It is entirely possible to try to do to many things with your body while hitting a golf ball. It is possible to lose your natural coordination by trying to swing too big and too full and too fast. We have all hit those "zippy" effortlessly powerful shots and any reasonably competitive person has to ask them self. "Hey Self", How do I do that more often?
If you want to see efficient swings go to any PGA Tour event and be amazed at how much energy is transferred into a typical golf shot while the swing is fluid and apparently effortless. Sure you can always find a few slashers out there but the overwhelming majority of players hit fluid smooth shots most of the time.
I believe that most of the power in the golf swing is delivered from the arms and hands. Sure the arm bone is connected to the shoulder bone and knee bone is connected to the thigh bone... We all know the saying.
Stand at the golf ball with a club at address and recognize that this is basically your starting position and your impact position. All motion you make in your back swing and downswing basically moves back into your address position.
The most efficient way to do this is to have a lot of arm/hand motion with your body supporting. I am constantly amazed how solidly it goes by just keeping your body still and hitting 70% shots using mainly my arms and hands and just letting my legs do what they do to support and my shoulders and torso doing what they do to support. It is this type of porportionality that makes a golf swing look smooth and is efficient.
Good arm swing creates a shoulder turn. To learn good arm swing --learn what each does naturally with only one hand on the club. Here is a four phase drill.
A) Swing right hand only back and forth with a club creating lag and release naturally.
B) Swing left hand only back and forth with a club creating a toe up position at waist height on both back swing and follow through.
C) Swing two clubs -- one in each hand duplicating what you just practiced with A and B one foot off the ground and one foot away from each other swinging harmoniously with each other back and forth continuously.
D) Swing two handed with one club back and forth continually re-creating the feels that you developed in A B and C.
This four phase drill will make you aware of arm swing and will most likely make you have a great shoulder turn while perserving your balance and centeredness.
Try this for 10 minutes a day and relate it to how you naturally swing horizontally and you might discover that they are very similar.
It is entirely possible to overuse your body and sacrifice all the natural athletic power available to you.
Whoosh equals club head speed and when I try to max out my whoosh horizontally I find that I do it with my arms and hands mostly with my body supporting all of this. This is precisely why I'm saying that most of your power in your golf swing should come from your arms and hands.
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Like a tipping point everyone has a 'zipping point' or a 'flipping point'. Each player has to find that point in the swing where the 'zipping' is highest and the where the 'flipping' is most frequent. Work to arrive at the 'zipping point' and isolate and eliminate the 'flipping point'.
ReplyDeleteIf the definition of concise is: saying a lot while saying little than you have nailed it right on the head...again
ReplyDeleteThe last three mornings I have gone over to the short game range and been hitting a lot of little shots right handed allowing the club to do more and more work while just trying to not overuse my arm and hands. Basically honing in on my zipping point. I was amazed that this translated to my full swing 9 irons--especially on my feel through the ball. Before reading your comment I was thinking of it as trying not to get in the way of the centrifical force created on the downswing and allowing my hands and arms to do what was happening naturally right handed with both hands on the club. This is very challenging and sort of a paradigm shift for me in trying to define good action. I believe the rewards are there though and are abundant.
It's like learning to listen to the club. Very similar to one hand clapping or the tree in the woods.
One quick comment about "Work to arrive at the 'zipping point'". It's actually un-work meaning it is a process of letting go and trusting the club head and raising your awareness as to what happens naturally right handed and learning to relate it to what happens with both hands on the club.
Flipping to me is basically non-trust or trying to help it and zipping is trust in your tool and trust in physics.
Sorry if I'm a little wordy this am but you know how it goes after you've had two cups of Frankencoffee.
Angles are Angels--DC
It seems that ball position would play a role in whether your shot is 'zippy' or 'flippy'?
ReplyDeleteWhen you say role I guess I don't know the weight you ascribing to role. I can be zippy from any ball position but my steepness or shallowness would certainly be affected by my ball position. I don't link the two (ball position and state of zippy)near as much as I link them to desireable and non-desireable types of action.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure who Winthrop is but I would like to thank you for your comment. It has inspired a new post which I'm getting ready to do titled "Game of Opposites".
ReplyDeleteBall position is very important the better you get at golf. A tour pro that finished in the top ten on the money list in 2009 might be back in tour school in 2011 if their ball position changed significantly an inch or so in any direction because the margins are that small and all the well rehearsed timing would than be off.
Most of the people I deal with just need to develop the skill of a good release as opposed to helping it. (flipping it)
In golf we tend to like to relate cause and effect but we have to be careful what we link. A flipper is still going to flip at it from any ball position because they havn't yet givin up the mindset of control. Someone who is a good ball striker could have significant increases or decreases due to ball position but that individual probably doesn't flip at it much. Thanks again for your comment!