I get asked this all of the time, as if there is one way to swing the club.

If I could use one concept to describe my swing pattern, it’s about creating room for the arms to connect to the turn (body, pivot) in transition…and room for the arms to accelerate past the body at and after impact….or better stated, don’t do anything to prevent the arms from accelerating.

Notice I didn’t say accelerate away from the body. That is an important distinction as you could say standing really far from the ball would be a good thing under that unqualified concept.

A second question would be that a one plane swing would take care of the first part of my “pattern”…i.e. linking the arms up in transition. The problem with that is one plane tends to lack speed and a huge portion of the golf public does nasty things when they attempt a one plane swing. Too inside going back, too steep coming down being a big and common one.

My philosophy/pattern involves a huge window of what you can do and a few concepts to avoid in order to allow the arms to link up and speed up the way I describe.

People have mistakenly labeled me as just telling people to have more hip turn, or a reverse K and maximum secondary tilt. Quite the contrary. Poll most of my clients and you will find many hear none of the three.

I don’t particularly encourage a big hip turn as much as a deep and unrestricted one. I just like the right hip to get behind the right heel (in a down the line view) for balance and more room for the right elbow to get in front of the right hip on the downswing. That doesn’t necessarily mean more rotation. Sometimes, it’s actually less.

Some would also surmise that you could get the arms going past and not away from the body by coming over the top. My answer. Are the arms accelerating? If so, why is it bad? Some of the greatest players in history did this. I am not advocating this, but it’s better than the alternative. Getting the arms stuck trying too hard to come from the inside and having to stall and flip or have the arms accelerate away from the body too much.

Been there…don’t do that.

Here are a few of the no no’s that don’t allow the arms to link up properly in transition:

1. Long backswing with arm over run and/or rotating out of tilt
2. Restricted backswing hip turn
3. Firing hips too early in transition
4. Standing too close to the ball

Here are a few things that don’t allow the arms to accelerate past the body (properly and not away from the body):

1. Upper body moving laterally toward target and not creating any secondary tilt
2. Right shoulder working down (toward the right hip) too much or for too long
3. Steep shaft and/or angle of attack
4. Standing too far from the ball

Now obviously this doesn’t encompass everything I like and don’t like about a golf swing, but you could pretty much categorize anything using these guidelines. No two of my clients swing close to alike…but the regulars will mostly lack these things I deem difficult to recover from.

Look at all of the top long drivers. They have some of the craziest things going on, but they all have one thing in common. They create room for the arms to accelerate. Ridiculous secondary tilt, getting up on tip toes, etc.

PS-I ethnocentrically and prejudiciously wrote this from a right handed golfers point of view…and I invented two new words. Sorry lefties and members of the Webster family…and probably the Roget’s too. Shakespeare (or Edward de Vere if you prefer) probably want to come back to life and slap me as well.