Keep your Distance

A good beginning helps for a good end

There are lots of old sayings about the golf swing like the first three feet can make or break your swing. For some golfers it’s the truth, a bad beginning leads to a bad end.

Note the left side of the screen, the hands have kept the same spacing relative to the yellow line of the hand location at address. On the right, the hands have move out towards the ball and further from the body.

By maintaining the hands to body radius, there is a much greater chance of finding the sweet spot (left view). Because the hands have moved away from the body (right view), the path will have to move out to in to find the ball and either create a heel or shank shot as shown, or the brain will bend the arms and wrists to get away from the heel and possibly find the toe. The body and hands move on a circle up and down the swing, what we think are straight lines are mostly illusions.

Practice beginning with chips and pitch shots and see that your sweet spot contact improves.