Know Your Destination

 

The correct impact and release

Let’s say you are going on a trip, and your destination is Busan. This destination will then determine the route you follow.  But on a different day, your destination is Incheon. You will naturally follow a different routine.  You have to know your destination in order to take the correct route.  In a golf swing, your destination is an impact position that creates an accurate shot, with enough speed to go the required distance.  When most players work on their swing, they work on the routine taken to get to impact, move away, top of backswing, transition from backswing to downswing etc.  In many situations this can help a player improve, but sometimes, if a players does not know their destination, (what is good impact) they can take the wrong routine!

I have seen so many times when a players becomes more aware of the correct impact position, and perhaps the correct release just after impact that many other aspects improve earlier in the swing.  They knew their destination, and as a result, the correct route was taken.   So that’s what I am going to educate you on in this article, where you want to be at impact, and just after impact, and I am confident in saying that by understanding this, you will see an improvement in the route your club took to get to impact.

Impact

• Your posture with irons will be in a similar posture to what it was at address.
• Your shoulders are slightly open to the target.  Your hips are more open to target.
• Your weigh is 80% on your left foot (perhaps a little towards the heel), with the right foot rolled towards the target. A key point of this is that the heel of your right foot is leading the toe.
• Your left arm is connected to your chest with your left wrist flat, and your right wrist slightly cupped.
• Your spine is tilted a little away from the target.

Post Impact

• • From impact, your shoulders will continue to turn, controlling the movement of your arms, club, and clubface. If done correctly, your arms, club, and clubhead will travel around your body to the left of the target.
  • Contrary to what many believe, your right hand does not start to roll over your left. If your clubface remains square, your right hand will remain underneath your left hand, as your left wrist extents slightly (angle in the back of your left wrist appearing).

  Drill – Core Flick

  A great way to get a feeling for impact, and post impact is to do the drill “Core Flick”

  • Set up to the ball and create the correct impact position.
  • Now, try and flick the ball forward.  You should feel like you are really engaging your core to do this.
  • As you flick the ball, move into the correct post impact position, arms connected to your body, club traveling around to the left, right wrist feeling underneath your left wrist.

You should now have a clear understanding of your destination, and a feel for the correct movement.  When you hit full shots, simply try and arrive at that destination with the same feel at impact and post impact as you have developed from the drill.  You can only improve!