Width and depth are the critical elements in creating turn. In Part 2 of his new power series of videos, Ted Frick of the Classic Swing Golf School in Myrtle Beach, S.C. is here to demonstrate how they work, and what you can do to reinforce those elements.
Ted Frick:
In the first series I did Set Up for Success with a Driver. And I introduced Karsten Kenley, our newest full-time teacher. This coming Labor Day will be one year anniversary for my man. Stef is going to be closing up this six-part series. She was out giving a lesson when we did the intro, so I just wanted to bring back her smiling face. She'll be doing the follow-through to the finish. All right, we'll see her soon.
All right, so turn. A vital part, a vital ingredient to power, is the turn. Over father time… And I do a lot of the adult schools here. I don't work with a lot of the young kids. That's what Karsten and Stef do, the junior golf program. Turn is definitely something that diminishes over time. The turn is an important ingredient. But what is it in the golf swing that's going to help create turn? What I want to talk about is width and depth. So I'm going to turn a little bit here on the camera.
Width is a part of the golf swing, the initial part of the golf swing, where you're trying to get the club head away from your sternum. The wider you can take it back, you can see that integrates the turn, so width creates the turn. I've seen many, many golfers that they will initiate the back swing with a turn, but they'll pick the golf club up real early, making their arc narrow. We want a wide arc. But also, as the arc is moving to the top of the backswing, we want to make sure that we continue with the depth to the arc. Depth is an area of space behind the body, so wide and deep creates turn. Again, I get many students, they're trying to turn, and they'll get lifting, and they'll get real narrow as they're trying to turn, so it's kind of diminishing effect. I mean, they're trying to increase turn, and they're losing power.
Width and depth, I'm going to go ahead. I'm doing the classic Bobby Jones drill. I know there's some students under the age of 25 that don't know who Bobby Jones is. He is the man that bought the land for Augusta National. He is the man that's still considered the greatest amateur of all time. I got footage in my library of that man on VHS wearing an outfit where he was all black on one side and all white on the other. He is in his garage, pounding balls into a rug, and he talked about the two-ball takeaway here.
So I got this ball in the backstroke. It's a good two feet back. And I'm going to make sure in my takeaway that my golf club is going to hit that tee, hit that ball. I'm going to try to keep my trail arm extended, the right arm, and then move into a space of depth before I bring it down. Remember then Karsten's going to come in, and he's going to talk about bringing it down. All right, wide and deep. Take a look at the tee height. I got half the ball above the top line and half the ball below the top line. All right, so I'm going wide. That ball was hit. All right, wide and deep for power.