How To Golf Swing Like Tiger Woods

A GOLF SWING FOR LIFE

(The Basic Move)

Introduction

I’d like to tell you about a few of my experiences so you will give full credit to the fact that you can learn to swing a golf club with accuracy – and with pride. You too can lower your scores and reduce your handicap with ease the same way I did.

My background, briefly, is this: I retired from the Royal Navy when I was 40 and ventured into various businesses. I have been a passionate and avid golfer for over 20 years. Like most golfers I wanted to start out right, I went to a professional at my local club for lessons. That was my first mistake. Believe me this book has not endeared me to many of those in the professional ranks. I now enjoy a single figure handicap since mastering the “basic move.”

This man showed me the fundamentals of the grip, exercises in chopping down trees (to this day I cannot see the connection) and all the so called fundamentals of the game. I persisted with this instructor for some time until it became apparent to me that we were not on the same wave length.

My next venture into the world of golf lessons did not fair any better. It never ceases to amaze me how complicated this game is in the eyes of the teaching professionals. Obviously, there was no meeting of minds here. There was one consistency in the lessons I had, they all kept my money.

After the golf lessons, I delved into the world of golf books, too numerous to count. I gave up that idea too, because these books just did not simplify the golf swing. They complicated it. I was near despair. But, I kept on trying – just as you have.

My next effort was to buy a videotape recorder. I figured that if I could see myself take a swing. I might see what I was doing wrong. Also, I could videotape the swings of the top golfers. Did the videotapes help? Yes, indeed! It showed me that I’d learned not one thing from the dozens and dozens of lessons I’d had. My body was moving all over the place, my arms were like windmills. But later the videotapes showed to me and confirmed to me the move which I now call the “basic move”

I was in excellent shape physically so that wasn’t a problem.

I’d never been an awkward person. I was pretty good at most of the sports I had participated in the past. I’d been fairly successful in my business which required some intelligence. So, in short I just couldn’t believe that I had neither the physical ability nor the mental makeup to learn to play this game. My most valuable experiences have been gained playing Professional-Amateur tournaments.

Observing Professionals playing first hand opened my eyes and led me to produce this book I finally started to break the “secret” of the golf swing when I went back to examining in detail the videotapes I’d made of the top touring professionals. I studied every action, every movement in slow motion, pausing and, of course, at normal speed, tapes from television broadcasts and tapes of those golfers in person – on the range and on the course.

Understand that at that particular time I was filled with thoughts of “hip turn,” “knee thrust,” “straight left arm” and everything else you, too, have heard of. Then, one morning the utter simplicity of the whole thing came to me. I had it. As soon as it was light enough to go on the course I was there. The whole, seemingly complicated move had revolved itself into one beautifully “basic move.”

That is when my score started plummeting. I could scarcely believe the golf swing could be so fantastically simple. Yet, it was. And is! You’ll find it so, too! Then I applied the same basic thinking to the short and the approach game.

The theory held up and continues to hold up. My re-examination of the videotapes proved conclusively the pro’s were using this identical principle. Even those pro’s who had written the complicated books. All these professionals were doing these things, making these moves – not as the cause but as the effect of yet another and preceding exceedingly basic move.

You know, yourself, how it is. You’re out on the course and all of a sudden you think, “This is it” and you play exceedingly well for a few holes. But the next time your “secret” falls apart. Believe me, I had the same misgivings.

However, day after day my basic move held up – and my scores dropped. Why? Because I was doing exactly and precisely what the professionals were doing. The only thing is that I am convinced they didn’t know (and still don’t know) how to easily identify this “basic move” I, immodestly, do! Before I get into details, I must ask you to please forget all the nonsense you have heard about “hip shift,” “knee thrust,” “straight left arm,” and all the myriad other things the professionals and the books tell you. In a way, your mind is your enemy. Why? Because if you make a real effort to remember 15 or 20 things, pointers, warnings, during the golf swing, you will fail. The full golf swing is very quick. Much quicker than the mind can work in remembering and putting into effect so may cue’s. All of these factors – the shift of the hips, the straight left arm, etc, are not the cause of the superb golf swing. They truly are the result of a movement, a simple movement which occurs first. Here it is.

