1. Golf Swing Downswing Straighten Right Arm
2. Golf Swing Downswing Sequence
3. Golf Swing Downswing Slot Machine

The Key To The Golf Swing: Finding The Slot On The Downswing

The downswing is the most crucial moment in the swing. An area Jack Nicklaus says causes golfers two incredibly common (and easy to solve) issues.

Here’s a great golf drill to practice getting into the slot on the downswing. Go to the top of your swing and stop. Then, bring the club down to about waist high. As you do this, feel your right elbow come into your side. Michael Breed, host of 'The Golf Fix', shares a drill for getting your downswing on the correct path. Download our instruction app from iTunes or Google play Golf Fix: Find the slot for success.

The one key that 99% of tour pros seem to share in common is finding the 'slot' on the downswing. After reading Jim McLean's book, The Slot Swing, I have come to the conclusion that there is in fact a 'slot' in the downswing that all pros seem to follow. Check out the professional golf swings on YouTube and you will find evidence.
So from McLean's observations there are three different shapes of the slot swing (see below). Finding this slot in all simplicity requires having a clubshaft plane that is 'flatter'/ more horizontal on the 3/4 position in the downswing than at that same position on the backswing. It's the clubshaft that falls to the lower plane (finding the slot) a move that happens naturally when you trigger your downswing by shifting your lower-body center toward the target (also see Over the Top). For most amateurs who swing over the top, their shaft plane from backswing to downswing becomes more vertical and they have little choice but to swing over the top and hit weak pulls and slices.

It's important to realize that the act of swinging 'on plane' doesn't mean that your hands, left arm, and shaft work in the same plane at the same time. Although there are some points in your swing where everything matches up, it's incredibly difficult to plane everything perfectly, including the clubhead, the shaft, the hands, and the arms. While it may look good on paper or to a scientist, achieving these perfect positions is incredibly difficult and unnatural. Trying to be perfect usually leads to over thinking, freezing up, and at times, quitting the game. The best thing about the Slot Swing is that it doesn't care about your exact backswing plane. [McLean] has build several Safety Corridors that simply demand that you get within a range. The only plane of extreme importance is the one you shift your clubshaft onto at the start of your downswing. The Slot Swing is designed to improve the swings of recreational golfers.

• Designed to give you more freedom in your swing (instead of asking you to follow a strict diet of positions and angles.
• Make it easier to approach the ball from inside the target line (the path opposite the one that causes your slice).
• Improve your rhythm and tempo
• Add power to your tee shots and to each of your irons.
• Eliminates the most damaging swing error you can make: coming over the top

Golf Swing Downswing Straighten Right Arm

You're not copying the swing of a Tour player, but rather the inside loop. The inside slot move requires the least amount of athleticism and has the greatest margin for error. Plus when you do it correctly, it makes it almost impossible to come over the top. You don't need perfect backswing positions. You just need to get the shaft more vertical and then one good move at the start of your downswing that causes your clubshaft to flatten out and approach the ball from inside the target line.

Golf Swing Downswing Sequence

The Secret is in the Shift
Regardless of what your top position looks like, your lower body is the first thing to move from the top, and the principles involved in this motion are the same ones you use in every other athletic throwing or hitting motion. These principles are shifting, rotating your body center, and releasing your right arm. Almost immediately on finishing your backswing, get your lower body moving towards the target. Lee Trevino always said that he liked to 'break my knees toward the target to start his downswing.' The leading action of your lower body causes a quick separation. Basically, you're trying to leave your arms and hands - as well as the club - behind. Causing your club to trail and flatten is what positions it in the slot. In addition you must drop your right elbow close to your hip and underneath your right hand. Done correctly, it should feel as if your right elbow is moving toward the ball. If you need something to focus on as you transition from backswing to downswing, key in on your right elbow.
There is the standard slot swing, which basically curves the look of an outside-in swing path, a single plane slot swing, which curves the look of an 'one plane' swing of the clubhead, and the reverse slot swing which curves the look of an 'in to out' action. All these golf swings can although they may look inside-out, outside-in, or on-plane can all hit a straight shot, a draw, and a fade, depending on what kind of strike you put on it (see Understanding Ball Flight). All golf swings are acceptable and professionals have won with one of these three swing types.

Golf Swing Downswing Slot Machine

Notice that the red line is the clubhead's backswing while the blue line is the clubheads downswing. In all three the downswing shaft plane is either flatter than or equal to the shaft plane on the backswing.