The Swing-and-Stop Exercise

Perform your backswing from your correct address position, remembering to commence with two short takeaways.

Pause once at the top of the swing, then bring the club down with the hands and arms at an even pace and in sequence of left arm, left heel down, right foot roll, hips sideways. Now stop the club at impact with your hands and with the clubhead totally square. You will notice that you body is positioned almost as it was at address, except that your right knee is in, your right heel off the ground and your weight shifted to the left. Your hips have turned slightly and, most importantly, your shoulders are square.

The shoulders stay passive. Note particularly the start of this action, where the right shoulder stays back and the angle between the wrists is maintained.

If the clubhead is swinging ahead of the arms, (this is called casting or fishing) then it will arrive ahead of the hands at impact and will be virtually impossible to stop at impact without hurting the left wrist. Equally, it will be totally impossible to 'square up' at impact if your shoulders turn first. The exercise is therefore excellent for controlling the upper part of the body.

At first, you will find it impossible to get everything exactly in the right place at the right time. This is the same with learning any set of precision moves, so practice patiently and do not apply too much pressure in the movement. Advanced students can actually 'drop and stop', meaning they have acquired the ability to feel the arms so free to swing down from the top that they can virtually let the arms free-fall into the space provided by the body and 'catch' the club at the bottom of the swing.

If effort was required by top players when striking irons, then they would not be capable of the phenomenal accuracy they achieve. Furthermore, the procedure of the swing-and-stop exercise enables players to strike the ball consistent distances with each club because at no time are they thinking 'hit'.

The swing-and-stop exercise will go some way to getting the feel of swinging the club and controlling your shoulder, but ultimately you have to become aware of 'left-side control'


CROWOOD SPORTS GUIDES GOLF, BILL BRAMPTON