Instruction

How To Get Your Swing On Track

November 21, 2010
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Getting In Sync: Practice rotating your arms back and through while rolling your ankles.

__JIM FLICK:__The drill I'm demonstrating above was prescribed by Jack Grout for his young pupil Jack Nicklaus. He wanted him to learn at an early age how to use his hands and arms to release the club freely and to use his lower body for stability and support.

It's also a great way to regain your swing when you've lost it on the course, because it revives the free swinging of the arms to turn the shoulders and enhances your feel. Plus, it can keep your motion in tune during the winter months: You don't need a ball or a club, so you can practice it indoors at any time.

In front of a mirror, take your address position with a narrow stance, arms relaxed and hanging naturally and hands extended so your palms represent the clubface. Swing your arms back to get your shoulders and hips turning. Allow your forearms to rotate so your hands represent an opening clubface.

As you start down by shifting your weight to your left foot, rotate your arms through to "impact." Your palms should square up so the back of your left hand faces the target. After impact, your arms should rotate so your hands represent a closing clubface.

JACK NICKLAUS: Mr. Grout had me go home without a club and just swing my arms back and forth while rolling my ankles. I'd do it for hours. It taught me to synchronize my arms and legs -- your arms won't swing correctly if your ankles don't roll.

I don't think of the golf swing as squaring the shoulders or clearing the hips or moving the body around. Golf is a game of balance, rhythm and timing, and this is the surest way I know to achieve that. This drill is tremendous for juniors, but I would start a beginning adult exactly the same way, and I still use it to this day.

FLICK, a longtime Golf Digest Teaching Professional and PGA Golf Professional Hall of Famer, worked with hundreds of amateurs and tour players including Jack Nicklaus.