High Percentage Golf Swing principles have a high correlation to the swing concepts developed by Dr. Kwon, a biomechanics professor at Texas Woman’s University.
He is focused on getting the golfer to produce a golf swing that is rhythmic, continuous, and efficient. He does not teach how to hit the ball. It is all about focusing on the motion. It is not about hitting the ball.
He has a number of videos showing him “reprogramming” the swing motions of golfers. The following links are helpful in learning to focus on the motions advocated by Dr. Kwon:
The rope drill is a very effective drill to learn the mature back swing and to learn how to focus on the club head during the swing.
Here is the vendor for the swing rope
The drills in the videos can be used to develop the feel of the weight shift and the turn that creates the stretch of the body and arms during the back swing and down swing that I describe in my blog, “Feel an Efficient Swing.” The videos provide the visual result of doing the motions that I describe.
Dr. Kwon’s method is based on rhythm. This is the main focus of the High Percentage Golf’s method. My blog post, “How to Feel Rhythm,” describes the importance of rhythm and how to feel a rhythmic swing.
Dr. Kwon wants to use vertical rhythm during the swing.by feeling the “kick” of the right foot and left foot. My blog post, “Feel an Efficient Swing,” describes how the kick in the right foot and the left foot results in the vertical motion.
Dr. Kwon emphasizes a continuous flow during the swing. My blog post, “Feel an Efficient Swing,” describes the Stretch and Snap sequence of the golf swing. The Stretch and Snap actions occur in a continuous sequential motion.
Dr. Kwon promotes an active back swing, achieving a mature back swing, and then letting it go. My blog post, “Feel an Efficient Swing,” describes how the top inside of the right latissimus dorsi stretches up to create an active backswing. Feeling the Strech at the beginning of the down swing is used to create a mature back swing. The “flick” down of the top inside of the left latissimus dorsi triggers the letting it go in the down swing. The vertical action of the lower body and the upper body triggers the unwinding of the shoulders.
Dr. Kwon wants the left shoulder to remain closed during the start of the down swing to prevent the left shoulder from opening too soon. He also says to keep the head behind the ball. My blog post, “Feel an Efficient Swing,” describes how feeling the Stretch keeps the left shoulder closed and keeps the head behind the ball.
Dr. Kwon wants the golfer to relax the arms to feel the stretch in the arms. My blog post, “Feel an Efficient Swing,” describes how to feel empty forearms and my blog post, “How to Use the Fingers,” describes how to use the little fingers to prevent the tightening of the forearms.
Dr. Kwon wants the right forearm to rotate the hand in the down swing. My blog post, “How to Use the Fingers,” describes how the right index finger and the vertical energy of the body in the down swing automatically causes the forearms to rotate. There is no need to try to actively rotate the forearms.
Dr. Kwon wants to have the body control the arms instead of using the hands and arms to control the body. My blog post, “Feel an Efficient Swing,” describes how the lower body supports the upper body which controls the arms.
One point not mentioned regarding the focus on the swing motion is the need to let go of the natural tendency to “hit the ball.” The mind can only focus on one thing at a time and focusing on letting the back swing mature and being ready to “let it go” makes focusing on the ball impossible. There is an awareness of the ball but there is no focus on the ball. When the mind focuses on the swing motion, the ball virtually disappears! It takes a big leap of faith to focus on the swing and ignore the ball. Kids can focus on the swing motion so it is easier for kids to learn golf. My blog, “It is a Challenge for Adults to Learn the Golf Swing,” describes why golf is so difficult for adults.
One way to look at the game of golf is to consider golf as a game of making rhythmic swings. The ball is just an immediate feedback device to indicate that there was enough patience to let the back swing mature or not enough patience. The golf swing is binary: there was patience or no patience; yes or no.
I believe the swing drills that Dr. Kwon has developed should be mastered by all golfers in order to focus on creating a rhythmic, efficient, and consistent swing motion, instead of focusing on trying to hit the ball. Learning to focus on the swing motion instead of the ball is extremely difficult. If there is ever an attempt to develop a standardized golf teaching method to teach how to focus on the swing, these golf drills would be the foundation.