It's all in the SETUP!

I am learning how HUGE the setup is. I have cured so many different compensations in my swing by continuing to perfect my setup and posture. The most recent was the fact that I didn't have a good right arm fold on the backswing. My coach noticed that at setup my right elbow was pointing outside of my hip. I then changed it to pointing directly at my right hip joint and there you have it, I had a great right arm fold on my backswing! A great book to read is Nick Bradely...7 laws of the golf swing, in which he comments on exactly what i just said...he also states that the setup and posture are much more influential on the swing form that people give it credit for. I hope this helps and I would love to hear more about this from you guys!

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Nick Bradley's book is very good and has great graphics in explaining the way the body is affected by the setup and swing.

He does explain the importance of getting a line through the elbows to be projected to each hip joint at setup, Ben Hogan does exactly the same thing in his 5 Lessons.

Very true. Thanks for the tip conerning the elbows.

In my mind the order of importance on the golf course is
1 breathing you aint breathing good and your done
2. Mental attitude
3. set up

everything else is way down on the list

people want to learn how to transition and all that but set up with shoulders open, elbows off, grip off,, stance off, and they dont understand why the swing dont change
99% of a good shot is done before you swing

Hello Supergolferman:

I just picked up the "7 Laws" book and I was very interested in the description of the arms in relation to the body during the set-up. The method of setting the upper portion of the arms on the chest and having the inside portion of the elbows pointing out is similiar to Hogans description of the arm position. After trying to adopt this position, initially it felt very constricting because my old set-up had me reaching for the ball with somewhat outstretched arms. This outstretched position, I believe, gives one a sense false power because it causes an initial disconnect from the body that is hard to recover from. The arms feel free to swing, yes, but the timing and connected power we are trying to achieve at impact is fleeting.

In addition to the right arm being in a position to fold correctly, I have also noticed that using the connected arms (7 Laws method) allows my left arm to rotate better. My old set-up had my left elbow pointing at the target versus my left hip. For some reason, using the connected method, my left arm feels like it can really drop down and then rotate through impact versus holding that rotation off and leading to a chicken wing at impact. It feels like I am finding the inside slot more effectively.

Obviously it is going to take some time to get used to the new arm position. I do feel like the club handle is much closer to my body because my arms are now hanging straighter down. This will force me to use my body rotation more but the initial sensation is that I am more balanced because I'm not so streched reaching for the ball. I am using a weighted club to ingrain the connected triangle of my arms resting against my torso.

Some questions on this topic:

1) Looking at the set-ups of the pros, I see a wide variety of arm positions. The right elbow in most cases does point toward the right hip but there is quite a bit of variance in the left elbow positions. Any ideas on this?

2) Some high profile instructors say to gaurd against the method described by Bradely as it does not promote a free swing of the arms, too narrow of an arc, etc..? They advocate moving the right arm away from the body during the early stages of the backswing. Bradely seems to advocate folding first then some separation.

3) Using the 7 Laws method, I feel that I am bending more at the hips versus my usual reaching set-up where I felt standing taller? I also do feel like I am slumping my shoulders down more versus having them pulled up and more tense. Is the more slumped shoulder method preffered? I am still trying to achieve a straight back (rear out) position.

Thanks for the input,
Tim