How’s Your
Heave?
Hint: It Is the Move of Champion Players
After the grip is taken and proper posture assumed at the address
position (both very important), the swing is ready to begin. The
term “take-away” connotes that the swing is started with the arms
and hands. However, in the modern or “Gravity” swing as we call
it, the swing is set into motion with the body’s core using a
consortium of muscle groups including the obliques and pectorals, as
well as the back and shoulder muscles. Even the feet and hips
participate to a degree. We call the move a “heave,” and it is
akin to the move you would use to throw a medicine ball.
At the start of the back-swing, the shoulders, arms
and wrists are firmed-up so that the swing will begin with the
appearance of being “one piece,” even though it is anything but.
The heave is powerful, yet lasts for no more than one-foot of
arm travel. There is enough power, however, in that one foot, to
carry both the arms and club to the completion of the back-swing,
with no additional lift required. At the end of
the heave, the arms and wrists relax, but the momentum from the
initial movement holds the arms and club in-plane, as well as
extended, throughout the remainder of the back-swing.
The heave has three very important jobs in the
swing. First, it establishes the plane in which the club goes back.
Second, it clears the tension from the arms so that they will
“dead-fall” at the start of the down-swing. Third, it provides
the power for the core rotation that carries the body into the
all-important counter-fall.
Jack Nicklaus says in his book that he knows whether
or not he will hit the ball perfectly by the time the club has moved
one-foot into the back-swing. That comment means that for him, the
entire recipe for a perfect swing is essentially over by that
point. If the first domino in a line doesn’t fall properly,
neither will the rest of them.
The best way to practice the heave is from a
cross-footed, normal back-swing mode.