A Golf Swing for Life – “The Basic Move”

You can make this movement with or without a golf club.

You do need to be able to see yourself in a full-length mirror or, if that isn’t available, use a full length window in which you can see your reflection.

Take your customary stance. Lightly clasp your hands in front of you. Now, drop you left chest area the (left shoulder and chest) straight down towards the floor. Your left knee has broken slightly toward the imaginary ball. Your arms and hands have moved to your right, with no break yet to the “wrist cock” in you left wrist. Your right arm and hand should have come around you to some extent. Now, if you were going to make a pitch or chip to the green, you would be in excellent position.

Next, without making any change in your position insofar as hips, legs, arms, hands or head are concerned – immediately raise your left chest. And what happens? Your arms have come straight down into the impact position.

Your hips have moved of their own volition, out of the way and into impact position. And for a powerful impact position, look at how your legs and knees have automatically moved!

You actually find yourself in the ideal, the picture-book position to make a fantastically “correct” shot! The vitally important point is that every other move of your body, after the movement of lowering and raising your left chest, is secondary! Of course, hip movement properly done, is important. But it comes as the direct result, again, of the left chest. The action of your arms is, again, the direct result of the “basic move” of your left chest. Each and every perfect golf swing is the result of proper movement of the left chest!

Far from being a complicated, memory-cracking, mind numbing kind of movement, the golf swing has become a strikingly simple movement! Left chest down! Left chest up! And that is it. To make it even more simple and understandable and clear, let’s look at some definitions. Like, what do I mean when I say “left chest”? “Down”? Up”?

DEFINITIONS

Left chest: This is important! By “left chest”, I positively do not mean only your left shoulder! As you sit reading this, raise your left shoulder toward your left ear. You can do it easily. And that would be absolutely the wrong move for your swing.

You’ll be able to understand my definition of “left chest” if you will do this as you read: Place your right finger tips at your throat. Where it cups in. Bring your finger tips straight down to what is called the “sternum” – the bony separation between the right and left rib cages. At the point where the sternum ends (about eight or nine inches from the base of your throat), move your finger tips straight across to your left.

That’s your “left chest” and never forget it! A doctor may find fault with my definition but that’s his problem. We’re talking about the golf swing and not the fine points of anatomy.

O.K.?

This entire chest area which I have described in my nonmedical way is what I call the “left chest.” This includes the left rib cage and the shoulder area. Please, when I ask you to raise your left chest, don’t just do a shoulder shrug. Too many golfers try to play with their shoulders – and they’re still paying for lessons. Raising your left chest means just that – raising your left chest – and not just your left shoulder!

Got it?

Here’s a challenge. The next time you watch a tournament in person or on television, concentrate on watching the golfer’s left chest. You will see it go up and down nearly perpendicularly and the point of the shoulder will make, at completion, a turn of 90° or so, depending on the strength of the shot. Continue to study only his left chest and you will see that, as it goes up, the hips, knees, arms and legs make their own perfect moves as the result of the left chest action!

To the very completion of the swing! Simply put, the “basic move” of golf is the down and up action of your left chest! It is simple “that simple!”

AGAIN, ALL ACTIONS OF HIPS, ARMS AND LEGS ARE

THE RESULT OF PROPER LEFT CHEST ACTION. THEY

ARE THE RESULT. THEY COME INTO CORRECT AND

PROPER ACTION BECAUSE OF THE PROPER DOWNWARD AND UPWARD MOVEMENT OF THE LEFT CHEST. IT IS THE LEFT CHEST ACTION WHICH

ACCOUNTS FOR A POWERFUL DRIVE, A PERFECT

APPROACH SHOT AND A SENSITIVE PUTT. ALL OTHER BODILY MOVEMENTS ARE BECAUSE THE LEFT CHEST HAS ACTED FIRST AND PROPERLY. THEY FOLLOW THE LEFT CHEST. WHEN YOU ACCEPT THE UNMISTAKEABLE FACT THAT THE LEFT CHEST MOVEMENT IS THE ONE, SINGLE MOVEMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR A GOOD, SOUND REPEATING SWING – THEN AND ONLY THEN WILL YOU PLAY SUPERB GOLF.

