I caught a little of the US Open on Thursday and jumped up of the sofa to take a snap shot of the TV –Image above. I have a client in England who I knew would benefit from the drill that Jason Day was practicing on the range, so I sent it over to her.

The Good Players Common Fault

All good players – amateurs and Pros alike, have no problem getting on their front side at impact. For many, the problems arise when the move is too aggressive!

If the hips slide too much, and/or rotate too early in the downswing – the result is the right arm becoming trapped behind the right side of the body, which affects its external rotation and the ability to get the handle forward enough at impact, which affects the first basic – low point control.

The drill Jason was using involved placing a stick under his right foot during his swing. It’s a drill I sometimes use myself, and prescribe to others to control the rate at which the hips slide and rotate on the downswing.

If you try and imagine the pelvis as a gate – we need to open the gate during the backswing, and allow the arms to come back down in front of the gate before it closes in the downswing. Or at least try and feel that..

Grant Waite P6

This is what I tried to explain in this blog post a while back.

So when I saw Jason practicing with a stick under his right foot on Thursday, I knew he was working on ingraining a great feeling.

He’s allowing his arms and hands to come back down in front of him during the initial start of the downswing before he powers his hips through – and closes the gate.

This is also a great way to train yourself how to regain flexion in the downswing.

The Lowdown

On the way back, to stay centered – the spine has to tilt, turn and extend. This keeps your upper body center on top of your lower body center.

Andy plummer demonstrating a centered backswing (1) with the lower body moving forward on the downswing (2,3)

During the transition into the downswing, by the time you reach P5 – left arm parallel to the ground (learn more about the 10 swing positions here) the pelvis should regain its original flex (flexion) and by P6 – shaft parallel to the ground – the spine has regained its original flex.

From here, the knees should start to straighten and the spine should tilt and extend once again, using the ground as a springboard to produce power.

Understanding this is really the key to understanding timing in the golf swing, and the pros on tour know it.

I like DJ’s swing, Jordan Spieth and Brandon Grace and wouldn’t be surprised if they go on to victory today.

But If Jason Day wins, after his fall and bout with vertigo the other day – I think it will go down as one hell of a herculean effort that history will put in the same category as Ken Venturi at Congressional in 1964 .