Archive for January, 2014
The First Move
The Take Away
I am always being asked what initiates the backswing. I believe and teach that the first move away from the ball is more a upper body movement than the lower body movement. If you think of your shoulders, arms and hands as a unit, these move away from the ball together. You need to feel that the lower body resists, a good way to feel this is for you to keep your belt buckle as quite as possible during the early part of the takeaway.
A great check point in the takeaway is when the shaft of the club gets parallel to the ground, and it is a major important part of your swing, other than impact. I know how important it is to make a perfect set up as this gives you a great chance in making a good solid swing. If you get any parts of the set up wrong you will have to make compensations in the golf swing. The Perfect takeaway is a must because if you get the first part of the swing wrong you are going to have to compensate else where in the swing, not a great recipe for consistency in ball striking!!
Many times when I see a golfer with a faulty takeaway, they generally have major problems in there short irons, pitching and chipping. As it has been said many times before a pitching swing is a mini version of the full swing, so it becomes very important to get the takeaway correct.
To get the club moving away from the ball correctly, you need to swing the club back along the angle of the shaft. Not inside it or outside it but on it until the club head covers your hands and the shaft is parallel to the ground.
Good Position Clubhead covering the hands and shaft parallel
to the ground and target line.
Bad takeaway where the right wrist has hinged back too
much on itself.
Bad takeaway where the left arm has rotated too much in
the takeaway separating from the chest.
Drills to practise to get the takeaway right every time.
Headcover under the left arm drill
Place a headcover or glove under your left arm.
Make some swings back so that the shaft gets back parallel to
the ground this will keep you “connected” and as one unit.
Clubhead covering the hands.
Golf Ball Drill
To stop the right wrist from hinging back on itself so early place a ball down 18 inches directly behind the ball you are going to strike. From here practise keeping the clubhead moving directly over the behind ball.
From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy
PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at
Mark Wood
PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach
The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent
Happy Birthday Jack
“The summer I was 12, I broke 80 for the first time. It was odd how it happened. I shot 80 eight straight times, and just as I was wondering what I had to do to break that barrier, I shot 74.”
Jack Nicklaus
Even the great Jack Nicklaus scored in the 80s at one time; of course, he was only 11 years old! In his book, “The Greatest Game of All,” Jack describes breaking his own mental barrier when he beat “old man par”, as Bobby Jones called it, for the first time in his life.
The following year, Jack was playing golf with his father one evening when he shot 34 on the front nine, putting him in an excellent position to break 70 for the first time. To his dismay, as they walked off the 9th green his father congratulated him on a great nine holes and announced it was time to go home for dinner!
The young Nicklaus protested, but to no avail. His father said Ma was expecting them and they could finish the round after dinner. Both of them ate their food as quickly as they could swallow it and headed back to the course. Playing the par five 18th hole in near darkness, Nicklaus hit a long straight drive. He followed that with a 2-iron to the middle of the green, some 30 feet from the hole, just as the sprinklers came on. Making the eagle putt would give him a 69, and Jack Nicklaus seldom missed a putt that meant a lot to him. As he would do again and again during his unparalleled career when it really mattered, he rolled it in. To quote Jack, “The promised land!”
By regularly putting themselves in a position to win, overcoming fear of failure and being ready to accept success, champions dramatically increase their chances of victory. Once that first winner’s trophy is in the display case, others almost inevitably follow.
From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy
PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at
Mark Wood
PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach
The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent
Wedges
Gene Sarazen Wedges
Before Gene Sarazen invented the sand wedge, most golfers played recovery shots from sand with a 9-iron. Because the blade was so sharp this required enormous skill, leaving little or no margin of error for any but the most talented player. Sarazen came up with his idea for a sand wedge while he was a passenger on an airplane one day. He noticed how the wing flaps affected the flight of the ’plane when they were extended. When the aircraft landed, he called the Wilson sporting goods company and asked them to send him six niblicks (9-irons). Then he went to the local hardware store and bought all the solder they had in stock. For the next few days Sarazen spent all his waking hours experimenting with the 9-irons by adding mass in different shapes and amounts to the sole of the club. He realized immediately he was on to something and he kept on soldering and filing and trying again until he got it right. The result was the world’s first true sand wedge and, so far as bunker play was concerned, a greatly improved Gene Sarazen.
From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy
PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at
Mark Wood
PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach
The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent
Bizarre Golfing Injuries
Golfers and their Bizarre Injuries
We have all had little injuries that have stopped us from doing our most favorite sport, I once cut my hand on an open tin of beans which put me out of action for a few days!!
Here are some of the famous golfers and their bizarre injuries which have temporarily stopped them from competing.
Oliver Wilson – needed to take 6 weeks off after breaking his wrist as he tried to avoid a snowball during a snowball fight!!
Sam Torrance – In 1993 while at the Belfry, Sam cracked his sternum after he tripped over a plant pot while sleepwalking!!
David Feherty – A poisonous adder get the better of the Northern Irishman and put him in hospital during a round at Wentworth in 1992.
Graeme McDowell – G-Mac could not play at the WGC – HSBC Champions event after he badly hurt his hand on his hotel room door.
Ernie Els – Big Ernie was enjoying a family vacation in 2005 and after a banana boat ride went wrong he ruptured his anterior cruciate and put him out of action for 5 months during the 2005 season.
What injuries have you had, post them below……..
Mark Wood
PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach
The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent