The New First Magic Move To A Winning Golf Swing Video by Andy Brown
View the first of the new four magic
moves to a winning golf swing. Andy Brown from St Andrews "The Home Of Golf", Scotland explains how the early backward wrist
break is your answer to lower golf scores and straighter and longer shots. This video shows how you can dramatically cut 7
to 12 strokes from your handicap and have the perfect golf swing. It is a must watch for any golfer. Download the accompanying
free 60 page PDF report and 19 minute audio from http://www.GolfSwingSecretsRevealed.com. Hi my name is Andy Brown from http://www.GolfSwingSecretsRevealed.com
and in this video I would like to talk about the first of the four magic moves. If you have read the free golf swing report
or have listened to the audio I give away on the site you will already know that the first magic move is one where you must
start the backswing with an early backward wrist break. And as the backward break is one of the key points - I want to be
absolutely certain you understand what I mean. First, hold your right hand in front of you, fingers together and extended,
thumb up and the palm squarely facing to the left. From that position bend the hand to the right, trying to make the fingers
come back towards the outside of the wrist. You won’t be able to get them anywhere near the wrist, but a person with
supple wrists can bend the hand back until they form a right angle. I’m almost there as you can see. Quite simply this
straight back motion of the hand is the backward wrist break. The right hand moves towards the outside of the forearm with
no turning or rolling. In Chapter 3 of the report I give away on my site I go into great detail about the perfect golf grip.
One that stipulates that at address one is showing only two knuckles of the left hand and one of the right hand. The right
hand must be placed on the club so that the left thumb lies right down the middle of the right palm. This brings the heel
of the right hand against the big knuckle at the base of the left thumb. To make the backward wrist break we merely push the
heel of the right hand down against the big knuckle of the left thumb. You must place a downward pressure of the heel onto
the thumb. When it is done, without moving the hands otherwise, the right hand breaks backward at the wrist and the left hand
breaks inward, the back of the left hand going under and facing towards the ground.
The Golf Backswing
Golf Backswing: Backward movement of the golf club.
- Fatal flaw: Open-face take-away.
- Awful results: Slice, pull, smother, hook, scuff, or shank.
- Magic move: Early backward wrist break, with thumb press.
- Check points: One knuckle of left hand visible, two of right hand, and none of club face
when hands are hip high.
Ready to learn about the golf backswing?
In this section you'll learn to start the swing, uncover the first fatal flaws that appear (with the horrible shots they
produce), and learn the first of the magic moves that will cut strokes from your score.
Ironically, these first flaws that creep into average players swing produce an effect that is the exact opposite of what
they want.
Just as you have, they have read and heard all their golfing life that certain things are essential.
The first of these is that you must pivot, the second is that the club must be taken away from the ball inside the projected
line of flight, the third is that the wrists should be broken late and upward.
Now let's see what happens when you put them into practice.
First, you twist your body as you start the take-away. This brings the club back on an inside line. Fine. It opens the
face of the club too.
Excellent, you say, for you know it should be open at the top of the swing. You delay the wrist break as long as possible
and then let the wrists break upward.
Then what happens? The very thing you wanted most to avoid. You hit the ball from the outside in, with an open face (usually),
and you get an outlandish slice.
If you close the face on the downswing you probably will get a pull, or a smother (if it's closed too much), or a hook.
If the club is outside the line far enough, you will even get that most horrible of all shots, a shank.
You are then thoroughly crestfallen. You have done everything you'd been told to do and you still hit those awful shots.
Why?
You hit them because your early movements got you into such a position at the top that you could hardly hit anything else.
Your early pivot, your attempt to "turn in a barrel," didn't permit you to transfer your weight to your right leg. You
kept too much of it on your left leg.
Taking the club away inside (it was probably quite sharply inside) got it moving too flat, as well as opening the face.
Then, to get the swing farther along, you had to bring the club up. At that point things began to get tight and uncomfortable.
To ease them you stopped the turn that your shoulders were making and let your left wrist collapse, or bend back and go
under the club. This let you raise the club and get what you felt was a full swing, without being uncomfortable.
The face of the club, of course, was wide open at the top. What happened next was inevitable.
You started the downswing by regripping with your left hand, which had loosened, which made you get the club head started
moving too soon.
Your weight, being mostly on your left leg, moved back to the right leg. You turned your hips and shoulders sharply, which
threw the club onto the outside-in line you were trying to avoid. And you came down across the ball.
Chances are that as you did, your left knee snapped back and locked and your right knee bent straight out in front of you.
