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By Jack Moorehouse
How you finish often reveals what’s happening during your
swing
In fact, I often key on a player’s finish in my golf lessons
to
determine exactly how to help he or she can improve their
game.
You can do the same for yourself—if you know what to look for.
Below I describe four of the more common finishes I see when
giving golf lessons, possible causes of the finish, and ideas
on how to eliminate, the swing faults that cause them.
High Finish
The high finish position is among the most common. Hands held
high and a flying left elbow (for right handers) characterize
the position, associated with pushes, thins shots, and shots
struck toward the clubface’s heel. High finishers tend to
swing
on an in to out path that’s extreme, with the club traveling
to
the right of the target, minimizing control.
If you read my golf tips, you’ll find that the in-to-out swing
is my preferred approach; however, in this case, it’s extreme.
When the inside-out move becomes severe, you push the shot.
When club comes too far inside with a closed clubface, you
pull
the shot. Also, swinging too far inside delivers the club
below
the swing plane, preventing the club from striking the ball on
a descending path. The key is not to exaggerate the move too
much.
Low Finish
The low finish stems from an overly out-to-in swing path,
caused by a downswing motion initiated by the arms instead of
the body. Players developing this finish come over the top of
the plane, as I’ve explained in my golf tips, causing the
clubhead to cut across the ball through the impact zone. The
position is associated with pull slices, pull hooks, and shots
off the toe. Since the club is moving steeply and across the
ball, none of the shots are well struck. Nor do they fly
toward
the intended target.
If you freeze this finish, you’ll notice that the player’s
hands and arms seemed to be all jammed up. That’s because the
arms have moved earlier than the body, impeding the arm’s
movement and limiting their extension. To fix this problem,
you
obviously need to work on the body/arm synchronization, so
your
arms don’t out race your body on the downswing.
Lunge Finish
I don’t know how popular this finish is statistically, but I
often see it in my golf lessons. With this type of finish, the
player’s head is in front of his or her left leg, or the
golfer
feels himself or herself falling forward. It stems from a poor
rotation of the lower body through the hitting zone, causing
the upper body to get ahead of the ball. The end result: the
player fails to stay behind the ball during the swing.
To correct this fault, you need to work on your hip rotation.
Try leading the down swing with your hips instead of your
body.
Try placing a chair to your front side, with the back of the
chair just touching your hips. Take a few practice swings
being
careful to stay in contact with the chair’s back as you turn
through impact. Also, try finishing with your head over your
left leg.
Reverse C Finish
The Reverse C Finish, in many golf instruction courses, was
thought of as the perfect finish— that is, up until a few
years
ago. Now, it’s not as highly regarded. With the reverse C, the
golfer slides his legs and body laterally to the left (for
right-handers) and too fast through impact. The weight,
however, remains on the back foot. A reverse pivot—which
occurs
when you fail to transfer your weight from the front foot to
the
back foot—also produces a Reverse C finish configuration.
To correct this fault, you need more hip rotation and less
slide. To cure the reverse pivot, you need more weight
transfer. If your problem is the reverse pivot, try making
your
ordinary swing while lifting your front foot of the ground on
your back swing, then replant it on the downswing. This helps
transfer the weight from the front foot to the back foot, as
it
should. If you want to build more hip rotation in the swing,
try
taking practice swings with a shaft placed on right side of
your
hips. Your hips should rotate so that they never touch the
shafts. If they touch, you slid.
The reverse C finish is one of the more prominent finishes.
But
like the lunge, low, or high finishes, it can indicate hidden
swing faults that need correcting. The sooner you start
working
on correcting the swing faults discussed here, the sooner
you’ll
start lowering your golf handicap.
About The Author: Jack Moorehouse is the author of the
best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros
www.howtobreak80.com.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a
working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all
seven
continents lower their handicap immediately.
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