The Bookends: The Launching Pad and Finish Condition Can Fix The In-Between!! – Part 2

A lesson from Tom Patri:

Conditions of the finish include the following:

A level shoulder condition.
A level hip/pelvic condition.
A vertical right foot.
A right knee that finds a relationship with (touching and behind) the left knee.
A vertical spinal column.
A level head and level eyes looking level at the horizon.
A feeling of balance dictated by your ability to swing at a controllable pace!

All of the above conditions for the club player usually need to be learned traits through, once again, the use of a mirror and many repetitions. I would usually start by taking some film of the student’s motion, and simply freezing the film at the point of their own full finish. Of course, by showing them the films in the studio at Westchester, I can go through a point-by-point comparison of their finish conditions and that of one of the world-class players hanging on the walls in the teaching studio.

Common Finish Faults	Common Errors/Ball Flights That Show Up
Right foot not vertical, but, in fact, the heel of the right foot flopped over closer to the target line than the toe.	The right foot flop condition, as I call it, tells me that the body cannot possibly be in proper balance. For a golfer, just like a dancer, proper footwork allows other aspects of the motion to perform. Without proper footwork, you’ve got very little chance to be balanced.
Right shoulder finishing higher than left (not level).	This, usually tells me the club shaft has come well from an outside path, steep, and not balanced. Need I say more.
Upper torso finishing back behind lower body. Spin inverted.Reverse C!	First and foremost, as we’ve seen with many players lately, this causes back problems. Also a contributor to fat shots, right shots, and hand flips. Are those enough reasons for you not to do this! P.S. This is not a balanced condition.
Finishing with large gap between knees. Right knee points right.	I call this the sideways shuffle. The knees finding each other are, in itself, a mechanical absolute but rather a cosmetic telltale sign that the hips have not rotated properly or completely. I consider the rotation of the center region of the body one of the two true power sources of the golf swing, the other being the hands, wrists, and arm swing as a unit.
Finishing with head still down.	One of what I consider the two greatest false myths in golf instruction (the other being left arm straight. The head should stay relatively still (not perfectly still) until impact, then release/rotate in sequence with both the pivoting body and swinging arms into a completed condition. That is, level with the horizon and posting up over the left side of the body. If the head hangs back and to the right, it will inhibit the pivoting action of the body and not allow a full distribution of weight to the left side.