Cathy MacPherson's Full Swing Trigger (Video)

I'm giving you another type of trigger that can work with MacPherson's full pre-shot routine.



The MacPherson trigger is to breathe in and out, then swing. This is a great physical trigger for many people. It forces you to slow down and not snatch the club away from the ball. If this works for you, by all means use it. There's more than one way to make a good swing!

I'm going to give you a slightly different trigger, one that may feel a bit odd when you first try it. But I guarantee that it will help you 'gather yourself'' as you make your change of direction at the top, and it's a good way to keep the same swing tempo each time you swing.

You can breathe in and out as many times as you like while you prepare to swing, but I want you to breathe in a way that matches the way you expend energy at impact.

• Start breathing in as you start your takeaway. That's right, inhale as you start your backswing. You aren't putting effort into your takeaway; it should feel relaxed. And you'll find that inhaling as you swing to the top helps you make a wider swing, simply because it's easier to breathe that way.
• Then exhale as you start your downswing BUT you want to keep it pretty smooth until your hands are around waist high...
• And at that point, exhale hard as you swing into impact. You want to feel as if you're focusing the effort of your swing on the back of the ball.

Now if you follow those instructions, you won't feel as if you make a slow exhale followed by an explosive exhale. What you will feel is a gradual acceleration from the top of your backswing down to impact.

Why is that important? Because the biggest problem most players have -- even the pros -- is that they get quick at the top and try to jerk the club down. All they do is throw their swing plane off, which typically causes a slightly over-the-top swing which, for the pros, results in a double-cross (left going left) and for lesser mortals results in a bad pull-slice.

Timing the motion of your swing to your inhale and exhale forces your body to slow down just enough to keep your rhythm smooth. This is a trick that weightlifters and other "grunt force" athletes use to maximize their efforts without hurting themselves. (This is the natural way to breathe when you do something hard. If you breathe wrong, your muscles are working against each other.)

So give this idea a try. Take a few swings on the range to get used to the feel -- as I said, it may feel a bit weird at first because most of us aren't naturally athletic -- and see if you don't develop a better rhythm to your swing.