to understand that, if you have an upright swing and you're having trouble getting backcock early in your downswing, there's nothing wrong with you. But you should be able to use backcock in the impact zone with little or no trouble. If you're having a problem there, it's just a matter of understanding how your hands and wrists work during impact, and working with the drills in the elbow series will help you develop that understanding by "digging it out of the dirt", as Hogan would say.

I hope that clears up any problems you might have. As usual, you can post questions in the comment section and I'll try to answer them.

Chris O'Connell's Three Swing Fundamentals

Chris O'Connell's students include Matt Kuchar and Scott Piercy, and he was GC's Golf Channel Academy Coach of the Week this past week. Here's a quick video he did with three basics he feels all golfers should know. (Hey, he said beginning golfers but fundamentals are the same at every level!)



Three very simple basics:

1. Grip the club primarily in your fingers, not your palms. Some instructors differ on exactly what this means. Some swing methods put the club more in the palms, like the Natural Golf method (the one based on Moe Norman's swing). Some want the club cradled diagonally across the palm and fingers (the butt end is more under the heel pad), which is more Hoganesque. O'Connell puts it mostly in the fingers; there's a very clear view at the :18 second mark.
2. Your swing plane shouldn't be too upright or too flat. Note that he doesn't give you a specific angle that it should be, although I'm sure he has a specific plane he looks for in his pupils. (He teaches the Plane Truth method a la Jim Hardy.) But the fundamental is to avoid extremes. His 'ferris wheel / merry-go-round' image is pretty cool.
3. Finish with your weight on your lead foot. Again, note that he doesn't give any particulars about how to move your lower body here. He just wants you to make a forward weight shift -- that is, move from your trailing foot to your lead foot during your downswing -- so you don't fall backward when you swing. You make better contact with the ball this way.

These are dirt-simple basics that allow for a lot of different types of swings among players, but it's amazing how often swing problems are the result of not following one of these fundamentals.

Keep it simple, folks. Always check your basics first when something goes wrong in your swing, and you'll find it's easier to keep your swing working correctly.

Johnny Miller on Flat Swings

One of my requirements for a good swing is that it doesn't hurt your back. It seems that more and more players are developing back problems these days.



Johnny Miller played "back in the day" when high hands and upright swings -- and reverse-C finishes -- were the way to play. But Johnny says that's no longer the case, and he did an article and video for golf.com explaining why it's changed and how to make the change to a flatter swing if you want to see how it works.

Johnny notes that the most accurate players have tended to have flat swings (a la Jim Hardy's one-plane swing) -- even back in the 1980s -- and such swings allow you to turn through the shot faster without hurting your back. If you're thinking about changing your swing, this might be something you'd want to consider.

You'll still hear instructors recommending high hands if you want to get more distance with your swing, but the flatter swings of Matt Kuchar and Zach Johnson aren't all that short. This article and video are short. Give them a quick look. Johnny demonstrates the swing near the end of the video.

Playing a Sidehill Downhill Lie

I found this neat video over at golftipsmag.com. PGA teaching pro Jeff Johnson left this video with a very simple tip to improve your shots from a sidehill lie.



This is really simple, folks; it's all about posture. While this lie requires you to bend your knees a bit more -- so you can get down closer to the ball -- you have to make sure that you don't "sit back" into the hill too much. If you do, you'll end up swinging too flat, too much along the line of the slope, and that will make it hard to get the ball up in the air. If you don't get it up in the air, you aren't going to hit it very far!

On the other hand, you don't have to lean toward the ball so much that you lose your balance. Just make sure that you lean forward enough to get an upright swing. That's how you dig down and make solid contact with the ball.

Don't forget that the ball is going to curve down along the side of the slope. (That's a slice, no matter whether you're a leftie or a rightie. They included a trace of the ball's flight near the end of the video. See how much it curved?) You'll probably need to aim more uphill so the ball doesn't curve into even worse trouble.

The Swing of the Birthday Boy

Today Arnold Palmer turns 84. It's hard to believe, isn't it? In honor of the King's birthday, I've decided to post this video by teaching pro Brian Manzella that shows what he believes are the 3 keys to Palmer's power.



Unlike Brian, I wouldn't recommend copying this swing. It's not because I think it's a bad one -- I don't --but this isn't the kind of swing that most people do naturally. If you narrowed Arnie's stance, it would look remarkably like the swing of another legendary player, Bobby Jones. (Not the helicopter finish, of course, but the rest of it is amazingly close.)

• The takeaway creates a loopy over-the-top backswing that never really gets over-the-top because the loop is so flat. (I tried to copy the Jones swing early in my golf career. It felt really cramped to me so I ended up going high and over-the-top. That's bad news!)
• The straight trailing leg requires a dramatic hip move to create club head speed. (That hip move might work for you as long as you don't get your upper body too tilted. That straight trailing knee is more likely to reduce your hip turn than increase it, though, and could result in a reverse pivot.)
• And that "full release" can easily result in a duck hook if your timing is off. (If you uncock your wrists too early, you may hit the ball thin and lose distance. If you uncock them too late, you may hit push-slices.)

