Golf Instruction - Body Component Assemblies

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The Assemblies

The concept of thinking in terms of assemblies helps to grasp what should be moving (actively or passively) or staying stationary during the swing without having to be aware of all the individual parts that make up the assembly. Plus it is a big advantage in executing your swing, and diagnosing adjustments in order to fine-tune your swing.

Finally, the beauty of active versus passive assemblies is that by only moving one or two parts that make up an active movement assembly, the passive parts that are attached to that assembly move properly automatically!

This section is quite important, so please do take your stance as each assembly is described, and mentally 'feel' that assembly as a whole of the parts that make it up.

• THE STANCE - Yes, the stance, just prior to starting the swing, is the main assembly. You should feel like one of those miniature wooden jointed models that artists use to create realistic body positions. From this assembly, all the sub-assemblies come forth. Confidence comes from being aware of this framework as you 'step up to bat' and settle into your good stance position.

• THE HIPS - The hips are really just the sides of your pelvic bone, and there really isn't any independent movement of the two. At other times, it is clearer to think of them as separate, as when one hip 'moves' while the other swivels on the hip/leg socket. As will be seen in the following, the hips assume many different rolls, including lateral movement, diagonal movement, swiveling, and combinations thereof.

• LEFT HIP/UPPER LEG/KNEE/LOWER LEG/FOOT - This rather lengthy assembly is quite easy to identify. When it is used, usually it is the left hip that is actively moved by you, and every thing that is connected below it simply 'goes along for the ride' in a passive manner. You would neither encourage or restrict the movement of the passive members (upper/lower left leg, knee, and foot).

• RIGHT UPPER LEG/LOWER LEG/BOTTOM INSIDE OF FOOT - This is perhaps the most crucial assembly to have correct during the initial few moments of the backswing, as well as throughout the entire backswing. The assembly must be like concrete, providing a solid, unmoving platform on which the right hip will eventually swivel (more on that later). This assembly provides the 'registration' of exact positioning around which all other assemblies move. If this assembly moves off it's mark, all movements that follow will suffer.

• SHOULDERS/ARMS/HANDS - A triangle is formed by the points of the shoulders and where the arms come together at the hands. At times, the triangle is equilateral (at the start of the swing). Later, the right side shortens during the back swing when the right arm folds at the elbow as both arms move to the right (relative to the chest).

  The arms also move up and down, again relative to the shoulders, and this is their main movement. Although you should think of this 'triangle' as the object that is moving, the right arm itself is both active and passive as it must both perform movement along with the left, and hinge at the elbow (only in response to the lateral right movement of the arms, which 'folds' the right arm, which in turn provides the cocking action of the wrist; more on this in the 'Moving The Assemblies' section).

• THE HANDS - Although this assembly could easily be over-looked, it is one of key elements that must be properly controlled during the swing. It is also perhaps the most difficult, for the hands must doing absolutely nothing except to maintain a very light hold on the club. There is a subconscious instinctive tendency to grip tightly during the forward swing. Doing so will greatly reduce accuracy and distance, and will cause unnecessary physical strain on the hands.

  This is only an introduction to the importance of maintaining a light hold on the club. More will be mentioned on it when we discuss moving the assemblies.