The power source I would like to talk about today is the rotation of the left forearm.
Please perform this test. Take a club in your left hand only.
Cock your wrist.
Imagine the face of a clock on the ground in front of you.
Turn your left forearm to the 3 o'clock position to back again to the 9 o'clock position. See how far the clubhead moves with only the turning of your left forearm. It is a distance of approximately 2 meters! Wow - a lot of clubhead distance for only a small rotation of the forearm.
If you look at players like Steve Ballesteros and Ian Woosnam you can see how much the left forearm roll plays in their swings. The left forearm rotation allows them to really accelerate the clubhead through the ball with almost no body movement visible to the eye.
The clubhead is moving very fast but the players' body has all but stopped. This is because the players are transferring the momentum from their body turn down into their arms and allowing the left forearm to rotation strongly into the ball. However, many amateurs are totally unaware of what they are doing with the left forearm. They will rotate it clockwise in their backswing, but the FORGET to rotate it back down into the ball on the downswing. If the rotation back to the ball does not take place, a nasty slice is the result.
Or the reverse, some amateurs have found out how much acceleration they can achieve with the forearm rotation and then over-do it. With too much rotation too quickly, the clubface is too closed at impact and a duck hook is the result. So, there is a lot of power in the left forearm rotation. BUT only use it with caution. Otherwise you will be visiting the rough or out-of-bounds many more times that you might like. By the way, there is a solution to the timing of the left forearm rotation.
It is called the magic of the left thumb.
But that is a report for another day.
Until the next report.
Best regards,
John Matherly -
http://golfvideos.blogspot.com &
www.swingofchampions.com
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