FROM THE ARCHIVES
SWING IN BALANCE “Losing your balance is a certain way to disrupt your rhythm. Staying in balance involves a lot of factors, chief among them: (1) swinging from the in- sides of your feet; (2) swinging around a fixed axis – in my case, the back of the neck; (3) maintaining a consistently firm grip on the club.” BE MINDFUL OF THE HANDS “Any time your hands and wrists domi- nate your swing, you endanger tempo and rhythm. Because they are so used to moving quickly and independently of the rest of the body in everyday life, your hands will snatch the club back and forth ahead of the rest of your anatomy, given the slightest chance. That doesn’t mean the hands mustn’t be used in the swing, rather that they must be synchronised with all other body actions to properly time the de- livery of the clubhead. Grabbing the club at some point in the swing – an extremely common fault born largely of anxiety – is a rhythm wrecker. The way to prevent it is to hold the club lightly as you finalise your ad-
dress, firm up your hands as the club starts back, then consistently try to maintain the same grip pressure from there on in.” GET THE TAKEAWAY RIGHT “The most important single move in establishing your tempo and rhythm is your takeaway. I strive on every shot to move the club back as deliberately as possible.” FINISH THE BACKSWING “Failing to go fully back before you start down is a certain way to destroy rhythm. Complete your backswing is one of my most frequent self-instruc- tions. The trick is to determine a defi- nite set of feelings – related primarily to shoulder turn and hand height – that represent your full backswing. Then al- low yourself to realise them before you start down to the ball.” “Consciously feeling the weight of the clubhead against the tension of the shaft is another way I seek good timing through rhythmical motion. This tension begins as the swinging weight of the clubhead begins to cock my wrists when the club passes verti- cal on the backswing. Then smoothly and gradually, the tension increases until the wrists reflexively uncock late in the downswing in response to the centrifugal force created by my body motion. The more smoothly the ten- sion develops and increases, the bet- ter my rhythm and thus, the better my timing.” USE THE CLUB’S WEIGHT TO ESTABLISH RHYTHM
rhythm, which I see as the variations of pace within the swing. “Tempo, in my view, is more of a product of personality than of swing method. If you are quick-moving or high-strung by nature, you will natu- rally have a fairly fast golf swing – Ar- nold Palmer is a good case in point. If, like me, you are of a more deliberate temperament, you will naturally swing comparatively slower. The key is not to try to thwart nature – you’ll always revert back to normal under pressure. Simply avoid jerkiness on the one hand and ponderousness on the other.” IMPROVE YOUR RHYTHM “Throughout my career, I’ve found I swing most rhythmically when I con- sciously try to keep the tempo of the downswing identical to that of the backswing. My key thought: Swing your hands and arms at the same pace coming down as you did going up – espe- cially as you start the downswing. The hands and arms will inevitably travel down faster than they did going back, but thinking of them not doing so has always helped me.”
SWING EVERYTHING WITH THE SAME EFFORT
“Some years ago, I was filmed swinging a 7-iron and a 2-iron. I was delighted to see that my tempo with both clubs was identical. Each swing was made at the same pace and took the same amount of
time. The film proved I achieved a lifelong goal, which was to swing every club at the same tempo. I think you’d benefit by adopting that goal.”
THE BIG THREE Jack outplayed Tom Weiskopf ( left ) and Johnny Miller ( middle ) for the win.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 41
JUNE 2025
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