I’ve always been a Hogan man, but it may well be the late, great, Slammin’ Sammy Snead who helps me break par in 2008.

Tom Watson, another of my golfing heroes, in his marvelous book Getting Back to Basics, included a complete photo sequence of Snead’s swing, and throughout the book emphasized the role of the all-important left arm, calling its rotation his “fundamental key.”  Watson apparently came to this conclusion by watching Snead as a boy:

The first time I went to the Masters, my father told me, "Sit in the bleachers behind the practice area and watch Sam Snead swing." It was great advice. Sam influenced my swing tremendously over the years, and I would always make it a point to watch him practice when I had the chance.

One of the best tips I overheard Sam give was to keep the left arm close to the chest during the swing. Don't let the arm move away from the body.

Sam always wanted to control his swing with his left side.

The left arm—or front arm—is paramount to Watson’s understanding of the golf swing.  In the all-important transition between backswing and downswing, Watson feels that one must “Retain the left-side tension starting down.”  Snead offered similar advice to Nick Faldo:

Gems, indeed.  Tonight, as I was practicing on the driving range, I was able to incorporate Snead’s secret into my own recent ideas regarding a "heavy, left-sideways blow" with an axe or a sledgehammer—and the results were spectacular.  I truly believe this new swing image will take me to the next level of proficiency, and even allow me to break par in 2008.

It feels like I’m simply delivering a sideways, left-sided sledgehammer blow to the back of the ball, and my extended left arm—retaining a cable-like tension—is leading the way.  The supinated back knuckles of my left hand smash into impact, and my right forefinger releases the 2nd-lever clubhead viciously through and past the ball, literally careening down the target line, like a flung hatchet.  My “front side” has come alive, once again, as it did last summer, and hopefully this time it’s here to stay.

The whole idea in the backswing is to rotate your shoulders (placing your back to the target), and at the same time sweep your left arm back while keeping it supple and relaxed. As the forward swing begins, the extended left arm can then imitate the action of a rope or a cable, and effectively PULL on the handle of the club in “axial tension.”  Instead of the candlestick depicted in this image, imagine you have swung a heavy sledge back to the top of the backswing position shown.  Now, as you begin the forward swing with your hips and shoulders, the large inertial mass of the sledgehammer will pull on your left arm significantly, and you will be unable to contaminate the motion of the sledge with extraneous hand action.  When your left arm experiences “passive” tension in this manner, it will naturally drop nearly straight down and remain close to your chest (as Watson observed), and the shaft of the sledgehammer will automatically drop down as well.  No manipulative hand action whatsoever should occur… the hands are merely “hanging on,” and the right elbow and wrist remain cocked yet essentially "quiet."

Once your left arm and club have dropped down in this Snead-inspired transition move, you are in a position familiar to all of the greatest golf swings in history.  The club is now on an inside path back to impact, and you can simply step forward and unload the tremendous power and leverage stored in your unfolding right arm and hand, and your right forefinger can guide and literally fling the clubhead through the ball, in an uninhibited, freewheeling release… like you are delivering a crushing sledgehammer blow to the undercarriage of an old car.  You will also notice that, in order to allow the inertia of the heavy sledge to pull on your left arm during the transition, you will have to shift your weight solidly and confidently onto your left (or front) foot—which is precisely where your weight should be at impact.

Don’t “pull” actively with your left arm… allow it to be pulled, in rope-like tension, by the inertia of the golf club, so that it drops down naturally and stays close to your chest.  With practice, you may soon be “slamming” them like this “oily” cat:

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