As you know, there are two so-called “swings” in golf. The “upright” and the “flat”. Ernie Els exemplifies the upright swing which is the one we want to emulate. Anatomically, the construction of the human body best lends itself to building a solid, repeating swing if the upright swing is utilized. Why? Because of the physical nature of the spine and back. Their structure supports, physically, the argument that the upright swing is a better, sounder and more repeatable swing, that’s because you are utilizing the engineering of your own body.

This is obviously agreed upon by the scientists and engineers who design the robots which test golf balls. These robots employ a “metal arm”, which rotates about the axis in a nearly vertical manner. Not flat. To consistently employ an upright swing means there must be a definite coordination in the stance. A stance position which nearly automatically guarantees you are in a position to go with the upright swing. Here’s how I take this

The Stance

There’s nothing drastic about the stance. Nothing that won’t make you even more comfortable than, perhaps, you have been in the past. It’s a truly natural feeling anyway. You may even be using it at this time. Right now, don’t use a golf club. Stand erect. Not at “attention” but just pleasantly, comfortably erect. Clasp your hands together – lightly. Now imagine there is a hinge at your waist line. Bend over at the hinge. (Far too many people think they are bending at the hinge whereas they are actually curving their back.

There should be no curve in your back! You merely stand erect and bend, using the hinge as though you were bowing to someone. When you bow, you don’t hump your shoulders and back. You bend a bit at the waist. Just as though there was a hinge there).

Let your arms hang loose. No tension. They should, if you are bowing correctly and sufficiently, hang vertically. Unlike the bow, you have bent your knees slightly – slightly! Your arms are hanging naturally and easily. Now, if you had a club in your hands, this is the position in which you should grip your club!

Not reaching forward and not cramping backward. THE POSITION IN WHICH YOUR ARMS AND

HANDS HANG NATURALLY AND LOOSELY IS THE POSITION IN WHICH YOUR GRIP OF THE GOLF CLUB IS TAKEN.

As I mentioned before, you’ve allowed your knees to bend slightly. Your “rear end” will stick out a bit. Don’t worry about it. Now, let you neck relax. If your neck is relaxed, your head will take its proper position. It may seem lower than you are used to having it. So, let it be lower. There’s a very good reason. The neck area, in particular, along with the uppermost part of the spine comprises the axis about which the swing rotates. At this point, you are standing with what I call a “firm readiness.” You definitely are not tense. But, neither are you like a sack of flour. Your back is not humped. Your upper torso (from the waist) is tilted forward, hinged at the waist. Your arms are hanging vertically. Your head is tilted downward because your neck is relaxed. There is no strain.

The Grip

This will be short. Use your same grip – if it is a good, solid and correct one. A pro can definitely help you with your grip if you are in doubt. Use a grip training club. I admonish you, urge you to take a firm grip. Hold the club more firmly, more tightly than you ever have. Why?

Because my observation is that over 90% or more of high handicap golfers “lose” the club at the top of their back swing and/or on impact. NOTE – Watch the muscle definition in the arms of the professionals next time you watch them on television or live. Yes, I know. I’ve heard the argument and have read it in the books that a hard grip means you will have stiff wrists.

Nonsense! Right now, with or without a club, grip as hard as you can. If you are not using a club, make a fist. Now move your club, or fist, to the right and left. Easy, isn’t it NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU GRIP THE CLUB, YOU WILL

NOT LOSE FLEXIBILTY IN YOUR WRISTS. YOUR

WRISTS COCK JUST AS EASILY WITH A FIRM GRIP AS WITH A FLABBY ONE. More and more professionals are beginning to advocate this. One of my instructors told me, “Hold the club as you would a little bird in your hands, soft and easy”. So, I did. First, I “lost” the club at the top of the backswing. Then it was so sloppy at impact the ball went scooting off to the side.

If you’ve been exposed to as many golf lessons as I have, you may be convinced it is totally required to take an easy grip on your club. For a while, though, try it my way. Get a good, firm grip. After all, it’s the only physical contact and communication between you the club and the ball.

Why this basic move in golf works

This will be a very brief discussion of the anatomy of the human body and the law of physics.

If you will think of the “robot” golfer, the testing equipment used by manufacturers of golf balls, you will recall some of the mechanical aspects. The unit I’m thinking of in particular commences the swing at the top of the backswing and proceeds from there. The button is pushed and the balls are fed onto the tee as fast as the robot hits the ball.

The really important point is, however, that the single arm of the robot rotates around its own axis. Since it is a mechanical device, this is to be expected. What we want to do is to create a “mechanical” attitude in and for our own golf swing, an attitude of movement which utilizes the mechanical structure and capability of our own body. A movement which enables us to repeatedly swing the club around our own built in axis.

Remember the stance? Hinge at the waist. Knees slightly bent. Neck relaxed so the head is in a natural position, arms hanging straight down, vertically. There is a good and specific reason for this stance. It is this: When you drop the left chest and bring the arms into the backswing and then raise the left chest for the downswing – you are rotating the upper portion of your body around your own axis. The axis formed by the spine at the upper area and the neck. IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND THIS.

When you make this rotation about your own axis you have emulated, as much as is physically possible for your human body, the structure and action of the golf robot – and its consistently repeating swing. The “basic move” of dropping the left chest and then raising it causes an automatic rotation around the neck area. The neck area becomes the so-called “hub” or axis of the swing.

AGAIN, IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR THIS TO

SINK INTO YOUR MIND. IF YOU EVER HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YOUR GOLF SWING, ALL YOU’LL NEED TO DO TO CORRECT IT IS TO THINK OF THE PHYSICS OF THE GOLF SWING – AND HOW THIS SIMPLE MOVE OF GOLF TOTALLY TAKES OVER AND PROVIDES YOU WITH THE ANSWER TO THE PERFECT SWING. What the “basic move” does for you is to automatically make it possible for you to have a near-perfect rotation around the single and only axis of your body – the neck area. When you have this, you are on your way to superb golf. It is truly that simple.

Here’s an example: Let’s say you’re teeing off for a long drive and that you made your backswing properly. That is, you moved your left chest downward and, in the natural course of events, this brought your shoulders and back around, square to the target. Your arms and hands being attached had to follow. Fine, so far. Then, let’s say that you did not quickly raise your left chest but that, instead, you pulled or moved it to the left of your target. In this example, you did not quickly raise your left chest which would have given you, automatically, a perfect drive. Rather, you messed up. What happened? Your ball went flying off in some ungodly direction. At the completion of your swing, your arms were wrapped around your body and your golf club was pointing way off the left of your target – and was probably horizontal.

The cause of this mess and this dreadful drive? First, you failed to quickly raise your left chest which would have put into a fully automatic sequence the downswing and follow-through.

You violated the axis. You broke the law of physics by expecting to perform a good swing when you had already made it impossible. Perhaps a better expression is that the law of physics proved immutable – it broke you! And easily.

When you fully utilize the movement, when you obey and go along with the law of physics, when you rotate around your axis, the club head has no alternative but to follow, to strike the ball squarely and to take off for your target.

You cannot violate the law of physics and play good golf.

Sure, there are a lot of people with bad swings who get pretty decent handicaps but those are ridiculously high compared to what they could be. Their violation of the law of physics expresses itself in hooks, slices, shanks and all the other unmentionables.

WHEN YOU EXECUTE THE “BASIC MOVE OF GOLF,” WHEN YOU ROTATE YOUR TOTAL UPPER BODY, AROUND YOUR AXIS, THE BALL ABSOLUTELY AND POSITIVELY MUST GO STRAIGHT. THAT’S WHAT THE “BASIC MOVE OF GOLF” IS ALL

ABOUT. IT CONFORMS WITH THE LAW OF PHYSICS…..

AND IT IS EASY.

How to move properly around your axis? Around your hub?

Utterly simple. Drop your left chest perpendicularly, finish the backswing, pause (so you don’t throw yourself out of line and off the hub axis), quickly raise your left chest – and that’s it. The law of physics is inviolable and you haven’t violated it if you do the golf swing with this simple movement.

