Hi! My name is Chuck Will, PGA Director of Instruction at the Chuck Will Golf Academy. Today, we are going to go through our pre-shot routine, so that we get set correctly before we hit each golf shot. If you look at good players, they all get behind the ball and they look down towards their target. Here in our teaching studio, we use a mat here that has the lines or the grids already on the mat to allow for us to lineup correctly. If we were to trace a line out of my little stick out to my target down the range, thats going to be our target line. The target line is the most important line in golf; its the line that we use as a reference point throughout our whole setup routine. Okay, we learned the grip earlier, so first thing we are going to do is get our hands securely on the club with the correct grip, then we have to come straight into the ball, facing the ball, we are going to set the club down, bending forward from our hips. We want to keep our back straight.
An easy way to keep your back straight is to push your chin up and your chest out, bend forward from the hip joint. I am extending my left arm to form the radius of the golf swing, as I measure away from the ball. My left foot or my lead foot is going to be flared to about 15-20 degrees towards the target. I have a six on here, so I am going to have the ball just a couple of inches inside my left heel. I then do my width of stance with my right foot, which would be squared up or perpendicular to my line to the target. My body line, my feet, my knees, my hips and my shoulders, should always be parallel to the line to the target. An easy way to remember that, just railway track. The run railway track is the line of the target the ball is on the other railway track is the line that we are on. And this is for all shots that we are trying to hit straight.
If we were trying to curve the ball intentionally, we may intentionally line our shoulders left, club face to the target to hit our shot that goes left to right, but for normal straight shots, we want to try to get everything parallel left, or parallel to the target line. So again I get my good grip, I come straight into the ball, chin up, chest out then forward from the hips. Position my left foot for my ball position, my right foot for my width of stance, and then what I do is push down my thighs here. A lot of people try to bend their knees and they end up rocking forward or they bend forward too much.
The easy way to create the correct amount of hip tilt in your setup, is to push down with your thighs here, you will feel your backside go back a little bit, your knees will bend, but not go forward, and then the last thing I have to do if my weight a little bit on my heels which it is here, I am going to shuffle my feet till they are just a little bit underneath my body. Now I am balanced, my weight should be about fifty-fifty. My right hand is lower than my left, so my spine will be tilted just slightly to the right. I should be able to see the back of the ball. Now I am ready to hit a good golf shot, I am balanced, I am lined up correctly and I am ready to take the club back to start the swing. So again, to review the setup; come straight into the ball, bend forward from your hips with your back straight, chin up, chest out, position your left foot for your ball position, right foot for your width of stance, push down with your thighs to get your balance and then adjust the centre of gravity, till the weight is underneath your body. An easy way to check your posture, if I let my hands hang straight down, my toes should be over or right underneath my hands hanging straight down and my hips should be directly below or directly above my heels. My knees would be flexed over the middle of my feet. Now my center of gravity is where I can keep my balance throughout the swing, very easy for me to rotate back and through; okay.
Work on your grip, posture, your setup routine, when you hit those shots on the course, it takes a lot of pressure off. You know you are always setup right for a goods shot. Keep working on this, this will definitely help your golf game. Thank you.
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