Swing Inside Out on Downswing?

     If you have been told or try to swing inside out on the downswing FORGET 
IT!!!
     A few years ago while having dinner with the late legendary Sam Snead, my 
wife Michelle, a PGA Class A professional in her own right, asked Sam if he 
tried to swing inside out which is so commonly taught.
      Without looking up from enjoying his salad Sam said emphatically NEVER !!!
      If. A person really succeeds in swinging inside out, chances are he or she 
will be plagued with a duck hook.
      In order for the ball to go straight the clubhead must meet the ball with 
the club face completely square on a path directly to the intended objective.

Curing the Pull

Most of the students who come to our school for lessons who are beyond the 
beginners stage and play regularly are plagued with swinging outside the 
intended target line which pulls the ball left of the intended target.

If the clubface is closed at impact the ball will not only start left but will 
curve left.

Both results are caused by the arms and hands beginning the downswing rather 
than being led by the hips moving along the line of play toward the target.

In other words the right leg and foot are stuck on the ground as the downswing 
begins which throws the shoulders, arms and club on the outside of the target 
line.

Shift your hips laterally along the line of flight prior to the arms and 
shoulders moving as the first move on the downswing.

Classic Swing Best for All

The classic golf swing over time has proven to be the most reliable method for 
consistency in a golf swing as it applies to every club the player uses.

Bob Jones stated in 1930 that "so long as man is constructed as he is, the 
principles for correctly striking a golf ball are not likely to change". 

To get a feel for this method, stand erect holding a club with arms extended and 
elbows pointing to the ground. Rest the shaft of the club on the right shoulder. 
(Right handed players)

Now turn the right side (hips and shoulders) away from the ball until the club 
shaft points well to the right of your objective.

Next, swing the hands, arms and club straight down from this position, down and 
up to where the club shaft is resting above the left shoulder.

This is the basic shape of the classic swing. 

Keith Marks Golf Lesson: Swing The Clubhead

In 1887, Sir Walter Simpson wrote a book titled “The Art Of Golf “. In this book he emphasized that in golf “there is one categorical imperative — HIT THE BALL! “. There are no minor absolutes.”

Thirty-three years later, an Englishman named Ernest Jones who had during World War I lost his right leg just below the knee, returned to playing golf.  In spite of his handicap, his golf career propelled him into one of golf’s premier teachers.

His book “Swing The Clubhead” published in 1952 is an instructional classic.

In this book Jones writes “The body and all its parts should be treated as disastrous leaders but wholly admirable followers of the action of the hands and fingers”.

Keith Marks Golf Lesson: How to Aim

Several years ago I asked one of my mentors, the late Golf Hall of Famer Henry Picard how do you tell someone to aim.

In his reticent New England crisp accent he said ” You don’t tell them!!!”. ” You get their swing right and the pupil will then come to aiming on their own and they won’t realize the day or the hour that it  happens ”

Two of golf’s greatest players, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead had vastly different approaches to this issue.

Hogan aimed near the left rough and drove the ball in the middle of the fairway, while conversely Snead aimed near the right rough and drove the ball in the middle of the fairway. Which one was right???. They both were..

The point is neither of these two great players got caught up in a laundry lists of do's and don’ts about their golf swing. They simply concerned themselves to hit the ball where they wanted it to go. Good advice.

Keith Marks Golf Lesson: Proper Wrist Action

One of my earliest mentors was the legendary teacher Alex Morrison. I suppose Alex was the most influential person in my life that instilled to me a philosophy that just because everybody is doing it doesn’t mean that it is right.

He told me to be an effective teacher,  I would for the most part be swimming upstream, as far as new fads concerning instruction were concerned.

One thing he harped on was wrist action, which one hears so little about these days.

“Wrist action is the barometer of efficiency in a golf swing”, he said. It is!!

Proper wrist action at the end of the backswing allows the easy feel and timing to start the downswing leisurely which is so important.