STEAL FROM THE PROS
The one-piece takeaway is a mistake BY MARK BLACKBURN Start Back With the Club
Some INSTRUCTORS have long preached the importance of a one-piece takeaway, where
To nail this move, focus on giving the clubhead a head start. This might feel like an earlier wrist set, as opposed to moving
START SMALL Initiate the swing with the little muscles, not the big ones.
the club, hands, arms and shoulders start the backswing together. Actu- ally, the clubhead should start first. Some players might feel like they have a one-piece move off the ball, but feel and real aren’t always the same. Tak- ing everything back together gets the club too far inside the target line and starts a chain of events that typically produces a slice. Looking at the swings of the best players with 3-D technology, you can see that the clubhead moves away from the ball first, followed by the arms, shoulders, torso and lastly, the hips. This is the proper kinematic sequence, which keeps the club track- ing on a good path, so you can simply reverse the order coming down and deliver it efficiently into the ball.
PRECISION PERFORM
everything together. A good thought is, small to big. The smaller muscles of the hands, wrists and arms move before the larger ones of the shoulders, torso and hips. If someone were film- ing you with the lens square to your chest, it should appear that the club- head starts before the hands or arms. – WITH DREW POWELL MARK BLACKBURN, voted No 1 by his peers on Golf Digest’s 50 Best Teachers in America, has coached dozens of pros including Justin Rose, Max Homa and Collin Morikawa. His golf academy is located at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JESSE RIESER
34 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
MARCH/APRIL 2026
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