Initiation of Takeaway

Just a matter of curiosity and also I was asked by many of my newbie friends as to which part of the body initiates the takeaway in a golf swing. As for me, it comes in naturally. I would hover the club a few seconds as I address the ball, and then drop the clubhead on the floor ... and I move away from the ball instantaneously with both of my arms and shoulders in one single piece motion.

How you initiate your takeaway

1) Shoulders first and follow by the arms
2) Only shoulders
3) Arms only
4) Arms and shoulders together in one piece
5) Others

So which is the correct method to initiate a golf swing?

Arms and shoulders together ... But powered by my core muscles ... I discovered this in my putting stroke first, and am now taking it to the full swing

I initiate my takeaway by slightly pushing my hands forwards...similar to my putting.

I try to mirror Angel and Ernie....but then again, both of them havent been winning much recently

Arms first for me, but then again, I'm using the RSS

TourSwing wrote:

Arms and shoulders together ... But powered by my core muscles ... I discovered this in my putting stroke first, and am now taking it to the full swing

Bro, to be specific, which parts of your anatomy are your core muscles?

shoulders for me, try and keep the triangle form by my arms.

i think should be our mind to made us do the body turn

efoong wrote:

i think should be our mind to made us do the body turn

Wow, bro, you sounded very profound!

I always told my newbie friends that our heads should remain stable (no vertical or lateral movement) while taking the club back ... The shoulders and arms should move as one piece and try to imagine that the hip is not moving. Once you turn your shoulders and arms, the hip will rotate by default but at the end of the swing at the top, the shoulder will turn 90 deg whereas the hip will rotate about 45 deg or less.

Turbo wrote:

TourSwing wrote:

Arms and shoulders together ... But powered by my core muscles ... I discovered this in my putting stroke first, and am now taking it to the full swing

Bro, to be specific, which parts of your anatomy are your core muscles?

Abs, oblique, back ... These are the strongest and most stable muscles , the shoulder and arms go along for the ride ... I play 125gram shafts and they dont feel heavy at all

TourSwing wrote:

Arms and shoulders together ... But powered by my core muscles ... I discovered this in my putting stroke first, and am now taking it to the full swing

I agree with you.

Initiate by arm movement slightly then shoulder followed to sq it. After power by core muscle just like bro TS.

I prefer hands arms then shoulders. I use to do the one piece but then this created the problem of no hinge in my wrists. I would then hinge too much at the top of my swing and cast on the way down. This way I hinge earlier and the casting problem has improved. Everyone has different swing problems so I guess it's on a case by case basis. Seek a good pros advice

seebayho wrote:

TourSwing wrote:

Arms and shoulders together ... But powered by my core muscles ... I discovered this in my putting stroke first, and am now taking it to the full swing

I agree with you.

I 2nd the motion.

Re about moving the head. There are some Golf Pro's who would not restraint you to slightly moved.

Manual De La Torre golf swing which is not too mechanical, will make your head moved a little.

Juvic Pagunsan does this. His dad and his Golf Pro, Jun Cedo, will not restrict your head to be still.

Hands arms then shoulders for me.

Hi guys, many thanks for the inputs!

This is a lesson on one-piece takeaway. When one focus on shoulder and arms taking the club back, the core muscle would subconciously be moving too.

Yes, but what I am suggesting is the reverse : focus on the core muscles turning back, and the arms and shoulders will subconciously be moving too ...

A lot of us, due to inflexibility or tiredness during a round or just plain laziness, start rotating as one piece but our arms eventually overtake the moment our shoulders meet some resistance ... This leads to either an incomplete turn or an overswing ...

I practice getting my core into the top of backswing position ... for what seems like a hundred times a day ... Without any club , or use of my arms ... therefore the length of my backswing is dictated by the position of my core , and not by my arms ... Its just a different view of the same thing, and seems to be working for me right now

Hi Tourswing,

Do you also use your core muscle only & without any arms action when coming down at the ball thru' impact?

Turbo wrote:

Hi Tourswing,

Do you also use your core muscle only & without any arms action when coming down at the ball thru' impact?

I totally agree with Tourswing.
It's the core muscle that drives the shoulder, arms and eventually the hands.

You can actually experiment by using your core muscle to drive your arms in PUTTING.
Try it putting with core muscle and with arms....you can feel the difference.

Hope this help.

Turbo wrote:

Hi Tourswing,

Do you also use your core muscle only & without any arms action when coming down at the ball thru' impact?

The downswing is powered by the lower body ... which pulls the upper body through impact ...

However, I am conscious about keeping my arms connected to my upper body throughout ...

TourSwing wrote:

The downswing is powered by the lower body ... which pulls the upper body through impact ...

However, I am conscious about keeping my arms connected to my upper body throughout ...

I understand what u mean here ... In other words, you are also using your body to square the ball as well, am I right?

Thanks ...

Correct! am a huge fan of Hunter Mahan's swing ...

TourSwing wrote:

Correct! am a huge fan of Hunter Mahan's swing ...

But one arms cannot be stiffened up while connected to the body. If not, one would not get the distance.

Tiger also doing that currently under the guidiance of Sean Foley ...

Hi Tourswing, I have just gone to the range to try up your suggestion - Takeaway powered by the core muscles and downswing powered by the hip. My accuracy and consistency have improved a lot using this arms connected to torso swing method. I need to get use to the feeling of arms being passive on the takeaway and to focus on the arms connected to the torso at all time. The good thing is, I can make a full shoulder turn without fearing out-of-sync on the downswing. The chances of hitting the sweet spot has become higher compare to using the conventional method - One piece takeaway with the arms and shoulders.

I need to go to the range again to practise this method with the long irons and driver.

Thanks ...

This video clip shows how Tiger does it ... Arms connected to his upper torso at all time ...