Golf Tip: Start Of The Downswing; Hank Haney
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 at
3:35 am
The first move down should be a transfer of your weight to your front leg from the ground up as the lower body leads the upper body Hank Haney: Listed as one of Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers Golf Digest’s #4 instructor in the world; Instructor to PGA Tour Professionals Tiger Woods and Mark O’Meara; 1993 PGA of America Teacher of the Year
Duration : 0:2:8
Tagged with: Beginner • Clubface • drill • golf • Haney • Hank • Mishits • open • Outside-In • Rotation • Steep • Tip
Filed under: Golf Swing
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
By “moving,” do you …
By “moving,” do you mean rotating? I’ve always had compliments on my swing from an early age, but I picked up some bad habits over the years.
My hips would move too far forward over the left side, and wouldn’t face open enough towards the target at impact.
I would cast the club early.. and you could see the club flip just after impact.
I have a fitting scheduled for tomorrow, so it’ll be interesting to see how much my swing has improved over the last ten years.
Recently, I have …
Recently, I have been working on keeping my lower body less active. You’ll see me out on the practice range repeating what Hank is doing to promote more of a draw, as opposed to a fade. It helps me bring the club down and through from the inside, which makes it easier for me get the hands out in front at impact.
For whatever reason, my lower body has always been too active in my swing. I would cast the club early, and add loft to the club through impact, which would result in a high fade.
I’m was usually on …
I’m was usually on the other end of that range hitting golf balls. I even played on the HS team with his stepson, but we were lucky if we could hit one or two buckets of balls a week. I guess our school (Frisco) didn’t cough up enough dough for the golf program. Must be why a few of the good golfers I knew moved to Plano to golf.
That ‘knee’ thing …
That ‘knee’ thing is in part a compensation for that 2-3 inch torso dip he performs at the beginning of his downswing. Great technique, if it doesn’t kill you! Most would do better to emulate the less idiosyncratic swings of Harrington, Langer, Mahan, O’Hair, etc.
What do golf …
What do golf instruction and high finance have in common? When they tell you its too complicated for you to understand or if at first glance it doesn’t seem to make sense, ITS BECAUSE IT REALLY DOESN’T ADD UP!
An early right arm …
An early right arm (one flinging out from the top of the backswing), extending from a right shoulder which has been ‘restrained’ for whatever reason (kept high and away from the ball) will reach its limit of extension before the clubhead reaches the ball. At that point the laws of physics take over. The clubhead, which is now moving quickly will fling itself past the hands, break-down the leading wrist and produce the biggest flip you’ve ever seen! HH must’ve mis-spoken.
A good swing isn’t …
A good swing isn’t the by-product of lag. Lag is a by-product of a good swing. It also doesn’t require great hand or arm or wrist strength to ‘hold onto your lag’ on the downswing. If that were the case, then how come some small childen can just NAIL the ball? Good torso/shoulder and arm movements will store-up and release lag at the correct points.
Finally, …That’s …
Finally, …That’s right. The right arm doesn’t ‘wing’ down from the top as HH seems to suggest, it EXTENDS from a right shoulder is steeply-pitched and has moved closer to the target line and ball than it was at the top. As the turn continues, the right arm continues to extend through impact which (along with the steep impact-zone shoulder plane) allows you to lay down a long, straight divot after the ball. R arm is fully straight after the hit. The legs only support the torso action.
HH has got to know …
HH has got to know that one of the first moves of the downswing is to start moving the torso so that the shoulders move directly from their flat plane at the top, to a steeper one (down-the-line view) nearer the ball. Getting the ‘hitting shoulder’ nearer the ball keeps the right arm from fully extending too soon, resulting in the clubhead flipping past the wrists prior to impact.
HH also didn’t …
HH also didn’t bother to address how you’re supposed to get the club from the ‘high plane’ (above the shoulders) to the low one (hitting zone) without slashing those early-moving arms across the torso on the way down, resulting in a slap, wipe, slice or shank.
I’m sure Hank Haney …
I’m sure Hank Haney has forgotten more than I’ll ever know about the golf swing, but I do know this; what Haney said about the ‘shoulders staying back’ is b.s. Starting with the ‘ends’ of the swing (happy-feet & busy arms/wrists) rather than getting the core (hips/shoulders) is the bane of the average hacker.
check out … …
check out …HITMANHAWKY..vid on grip and release…..left hand position at impact…MUST SEE….if you know Barkley please get him to watch this .vid, you can skip the first 2.15 to get to the good stuff….best lesson on the tube period…..!!!!
Stand on the …
Stand on the practice tee and watch 2000 + swings a year and then try your ideas on for size! Hank has it right for the everyday hacker trying to get better, not a skilled athlete that plays the tour. Big difference. Stop reading your PGA Teaching manual and start learning what really causes the ball to fly the way it does.
Golfers are soooo …
Golfers are soooo effin sexy!!! I love to play golf in my short skirts with no panites and bend over on the greens in front of hot older guys…SUCH a huge turn on! haha
Hit the ball.
Hit the ball.
@Mattissaved Brian …
@Mattissaved Brian drilled my dad with a golf ball on the fly with a three wood this past season… Thought I would share that…
Lag is not …
Lag is not something you strive for, it is a RESULT of the core center of your body moving to create inertia in the clubhead. every great player does this and every great player has talked about it: hogan sensed it with his core moving his arms, nicklaus in his feet and legs, nelson talked about the rocking cradle, trevino said it was his hips always moving faster than the arms, etc. if you want to read the seminal golf instruction book, read percy boomer’s book.
(I had added more …
(I had added more here–a 2 and a 3–but it didn’t post…I’ll wait to see if it does eventually, and if not I’ll retype…)
How is he “throwing …
How is he “throwing it away from the top”? Because he advocates the arms making a somewhat independent movement down and on plane while the shoulders stay “contained” or back, rather than arms being pulled by shoulders on the downswing? I’m asking because there is not a single great player in history who didn’t do this, so you must mean something else…
Sandwah–this is …
Sandwah–this is exactly what I tell people (or ask them) when they start going on about the latest revolutionary theory that’s actually been there (in balance with other elements) since the advent of the steel shaft. I just crack up at the 12-handicappers who pontificate endlessly about lag, TGM, one-plane theory, the whole nine yards, but 1) use false examples that don’t really fit the theory…
Heh…that’s pretty …
Heh…that’s pretty mean. Did you really know him then?
Sandwah9, your …
Sandwah9, your forgetting Brian Gay!
Lag, or trying to …
Lag, or trying to lag, has killed more pro golfers than any other method without exception. the golf machine is already going down in history as the biggest scam ever perpetrated on golfers. virtually NONE of the science in there is true engineering, or based on any factual physics. put it this way, if it were correct, then where are ANY of the golf machine pros? where are they??? they are now OFF the pga tour or now no longer viable. steve elkington, grant waite, bobby clampett, jodie mudd, etc
Hank the shank is …
Hank the shank is what we called him in college
Hank, you’re …
Hank, you’re confused.
You’re throwing it away from the top. Too much lag is like too much money.
Team Tiger is a wondering generality.