And your follow-through, what there was of it, carried the club around you instead of up and out after the ball.
You, however, see none of these things as the cause of your bad shots.
You feel only that you haven't done well enough what you are trying to do, and in your efforts to meet the standards, you
exaggerate the actions. You don't improve. You may easily get worse.
And you finally end your practice session frustrated and dejected, or your round, if you are playing, with a shameful score.
How can you, then, improve your golf backswing?
Read on... ;-)
The Golf Backswing Part 2
The Backswing Magic Move
The way the right hand should move from the wrist in the early backward break—straight back toward the
outside of the forearm, with no turning or rolling.
In part 1 of the golf backswing section of this site, we discussed some of the flaws that plague a golf player's swing.
Fortunately, there is a cure for all this, a cure that is almost miraculous.
What is the magic secret?
The magic move that puts you on the right track immediately is simply this:
Start the golf backswing with an early backward wrist break.
Of course this sounds too simple to be true. It violates every rule you ever heard about starting the golf swing.
You're probably thinking that we have gone completely off our rockers! (But rest assured... last time we checked, we hadn't!).
;-)
But it is true — and unless your swing is now everything that you want it to be, you will find out how and why this
magic move is made.
The wrist break itself is simple enough, actually, though if you have been breaking in the conventional way you may need
a little time to convince yourself of what is to be done and to make yourself do it.
Since the backward break is one of the key points in our system, let's be absolutely certain you understand what it is.
First, hold your right hand in front of you, fingers to-gether and extended, thumb up and the palm squarely facing the
left.
From that position bend the hand to the right, trying to make the fingers, come back toward the outside of the wrist.
You can't get them anywhere near the wrist, of course, but a person with supple wrists can bend the hand back until hand
and wrist form a right angle.
This motion of the hand, straight back, is the backward wrist break.
The standard wrist break is quite different.
Hold your hand again as you held it before.
Now, instead of bending it backward, bend it up, so that the thumb comes toward you.
That is the orthodox, accepted wrist break. Forget it.
You will get it eventually, but you don't want it now.
You will remember that the grip we stipulated was one which, at address, showed only two knuckles of the left hand and
one of the right hand.
You will also recall that the right hand was put on the golf club so that the left thumb lay right down the middle
of the right palm. This brought the heel of the right hand against the big knuckle at the base of the left thumb.
Click on the part 3 link below to learn how to use your thumbs when executing the golf backswing.
The Golf Backswing Part 3
The Thumb Press
Yes, your thumbs play an important role in performing your golf backswing. Indeed, thumbs are essential for
the entire golf swing!
To make the backward wrist break we merely push the heel of the right hand down against the big knuckle of the left thumb.
This is a downward pressure of the heel on the thumb.
When it is done, without moving the hands other wise, the right hand breaks backward at the wrist and the left hand breaks
forward or inward, the hack of the left hand going under and facing, in a general way, toward the ground.
How the backward break is made, with the heel of the right hand pressing down on the knuckle of the left thumb.
The back of the left hand begins to turn down and under. |
How not to make the break. Wrists and hands have rolled, the back of the left hand has turned upward.
The right hand is rolling too, instead of bending straight back. |
At this point the club will have come back slightly inside the projected line of flight but the club face will not have
opened.
The face will be at about a 45-degree angle with the ground and, as you stand there, you will not be able to see any of
it.
How the backward break looks from the side.
Note the bend in the left wrist as the back of the hand turns down, and the position of the right wrist.
Notice also that the face of the club has not opened. |
This is the wrong break, with wrists rolled.
Note the difference in the left-hand position here and in the illustration to your left, and observe
also the differences in the club-face positions.
Never do it like this. |
To be certain you are making the break correctly there is a perfect check point at this stage.
If you look at your hands you will see, if the break is right, one knuckle of your left hand and the first two knuckles
of the right.
The left hand will be broken in, at an angle with the wrist.
Here is what you should see when you make the backward break perfectly — only one knuckle of the left hand but two
knuckles of the right. |
If the break is completed here, without letting the hands move away from their address position, the club will have been
brought back and up until it is almost parallel with the ground.
How near it approaches the parallel depends on how supple your wrists happen to be.
Following our description of how the break is made, try it ten times.
If you don't soon get the feel of it, try it twenty or fifty times. But do it until you get the feel, checking yourself
each time with the left-hand and right-hand knuckles and the angle of the face of the club.
This is a key move — the foundation of the golf swing — and you must do it right, get the feel of doing it
right, and do it so much that it becomes automatic.
