A good takeaway is the foundation to a solid swing. It might be counterintuitive to a less experienced golfer, but the moves you make in the first few moments of your swing have a huge impact on the quality of your shots. Because of this, it’s important to identify what a correct takeaway feels like so you aren’t destined to hit a bad shot before you even reach the top of the backswing.
To help work on proper takeaway technique, we had GOLF Top 100 Teacher Martin Chuck give us some tips as a part of our Home Practice series. Watch the video above, or read below for more.
One of the first things Chuck emphasizes is to not rest the clubhead on the ground behind the ball. Instead, hover the clubhead just off the ground behind the ball.
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“Very important that we don’t rest it, because we may be too close to the ground and we (hunch over),” Chuck says. “We want to create a great radius.”
The next checkpoint for a solid takeaway is what’s called the top of the takeaway, or position two. This happens when the shaft of the club first comes parallel to the ground when taking it to the top of the backswing. When you get to position two, you want the club parallel to the target line as well as the ground so you can get a nice, square clubface.
“You’ll notice the clubhead is on top of my hands pretty much,” Chuck says. “We want to feel that this trail arm can stay on top of the lead arm … There’s a nice angle to keep my trail arm above my lead arm to the top of my takeaway before I continue my backswing to help me stay on plane.”
This is a simple drill you can work on at home to help put you in position to make a good swing on the ball. Just remember the two checkpoints and they’ll feel like second nature in no time.