Exiting left simply means that as you swing through the ball, you need to feel that you're swinging left through the ball on a 45 degree arc. The biggest reason for this is that the golf swing itself moves around the body, not straight back and through. When you first pick up a club without golf instruction, your tendency will be to take it up and down on a vertical plane. However as you start to realise, usually by the aid of a golf coach, the golf swing is in fact circular.
The reason why the swing is circular is two reasons. Firstly you are forced to stand at a distance from the ball due to the length of the club. Secondly the clubs are made having a shaft that is angled at 45 degrees. With these two combined, the only way you will be successful in executing a sold strike is the feeling of swinging around the body. You want to also set your posture at 45 degrees to further ensure your swing moves around the body. Ben Hogan famously said, 'you need to imagine you have a pane of glass set at 45 degree angle through your body with the aim of the club staying on this angle right through the swing'.
Now having someone exit left through the ball is mainly for those who tend to swing too in-out on the follow through. It is true that on the start of your downswing, you should aim to have the club behind you, but as you move through the ball, you ideally want to have the club start to exit left after impact. When you maintain a position that is too flat on the downswing and hence swing too in-out, your shots will mainly be 'hook' shots or 'push' shots (shots that veer right). The extreme in-out is when you start striking the ground early causing 'fat' shots.
A checkpoint to knowing someone is not exiting left is videoing their swing and checking to see if their hands disappear behind their torso just after impact. If you can see their hands and shaft still pushing out to the right after impact, you know their shaft is still being moved on an in-out path. The best way to ensure the club exits left through the ball is having an alignment stick set up at a 45 degree angle behind the ball. You want to feel that on the downswing, the club stays above this stick and you start rotating more left through impact. Once you have practiced this, place the swing back on the camera and see if the hands start to disappear.
If you'd like any further help in seeing whether you are exiting left, just contact myself at David Waters Golf located at Emerald Lakes Golf Coaching Centre.
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