It is easy to practice, requiring very little room, and can be worked on indoors or out, winter as well as summer. Get
it, and get it right.
We have not put this into the actual swing yet, remember. We are still working on the mechanics of the wrist break.
It is just possible that at this fundamental stage you will refuse to believe that you can hit the ball with such a break.
So make this test:
Go to the practice tee, or to a range or an indoor net. Address the ball. Make the backward break and do nothing else.
Don't shift your weight, move your hips, or turn your shoulders. Just make the backward break. Hold it a couple of seconds.
Now simply turn your shoulders, letting the shoulders swing your arms and the club up to the top, and then go right on
through with the swing and hit the golf ball.
You will be amazed at what happens after you try this a few times. You will find, if you keep the wrist position, that
you not only hit the ball, but that you hit it solidly, hit it straight, and hit it a surprising distance.
How do you incorporate the early wrist break into the golf swing?
Golf Backswing: Part 4
The next step is to incorporate the early wrist break into the golf swing itself, making it a single
uninterrupted motion.
For this we must start with what has come to be known as the forward press, for it is with this that the backswing begins.
The forward press is simply a device that gets us from the passive into the
active stage smoothly, without a jerk.
Standing in a stationary position, even for a few seconds, is tiring. Ask any service man who has stood at attention for
any extended period.
We don't pass easily from a stationary position into a big move.
"The
forward press provides this transition. It is the little move that leads into the big one. The trick in golf is
to go from the stationary position of address to the big movement of the backswing without
a jerky effort."
The forward press provides this transition. It is the little move that leads into the big one.
The trick in golf is to go from the stationary position of address to the big movement of the backswing without a jerky
effort.
It can be done in several ways, with the right knee, with the hips, with the hands, with a turn of the hips. We want a
lateral movement of the hips, no turn.
It is a slight pushing of the hips to the left, laterally, about an inch or two.
This press is in the opposite direction from the big move.
The backward break off the forward press.
The "ghost" hands how position as the press is completed.
The backward break begins as the hands move past the player's right leg.
But as the hips come back from their little pushing motion, they keep right on sliding and go into a lateral turning motion
to the right—the beginning of the backswing—and we are off.
This makes for the smoothest transition of all.
As the hips move to the left in the press, they pull the hands with them, just slightly, only a, fraction of an inch.
When the hips come back, the hands come back-Now, as the hips and hands come back from the press, push the heel of the
right hand down firmly but not sharply on the left thumb.
The back of the left hand starts to turn under—and the all-important backward wrist break has begun.
This move should not be a sharp or a violent action. It should be firm and steady. And it feels much quicker than it looks
or actually is.
The hands meanwhile are moving to the right as the wrists are cocking, and the hips are sliding into a lateral turn, taking
the weight with them.
Before you realize it, your hands will be waist high. And at that joint the wrist break should be completed!
This is the completed break, with hands approximately waist high.
The "left shoulder has turned and not ducked, the club face is square. |
This is a common fault in executing the break.
The left shoulder has ducked, the player substituting the duck for the correct turning action. |
This is the wrong break altogether.
Player has not broken backward, but has rolled his wrists and opened the club face wide.
|
Right here is the first check point: Stop the swing and look at your hands.
If the wrist break has been performed correctly you will see at this point just the reverse of what you saw at the address:
You should see only one knuckle of the left hand, but two knuckles of the, right hand, those at the bases of the index
and middle fingers.
What you must see when you turn and look at your hands after the backward break is completed — one knuckle of the
left hand, two knuckles of the right, and none of the club face. |
What you will see if you have made the wrong break— two or three knuckles of the left hand, only one of the right,
and plenty of the club face. |
You should not be able to see any of the face of the club, either.
The face should be turned away from you and somewhat down, not at the 45-degree angle it was in the stationary test, but
still turned away and somewhat down.
You should see a definite inward bend of the left hand, a reflex angle formed by the forearm and the back of the hand.
The shaft will be at about a 45-degree angle to the ground and the angle formed by the left arm and the shaft of the club
will be somewhat more than a right angle, maybe 100 degrees.
You should feel that the wrists cannot be broken any more.
They will be, a little, at the top by the weight of the club head, but they should feel now as though the break were absolutely
complete.
If these check points are not all clearly visible (except the club-shaft position) exactly as we have given them, your
break has been wrong.
The chances are that you have pushed the heel of the right hand sideways against the left thumb, instead of down.
