The Basic Golf Swing

The basic golf swing is a creation of a circle around a fixed point. Like when drawing a circle with a compass the radius will remain the same if the center point is not moved. If the circle is vertical the lowest point is directly below the center point. In the golf circle the lowest point would be the ground.

The following will describe how that circle is altered in the golf swing.

In the design of golf clubs, there is an angle between the shaft and the club head. This is a requirement stated in the rules of golf. There is a tolerance allowed in determining this angle. Because of this angle a true vertical circle is not practical. So the circle in golf's basic swing is tilted. The angle of the shaft and the club head determines (but won't change) the tilt of the circle but it could determine a players posture. The process of optimizing this criteria is called club fitting. Analyzing that process will be discussed at a different time. For now we will remain with the basic circle.

In the opening paragraph a description of maintaining the radius of the circle was mentioned. What was not mentioned was how this radius is created. The two elements of creating the radius is the club length and the arms of the player. The lead arm, (left for right handed players and right arm for left handed players), must remain extended until well after the club head has reached the bottom of the circle in order to maintain the radius. This is relevant both on the back swing and the down swing.

How the basic golf swing circle is altered:

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  The radius of the circle remains constant until a natural cocking of the wrist occurs. The radius is then reduced. This usually happens between the mid point and the top of the back swing.
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  Because the wrist cock is not released at the beginning of the down swing and elliptical circle will be created.
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  The elliptical circle is maintained in the down swing until centrifugal force and gravity forces the wrists to release.
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  The wrist release will allow the forward arm and the shaft to re-align themselves to the original radius throughout the completion of the swing.

Although in the golf swing slight variances occur, (like tilting of the spine which moves the bottom of the circle forward slightly), all the swing consists of is a circle with the head being the center point.

Dale Bartlett, PGA Member,: author and golf instructor. To check out other golf related articles go to http://dbart5.blogspot.com/