Winter continues in the Burgh, but a little more up and down and there would have possible been a time to play, but I am on a self imposed rest, so no play for me. Today, I am again going to lampoon golf instruction, as I googled, how does the downswing start. The answers I will list below. There are a dozen by the way. What’s interesting, it only took me 14 videos to get these 12 different answers. Now many will argue some are saying the same thing but in a different way, but I respectively disagree. I will list all twelve with my final commentary following. Here they are.
Shift your weight from the inside of the right foot to the inside of the left foot while turning the hips back to the target.
Move the lower body forward, while feeling that the left foot is driving into the ground
Feel the weight moving from the left heel to left toe while lowering the arms
Feel you are starting the downswing from the floor upwards with the left knee turning toward the target and the right knee turning toward the ball, with the hips turning toward the target
Shift the weight to the left and turn the hips toward the target at the same time, like a throwing motion of a ball
Turn the right knee towards the ball from a position where the weight is on the inside of the right foot at the top of the swing
The left leg straightening with the goal being that the right knee will touch the left knee when the swing is finished
The step drill where you step toward the target like a baseball swing that will teach you how to start the downswing
The entire lower body shifts toward the target
Laterally move the hips toward the target and then turn the body toward the target
Push up from the ground with the waist pushing through to the target first
From the top of swing work the right shoulder down
Is there any common thread here? One thing I did not mention, is about 9 out of 12 did mention that you must have a good backswing in order to make the first “correct” downswing move. Much of this does indeed have to do with movement of the lower body first. That’s about it. The two about the knees seem to be similar but they are not really. I had to be as concise as possible here and if you saw the videos they are different, with one more complicated even though they talk about the knees. Even though all of these videos were titled how to start the downswing, many I felt talked about the entire downswing and were not all that clear what the first move really was. All of this is from fairly well known instructors, that have large golf schools or written books on the subject. None of this stuff is from what I call Sam Fertilizer golf instruction. You have seen these videos, where the guy is in his back yard, the kids are running around, the dog is barking, and this guy is going to show you how to play golf. The purpose is not to critique which of the above is correct, or a better way to do the first move of the downswing. It is to show just how confusing this can be to someone trying to improve their 25 to 30 handicap or to someone trying to learn the game from scratch. No wonder people give up on it. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I am sure if I had gone through the torturous process of looking at 30 videos of how to start the downswing I would have found over 20 ways to do it. I think the point has been made. It’s a very confusing golf instructional world out there, and that is a shame. More coming soon.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 