Are you worried your swing is not in shape? Do you feel you are swaying too much? Well you can check your positions very easily by looking at your shadow providing the sun is out!
The sun needs to be at a level where your shadow is roughly the same height as you so that the swing is not overly distorted, and it helps if you can cast your shadow onto closely mown grass. Then it is simply a case of knowing what to look for in your swing. Here is my guide to getting and keeping your swing on the right lines.
Head watch
The worst piece of advice given to golfers is keep your head down¹. While it is important to stay balanced, there has to be a little movement to the right on the backswing if you turn and coil properly. To check whether you are moving it too much or too little, take up your address position and place a ball in the middle of your shadow¹s head.
Make your backswing. If you turned correctly the head should have shifted only a touch to the right.
The head moving to far to the right will cause lead to big problems on the downswing.
This reverse pivot position with the head staying in front of the ball will also cause big problems on the downswing
Swing check
To find out if you are coiling properly around a stable base, moving your weight on to the leftside into impact and through to a balanced finish, take up your address position and place two balls one either side of your hips and make your swing.
At the top your hips should have turned within the two balls.
From the top you should start by bumping¹ the front ball with your left hip before turning through......into the finish covering the front ball completely and leaving the back ball well clear of your shadow.
If you have a tendency towards a reverse pivot then you will probably be covering the back ball both at impact and in the followthrough. Avoid these positions.
Coil check
To see if you have made a good shoulder turn and loaded your weight on the right side at the top of the backswing, lay a club down on your left hip and shoulder line, and make your backswing.
A proper turn and coil should see a separation between your back and the club on the ground.
A reverse pivot ( body wieght staying left ) means the club is still covered by your shadow.
To see whether you have swung on plane, place a club parallel to the target line across your shadow¹s shoulders at the address position. Swing back to until your lead arm is parallel to the ground. An on plane backswing will see your shadow¹s arm parallel to the club on the ground.
Arm check
Too much on the inside in the backswing and the arm will be inside the club (pic 1) Too much on the outside and the arm will point outside. (pic 2)
A fully extended on plane throughswing should see the right arm parallel to the club on the ground.
The Mark Wallace online golf school
The Mark Wallace golf academy is based at the Sainte Maxime golf club on the French Riviera
