Having written over fifty blog articles describing what must be done in order to play a consistent round of golf, I am writing this article as my “golf swing manifesto” trying to summarize the most important aspects of my blog about learning how to make a consistent golf swing.
My golf journey has shown me that there are a lot of fundamental things that are ignored when golfers are trying to learn to develop a consistent golf swing. This makes developing a consistent swing much more difficult than it should be.
Most golf instruction is given by instructors who have golf swings that are very accomplished. Most have learned their swings when they were young. Learning the golf swing is much easier as a child versus learning the golf swing as an adult. My blog article, “It is a Challenge for Adults to Learn the Golf Swing,” describes those challenges. When the child learns the golf swing, their path to learning is different than when adults try to learn the golf swing. Young golfers “just swing” until they discover, by feel, what works and they can repeat the motion that works. Adults have lost the ability feel the swing and to repeat what works. When adults hit a good golf shot they say “I don’t know what I did.” This is why golf touring professionals, who learned the golf swing as a child and who decide to go through a swing change, can become “lost” if the swing change does not work. They learned to “just swing” and now, as adults, they do not know how to go back to the old swing they learned as a child.
A lot of what is taught about the golf swing is derived from visual observations. It has been shown that the eyes are the least reliable in determining what is happening in the golf swing. This is one reason there are so many different golf “tips” to try to teach the golf swing. One person’s interpretation of what is seen is different from another person’s interpretation.
Having said that, I have created my High Percentage Golf method over the years based on what I have seen in others’ golf swing and what I have felt in learning my golf swing. I have settled on the following, rarely taught, fundamentals about the golf swing. If I had learned the following fundamentals when I first started almost 40 years ago, I believe I would have significantly shortened my learning curve.
Golf is a Mental Game
People say golf is a really hard game. That is true because golf is a mental game. It is about developing a consistent mental focus to execute the same golf swing. It takes a lot of mental strength to only focus on the motion and to not focus on trying to hit the golf ball. My blog articles, “The Mental Game” and “One Plus One Equals Three,” describe how to develop a focused mind and how to adopt the correct attitude in order to achieve a consistent golf swing.
Do Not Try to Hit the Ball
Most golf instruction is focused on hitting the ball. The golf tips and drills emphasize what to do with the arms and hands at impact. Actually, when arms and hands arrive at the ball, the arms and hands are moving so fast that very few golfers, have the skill to do anything consistently. The focus should be on what the arms and hands do while they are on the right side of the body during the back swing and the down swing.
If the objective of golf is to develop a consistent golf swing and not about hitting the ball, my blog article, “The Most Important Focus in the Golf Swing,” describes what to focus on during the golf swing. It is about five or six things to focus on. Committing to focus on five or six things during the golf swing is a good way to block out thoughts about hitting the ball.
Do vs Feel
As stated above, what most golfers think they should do is wrong. Golfers watch videos and read golf instructions that describe what to do in the golf swing. The reality is that there is no need to do what traditional golf instruction teaches because most of the recommended actions are actually reactions. The majority of instruction tries to teach the reaction instead of teaching the motion that causes the reaction. My blog article, “Action vs Reaction,” describes the action that causes the reaction. Do the action instead of trying to do the reaction.
Rhythm
The most important feature of a consistent golf swing is the rhythm of the swing. The rhythm of the swing is unique to each golfer, but it must be the same for every golf shot. My blog article, “How to Feel Rhythm,” describes how to create a rhythmic swing.
Patience
The key component of creating a repeatable rhythmic swing is the patience used during the transition between the back swing and the down swing. I describe in my blog article, “Patience in the Golf Swing,” that the right amount of patience is the key to a good shot. If the down swing is started even a millisecond too soon, the result will be a bad shot. When the touring pros say that their swing was too quick, it means they were impatient. Patience makes the golf swing a binary action. A bad shot means not enough patience. A good shot means the right amount of patience.
Vertical Motion Creates Horizontal Motion
The most efficient way to move the club away from the target on the back swing and move the club toward the target on the down swing is to use vertical motion. Most golfers try to use horizontal motion, especially on the down swing, which is a very inefficient and a very inconsistent motion. This is described in my blog article, “Feel an Efficient Swing.”
Most golfers think they need to move the club toward the ball instead of feeling the club move toward the ball.
Tension vs Tightness
Some golf instruction says that tension is bad in the golf swing. What is really meant is that tightness is bad in the golf swing. Tension is feeling the stretching of loose muscles. Tightness is the stiffening of the muscles. Feel the tension caused by stretching the muscles to build and release energy. Stiff muscles are like cement and cannot build and release energy. My blog article, “Feel an Efficient Swing,” describes what stretches to feel in the back swing and especially during the down swing.
Eccentric Motion is an Efficient Motion
Eccentric motion is the muscle resisting a primary motion to create a stretch in the muscle. Eccentric motion is used to efficiently produce power in the golf swing. This is why having loose muscles is better than having tight muscles. My golf blog article, “Chain Action Using Eccentric Motion,” describes how to use eccentric motion effectively, in the body, arms, and fingers in the golf swing.
How to Use the Fingers
One area of the golf swing that I believe has the greatest affect on the golf shot is how the fingers are used during the golf swing, especially the little fingers. My blog article, “How to Use the Fingers,” describes how to use the fingers to reduce tightness in the arms and what they should do in the back swing and down swing. My blog article, “How to Curve the Ball,” describes how the little fingers can be used to hit a fade or draw. My blog article, “Chain Action Using Eccentric Motion,” describes how the little fingers create eccentric motion to create lag in the down swing.
Swing Thoughts
Golf instruction encourages golfers to adopt a swing thought during the golf swing that produces a successful golf shot. The swing thought should be a feel-based thought instead of a swing mechanic thought. But why only one swing thought? Do golf instructors believe we can only handle one swing thought? Jack Nicklaus said “most golfers can think of one, maybe two, things during the golf swing. I can think of five or six and do them.”
Is Jack Nicklaus saying that to imply that only Jack Nicklaus can have that many swing thoughts or is Jack Nicklaus telling us how to be a better golfer?
I believe Jack Nicklaus is telling us how to be better golfers. It does not mean five or six thoughts at once but five or six swing thoughts in sequence. Some may say that is too many thoughts, but in fact, there are at least six thoughts that are used when you back your car out of the garage. My blog article, “The Most Important Focus in the Golf Swing,” describes more than one swing thought that are used to develop a consistent golf swing.
Bunker Technique
I have tried to develop a consistent bunker swing for a long time and I finally realized that the bunker swing is not like a regular full swing. Once I realized I needed a different swing, my bunker shots became more consistent. I realized that the bunker swing is what most golfers do when they hit a fat shot; they only use their arms and hands! My blog article, “Basic Bunker Shot,” describes how to use the arms and hands in the bunker shot.