Thank you all for the positive “scoring” of last week’s article on Power Leaks. I hope you are getting a chance to get out and try those ideas about improving your hold on the golf club to tap your optimum clubhead speed.

Continuing this topic of power leaks, probably the second most common leak that I see is a very inefficient first move from the top of the swing. A great majority of recreational golfers of mid-to-high handicaps begin the downswing with a move of the club with their hands—more typically, their right hand (for right-handed players). This causes the body turn to follow the attempt to move the club with the hands.

The problem is that this is exactly backwards.

What counts most in generating maximum clubhead speed through impact is a progressive application of power from the top of the swing through the ball. The club starts from an essential stop, then must accelerate to achieve maximum clubhead velocity just past the point of impact. There is really only one way to achieve this efficiency.

At the top of the backswing, you should have coiled your body with a sequential backwards extension of your arms …which turns your shoulders, which turns your hips and shifts some of your weight to the inside of your right/back foot. It makes sense that there has to be some kind of slight pause at the end of your backswing so that you can reverse this entire action.

I was taught early on and have continued to believe that the first move from the end of the backswing should be a slight lateral slide of your hips to get your body core stacked “over your left foot.” This move will cause your hands and the club to drop slightly inside, so that your upper right arm is close to your side.

From this position, with the knees remaining flexed, you can leverage the immense power that is stored in body core by rotating hips and shoulders as fast as you can with your mass is centered over your left foot. The arms and hands, and therefore the club are pulled down and through the impact zone.

I use the analogy that the golf swing is a pulling motion because you have–in effect–a chain with several links. And you cannot push a chain! The club is a fixed link, as are the forearm, upper arm, and chest. The connections–wrist, elbow, and shoulder joint—all are variable. If you push the middle of this chain with your right hand or your arms, the strength of the chain is compromised. So, if you pull this chain through impact, from your torso, the other links have to follow the first more consistently.

Does that make sense?

If you want to add power to your golf swing quickly and easily, get that grip right, then focus on holding on lightly, primarily with the last three fingers of the left hand, and pull the club through impact. Thinking that way will encourage your body to lead that entire action and you will generate more clubhead speed with less effort than you ever believed imaginable.

To get the feel of this, try it out on half wedge shots. Get your pitching or gap wedge and make half swings, feeling the end of the backswing. Start down by shifting your weight to your left/lead side and turning your body core through. Let the body lead the arms and the arms lead the hands. Hold on lightly and just let it happen. You’ll feel the sensation of effortless power that might get the light bulb to go on.