A teaching session with Irv Schloss and Don Fischessor-Part 3

Two award-winning teachers got together and made a short film that set out to simplify the swing into as few words as possible.

Text from Irv Schloss

Part 3

The Backswing

The Frenchman Gregory Bourdy`s backswing ticks all the right boxes for Irv Schloss

In my first 2 lessons, I described the grip and address posture and said that these two things represent 60% of what I teach. I again want to repeat that. Unless you have read and digested the material in my first 2 lessons I strongly recommend that you go back and start from the beginning of this course.

Gary Player demonstrates the grip and address posture explained by Irv Schloss

What I teach has nothing to do with whether you are short or tall, strong or weak, fat or thin, male or female. The same principles hold good for all golfers.

Some will be more highly motivated. Some will have more time to play. Some will have greater athletic ability, and others may be better off anatomically and/ or mentally. But all can learn to play to a satisfactory level of skill.

In this lesson, you will start to swing the club.

I am going to deal with the full swing first.

Photo number one is the same as the last picture in lesson 2.

This is how you will look when you are ready to start to swing. Examine it closely and consider the following:

The body is UP

The knees are drawn slightly together.

The weight and pressure are on the insides of the soles of both shoes.

The body is twisted very slightly towards the target.

The left arm is dominant.

The hands are firm on the club, but the back fingers of the left hand are mostly in control.

You should be coordinated not relaxed.

You should be firm, not loose (click on "The Art of Teaching" link for visual description).

You are now ready to start your swing.

You could well afford to spend much time with your coach to acquire the feel of this very important set-up position.

Much has been written about the golf swing. Some of it is complex and confusing; some of it simple and easy to learn.

You can learn a golf swing from several very simple moves. It will suffice, even for advanced students, to move from the position in photo No 1 to a complete backswing by STRETCHING the hands directly away from your target, keeping your knees “in”, to the position in Photo No 2, and then continuing to the positions in photo No 3 and 4.

By making your moves to the pattern your thoughts will be simple and most of the overall movement will be automatic. For instance, the wrist action that takes place will happen subconsciously with most players.

Swing this way and you will arrive at the top of the swing stretched and coiled. Now study Photo No 4 carefully, and at length, with reference to the following points:

The body is in a good vertical line.

The lower body has been “held” steady by keeping the knees “in”, with the emphasis of weight on the inside of the soles of the shoe.

The upper body has been “stretched” further in its coil by stretching away from the target with the hands.

The hips have been twisted with no lateral movement

The right leg has remained “tilted” in towards the center.

The club is pointed towards the target. (If there is to be any deviation of club line then it should point left of the target rather than right)

My library of high-speed pictures of our superstars is the most complete in the world. They have been collected from the Bobby Jones era to the present day. I consider those posed photographs (with this article) of my model, to be the best I have ever taken. They represent a composite of what I have learned from our superstars.

Study them carefully. Read the article again and again.

Don Fischessor exhibits the aspects that Irv Schloss has explained in the article.

To see the previous article click on this link.

The final article will be available in four weeks.