In this month’s Mel in Motion video golf tip, Mel shows us a drill that clarifies how to start the backswing and downswing properly.

There are two key moves to initiate both the backswing and the downswing in your golf motion. Get these two moves right, and you will see amazing results in a fairly short period of time!

Starting the Backswing

Contrary to popular belief, the backswing is not started with either your hands or arms. Instead, the backswing is started with your chest. Start here, and the backswing will move all parts simultaneously and always on plane!

Take a club a place the butt end of the club in your sternum. Grip down the shaft until your arms are fairly straight. Then, bend forward from the waist until the shaft is pointing to where the ball would be. You will notice that as you start the backswing from this position, the arms, shoulders, and hips all start rotating together. I call this a one-piece takeaway.

Move the club back until the clubhead is about waist height. Both arms are still straight, making a nice wide arc. At this point, the wrists will start to cock, and you can move to the top of your backswing. Notice that there now is a feeling of tightness. This means you have created an excellent coil, ready to start the downswing in a powerful motion.

Starting the Downswing

The downswing is started with a lateral movement of the hips and definitely not with the hands or arms. The lateral move will shift the weight from the back foot to the front foot. Imagine a wall about 2″ outside your lead foot. It would help if you moved the hips into the wall before you start rotating. Once at the wall, the hips start rotating around, moving the weight to the lead heel. The swing’s momentum will now carry the follow-through all the way around, with the club finishing over your lead shoulder!

On the practice tee, use an alignment stick to give you an imaginary wall. Feel the lead hip bump into the alignment stick before you start turning the hips. At home, place your lead foot about 2″ away from the wall, shift the hip into the wall, and then rotate around. Got it!