The Secret To Effortless Power Is Spinning

Over the years I've always been amazed how thin little girls could drive the ball almost as far as men. What is the root to effortless power? It must not be the muscular arms and upper body because certainly Michelle Wie lacks that, yet drives the ball close to 300 yards with her tall elastic frame.

I like to refer to my old teaching mentor, Percy Boomer, and his chapter As a Dancer Sees It.

This instruction was based on Percy teaching a well known dance instructress. During this lesson, Percy's pupil said that she visualized the golf swing as an upright pillar with a number of circles around it. In an earlier chapter, I recall Percy teaching a lady that was slightly overweight. Quoting Percy, "I took up a wooden tee between my thumb and forefinger and spun it around, then told her: This is golf power in its simplest and purest form."

She responded, "You don't expect a stout old lady like me to spin do you?"

He stated, "Why not? You do on the dance floor."

I told her that a friend of mine once told me that the lightest partner he ever danced with was a lady who weighed over 200 pounds. From the quizzical way that she looked at me, I knew I had scored a point. I held up the tee again and said to her, "If you turn on the pivot you will play great golf, but so long as you slide you are doomed."

Power is definitely produced through a centrifuge-type motion or spinning of the torso while your feet remain fixed to the ground. Trying to power the ball by use of the hands, arms and shoulders alone without a turn on the backswing and twist on the through swing of the torso results in a serious loss of energy and clubhead speed.

A drill to help you feel and imagine the twist would be: Standing at attention with your arms down at your side and just turning from your hips. Imagine you are turning in a torpedo tube. It is this pirouette type twist which will sling the club up and around on both sides of the swing. This, I assure you, is not a new twist on power but is the secret to effortless velocity in the golf swing.