FROM TEE TO GREEN
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Build a Good Takeaway for a Great Golf Swing
f your first movements are wrong you can be almost sure to produce a bad swing! A good grip and a solid athletic setup are the foundation of a good golf swing. Everything you are doing right before you are starting your swing you don’t have to correct during the swing. That’s why a proper start is one of the most important keys to longer and straighter shots. There are many ways to mess your swing up early. The most common fault you can find with many golfers is when they take away their club too much to the inside too fast. This is especially true if you are coming from the outside with an open clubface – slicing the ball. It’s somewhat counter-intuitive but if you want to come more from the inside you must take your club away on a proper target line. This means that you must take your club back on a line that may be straighter than your think. You should also move the club upwards earlier than you think during your backswing to keep the club on the proper arch.
By Dean Sklar, PGA Professional
A takeaway that is early to the inside forces you to pick up your arms and club steeply to get them in the air somewhat after your takeaway. This does not only suppress a proper turn of your upper body but usually leads to a downswing that is coming from out to in into the ball leading to ugly sliced and pulled shots. This is also true if you are using your hands too much during your takeaway. The first movements of your swing are essential because your tempo and swing path ultimately result from your takeaway. Here’s what you need to focus on: Take your club away straight back along your target line the first couple of feet. The club should be slightly inside of the ball but outside of your hand-line. Take a closer look at the image. Try to think about your hands and shoulders forming a triangle that you want to move with
the big muscles of your back and shoulders. Don’t break your triangle before you’ve reached your right leg. To accomplish this, focus on moving the grip of your golf club and not your clubhead. If you move the grip and your hands towards your right thigh, the clubhead should stay outside of your hands, which is the proper path. If you keep the club and your hands, upper body and shoulders steady as one unit, you will move the clubhead on the proper swing path. Put a golf ball a foot behind the ball you want to play. Two feet behind that second ball put your bucket. You should now be able let the second ball roll softly into the bucket with your takeaway. If the rolling ball is moving the bucket you are moving back too fast. If you don’t move the second ball at all, you are missing the proper line with your takeaway. Always seek the advice of your local PGA Professional whenever you want to improve your golf game and to have more fun.
⊲ PGA Professional Dean Sklar is a member
of the Quarter Century Club of the PGA of America, an elite group of members who have served the PGA with honor and pride for 25 years. If you would like to talk to Dean about your golf game, contact him at Dean.Sklar@FloridaMoves.com or the Rose and Dean Sklar Real Estate Group at Coldwell Banker, 1760 Bell Tower Lane in Weston, 954-389-6197, or online at www.WestonFloridaUSA.com.
62 / Our City Weston / February 2021 / OurCityMedia.com
