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"The WeekEnd Golfer" chronicles the thoughts, opinions, and
golfing exploits of me, Rick Hendershot, aka, "The WeekEnd Golfer". This
includes reviews of golf trips and vacations,
studies of various golf
theories and swing theory masters. It's all about golf -- but at a "deeper
level".
"A soon as I get about seven or eight other
projects out of the way I will be back to getting serious about
theWEG.com. In
the meantime I continue to read golf swing theory books by Dave Pelz, David
Leadbetter, Ben Hogan, and others, and carefully examine my own swing when I'm
playing courses around Ontario, in Florida, and in the UK (when I can afford
to get there again.) |
Most golf instructors would agree that Ben Hogan's
book called Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf (1957, Simon &
Schuster) is one of the most important and most influential golf instructional
books ever written. And one of the more striking and enduring images presented
in the book has to be the "rubber bands" concept presented in Lesson 2 (page 49
of my version).
What I call the "rubber bands theory" is described by Hogan
like this:
"There should be a sense of fixed jointness between the two forearms and the
wrists, and it should be maintained throughout the swing." (p. 48)
In other words, Hogan is saying you
should keep your arms as close together as possible throughout the
entire swing. He even advocates turning your elbows inward so that
"the pockets will be facing towards the sky...not toward each
other."
Actually Hogan does not use the term "rubber bands".
This description is implied by the vivid illustrations that
accompany the text.
Why Should We Keep our Arms Tucked in?
Many of us will recognize this as just another version of the
old (Scottish?) tip that we "hold a hanky under the armpit and
don't let it fall out."
According to Hogan, the reason for this is that the arms will
act as one unit: "With practice, they will act the same way on
swing after swing, with no variation, repeating the same action
almost like a machine."
But this is not really much of an explanation. Our bodies act
as a "unit" whether we do the rubber bands thing or not. In fact,
most of us have bodies that already act quite predictably
machine-like -- so much so, that we find it almost impossible to
get rid of our slice.
No. It's not about turning yourself into a machine. We are
machines whether we like it or not. I suggest the answer is much
more fundamental than this. So fundamental, in fact, nobody I've
read on this topic has pointed it out.
It's All About Hand Position
The reason is really pretty simple. If you don't keep your arms
tight against your body, your hands will end up out towards the
ball on the down swing, and the club head will get outside the
line. This is simple mechanics. Move the hands out, and the
position of the club head will change. Or, if not, something else,
like the shaft angle or shoulder position will have to change in
order to compensate for the hands being closer to the ball.
Surprisingly, Hogan's book does not even discuss this as a
potential swing problem. There are virtually no illustrations
showing the hand position at the point of impact looking down the
target line from the back (or front). David Leadbetter's
commentary on "Five Lessons' doesn't do any better. Leadbetter
shows lots of head on (90 degree) shots, but nothing demonstrating
the position of the hands relative to the body at the point of
impact.
Natural Golf talks about this, but probably has it both
right and wrong
This is pretty critical, wouldn't you agree? In fact Natural
Golf — the only serious alternative swing theory — takes this very
seriously. Orthodox Natural Golf theory claims that the
elimination (or at least serious reduction) of the angle between
the forearms and club shaft is critical to their entire method.
Orthodox theory (as originally formulated by Jack Kuykendal)
claims this is because it simplifies the swing, by creating a
"single axis".
Frankly I find the "single axis" theory rather unsatisfactory
(for reasons discussed elsewhere). The fact that this particular
Natural Golf technique ("reducing the angle") actually works is, I
think, not up open to question. But that doesn't mean we have to
buy the explanation.
Do you see what "eliminating the angle" amounts to? It is
advocating that we get our arms away from our body, not
keep them in tight like Hogan claims. In other words, it
is an anti-rubber bands theory! It is telling us: Do
NOT hold your arms in tight to your body. Get them stretched out!
Let me hazard a guess as to why this actually works...
As I mentioned above, I think the success of Natural Golf (at
least when people first try it) is beyond dispute. The reason, I
suggest, has little to do with how many "axes" you're working
with. Rather, it is because, as we saw above, keeping your hands
in takes discipline and effort. The more "natural"
inclination is to get them out away from the body. So why not give
nature a hand by setting up with them already extended out.
Doesn't that make getting outside the line on the downswing just
that much more difficult?
Yes it does. And hence, voila! we have the Natural Golf cure
for the slice!
For those of us who set up in the traditional way — with an
obvious angle between forearms and the club shaft — this makes it
clear how fundamental Hogan's Rubber Bands are. If we are not able
to "hold the angle" (by keeping arms and hands in tight to our
bodies) on the way down, we will almost inevitably come at the
ball "from the outside" at the point of impact.
This also has a bearing on the "power move"
Most traditional theorists* often claim that the "power move"
is that last part of the swing before impact when you go from
cocked wrists to impact — the "snap" at the bottom. Analysts never
tire of showing slo-mo videos of pros like Sergio Garcia who are
able to "hold their wrist cock" well below the parallel position,
and then snap their hands at the ball with awesome force in that
split second just before impact.
Executing this move correctly from a traditional setup position
is almost impossible if you don't apply Hogan's Rubber Bands. In
fact, practicing this move in slow motion can be very revealing.
It will show you how your hands, arms, hips and legs must work
together to allow you to approach the ball properly from the
inside.
Photos and illustrations to follow
* Some exceptions to
this rule include Dalton McCrary of "Straight
Shooting Golf" fame, and Jack Nicklaus, at
least as he presents his swing in his 70s
videos.
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