The Mechanics of the Backswing

1 Approach the ball and select your “line” to your target.

2 Select your club. (Why is it we amateurs nearly invariable take a club not long enough? I now use a 6 iron if I think a 7 iron will do the job.

3 Take your stance and do the following:

a) Grip your club

b) Hinge forward at the waist. Hinge . Don’t hump.

Hinge until your arms are hanging vertically. Not stretched forward to the ball; not back against your body.

c) Without changing your bodily contour, your posture, step up to the ball.

d) Re-grip your club – firmly.

e) Forward press, if you want. It’s not important.

Just don’t lose your basic position.

f) Keep an emphasis of your weight on your right side, concentration on the inside of your right foot, the instep. This helps avoid unnecessary body movement.

g) Deliberately drop your left chest as far as it will go.

Don’t dip. Let your chest continue to move downward.

h) The movement of your left chest will be this: Down and then it will come around naturally and, on a full drive, it will make a 90° turn of the shoulders and back. i) While your left chest is going down and around, your arms and hands are moving upwards – of their own volition to a certain point and then they move instinctively after that.

j) Continue the left chest movement until the tip of your left shoulder is under your chin. Although you are looking at the ball, your peripheral vision will show you the left shoulder tip is moving into perfect position.

That’s the backswing. Clean and utterly simple. It is, as you can now understand, entirely originated by the movement of the left chest. And the left chest governs throughout the backswing. But by using the basic move, everything else falls in place. Your left knee cocks toward or slightly back of the ball. The hips have made their required degree of turn for torsion. Your left arm has remained straight because you are moving your left chest – not just the arm alone. Your wrists have cocked properly – with the creases below the thumb (of the left hand) and not below the back of your hand at the wrist – or with the back of your hand stretched. Your shoulders have made a full turn, or more depending on your age and physical condition.

ALL THIS IS THE RESULT OF DROPPING YOUR LEFT CHEST AND LETTING YOUR CHEST MAKE ITS OWN SLIGHT TURN TO THE RIGHT AFTER THE DROP! So amazingly “simple.”There has been no swaying of your body or head because you are rotating around the hub or axis of your body. Swaying is caused by getting off the axis of the “basic

Move.”

You haven’t needed to think “keep my head steady” because your steady head is the result, the consequence of the movement of your left chest (and its appurtenances – your shoulder, arms and hands) around the axis. It really did not remain steady because you were determined it should. Or because you were thinking about it. You had a steady head in this swing because the basic move made it so. You’re sole, solitary and single thought during the entire golf swing was just one thing – “left chest down”. That, is all you ever need to think about.

At this point, I would like to digress to discuss something vitally important. KEEP YOUR BACKSWING SLOW. You keep it slow by keeping your left chest movement slow. No matter how slow you think it is, it is too fast. It just can’t be too slow. Proof? Stop-motion picture studies of Ernie Els and others show conclusively that Nicklaus has the slowest swing of nearly all professionals. In fact, in comparison with nearly every other pro, Els has not even begun his downswing while the others are already nearly in impact position. That’s proof. He never appears to attack the ball.

You aren’t going to hit the ball with your backswing, are you?

There is no reason for a fast backswing except your own anxiety to hit the ball. But the damage that can be caused again, the law of physics. Moving very quickly that which is a basically unstable structure, results in the “cause of effect” of moving that mass in, for us golfers, an undesirable way.

This sudden violent backswing causes movements up, down, forward across the ball, backward from the ball, toward your target or away from your target. All are ugly movements, destructive of a pure swing.

A Friend of mine demonstrated the total lack of need for a backswing. He took his position which he would have at the top of the backswing. Just raised his club and turned his body without taking the backswing. He merely placed his club there.

Then he hit the ball – moving his left chest upward. Far and straight went the ball. With no backswing. Much less a fast and hurried one. So, make your downward left chest movement, your backswing so slow it feels as though you are in a swimming pool and pulling your club through the water. Believe me (and Ernie Els) – the slower your back swing, the better your hit will be. No matter how slow it is now, it’s too fast.

