Part II: The Long Game
Lesson #26: It's A Horse Race

You should think of your swing as a sort of horse race in which every horse not only leaves the gate at the same instant but also reaches the finish line simultaneously in a mass dead heat.

In the takeaway, all your 'horses' - the arms, legs, hips, shoulders, and club - move away from the ball in a unified movement. The first horses to reach the top of the swing are the knees and hips, followed by the shoulders (which in fact have had to rotate twice the distance). The arms, which have to go farther still, come next, followed by a complete cocking of the wrists as the weight of the clubhead - the last horse to reach the turn - gives a final downward tug. The pack remains in this general formation at the beginning of the downswing.

Indeed, even as the wrists and clubhead are completing the turn, the lower body has begun to head for home. The left knee moves laterally toward the target, thereby pulling on the left hip, which in turn pulls the left arm a bit downward. Then the right knee begins to drive toward the target, bringing the shoul- ders, arms, wrists, and club head into the backstretch.

Then, at the last split-second before impact - the stretch run - the race tightens. The wrists and clubhead, which had been lagging behind, suddenly unleash like a slingshot and catch up with the bigger muscles, with all horses hitting the wire at impact. In a good swing, your impact position is a virtual copy of your address.

Illustration by Jim McQueen

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