Creating speed with your golf club is not a strength issue--it is an angle issue. The first thing I make beginning golfers become aware of is the whoosh of the club. I will have them swing the club back and forth horizontally listening for the whoosh (club head) and will gradually ask them to increase the sound of the whoosh (increasing their club head speed) . I rarely have to tell them how to do it because when it is done horizontally it is athletic and natural. The things that happen horizontally are the things that you want to translate into your golf swing. You will notice horizontally that your hands are just holding the club and your arms are relaxed. You will notice that creating lag and a deep angle on the downswing is natural and easy. You will notice that your hands rotate over one another where the golf ball would be if it were a four foot tee. A release is not something you force to happen. A release happens in response to good angles and good action on the down swing.
One of my favorite sayings is: If golf were played with 4 foot tees than I would not have a job because everyone would instinctively know how to swing a golf club. The action of the golf swing is exactly the same as the horizontal swing but it is a little more difficult to do on the golf plane which is more vertical due to the ball being on the ground.
I only said a little more difficult--not a lot more difficult. The main reason people don't create much club head speed in a golf swing is because they are thinking about anything but creating speed. Thoughts like 'keep your head still' or 'left arm straight' or some extraneous swing thought like pause at the top tend to take one away from creating club head speed.
Once you get over the concept that you can control the club and that you can guide the ball than you can start to just let the ball get in the way of good motion.
The problem with most golfers is not that they cannot do it. It is mostly that they are not trying to do it and are wrapped up in some swing thought that is control based and they are not getting any whoosh. Motion is inhibited. Trust me--control is an illusion. To hit it straight the club has to swing in a circle and the club head is only square for an instant.
It is easy to lose sight of the Forrest through the trees. There is so much golf talk and swing analysis out there today with your golf buddies and golf magazines and the Internet but I believe anyone can create good motion and good action by just becoming aware of it and sticking with it long enough to develop the skill.
Here is the drill to let what you already know how to do athletically get into your golf swing.
Stand at a teed up ball with your driver. Lift the club up horizontal to the ground and swing it back and forth creating your natural action and motion. Increase your whoosh each swing. Without thought or more than 3 seconds elapsing set the club down and hit it with the goal of translating the horizontal feel into the golf swing.
It is important to remember that their are things that are really important in the golf swing and things that are less important. This is just a guess but creating motion might be one of those things that is really important and deserves your athletic attention.
Nov 24, 2009
Nov 13, 2009
Golf Swing simplified
Remember that the goal of golf club manufacturers and golf magazines is to sell you their product. Try not to be confused by all the rhetoric.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Imagine how many words are used by the 10,000 experts in the world of golf and how they would describe what happens in a golf swing. Next, imagine all the rest of the golf world trying to explain to their buddy's what they do and what they just read in "x" publication. Its important in today's world to be able to filter information.
I believe that it is more important to get good at a few things and develop them rather than fish for a swing thought that fixes everything.
The first thing is to look at your golf club as a tool, like a hammer or screw driver, and figure out what the tool is designed to do. The second thing you have to do is recognize that golf is a skill and it needs to be developed and practiced so that you can have a level of consistency when playing.
This is what I do...
I swing right handed and hit little 10 yard chips. I let they club do its job and I pay attention to the ball flight and the solidness of the shot. When the shot starts going like I want: I pay attention to the feel of the shot. After doing this right handed for a while I then use both hands and then try to get the same solidness and feel as I had achieved with only the right hand. All action is the same in solidly hit golf balls whether it be a little swing or a big swing. The feel of the action through the ball just happens more quickly on bigger swings.
Repeat as necessary.... until you can shoot the score that you desire anywhere.
