Click here and enter your email address to watch the full video
Tyler Ferrell is the only person in the world named to Golf Digest's list of Best Young Teachers in America AND its list of Best Golf Fitness Professionals in America. Meet your new instructor.

Subscribe now to watch the full video.

Troubleshooting - Takeaway

  • All arms
  • sway
  • loss of posture
  • manipulating the clubface

Tags: Backswing, Concept, Beginner

00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000
In this concept video, we're going to go over trouble shooting the takeaway.

00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:09,000
Now, as we discussed, it's a very simple movement of just turning the spine, but there

00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,000
are a number of common ways that people get into trouble during the takeaway that kind

00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,000
of mess up for the rest of the swing.

00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:22,000
The first one would be an all-arms-type movement, which would basically be going like this

00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,000
where my shoulders move, my arms move, but my rib cage and my chest stayed pointing at the

00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:28,000
camera.

00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:32,000
It would end up looking like so.

00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,000
This looks like the club is in position, but the problem is I haven't really started building

00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,000
any torque in my body.

00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,000
I've pretty much just loaded my shoulder and it's going to mess up the sequencing when

00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,000
I get into transition.

00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:47,000
And it's also typically going to mess up my plane in the backswing.

00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,000
Not that the plane in the backswing is the most critical factor, but if it gets too vertical,

00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:56,000
it's going to require too much of a adjustment on the way down.

00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,000
The second common error that we see would be a sway.

00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:08,000
So as you go into that takeaway movement, some players will have their lower body shift

00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:12,000
off to the right and get their weight onto the outside of that foot.

00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:16,000
When you get onto the outside of the foot, then it's going to take kind of a major movement

00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,000
to get back onto the inside of the foot.

00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:22,000
Imagine trying to throw a ball from the outside of the ankle.

00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:26,000
You wouldn't be able to get very much power from your legs so you would end up doing it

00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:27,000
all with your arms.

00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,000
Same kind of pattern can happen in golf.

00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:34,000
Now the problem is as a power source, if you tend to use your shoulder a lot, which we

00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:38,000
talk about in the power section, then a sway actually helps make that easier.

00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,000
So pay attention to that.

00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:45,000
If you're having trouble getting rid of your sway, it may be a power source thing.

00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,000
But that's error number two would be a sway in transition.

00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:54,000
Number three would be standing up, which would be basically as I take it back, it ends

00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,000
up looking like this.

00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,000
Now we already talked about in the takeaway movement that to rotate around your posture

00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,000
is actually a three-dimensional movement.

00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:06,000
So what standing up means is not that you're going like this.

00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:08,000
It means that you don't have enough side bend.

00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:14,000
It means that that left shoulder isn't working down towards the golf ball.

00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,000
So it gives the appearance that I have stood up.

00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:22,000
You can see the difference in my head height of side bend as it relates to that takeaway

00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:23,000
movement.

00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:27,000
And then the last piece that I sometimes see is manipulating the face.

00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:34,000
Either taking it away and letting the wrists kind of collapse and get shut very, very early

00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:39,000
or the opposite, rolling those forms, getting the face very, very vertical.

00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:44,000
Remember, the majority of the backswing should be a spine-based movement.

00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:49,000
It's not going to be a ton of forearm and face rotation, because if you do so, it's going

00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,000
to tend to mess up your sequencing during transition.

00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:57,000
Because you won't be able to dynamically move your body and still get the face to square,

00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:02,000
you'll typically have to make a major adjustment with your body by slowing it down

00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,000
to compromise for getting the face to square a little bit better.

00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:10,000
So try those, check the drill section for the drills that I've sent you, and it should

00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:11,000
help you clear up this takeaway.

Subscribe now for full access to our video library.