Keys To One-Piece Takeaway

Sat, 01/12/2013 - 12:00 -- Don Trahan

Having a proper takeaway is very important because it involves the first movements of the actual swing. Even if you are set up correctly, a bad takeaway can ruin your results very easily. 

I recently asked our Facebook followers to post what they wanted me to cover in an upcoming daily. We got a lot of responses, but one stood out to me because of the name and because it was very short and to the point. Gary Potter recently attended one of our one-day Performance golf schools, so I recognized the name. He wrote only seven words in his post.  

More on the start of the upswing. -Gary Potter

I like to believe that the upswing is what I call a one-piece takeaway. In order to further understand this, think of your body as being categorized into three squares. Ankles to knees, knees to hips, and hips to shoulders are the three squares. I also want you to think of a triangle that is formed by your palms being perpendicular to the ground and on up the arms to the shoulders. This triangle is attached to the top of the upper square so it's directly related to the shoulders and hips.

The key is to feel like the toe of the club moves first and leads the shaft, arms, and shoulders into the takeaway. Even though I feel like the toe of the club is moving first, my hip and knee on the right side start by pulling back, not the club. It's just the swing thought I like to use before I start the takeaway. I want to feel like the toe of the club is the first thing that moves, even though I know it's not. The squares set the triangle in motion.

With the thought of the toe of the club leading, it's really going to keep the feeling of the left arm and shaft in line. Once you reach the toe line, it's all about lifting straight up. This will give you a good synchronized movement.

Keep it vertical!

The Surge

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Comments

Kevin McGarrahan's picture

Submitted by Kevin McGarrahan on

I concentrate on keeping my left wrist firm (to avoid what Don is talking about with moving the hands) and move my right shoulder back around my spine. Then I just let my hands go up the ferris wheel to the bell and let it fly!

With the firm left wrist, the upper box and club all move simultaneously.

Dragonhead's picture

Submitted by Dragonhead on

Kevin,
My takeaway thought is a little different but the results last round were the same. You keep a firm left wrist. I had concentrated on firming my hands on the club. Feel that controlled the club head better than I had been doing. Will check it out tomorrow weather permitting. Enjoy every video. Always a pearl or two of wisdom in them and the comments help too. Keep on hitting them longer and straighter and succeed. We all intend to do just that. DH

johnwils@live.ca's picture

Submitted by johnwils@live.ca on

Since I live in Canada, I'll have to wait till Spring to try this.

NeilofOZ's picture

Submitted by NeilofOZ on

I think this is where the English language is a little fuzzy at times, if your thought process is to take the toe of the club away first, then aren't you initiating a club face that's toe up in the back swing rather that being inclined
with the same angle as your spine when parallel with the ground . This action would also make it difficult to resist getting laid back in the SGB, ie once the
"toe up" action is activated, then it's twice as hard to resist being laid back.
Would love to read any views by fellow Surgites.

dglsbn@gmail.com's picture

Submitted by dglsbn@gmail.com on

Hi everyone: I am going to ask questions that not oniy I will benefit from,I bet there are more students just like me out there. The intent here is to critique and not just criticise.
1 Kenny Knox Short Game video: A picture is worth a 1000 words.If Kenny would of used some alignment sticks or rods or what have you when talking about lining up OPEN at address. It would of been so much easier to get his point across.
1a In the same video Kenny talks about the leading edge and the bounce.He did a fair job on the leading edge but left the viewer hanging with just what does the bounce accomplish and does the bounce occur prior to striking the ball? Assume nothing should be the order of the day.

1b In the same video Kenny talks about turning his belt buckle back and through to the finish. After close observation I could fonf very little turn back but noticeable turn through and on some shots he did not finish the shot at all. When Kenny did not turn back hardly at all was this because he was resisting with the Left knee because he wanted a slight amount of torque build up to help facilitate the turn through? He did talk about weight being mainly on the Left foot because he wanted a decending blow.This is something else that could of been explained more thorough. There are several things I found through experimentation that we're important to hitting firm and crisp Chip shots.The first being ball position and the second being is the nature of the turn.The desired turn is with the players back staying back as he/she turns and not coming around,To me the foudation to golf seems to be the Chip Shot and the Pitch shot.Up to a 100 yards or so all shots are off the Left post only correct?

1c Short Game Lob Shot: The Lob Shot was just a so so presentation.It assumed that the viewer already knew the terminology and how it is applied. The bounce shot is such an important shot along with the leading edge shots that more time should of been spent on this all important technique.The player must understand the differences as well as to how the set-up changes for each one. I have not gotten the the Sand shot but I imagine the bounce shot is an important part of this shot as well.

It is my contention that too much material and in too short of space was attempted in order to really do justice top this all important phase of the game.

Please don't be offended by my comments

Sincerly

Doug Boone

Steve Smith's picture

Submitted by Steve Smith on

Did anybody besides me think that question was about the forward swing?
(Anyway good intruction on the takeaway).

NeilofOz: I think some of those things we just have to work out for ourselves. The main thing (that is easy to say and harder to do) is to not let the "toe up" EVER go beyond "up", or vertical.

Some people have very little problem squaring the club face back up at impact. Those people can get away with a weaker grip and (partly from the nature of the weaker grip) will probably have the toe more vertical to the ground from the mitt to half way back with no problem.

Other people (like me) do better with the grip a little stronger grip and (partly from the nature of the stronger grip) will probably have the club face more on plane with the spine angle instead of vertical from the mitt to half way back.

Those are two extremes and I just happen to be on one end of those extremes. Of course there are an infinite number of positions between one and the other that might be the perfect fit for an individual.

Since we are all individuals we have two choices. We can work at what we want to do until (or if) what we are trying works for us, or we can tweak the takeaway and or the grip in slight increments until we find what works all on it's own. Some people may find that tweaking something in the grip and/or the rotation in the take away almost an unnoticeable amount may make all the difference in the world.

Just for me, AND NOBODY ELSE: It is much easier for me to hit the ball consistently if I feel as if I am not trying to rotate the toe up at all. The club face ends up pretty much matching my spine angle from the mitt to halfway back (if I am trying to hit a straight shot). If I am trying to hit a draw the face is more closed than my spine angle and I just swing through the ball with no feel of conscious rotation.

Surpisingly, the only time the club face ever gets to completely vertical at the mitt and just past is when I am trying to hit a huge hook. On those it does feel like I am intentionally rotating the toe up and also feel like I am rotating it back the other way in the FUS as fast and as hard as I can.

NeilofOZ's picture

Submitted by NeilofOZ on

Steve, thanks for your thoughts which confer with mine. Likewise I try not to initiate any rotation at the start up BUS and seem to have the face pretty well
on the same plane as my spine when parallel with the ground. As a matter of
fact I'm always thinking of leading with the back of the club which allows me to be more vertical at the top of the BUS. I do have a problem of hitting my solid
hits slightly left, so maybe it's worth a try thinking about the toe.