Ruminations On The Golf Swing, Part 38

I've been trying to start my take-away with the shoulders, sort of "dragging" the clubhead away from the ball, if you will. Lately, though, my laziness in executing this move has lead me to dip my head and left shoulder down towards the ball in a Lee Westwood-like move. It works for him but not this guy. George Knudson's book The Natural Golf Swing stresses balance and I've been trying hard to work on that tonight. Both laterally and front-to-back--balance is the key. A byproduct of not dipping my head and left shoulder in my backswing is I feel like the club is going back on a flatter plane and I'm much more comfortable with the point from which I'm making my transition back to the downswing. It was definitely too upright before and that was making me nervous.

My downswing is starting to get lazy too--all hands and arms and upper body all-of-a-suddenly. This is making me contact the ball too close to the hosel, and even (gasp!) shank a few here or there. Hence, shifting my weight towards the target, riding the hip turn (which is finally initiating my downswing), has been another point of my focus in the Garage Golf Swing Laboratory tonight. As Mr. Knudson says, the hands and arms are just along for the ride. Don't use them to manipulate the clubhead in any way, shape, or form.
And lastly (and probably most importantly), I'm getting closer to taking the "hit" out of my golf swing, maybe even making contact with my hands...ahead...of...the...ball. Oh my God! Could it be? George also talks a lot about the golf swing being a vehicle to get you from your starting position to your finish position. Thinking about "where I want to finish" while I'm making my transition has given me a wonderful feeling of the clubhead merely collecting the ball on it's way through it toward my finish position. My one caution right now with my finish position, though, is it's starting to resemble a Reverse-C and I desperately want to fix that before my back tells me it's too late. I need to land more upright on my left leg, something that working on my balance throughout the swing should help with for sure.