Feb. 16, 2009 -- Mother Nature dominated the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Sunday and Monday. Due to the weather, the event was called after 54 holes and Dustin Johnson was declared the winner for 2009. Johnson's professional career has gotten off to a flying start with a win at last year's Turning Stone tournament giving him two PGA Tour wins in four months. It's clear to see he has game and we will be seeing more from him in the future.

Dustin Johnson's solid fundamentals helped him out to a fast start which in turn, helped him get his second career PGA Tour win. (Photo: Getty Images)

At Turning Stone, Johnson led the field in driving distance, ranked second in putts per green in regluation, tied for fourth in putts per round, and tied for 43rd in GIR. Fast forward to this year's AT&T, where Johnson led the field in driving distance, tied for second in greens in regulation, and tied for 16th in putts per round.

Getting off to good start during a round, a multi-day tournament, or a career can be critical to adding confidence to a player's game. Getting your golf swing off to a good start can be critical because the rest of your swing is based on what you do at the beginning. If a player makes a mistake in the set-up or initial motion of the takeaway, that player is in a state of recovery the rest of the way. Some players can recover; others cannot. And besides, why would you put yourself in a state of recovery if you don't have to?

I listen to my students from time to time say they want to take the club back "low and slow." This should be more of a "feel" than an actual motion. This "feel" should not interfere with two functions of the takeaway, which are to "load the club" and to swing it on a proper path to optimize the impact position. If the club is traveling too low, the wrists are not properly loading the club, as you can see in the next two photos.

As I demonstrate a low takeaway, watch how it produces no wrist hinge (first photo), a shaft that is off-plane (second photo), and arms that are too far behind me (second photo) at the three-quarter position of the backswing. I have put myself in a state of recovery and will struggle to set the club and get the shaft back on plane for the remainder of the swing.

In the next photo, at the three-quarter position the shaft is almost at a 90-degree angle with my left arm. I am NOT going to tell you to be at a perfect 90-degree angle at this position. There are many top-ranked players in the world that are less than 90 degrees, Tiger Woods being one of them. But remember he is very strong and talented, thus he can load the club later and also use his body (weight shift and rotation) for power. Those players who are not as strong and set the club too late have the tendency to cast from the top and swing the club from out to in.

The next photo shows how setting the club sooner accomplishes a better path in the takeaway the shaft now is on a better plane. The angle of the shaft is almost congruent (parallel to, but above) to the angle of the shaft at address illustrated by the yellow line.

My recommendation to help you fix these faults is to do work without a golf ball and use a mirror. If you are looking face-on in a mirror, your goal should be to see an "L" formed with the club shaft and your left arm (right arm if you are left-handed) when your left arm is parallel to the ground. When you place the mirror beside you and aim away from the mirror, your goal is to see the shaft pointing slightly across your target line. If the shaft points too far across the target line, the shaft is too flat and off plane.

Scott Maier is the Teaching Professional at Birnam Wood Golf Club in Santa Barbara California. Prior to working at Birnam Wood, Scott was a Master Instructor for the Jim McLean Golf School at PGA West. He has also earned his PGA specialty certification in instruction.