Virginia Golfer Nov / Dec 2017 | Page 38

Instruction Swing Into Winter Use the offseason to work on your swing technique W by FERNANDO MARTINEZ inter may be best time to develop a better golf swing. However, we must first understand our own swing before we can correctly begin to develop a better one. First of all, one swing does not work for all players. Everyone has their own little idiosyncrasies in how they go about striking a golf ball. Interestingly, though, what a player thought they should do the day they first picked up a club can be the reason they currently have problems with their swing. We must first clearly identify the faults that are most notable on any given player. There are at least four faults we must identify in detail to help you understand which issue might be the one plaguing you. FAULT 1: GRIP PRESSURE Your grip might be excessive on the club, and you have never noticed the degree to which it has been hurting your game. When you first started to play, to take the club back, you primarily used your hands instead of getting help from the shoulders. Every time you use your hands to take the club back to start your swing, you are pulling away from the shoulder joint, stretching tendons and ligaments, causing more and more tight- ness in your hands. The fix? Rotating your body, taking the hands and arms back together. When you rotate the body to help take the club back, you no longer pull the hands and arms away from the shoulder 2 PROPER TAKEAWAY EARLY ROTATION PROPER DOWNSWING ANGLE Rotating your body to take the club back makes for a looser grip, allowing for better clubhead speed and control. 36 V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 17 vsga.org 1