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Rotation refers to the rotation of the rib cage to the right for the right handed golfer. Rotation occurs throughout the entire backswing and should feel as if it never stops.

Most golfers are very surprised to find out just how much rotation must occur by the time the club reaches parallel to the ground, signaling the completion of the takeaway. By this time, the torso should be rotated about 45 degrees, which for most golfers is the maximum they can rotate without turning their hips.

If you go back and re-read that last sentence closely, you should realize that you should be rotating your torso about as far as you physically can by the time the club is parallel to the ground. In other words - more than you are now!

When done correctly, this rotation initiated by the shoulder blade glide will keep the hands, arms and club in nearly the exact same position they were at address in relation to the torso, or a "one piece" takeaway.

During this move, there will be some shoulder elevation (technically termed shoulder "flexion") to keep the club from working too shallow during the backswing, but this moves the arms primarily in a vertical plane only. This Elevation is the "E" in the REF acronym.

Most all golfers swing their arms in the same direction of the momentum created by the swinging club and end up in a flat, deep position at the top. In order to fix this, you must learn to elevate your arms vertically in front of your chest while rotating your torso horizontally. When you combine this horizontal rotation with vertical elevation you create a diagonal swing plane.

However, most golfers envision a swing plane in their mind being created by swinging the left arm on a diagonal plane. When they do this, combined with rotation, which is primarily responsible for creating the depth of the swing plane, they inevitably create a very flat swing plane with the hands buried deep behind them at the top of the swing.

Reprogramming the brain to create the swing plane indirectly by combing horizontal rotation with vertical elevation requires that the golfer break these two movements down and work on them individually at first before learning to combine the moves in a blended fashion, and that is how they are covered in this instructional video.

Takeaway Checklist

There are nine main checkpoints in the takeaway that you must monitor while performing these drills.

1. The first and most crucial is that the hands are still directly in front of the sternum when the club is parallel to the ground. Most golfers will have their hands several inches behind their centerline or sternum, an indication of a pushing motion from the left shoulder.
2. The second checkpoint is that wrists are still in neutral as they were at address. The slight cupping that is in the left wrist at address should still be there when the takeaway is complete, and the right wrist should still remain flat with no hinging.
3. Third, the club should be in a toe up position. If you take the club back with the torso turn and don't tilt your shoulders or push with the left side, you should be able to imagine holding a pail of water in your hands and the water would not spill out. If it would, you have tilted your shoulders too steep, pushed your left hand under your right or pulled back with the right arm and likely hinged the right wrist.
4. Fourth, your torso should be rotated 45 degrees.
5. Fifth, your head should have not moved laterally away from the target more than a 1/2 inch or so.
6. Sixth, your weight should be moved mostly onto the right ankle at this point by shifting your hips, not your head, to the right.
7. Seventh, you should have as much space as possible between your right ear and right shoulder. In other words, your shoulder blade should not have elevated during the takeaway.
8. Eighth, your shoulders should have a tilt to them that is perpindicular to your spine angle.
9. Last, you should have some axis tilt, with your spine leaning away from the target at this point. If you had a neck tie on, it should be freely hanging off your chest over the inside of the right knee rather than draped across your belly.

While this may sound like several things to monitor, the simple truth is if you perform Rotation and Elevation correctly and do nothing else, all of these things will happen completely as a consequence. Because the torso simply can't rotate as fast as you can hinge your wrists or move your arms, the takeaway should feel slower to you at first as you allow your body to move the club rather than the hands and arms.

Take your time during the takeaway as you learn because you don't hit the ball with your backswing, and there is only one point that the club should be moving fast, and that's impact.

That doesn't mean the takeaway should be slow, but it does mean as you're learning you will likely have to slow things down to realize how much you're moving your arms and hands and how little you were likely moving your body.