Chelsea boys explain the golf swing

Footballers and golf swing experts are more closely linked than you think.

Ken Shellito and John Whittle (pictured right) were formerly with English Premier League champions Chelsea FC, a few decades ago. Shellito was a player and manager – seats since occupied by such luminaries as Ruud Gullit, Jose Mourinho and now by Carlo Ancelloti.

Whittle played as a kid for Chelsea and said Shellito (pictured left) used to “beat him up” at Stamford Bridge. Both are now my colleagues at the Asian Football Confederation.

Shellito is part of the AFC’s Technical Study Group, analysing matches, players and trends in the game while Whittle is director of the Grassroots & Youth Department.

Both are close to the game of golf, more so Whittle these days than Shellito, who once played to a handicap of 12 but whose only advice on a golf swing is “it’s like kicking a ball”.

Whittle was a bit more erudite, having got his handicap down to four and is regularly seen out on the fairways of Kuala Lumpur on weekends.Here’s what he had to say. Pay particular attention to his advice on the first part of the takeaway.

“In my view the proper golf swing is the path. What’s a golf swing path? The golf swing path can be said to be the curve that the clubhead pursues all through the course of the golf swing.

“This path or route starts with the takeaway, arches in the upward direction through the top of the swing, and then moves downwards through the ball and in the direction of the goal (just can’t get rid of those football terms – Ed).”

“The golf swing path depends upon his or her posture, swing speed, stance, grip and most importantly, the takeaway.

“All these factors also contribute to the proper golf swing. The takeaway happens in the beginning one or two feet of the swing. This is a negligible part of the swing but it controls the swing path to a great extent.

“A club taken away on a flat path will result in a flat swing. Similarly, if the club is taken away in an upright path, the swing has all chances of being upright too.”

In the 60s and 70s, golf was a major part of a professional footballer’s recreation time. After training in the mornings, there would be not much else to do except play golf.

That’s why many footballers became quite good at the game. But Shellito said there were rules in those days too.

“If there was a game on Saturday, you couldn’t play golf after Wednesday,” he said.