Body vs arms

Jesse Grewal

There has been an age-old argument amongst golfers as to whether the body creates the golf swing with the arms responding to the body or the opposite, which is the arms starting the swing with the body responding to the movement of the arms. Whichever seems to work for you would be the correct thing to do or feel. The fact is that the role of the body and the arms are very different. The arms must go up in the backswing and down to the ball at impact. This is the vertical component of the swing. The body creates a turning action, which takes the arms around it and flattens out the swing. This is the horizontal component.

The more a golfer turns the body with a lesser lifting action of the arms, the flatter the swing would be. Therefore, the more upright clubs like the wedges would require a swing that matches their plane, which is relatively vertical. An up and down action of the arms with a lesser body turn works well with the wedges. An easy way of getting the swing more vertical is by narrowing the stance. The narrow stance restricts the body turn and promotes up and down action of the arms. The clubs with a flatter lie angle like the driver require a flatter swing. A wider stance creates a base for increased body action, which thereby flattens out the swing.

In terms of feeling, the golfers who feel that the body starts the swing use the argument that the dog can wag the tail and the tail cannot wag the dog. The big muscles start the action and the arms respond. The one piece takeaway where the body starts the swing with no wrist action or folding of the right elbow is in line with this theory.

The opposite school believes the arms start the swing and the body responds to them. They emphasise that a golfer hits the ball with the club head, which is controlled by the arms and hands and they do not hit the ball with the body. Delivery of the club head is controlled by the eye-hand co-ordination and not the body. The pre-set method in which the wrists and arms get to a position during the takeaway and the rest of the backswing is completed by the turning action of the body, which is part of this theory.

Either of the above theories could work for you but what cannot is the reversal of the roles, which is the body going up and down instead of the arms, and the arms going around and around. The arms must do the up and down action while the body rotates, creating the around action.

(Grewal has coached several national champions and professionals apart from being coach of the Indian golf team for the Eisenhower Cup (World Cup) in 2008. He is currently the Director of National Golf Academy of India and CGA Hero Honda Golf Academy. If you have any queries get in touch with him at [email protected]