New Year Resolutions

My recent preoccupation with the 'magic triangle' and the creation of lag in my downswing has led me to neglect the role of the lower body.

Instructors who insist that the arms and hands are control the golf swing are not necessarily wrong, but my recent experience of loss of power and, to some extent, accuracy, tells me that it is unwise to neglect the movement and involvement of the legs and hips in the golf swing.

What this refers to is the way in which the downswing must be accompanied by a move down and forward with the hips and knees (whether slightly before or slightly after the dropping of the arms is a moot point).

In my view, it is all very well to keep the body stable and balanced, but without the shift of weight supported (or initiated) by the lower body, the movement of the arms will tend to lack power, despite the argument that 97% of clubhead speed is generated by the hands and arms. The point is that the top and bottom halves of the body need each other working in synch.

Anyway, this has been my recent experience, and I intend to try to introduce (or reintroduce) the slight squat and turn of the hips at about the time of the start of the downswing. In fact, I will try to time it to just before the hands and arms drop, but only just before.

In the meantime, I will also be concentrating on rhythm. That is, I will be trying to swing each club with the same controlled rhythm that you can see in the swings of the great swingers of golf clubs, for example: Snead, Els, Geiberger, Mize, Ogilvy, O'Meara, Senden, Webb, et al.

Some of the other great swingers of the golf club - the Woods and McInroys of the game - swing the club too hard to try to emulate, but they do have swings that highlight the importance of point one above - the role of the lower body.

A new golfing year has begun. So, here's to synchronicity and rhythm.