Two-wall swing

By T.J. TOMASI

Mental images, the pictures you draw in your mind, let your muscles know what needs to be done when you make a golf swing. What you see on your mental screen helps you understand what you’re trying to do.

An image I often use is of a horse and rider moving away from a wall with one end of a 60-foot coil of rope tied to the saddle and the other end anchored securely to the wall. The horse gains speed and the rope ­rapidly uncoils until, in a bone-jarring tug, the rope goes taut and the horse stops dead in its tracks. As you can imagine, the rider is flung (released) from the saddle, continuing alone in the direction he and his horse were traveling only a fraction of a second before.

Now reverse the situation so that the horse and rider are approaching the wall at full gallop, and just as they get to the wall, the horse stops dead. Once again, our helpless rider continues on alone as he’s thrown over the wall.

In the first image, the wall represents your right leg, in the second, the wall is your left leg. The rider is your clubhead andhis separation from the horse causes the release of your clubhead through the hitting zone.

To get the feel for this two-wall swing, at first exaggerate the move by taking some swings where it feels like your right heel stays on the ground until it’s pulled off by your body turning up and into your follow-through. Feel as if, for a fraction of a second, you’re sitting on your right knee to start the downswing.

But there are two things to watch out for: Take care to keep both knees flexed, and make sure you transfer your weight to your left hip. What you want is to let your weight empty into your left hip joint while keeping your right heel down.