6 Steps To Better Golf How to ‘Chunk’ Your Swing For Great Ballstriking 6-STEP SWING Learn how chunking practice will make you a better ballstriker TEXT & ILLUSTRATIONS BY BRAD BREWER, PGA | PHOTOS BY DENIS VOROZHRO During my lifelong quest to help people play better golf, I’ve observed that the majority of golfers struggle to develop sound swing fundamentals. This limits their ability for improvement and obviously their enjoy- Dment of this great game. Yet there are others who can grasp it rather quickly. Are some people just born with greater talent, or is the secret found in a simple process called “chunking”? HOW BEST TO EAT AN ELEPHANT? ONE BITE AT A TIME! According to Daniel Coyle, author of The Talent Code, world-class trainers, athletes, musicians, artists, actors, the military and many other skill-developed activities ben- efit from chunking. The most fertile learning environment is one in which teachers and coaches take the complex POSITION 1: GAP and break it down for micro study and practice. Scientifi- GAP is an acronym for would change the width of the stance, narrow- cally proven and simplistically explained, when a human is Grip, Aim and Posture. Us- ing and slightly opening their stance as they challenged and struggles doing a unique task, the myelin, ing a mirror for feedback, progressed into the lower irons. The more ag- a milky substance in the brain, wraps around the newly check your positions for gressive one’s lower body motion, the further trenched path from neuron to synapses, and with every rep- correctness. Great play- forward the bottom of one’s swing arc. If you’re etition, the myelin insulation channels the energy faster and ers through history have a relatively flat-footer through impact, then with more precision, resulting in greater skill development. shown us that there’s playing the ball more toward center with your more than one way to grip irons will improve your ability to strike the ball So how exactly does a golfer “chunk”? In slow motion and the golf club successfully. and bottom out in front of the ball. If you have with absolute precision, think and feel one chunk (or “seg- Hogan had a weak grip fast hip rotation like Rory McIlroy, then move ment”) of the golf swing at a time, until that chunk can be position, with the antith- the ball more forward. executed flawlessly. This is how you develop your talent, or esis being Paul Azinger or Zach Johnson, with Posture with Hogan was very precise and what neuroscientists refer to as myelination. very strong grips. The key is to place the hands one that created balance and a connection of Their hypothesis stands that talent is developed best and on the handle so your wrists will work without his arms to his core—elbows pointed down, fastest in an environment that chunks the action with con- restriction, and that whatever your choice, weak inward and close together from the start to scious, deliberate slower speed than the action attempted in or strong, it’s done consistently. A deal breaker the finish of his swing. This allows the club full speed. would be one hand stronger or weaker than and center to move together, increasing My affinity for the legend Ben Hogan and his pow- the other. one’s ability to stay on plane and in balance erful repeatable rotary golf swing began in 1979 after Aiming the club, make sure your focus takes throughout the entire golf swing. into consideration the entire club. Most players The key angle I observe with golfers is the reading his book, Modern Fundamentals of Golf. The will aim with the face, but be very inconsistent spine angle. Tilting forward from the hips and pages of this treasured reference are now worn and torn with where the handle aligns. One time it leans maintaining your neutral S-curve will allow from my numerous thumbing and earmarking over the forward and the next it’s leaning back. This can the arms to hang from the shoulders and have years, and I’m not alone, as many instructors and golf- cause inconsistency with the bottom of your room to swing when the torso and shoulders ers continue to study his masterpiece swinging motion. swing arc and ballflight trajectory. turn away. Many golfers make the mistake of Even Coyle used the master Hogan as an example, shar- Aiming the body is best done with parallel feet, keeping the hips under them and then rounding ing a YouTube clip entitled “Hogan Super Slow Motion,” hips and shoulders to the desired target line go- forward from the neck and shoulders. This arc showing Ben practicing at the Seminole Golf Club in ing through the ball. But, here, again, there have limits range of motion and often causes lifting Jupiter, Florida. He demonstrates a precise, super-slow prac- been several great players who either set up open out of the original starting position. Slight flex tice swing, and if it wasn’t for the waves rolling onto the shore or slightly closed to the target. Hogan typically hit releasing the knees with the feeling of engaged in the background in real time, you would have just thought a drop fade, and with his driver, he would drop his hamstrings is the goal. A common mistake is right foot back a few inches, opening up his gate to overflex the knees, locking in your hips and someone turned the speed of the film down to 1/10th of for a fuller turn. It’s a matter of defining your de- thus limiting your ability to turn. Stand tall with the actual swing speed. It’s a must-see if you’re considering sired pattern and then checking with alignment the legs and flexed slightly in the knees, with a chunking as a method to perfecting your golf swing. rods and/or viewing in the mirror that your aim is good spine angle tilt from the hips and hanging Breaking down the golf swing into key positions for study consistently being accomplished. arms, will place the balance of your weight on isn’t new to teaching golf, as others have taught as many as The final aim is the relationship of the ball the balls of your feet, not the heels or toes. If in nine and 11 swing segments. The success experienced by my in your stance. The further back of center in the balance, you should be able to lift your heels students convinced me that “less is more” for feeling mo- stance, the more the downward swinging push will slightly and bounce on the balls of your feet. mentum flowing from one balance point to another. be promoted, and the further forward of center, the Checking posture in the mirror from both front- more potential for an upward-swinging pull shot. on and a side view prior to hitting balls or play- Hogan and Arnold Palmer both set up with the ing is highly recommended in the development ball 2 inches off their target-side instep. Then they and management of your best golf swing. 3 www.golftipsmag.com POSITION 2: THE “L” Ben Hogan’s rotary golf swing is my favorite often causes counteracting faults, like coming out of posture with ex- because it rotates away with the shoulders and cessive head movement. If you swing back too slow and tight with the chest, causing a slight lag, drag and load of the hands, the wrists won’t set without physical assistance. If you shove club right from the start. Swinging away with away straight back or lift with the hands only, there’s a loss of the arms connection, the shoulders turning around the to chest connection, as well as rotary motion. Either fault causes a great spine angle and supple wrists will sling the arms amount of inconsistent timing to regain balance before impact. Notice into orbit, hinging the wrist and setting the club with Hogan how his right arm is still above the left. This is a key point of upright and into its first dynamic balance point, reference when rehearsing and reviewing at this point in the swing—the commonly referred to as “The L”. What makes arms maintain extension, and the club, though hinged vertical, is still in it balanced? alignment with the center of the chest. Done correctly, the clubhead feels light at Practice this move away with a kitchen broom, feeling the body pivot, this point. If it was over-rotated with the hands and forearms and you and slinging the arms and hinging the wrists into this “L” position. The stopped the swing at this point to observe, you’d feel heaviness that heaviness of the broom head will provide instant feedback for you. POSITION 3: THE TOP Continuing to finish off the shoulder and hip turn loads from the tight pivot. The left knee should have moved inward toward the golfer completely into the brace of the right leg. the ball. If the heel lifts slightly as a by-product of rotation, that’s very At this point, if done correctly, the majority of weight acceptable and also found in many great golf swings. I’ll add that pos- has loaded into the inside of the right heel and the left ing this position is beneficial for developing a fully loaded potential golf shoulder has turned under the chin, behind the ball and swing. However, in the dynamics of the swing, I prefer the feeling of no over the right knee.