The difference between a rhythmic and efficient golf swing versus a quick and inefficient golf swing is patience.  Good players are patient enough to wait for the energy to gather completely before executing the down swing.  Most amateurs are impatient and do not wait long enough for the energy to completely gather.  When a golfer has a bad shot, even a professional golfer, it is caused by a rhythm that is too quick because impatience prevents the complete gathering of energy and the golfer must compensate by using the hands and arms in an inefficient and disconnected manner.

It is amazing how a rhythm that is too quick by even a millisecond will result in a bad shot.  It is also amazing how a patient rhythm will produce a good shot.  Almost all bad golf shots are caused by a rhythm that is too quick.

My blog article, “How to Feel Rhythm,” describes how rhythm is the most important part of the golf swing.  A proper length of pause creates an efficient rhythm.  Patience allows for an automatic pause of the proper length.

Have patience to feel the following to create the automatic pause:

• As the arms are swinging up, feel the right pectoral stretch up some more, feel the bottom of the front right hip bone stretch up against the resisting top of the front right hip bone, and feel the stretch up of the hands mature

The stretch in the hands and the front right hip bone provides the following benefits:

• Creates additional loading of the lower body
• Keeps the head behind the ball
• Makes it feel like the arms swing under your body instead of around your body
• Best of all is the creation of additional power and the result is more distance

This may seem like it would take too long and it does feel like it will take about one-half second to accomplish.  But in fact, the patience to feel the stretch of the upper body takes one millisecond!  If this action is cut short by one millisecond, a bad shot will occur because it does not allow the time to do all that is needed.  If it takes one millisecond too long, the shot will not be optimal, but the shot will be playable.

Have patience to feel the complete gather of energy at the end of the back swing and the release of energy with abandon.  That one last millisecond of patience creates the last 20 percent of the power in the back swing.

In the following video, notice how Jack Nicklaus displays patience to feel the end of the back swing, the complete gather of energy, and the release of energy with abandon.  Everyone watching this video will only notice how Jack is swinging so hard and fast.  Instead, look at the video and sense how Jack has the patience to wait for the back swing to mature before releasing the energy as fast as he can in the down swing:

In the short game (putting and chipping), use the same patience to feel the end of the back swing, the complete gather of energy, and the release of energy with abandon to create the same rhythm.