This swing worked so well for Arnold Palmer because Arnie "owned" it. It was natural to him. Unless you're as athletic as Arnie was, you're unlikely to get the same results. But there is one thing I think you can definitely learn from this swing...

The greatest players take the fundamentals of the swing and make them their own. There will never be another Arnold Palmer... and that's why he's one of the greatest ever. HAPPY 84TH BIRTHDAY, ARNIE!

Martin Hall on Jack Nicklaus

On School of Golf Wednesday night, Martin Hall focused on how Jack Nicklaus played the game. (Not unlike what I did in Tuesday's post.) This clip is the "extra" that gets posted on GC's site with extra material not on the show.

There are a couple of tips on this one, but I want to focus on the first one concerning swing plane. How do you make sure you have a swing plane that lets you hit the golf ball straight?



Just to sum up the tip, make sure that your position at the top of your backswing and your position at the top of your finish match.

• If you have a flat backswing and an upright finish, your plane is set up to push the ball.
• If you have an upright backswing and a flat finish, your plane is set up to pull the ball
• But if the two match, you have a swing plane that's aimed down your target line.

Simple enough, eh?

I did want to mention one thing Martin talked about near the end of the broadcast that may help you all understand why the things I say on this blog sometimes sound very different from what you hear other instructors say... although I insist that I'm not teaching anything different.

Martin said that Jack told him the secret to hitting a predictable slice was: He made sure that the palm of his trailing hand pointed at the sky when he reached waist high after impact. Martin said he told Jack that he had plenty of video showing Jack hitting shots and his palm NEVER pointed at the sky. And do you know what Jack told him?

"I don't care what your video shows. I know what I feel."

Jack was using the same principle I use when I post instruction on this blog and in my books. Jack wasn't actually twisting his hand so his palm faced up. Rather, he was making sure he didn't flip his hands at impact... and he did that by feeling that his palm faced up. It wouldn't have been as effective if he had merely tried not to flip his hands, because it's always easier to DO something than to NOT DO something.

That's what I do in my instruction. I want you to feel that you're doing something else, something that will prevent you from doing the wrong thing.

A classic example: I teach you to not to twist your forearms during your backswing by telling you to feel as if the club shaft points straight up in the air when you cock your wrists at waist high during your backswing. The shaft won't actually point straight up when you make your normal swing -- there are physical laws that determine where a swinging shaft points, especially with all the angles in your posture and with the bend you create in your trailing elbow. But the effort keeps you from twisting your forearms -- and therefore the club shaft -- incorrectly and therefore interfering with the natural motion of the club.

If it's good enough for the Golden Bear, it's good enough for the rest of us.

In case you can't run the video from the player above, use this link.

Lee Smacks a Tree

Yes, this is an instructional post. I know it sounds like a crazy idea since nobody wants to smack a tree, but it may help you understand what terms like "laying off the club," "dropping the club into the slot," and "two-plane swing" mean.

On Saturday Lee Westwood hit a bad drive on the first hole at TPC Sawgrass. It ended up against a tree and Lee tried to manufacture a swing that would let him reach the green in regulation. Here's the footage -- it shows the real time swing (hitting the tree made him completely miss the ball), followed by a slo-mo of the swing, then the chip out he had to settle for:



Lee looks to be in good shape on the backswing, and if he had a "one-plane swing" he'd have been fine since the club would have come down on the same path (or if you prefer, plane) that he took it back.

Here's where it can get confusing. When most people hear the term "two-plane swing" they immediately assume that, on the downswing, the player's hands drop down below the backswing plane. This results in a flatter downswing plane and in many cases that's exactly what happens. But if you place your mouse pointer over Lee's hands as they reach shoulder height, you'll see that his hands retrace the same path on the way down...

But the club head doesn't. You see, there's a second way to create a flatter downswing plane. Instead of dropping his hands, Lee merely pulls his trailing elbow in closer to his side on the way down. When he does, it changes where the shaft of the club is pointing -- from up over his shoulder to behind his back -- and that makes the head of the club swing in a loop behind him.

If you check his elbow position when his hands are at shoulder level on the backswing and then compare his elbow position when his hands reach shoulder level on the downswing, you can see quite a difference. Here, I've snagged stills from the video and marked the shaft in red. Compare his elbow positions to the white waistband of his pants:



See the difference? Although his elbow is blurry in the downswing, you can clearly see that it's lower in the downswing photo than it is in the backswing photo. In essence, Lee has flattened his backswing by bowing his trailing (right) wrist a little bit. That's part of the reason he usually hits the ball so cleanly; that slightly bowed wrist helps him squeeze (or as some players say, trap) the ball against the ground more solidly.

Alright, let me try to sum this up so it's a bit clearer. There are two ways of flattening the downswing plane in a two-plane swing:

1. Drop your hands. You do this by dropping both elbows straight downward a bit when you start your downswing.
2. Bow your trailing wrist. You do this by dropping ONLY your trailing elbow straight downward a bit when you start your downswing. It feels like your lead arm stays in place at the top.

Both one-plane swings and two-plane swings are solid time-proven methods of swinging a club under normal conditions... but in this situation, the two-plane method cost Lee some strokes.