So, with the “basic move,” you have accomplished these things:

1 You haven’t snatched your club away.

2 You haven’t had to think, “Keep my left arm straight.”

3 Your hips have made their necessary turn without your thinking about them.

4 Your left knee has “broken” toward or slightly behind the ball.

5 You made a full shoulder turn – without thinking of it.

6 You haven’t had to think about keeping your head still because your steady head is the result of the “basic move.”

7 You are now in a position of power to begin your downswing because of your “basic move” which brought about all these beautiful and desirable movements.

The Mechanics of the downswing

First, I’m going to suggest that you pause for a moment at the top of the backswing. This takes some explaining. First, if you think “pause” you are more, much more likely to start your downswing with your left chest movement.

You do not actually come to a dead stop. But you have the sensation you do. What is actually happening is that when you pause, your arms and hands are still completing the backswing. You are making the mental transition to bring your left chest movement into action. It is not as though everything comes to a grinding halt but, this “pause” will do one very valuable thing for you. It gives you time to think of raising your left chest – which prevents your “hitting from the top.” Or starting your downswing with your hands – also very ugly. If you will think “pause” you will start your downswing with your left chest moving up – and you’ll stay on your axis. Now, here are the mechanics of your downswing:

1 Pause for a moment. An instant, really. When your left shoulder meets your chin, for a drive, or at the top of your backswing for a lesser hit.

2 Simultaneously, RAISE YOUR LEFT CHEST. This “basic move” automatically sets into motion the following:

a) Your hips. Raising your left chest causes your hips to commence their action for a sound hit.

b) Your legs. The drive or “push off” from the inside of your right foot has combined with the left chest movement for total power.

c) Your arms and hands. They start coming down into the impact area by themselves. They can do nothing else unless you interfere.

d) Impact follows and you finish high, properly and in style with the classic finish which denotes a sound technique.

With the “basic move” you have accomplished these things:

1 You’ve gotten away from the nonsense of “start the drive with your hips.” Taken to its illogical conclusion, you could move your hips as far as your body could possibly allow and this wouldn’t have accomplished a thing toward hitting the ball. It is, without doubt, good practice for a belly dancer – not for a golfer.

2 Another pro said, “at the top of the backswing and before your start the downswing, drive your knees toward the target.” More nonsense. Take that to its illogical conclusion and you look pretty silly. Forget “driving” your knees.

3 Another untruth: “Start the swing with your shoulder.”

Then what happens to your hips? If you don’t mind looking like a blender in action, follow that advice.

You don’t start the downswing with your shoulders at all.

4 More? “Keep your left arm straight.” The “basic move of golf” means you don’t even think about your left arm.

5 “Keep your head down.” Obviously, if you quickly and properly handle your left chest, your head is going to stay where it should be – all the time. You don’t have to think about this silly warning.

6 “Keep your eye on the ball.” The last of this nonsense. Have you ever, ever wanted to hit something a nail, a fly, a golf ball without keeping your eye on it? Stupidity.

So, there you have the “basic move” of golf. It’s so utterly simple that it doesn’t take very much space to write it.

Some personal thoughts and comments

Because you haven’t gotten some five hundred pages of material, with a thousand stop-action photos of the golf swing, you may feel you didn’t get your money’s worth. But, as you know, some of the most useful and vital things in our every living are simple. Like the safety pin. A paper clip.

Scotch tape.

In its first published appearance, a few people wrote to me and asked why there were no illustrations of “A Golf Swing for Life.” To me, the answer seemed simple. And it still does. What could I show you in a still photograph? Nothing! Absolutely nothing about this basic move. The reason (and as I told you at the beginning) is that my discovery of the “basic move” of golf came about only after I had spent thousands of dollars on videotape equipment and had spent hundreds of hours studying the pictures I had taken of golfers in action – personally and from television. It was only after I had spent this money and invested my time (which, too, is worth money) that I made this dramatic discovery.

I’ve received literally hundreds of unsolicited letters of praise of “A Golf Swing for Life.” People are pretty quick to write letters of complaint, slow to write letters of praise. I’ve even received unsolicited letters of praise from a number of PGA golf instructors. They’ve told me they are using “A Golf Swing for Life” extensively.