Using The Big Muscles and Getting The Hands Out of the Golf Swing

A correspondent from South Africa wrote that he had found Ross Duplessis (golf director at the University of New Mexico) a reliable source of golf instruction. Duplessis has a YouTube channel (here) and a blog (here). The video above seems to form the basis of his instruction which concentrates on getting the hands out of the golf swing and recruiting the large muscles (shoulders and hips) for power and control.

One problem I have (along with a lot of other amateurs) is casting (releasing the hands too early here). Duplessis has a particularly simple and clear explanation: push the hands forward at address, use the shoulders (one big muscle group) to move the club, hands and arms backwards maintaing the wrist angle. Unwind the hips (another big muscle group) to maintain the wrist angle through impact (the flying wedge). In the video above, he demonstrates with the 30 yard wedge shot--a great way to learn the concept and a great shot to have on the course.

Maintaining the flying wedge has been a particularly difficult concept for me to get. Part of my problem is that I do not set up with my hands pushed far enough forward as in the image above (from the Stack & Tilt Book). Another part of my problem is not using my shoulders to control the backswing.

What seemed to help a lot when I played today was to concentrate on letting my left knee flex several inches toward the ball as the right knee straightens on the backswing (from the Stack & Tilt Book p. 64) allowing my shoulders to control the backswing. To maintain the flying wedge, I also had to slow my swing down at the top (think "pause" and "smooth") to allow my hips to unwind and begin the downswing. For the next round, I'll have to work on hand position (pushing the wrists forward at address).

Today was particularly windy in the Midwest. Concentrating on these few points from Duplessis and Stack & Tilt helped me hit some quality shots.