Hands on Takeaway

[rksquire]

Quick question, in an effort to improve I made a conscious decision to try to move from a reasonably consistent fade (occasional slice) to a high draw - I've had some success, gaining distant on all clubs and being able to hit fairway woods so generally quite happy (bad shot now a pull or pull hook).

My question is really about the hands - apart from the grip (bit stronger) and a better release through the ball, I've found the biggest difference is feeling like I'm taking away my hands on the inside (club head staying outside the hands) really allows me to attack the ball from the inside - in reality it looks like if you were to measure the distance from my body to the hands at address, this distance remains the same for the whole takeaway. This has highlighted that my hands previously were moving further away from me during the first part of the takeaway.

I can't really find anything about hands moving inside / outside on takeaway (it all refers pretty quickly the club head plane), so really the question is feeling that the hands stay the same distance from the body on the takeaway okay or am I likely to encounter problems pretty soon?

 

[the_coach]

to the particular point you ask. yes the hands will stay approx the same distance from the sternum during the takeback, with the clubhead staying little ways 'outside'.
the hands at around shaft 1st parallel to the ground & parallel to the toe line, the hands & clubhead are someways in a straight line when looked at from dtl view, or here the clubhead just outside, or just inside at this point is still in a viable working position.

when the left arm then is horizontal to the ground + near parallel to the toe line the hands will still be approx the same distance from the sternum, from here on up to the top that relationship will change some with the distance increasing, while the trail arm angle at the elbow is someways around 85º-90º.

key to all of this which in effect means the swing motions radius has good natural connected width is that the lead arm biceps stay lightly in contact with the lead pec. so the arms don't move away from the body to keep the clubhead outside the hands in the early part of the take back or arms move away lose connection & the hands roll over taking the clubhead back & inside, but neither does the lead arm bicep press real heavy against the pec as that would then tend to take the shaft & clubhead around inside & flatter so clubhead inside the hands.

so the connected width of the backswing is real important but has to be also combined with sound path & plane, & backswing length.

 

[rksquire]

to the particular point you ask. yes the hands will stay approx the same distance from the sternum during the takeback, with the clubhead staying little ways 'outside'.
the hands at around shaft 1st parallel to the ground & parallel to the toe line, the hands & clubhead are someways in a straight line when looked at from dtl view, or here the clubhead just outside, or just inside at this point is still in a viable working position.

when the left arm then is horizontal to the ground + near parallel to the toe line the hands will still be approx the same distance from the sternum, from here on up to the top that relationship will change some with the distance increasing, while the trail arm angle at the elbow is someways around 85º-90º.

key to all of this which in effect means the swing motions radius has good natural connected width is that the lead arm biceps stay lightly in contact with the lead pec. so the arms don't move away from the body to keep the clubhead outside the hands in the early part of the take back or arms move away lose connection & the hands roll over taking the clubhead back & inside, but neither does the lead arm bicep press real heavy against the pec as that would then tend to take the shaft & clubhead around inside & flatter so clubhead inside the hands.

so the connected width of the backswing is real important but has to be also combined with sound path & plane, & backswing length.

Thanks Coach, that is much better explained than I could ever have and isn't to far away from what I (might!) be doing - the whole swing feels so much more powerful, even for wedges, with ball connection much crisper. The bicep / pec pressure is there but inconsistent but compared to what I was doing on the first part of the takeaway (hands to sternum distance increasing) this feels much better.