In this short lesson, we’re going to talk about what the takeaway is in the golf swing and particularly what it should feel like to you. I also have an easy two-part swing drill to help you check that your takeaway is right.

The takeaway is the part of the swing after setting up to your ball. It’s when you take the club away to about waist high before transitioning into the top of the swing.

The ‘belly button’ takeaway drill in this video that I’d like you to try will train you to have the proper body turn to waist high. We’re also going to show you what the clubface should look like once you get club shaft parallel with the ground (at waist height).

Let’s get started …

Steps in the Belly Button Takeaway Drill

Take a 7-iron in your normal posture and set the end of the grip in your belly button.

Hold the club with both hands on the club shaft just below the grip.

As you make your turn keep the end of the club’s grip in your belly button and you will feel your weight loading onto the right (for right-handers) heel. If you do this incorrectly and the club comes away from the belly button, you will feel the club automatically start to fall behind you, causing an over-the-top move which is a very common swing fault. So, make sure to keep the butt end of the club in your belly button and make a nice full turn.

The second part to this takeaway drill is to make sure that the clubface never opens up on the way back because that will cause you to try and manipulate the downswing to compensate for the open clubface.

The way to avoid opening up the clubface too far is to make sure that at the end of the takeaway (club shaft about parallel with the ground) your clubface is pointing towards no more than 11 o’clock (for right-handers, 1 o’clock for left-handers).

I actually point it towards 10 o’clock because I have a tendency to open the clubface up to far and when that happens, the club starts shifting behind you leading to an ‘over-the-top’ move like in the first part of the video.