IN ARTICLES over the past few weeks, I have written about the downswing and the movement of the club head through the ball and highlighted the importance of the follow through, giving some checkpoints as to where a good swing should end up.

So, we have covered the grip briefly and the importance of the placement of your hands on the grip ahead of how you may join your hands together.

We have also gone over the two main movements that constitute a backswing, that being the rotation of the body which is mainly a turning action from the shoulders and the lifting of arms and cocking of the wrists that take the club over the right shoulder (assume article written for right handers - lefties please reverse!).

From there we need to trust the falling of the arms and club head and rotation of the body to square the face and give us speed, staying interested in the ball until we have hit it and allowing the club head to release past our hands, culminating in a relaxed, balanced follow through where we can refer to checkpoints from last week's article.

All articles and accompanying videos are available on the Southern Highlands News website - simply go to the search box and type in Tony White golf and they will be listed and are in date order.

An overall visual of how the swing works best is necessary in order to avoid the more logical and 'instinctive' take on the game which is to try to find some straight lines - straight lines don't apply to golf!

The golf shaft is always at an angle to the ground - for the engineers out there, a pitching wedge, one of the shorter clubs, lies at about 65 degrees to the ground and a driver, the longest club in the bag lies at about 50 degrees to the ground. 

There are no golf clubs that sit with the shaft vertical (except the 'broomhandle' putter which gets close), therefore the clubs path cannot be straight if you are to CONSISTENTLY return the club to the same place at impact.

Here are a couple more checkpoints to further consolidate the idea of the golf swing being on an angled plane (determined by the various shaft angles at address with differing club lengths) and further help unlearn any temptation to move the club head in a straight line either going back off the ball or, even more tempting and the number one reason people tend to slice a golf ball, toward the target on the follow through.

There are four places where the golf shaft should point (roughly) back towards the ball - ie on its original plane - half way back, half way down, at impact and half way through. 

See accompanying video which will be important in understanding this.

That'll do on the swing for now - if anything I have covered over the past 18 weeks rings any bells, book yourself a lesson or buy a voucher for someone who you think might benefit and let's discuss your particular needs and wishes.

The game of golf is a bit flawed in that the path the golf club takes is not the obvious one - once you know and embrace its flaws, it should be natural and effortless as going with a golf club, which is what the best players do, is much easier than fighting it, which is what most club golfers do.

Hopefully these articles are gradually helping you to 'jump the fence'.

We'll move onto pitching and chipping which can make or break your score.

Tony White is the Golf Operations Manager at Gibraltar Country Club, Bowral - why not book yourself a lesson or two as the rest of your golfing days could be made longer and that much more enjoyable. 

Tony can be contacted on (02) 4862 8615 or you can visit www.gibraltarbowral.com.au . 

Feel free to drop in and talk to him about Gibraltar's no catches two-for-one membership offer. 

Seven day membership from under $96 per person through until January 2015.