Leading With The Club: An Important Principle Related To Golf Swing Sequence

One important concept I teach my golf students is "leading with the club." This is related to your swing sequence and starts with your backswing. A common error many amatuer golfers make is turning their body, especially their lower body, too early in their backswing. The club has not gotten a chance to swing up and gets stuck and out of sync with the body. In order for the club to catch up at any point, the body would have to stop and the arms would move by themselves. This makes things get disconnected and isn't going to help anyone be more consistent with their swing.

Keep The Club In Front Of You And You'll Be Hitting Better Golf Shots

Golf Swing Sequence is a concept which is really important if you want to hit the ball straighter and be more consistent. I have more information about swing sequence but here am focusing on the principle of leading with the club. In your backswing, make sure you are taking or swinging your club back first before you start to turn the body, (especially the lower body). Ideally, a golfer will start swinging the club back and then start their shoulder turn. When their shoulders have turned halfway, then the hips should start to turn as everything then turns together to the top. You will then be in perfect sequence and in a powerful position to start your downswing.

Get Your Swing "In Sync"

The shoulder to hip turn ratio is 2 to 1 on the backswing meaning the shoulders turn 90 degrees and the hips turn 45 degrees approximately. Because of this, you can see that there has to be an order to the turning elements (the shoulders and the hips). The lower body should stay stable in the beginning of the backswing so that the upper body can turn and coil against it. This is first preceeded by taking your club back in the backswing. So as a recap, the swing sequence should be: club, then shoulders, and then the hips as everything then turns together to the top of the swing.

Sequence In The Downswing

Once you've synced up your backswing, the next key ingredient is getting your downswing in sync. The goal at impact is to have everything coming through together (your arms and body). Golfers who get out of sync and get their club stuck behind them on the downswing will only have their arms and hands to actually hit the golf ball. Ideally, from the top of the swing your lower body will remain stable as you swing your arms down. You want to keep your back facing your target for a split second on your downswing. This will keep your shoulders and upper body from opening up too early in the downswing. Everything will come through together at impact and you'll be in a more powerful position to make solid and consistent contact with the golf ball.

After impact, the club should swing towards your target and then swing over your left shoulder. Your body will turn and follow the club and you'll face your target as you finish to a full follow through position. So you'll be leading with the club in the backswing and in the follow through as you turn and follow it after impact.