Transition

This is the part of the swing where a change of direction takes place at the top. You have coiled and stored up energy in the take away, back swing and pivot. Now you must uncoil to unleash the energy through the ball.

There are two schools of thought on the transition. One says that the hips start turning left before the club reaches the top.This sets the club and pulls the arms down to begin the forward swing. The other school says that the arms fall by gravity to begin the forward swing.

I agree with the first school of thought. Your weight is over the right leg and your left heel may be slightly off the ground as the club climbs to the top. Before the club gets all the way there, the hips begin their turn to the left and this helps pull the arms down. The hip turn helps "set" the club, plants the left foot back to the ground and provides a platform for the weight transfer that is to come.

Not all of us have the patience or talent of Bob Murphy or Nancy Lopez to wait at the top the way they do. These players exaggerate the transition in order to focus on balance. Most of us swing too quickly and have no transition to speak of. A slower take away and back swing will help, but you don't really pause at the top.There just is a sensation of one.

If you are comfortable with a pause at the top then by all means do so. Just don't lose your balance. Pausing will bring the other school of thought into play. After your pause, the arms should start down with gravity pulling them down. The problem here is that the arms can get ahead of your hip turn and your timing will be off at the bottom. So you still may need to make the hips start turning before or as soon as the arms start falling.

Whichever method you employ, the idea is to "set" the club into its cocked position. It is important to hold this cocked position as the arms come toward the ball. You will not uncock until you are almost at impact. This is something that will happen naturally as centrifugal force whips the club head through the ball. The art of swinging is to time the uncocking for maximum leverage at impact.