FOUR CLUBS ONE BODY SHAPE

GARY EDWIN: gOLF AUSTRALIA TEACHING EDITOR

If you regularly read my articles in Golf Australia you will know how vitally important I regard correct body shape or angles in hitting good golf shots.

For mine, the first rule of making a good golf swing is to set-up to the ball with good body angles. If your angles are correct, your body shape will be in the best possible position to swing the golf club.Body angles are an easy aspect of the swing to get right because there is only one right way to do it and it is easy to practice without clubs or balls.

A good body angle is almost the exact image of what you should look like at impact. If you set-up with poor body angles, your backswing and delivery into the ball will be poor and you will and it difficult to generate good clubhead speed and accuracy.

The four key checkpoints I like to use for good body angles and associated posture are:
1. Knees flexed.
2. Straight lower back but not rigid.
3. Bend slightly forward from your waist towards the ball. This will allow you to dangle your arms freely from your shoulders.
4. Tilt your spine so the top is further from the target than the base. This will mean your right shoulder is lower than your left (for right-handers). This position also creates an angle in your right hip and leaves very little angle in your left hip. This is what I like to call the reverse ‘K’ set-up.

I have been asked many times about body angles and shape and the one question that has bobbed up a few times is “should I have the same body shape for every shot?” The simple answer is yes. Your body angles remain the same no matter whether you’re teeing up a driver (pic 1), hitting a long iron (pic 2) or finessing a wedge (pic 3). The only difference you should see in your body shape and angles is in the exaggeration of those angles. With a driver in hand your body angles will be more noticeable than if you had a 6-iron or pitching wedge simply because the shaft of the club is considerably longer in the driver.

In fact, you can even extend this principle of correct body angles to your set-up when putting (pic 4). While good body angles create a full swing that generates power and a consistently superior quality of contact with the ball, these same angles also allow you to make a repeatable putting stroke. Think of it this way. Your putting stroke is really just a very small version of your full swing. The putterhead must move on a similar path through impact as your driver or any iron shot should. It just makes sense then that your set-up angles should remain the same across the board – from tee to green.

• Gary Edwin is the head teaching professional for Gary Edwin Golf Schools based at The Glades Resort on Queensland’s Gold Coast. For lessons, call the school on (07) 5569 1950.

From the June 2006 issue of Golf Australia magazine.