The Down Feeling In Golf May Be An Uplifting Experience

Years ago Golf Illustrated Magazine presented a list of the all time golf instructors. At the top ranked number 1 was Percy Boomer from the Isle of Jersey in Great Britain. In his masterpiece golf instruction book, On Learning Golf, Boomer talks about a down feeling at the top of your backswing. This play on words could be a little confusing when you first read Percy’s book, and the number one question my students ask me after reading Boomer is what he meant by the down feeling. This down feeling is one of the most crucial feels in a great golf swing and is a relatively simple technique to achieve.

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Let’s consider some examples of a down feeling. Shopper’s in the grocery store holding a paper bag of groceries in front of them is a down feeling, holding a heavy medicine ball in front of you with both your hands palms up, is a down feeling, a baseball hitter at the plate ready to swing is a down feeling, and finally a Tyrannosaurus Rex holding its prey in both its arms and hands would an example of a down feeling. The idea I am getting at is the arms do not lift up in the air on the backswing independent of the pivot to hit the golf ball. A baseball hitter when batting has his elbows slightly flexed as his arms remain down for power and leverage. World class PGA Tour professional Kenny Perry actually flexes his left elbow much the same as a baseball hitter. The most exaggerated and possibly detrimental phrase in golf is to keep your left arm straight. How many baseball hitters keep their left arm straight when batting, NONE!

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The secret is to keep your arms in front of you and down as you rotate your shoulders, then left arm straightness can be achieved when you swing the golf club. But locking your left elbow straight at the top of your back swing is a NO NO! Look at these images of the baseball hitter and professional golfer. They contain the secret to the down feeling where the arms are leveraged against the body for power and consistent golf swing.

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Rick Bradshaw
2004/2006 North Florida Section PGA Teacher of the Year
Director of Instruction, Dent/Bradshaw School of Golf
Heritage Isles Golf Club

Tour Experience

Golfers Don’t Throw In The Towel!

Many years ago 12 times PGA Champions Tour Winner and I were featured on the golf channel to show the secret to power in the golf swing. Jim Dent knows a thing or two about power as he won the first three world long drive championships back in the early 1970’s, and hit a drive 426 yards at age 62 in a Champions Tour event in Atlanta, Georgia. I personally like to demonstrate the secrets to effortless power by driving the ball one handed, and have done so with pretty good success even now at age 64 hitting the golf ball close to 275 yards.

Towel

One of the favorite segments of the viewers was the sleeping rabbit drill demonstrated by Jim Dent. The concept is to take a long white towel and tie the end in a knot leaving two white ears. Not only does this knot make one end heavy but makes the towel look like a sleeping rabbit dangling down as a golfer addresses the ball. The drill is executed properly by keeping your elbows close to your side and start rotating to and fro to get the towel to sling up and slap you on each side waking the sleeping rabbit up. This drill gets you to feel how to use resistance of your legs to whip the towel up on back swing and through on the down swing the same as when swinging a golf club.

*Another drill used by a high majority of tour players as well as myself is to place a towel under both arm pits with the towel resting on your chest and the hit some 7 or 8 iron shots. This drill will give your arms and body working in harmony and together as you pivot.

*Possibly my favorite towel drill involves wetting the towel and then holding it in front of you as you twist it until the water rings out of it. It is this ringing of the wet towel that I would like golfers to image that their mid section or core achieves on the backswing as a result of their full and complete shoulder rotation against the resistance of their spikes grabbing the ground.

*Finally the towel snap drill which is well known in gym class will show you how the release of energy occurs in the golf swing. Golfers don’t throw in the towel; in fact use it to enhance your swing with these drills.

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Rick Bradshaw
2004/2006 North Florida Section PGA Teacher of the Year
Director of Instruction, Dent/Bradshaw School of Golf
Heritage Isles Golf Club

Tour Experience