Inside takeaway.

Down the line, the address shaft line is the line the shaft makes at address, extended back and up from the ball. Takeaway is the frame early in the backswing where the shaft is about parallel to the ground. On that frame, compare the clubhead with the address shaft line: under the line is inside, above it is outside. Tour players sit a little either side of it, and MotionEdge's Swing Review flags the takeaway only when the clubhead is farther under the line, or farther above it, than the tour range.

An inside takeaway usually starts with the club being rolled away behind the body, or with the hands moving out toward the ball while the clubhead stays back. Many coaches describe the tour picture at shaft parallel as the clubhead about in line with the hands or slightly outside them. When the clubhead is already well behind the hands, the club has farther to travel up and around, and the rest of the backswing often has to make up for it.

A related check reads the clubhead earlier, in the first part of the backswing, from Address until the clubhead rises above the hands. Plenty of good players take the club a little inside, so that check flags only a clubhead that moves inside, under the line, farther than the tour range.

A club that starts well inside can be followed by different repairs: the arms lifting steeply to find the top, the body standing up going back, or a first move down that sends the hands out toward the ball. Coaches have linked a quick inside start to lifting and to an over-the-top return. These are possible associations, not certain results, so follow the whole backswing before deciding the start is the cause.

Film from behind the hands, looking along the target line, at about hand height, with the whole club in the picture, and film from the same spot each session. Video shows where the clubhead is against the line; it cannot measure the clubface or how much the forearms rotated.

Use a mid-iron. Lay an alignment stick on the ground behind the ball, pointing straight away from the target along the line through the ball, so it runs under where the clubhead starts back. Take your normal address with the clubhead behind the ball.

Without a ball, make slow half-swings. Watch the clubhead travel back over the stick for the first part of the swing, then let it curve inside and rise as the turn continues. Stop where the shaft is level with the ground and look: the clubhead should be near the line of the hands, not tucked well behind them. Do not try to hold it over the stick all the way; the arc is supposed to curve.

Add a ball and hit easy half-shots, then three-quarter shots, keeping attention on the clubhead going back over the stick. If the clubhead now jumps outside the hands, or the arms reach away from the body, the task has been overdone; return to slower rehearsals. Keep ball position and posture the same while you work on the takeaway, so you know which change you are seeing.

Record five full mid-iron swings down the line, filmed from behind the hands, looking along the target line at hand height, with the whole club in the picture. In MotionEdge, step to Takeaway and compare the clubhead with the address shaft line, then step on a few frames. Look for a clubhead near the line at the takeaway rather than well under it, and a backswing that reaches the top without a lift or a reroute.

Then look at the strike. A takeaway that looks tidier but makes contact worse is not progress, and a clubhead now well above the address shaft line means the change has gone too far. Film from the same spot each session so the comparison is fair.