This brings the club too sharply on an inside line, tends to open the face somewhat, and doesn't get the back of the left
hand started going down under as it must.
With such a break, when it is completed, you will see two knuckles of the left hand and only one of the right, just as
you did at address.
So correct it by starting over again and pushing down on the left thumb.
That brings the back of the left hand down and under and gives you the position you must have.
Part 3 of the backswing section will explain what this akward and uncomfortable series of steps does for your golf swing.
The Golf Backswing Part 5
Conclusion
This is the last part of the golf backswing section of Golf Swing Magic.
Assuming you read part 4, what are your thoughts about the way to incorporate the early wrist break into your golf swing?
Heretical, you say? Of course it is. Awkward and uncomfortable? Oh, yes, indeed. But you want to break 80, don't you, or
90, or whatever goal you have set for yourself?
Then stick with it. Hit some balls with it, being sure your execution is right, before you condemn it.
Meanwhile, look what it has done for your swing already: The club head has been started almost straight back from the ball,
as it should be. The club face has been kept square, as it must be if you are going to play better golf.
The hip slide has moved much of your weight over to the right leg, where it must go, and your hips are now turning somewhat.
Your right elbow has been automatically brought in against your side, starting you on a tight, controlled arc.
The wrist break at the same time has started the swing in a plane that will prove to be ideal, neither too upright nor
too flat.
The shoulders have begun to turn and to tilt just a little, with the left going down slightly, and the right coming up.
And, perhaps most important of all, your hands and wrists are set early in exactly the position they must be in.
All this adds up to the fact that although the backswing has progressed only about a third of its distance, you already
are locked into actions which will bring you to the top in perfect position.
Your next questions, without a doubt, are going to be: Why is this first move so important, and why does it do what it
does?
To answer these we will have to go back quite a few years in the theories of golf technique. Back in the 1930s there was
one accepted method of hitting a golf ball. That was with an open face and with a late wrist break.
Those were the points the teaching pros taught then — the face should be opened on the backswing, should be open
at the top, and should be closed to a square position on the downswing as the ball was hit.
The natural way to get the open face at the top was with a late wrist break.
The break never should be started before the hands were waist high. In fact, many taught that you should pay no attention
whatever to breaking the wrists; they would break by themselves.
This is the way Vardon, Jones, Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, and most of the others hit the ball. There were exceptions,
such as Craig Wood, who won the National Open in 1941, and Lawson Little, who won the Open in 1940 and the American and British
Amateur championships twice each, in successive years.
Shut-face hitters, both were looked upon as heretics.
After World War II, with competition on the American professional circuit getting ever keener, with ever more money at
stake, the pros began to make changes here and there, tinkering with the swing, both for accuracy and for distance. Sam Snead,
Byron Nelson, and Ben Hogan made alterations. Then the younger group came along, Arnold Palmer, Bill Casper, and others. They
made more.
In 1958 one of the girl pros, Betty Hicks, quoted another pro, Helen Dettweiler, as saying that the men were not practicing
what they preached. The men urged their pupils, she said, to sweep the club head low away from the ball and delay the wrist
cock until the hands were hip high. But the men themselves, she observed, were with few exceptions starting their wrist cock
at the beginning of the backswing, and she offered to produce movies to prove it.
In 1961 the great little West Coast phenomenon and 1961 PGA champion, Jerry Barber, described how he starts his wrist break
even earlier—right off the forward press. Sequence pictures showed him doing exactly that. He has the break completed,
he said (and again the pictures prove it), by the time his hands are hip high.
It is also noticeable in their pictures that both Palmer and Casper have theclub face in a relatively closed position at
the top of the swing, not completely shut but closed at least 45 degrees. So do several others, including Wes Ellis, former
Canadian, Metropolitan, and Texas Open champion. All are striving for what they consider a square face at the top. With it
they know they will bring it square to the line at impact without any manipulation on the downswing.
This is something the old-timers had trouble with. Being open at the top, they had to manipulate the club on the way down.
Usually they succeeded; quite often they didn't. But that is one reason, we believe, why the modern pros are much more
consistent, as well as longer, than their predecessors of thirty years ago.
All of which is background for the action taught in this book. The backward wrist break gives you the square poŽsition
so necessary for accuracy. The immediate wrist break locks you in the square position early.
So the first flaws that spoil a golf swing have been uncovered. You know what they are and the horrible shots they cause.
More to the point, you have been given the first of the magic moves that will improve your golf swing, eliminate those bad
shots, and put you on the road to better golf and lower scores.
|