Caution:
Of the 500 or so lessons I have given in my life about 95% of he people have "flipped it" to some degree ranging from extreme to a little. Flipping it is the overuse of the right hand in an effort to help the ball get up in the air or to get the club back to the ball. The evidence of a flip is either a fat or thin shot. The hands are on the club and are used in the golf swing. Most people tend to over use them unfortunately. The hands in the golf swing are more passive than active. A properly hit golf ball requires the club to be moving slightly downward through the ball, leaving a divot forward of the ball. If you cannot make a divot forward of the ball: you probably flip it. The palm of the right hand should feel like it is facing the ground on the downswing before impact.
Skills that are required to hit a solid right hand little shot are:
1) Learn that the golf club has to be working downward through the shot.
1.5) Learn that in the race back to the ball (on the downswing the ball is a finish line) between the club head and the handle. The handle wins every time.--Eddie Merrins
2) Learn to just hold the club--not squeeze it
2.5) Learn to let the loft of the club get the ball up in the air--not your right hand helping it up.
3) Learn to feel comfortable with your right palm facing he ground on the downswing.
4) Learn to allow the club to swing. This includes the right wrist being relaxed and the right arm free to rotate.
5) Learn to hit through the shot and let the right arm follow through.
This is only an attempt to share what I do and how I look at a golf swing after playing for 30 years. I caution myself not to become paternally righteous about this concept. (If you do what I do you can hit it like me) Maybe you can or maybe you cannot. I don't know...
This is just a simple concept I wish to share. Start small and build up.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Imagine how many words are used by the 10,000 experts in the world of golf and how they would describe what happens in a golf swing. Next, imagine all the rest of the golf world trying to explain to their buddy's what they do and what they just read in "x" publication. Its important in today's world to be able to filter information.
I believe that it is more important to get good at a few things and develop them rather than fish for a swing thought that fixes everything.
The first thing is to look at your golf club as a tool, like a hammer or screw driver, and figure out what the tool is designed to do. The second thing you have to do is recognize that golf is a skill and it needs to be developed and practiced so that you can have a level of consistency when playing.
This is what I do...
I swing right handed and hit little 10 yard chips. I let they club do its job and I pay attention to the ball flight and the solidness of the shot. When the shot starts going like I want: I pay attention to the feel of the shot. After doing this right handed for a while I then use both hands and then try to get the same solidness and feel as I had achieved with only the right hand. All action is the same in solidly hit golf balls whether it be a little swing or a big swing. The feel of the action through the ball just happens more quickly on bigger swings.
Repeat as necessary.... until you can shoot the score that you desire anywhere.
Caution:
Of the 500 or so lessons I have given in my life about 95% of he people have "flipped it" to some degree ranging from extreme to a little. Flipping it is the overuse of the right hand in an effort to help the ball get up in the air or to get the club back to the ball. The evidence of a flip is either a fat or thin shot. The hands are on the club and are used in the golf swing. Most people tend to over use them unfortunately. The hands in the golf swing are more passive than active. A properly hit golf ball requires the club to be moving slightly downward through the ball, leaving a divot forward of the ball. If you cannot make a divot forward of the ball: you probably flip it. The palm of the right hand should feel like it is facing the ground on the downswing before impact.
Skills that are required to hit a solid right hand little shot are:
1) Learn that the golf club has to be working downward through the shot.
1.5) Learn that in the race back to the ball (on the downswing the ball is a finish line) between the club head and the handle. The handle wins every time.--Eddie Merrins
2) Learn to just hold the club--not squeeze it
2.5) Learn to let the loft of the club get the ball up in the air--not your right hand helping it up.
3) Learn to feel comfortable with your right palm facing he ground on the downswing.
4) Learn to allow the club to swing. This includes the right wrist being relaxed and the right arm free to rotate.
5) Learn to hit through the shot and let the right arm follow through.
This is only an attempt to share what I do and how I look at a golf swing after playing for 30 years. I caution myself not to become paternally righteous about this concept. (If you do what I do you can hit it like me) Maybe you can or maybe you cannot. I don't know...
This is just a simple concept I wish to share. Start small and build up.
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