Five simple moves to automatically navigate your swing and hit the ball squarely every time!

By 2021 PGA Coach of the Year Jamie Mulligan, CEO of Virginia Country Club in Long Beach, Calif.

Swing with a Hacky Sack on your head? This is one way to simplify your swing and maintain your balance.

Swinging a club often sounds complicated, but it’s not, you just need to understand a few key points. For example: keep your upper body in your legs on the backswing, then release it on the downswing. Sounds easy, right? It’s certainly not complicated.

This practical idea is part of the philosophy I use to teach many successful pros, including 2021 FedExCup Champion Patrick Cantlay and World Ball Queen Nelly Korda. I believe it also makes you a better golfer. Here are five key points to note.

Get a friend to put a club across your toes as you set your address. This can help you judge whether you are properly balanced. Your body weight should be slightly on your back foot.

1.Dynamic address settings

A good swing starts with good address setting fundamentals. The point is to bend forward from the waist and allow the arms to drop naturally from the vertebrae. Try to get your body into an “inverted K” shape (viewed from the front), with your back shoulders lower than your front shoulders. From this position, distribute your body weight to the feet, leaving the back foot a little more: about 55 percent versus 45 percent.

An easy way to check is to put a club on your toe (pictured to the right). If the club is flat and balanced, your address setting is good.

A properly “charged” start means that you initiate the swing with the large muscles of your torso and shoulders, not the small muscles of your wrists.

2 .”Charge” when starting

The correct way to build power on the swing is to divide your body into two parts: your upper body and your lower body.

The idea is to turn your shoulders into your lower body to create a fulcrum on the backswing. This builds up power into your hips and legs and creates torque, allowing you to “release” power on the downswing. As shown in the big picture on the right, when my student (LBS sophomore Clay Seeber) started swinging, how I held the club against the underside of his grip and gently pushed the student’s club Push back. This eliminates any “hand” motion and instead engages the large muscles in your torso and shoulders to start your swing more powerfully.

It’s a great practice for getting the right backswing feel — I do it every time I play before Patrick Canley.

Placing a shuttlecock on your head can help you feel your balance on the swing.

3.Create a balanced and centered turn

If your swing is unbalanced, you have little chance of repeating the same motion. There’s one training aid you can use to teach yourself balance, and for just a dollar: the Hacky Sack.

Hear me out: put the shuttlecock on your head at address setting (pictured below). If the shuttlecock doesn’t fall off before you hit the ball when you make your swing, it means your head is settled and your balance is good.

When initiating the downswing, the hips “bump” in the target direction, creating room for your arms to swing freely on the downswing. The shaft angle at the moment of impact matches the shaft angle at address setting (as shown on the opposite page), which helps you get back on the face and release the club around your body.

4.Move towards the target

From the top of the backswing, your lower body should initiate the downswing. But you don’t want to rotate your hips too quickly on the up and down transition. Instead, you should “bump” your hips in the desired direction. By doing this, you create enough room to shallow the club and drop it into the correct position for release on the downswing.

Long Beach State freshman Andrew Hoekstra practiced getting the shaft angle at the moment of hitting the ball the same as at address. Do it right and the ball will fly straight and far.

5. Reproduce the angle at address at the moment of impact

Now that you’re ready to hit the ball, try to get your downswing back to the angle you set it at address.

Think of it like the lines on your reversing camera screen: you want the line of the shaft at your original address to match the line of the shaft at the moment of impact.

If you can get the shaft back close to the original angle after a full swing around your body, then I can guarantee that you’ll be able to get back on the face and hit the ball hard every time.