HITTING ACTION
HE SECOND MOVEMENT pat- tern that works great for golf is batting. The skill here is apply- ing force to an object; in other
words, using the lever system we just discussed to strike something hard. When you hit a baseball, you instinc- tively line up your right arm with the bat at impact to push with power (left). You don’t twist the bat into the ball; you don’t try to bow your lead wrist at im- pact. (Those are two beauts we hear in golf.) You turn your lower body out of the way and push the bat to the ball. I often hear students say they’ve been taught to “swing through the ball, not at it.” Really? Because whether it’s a base- ball coming in at 150 kilometres per hour or a golf ball sitting on the ground, impact is a violent collision. You need your right arm to be lined up with the shaft to support that hit ( left, bottom ). If the hands and wrists are twisting or turning into impact, they’re less stable, and you risk injury. The difference in golf versus baseball is, you have to square a clubface at im- pact. This is where the grip becomes critical. Look at that photo again with the bat: The palm of my lead hand is pointing down – that’s the strongest position of that hand, and you need it for golf, too. To take your lead-hand grip, set the club in the fingers, with the back of the hand turned away from the tar- get and the palm pointing downwards, towards your right thigh ( below ). That’s appropriately called a strong grip, and it prepares you for the hit and promotes a square clubface at impact.
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator