GOLF SWING TIPS

Here’s the best tip of all: disregard any tips.

Instructional tips rarely do any good. That’s because they’re being hung onto a faulty framework.

If someone’s swing is basically flawed, no tip is going to provide a remedy. Much golf instruction is misleading because it is based on a superficial look at the swing. The typical face-on view of a swing appears two-dimensional, certainly on a tv screen or on a magazine page. And the motion looks to be dominated by back and forth movements.

However, a more accurate view of what the body actually is doing when it hits a golf ball is from above. From this view, everything (clubhead, hands, arms, shoulders, hips) seems to be whirling in circles, first clockwise, then counter-clockwise.

‘Around’ flits in and out of much published instruction. But it deserves front-and-center attention. It is the dominant feeling you want to have when you hit a golf ball. It helps form a solid framework.

Competing with ‘Around’ for center stage, is another prominent sensation: looseness. Clubhead speed is created by turning the body into a whip. This is achieved only through a loose, supple upper half of the body. Think of the suppleness of the strand of a whip. When a whip cracks loudly, it’s breaking the sound barrier. You may not break the sound barrier with your clubhead, but you will be maximizing your clubhead speed if your upper body is as loose and floppy as a leather strand.

“Power” should be dumped from golf-swing vocabulary. It connotes tense muscles being employed forcefully. Rather, you want to have a feeling above your waist of loose, fluid motion. This, too, is part of a solid framework.

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HOW TO SWING A GOLF CLUB

Don’t.

Believe it or not, ‘swing’ is very misleading as the overall description of what a body does when it hits a golf ball. Yet ‘swing rhythmically’ is one of the most commonly used phrases in golf instruction.

Here are two ways in which ‘swing’ is misleading. Through the ball, the clubhead rotates 180 degrees in one-tenth of a second. Stop and think about this. Amazing we ever hit the ball straight.

Might the word ‘swing’ connote less than it should, tell only half the story, and therefore mislead? In addition to the perceptibly rhythmic move of many pro’s ‘swings’, something else very important is going on, but the word ‘swing’ gives no indication of this speedy clubhead thrash.

Are lots of golfers, having always heard the word ‘swing’, practicing hard to create a rhythmic move to and fro--having no idea at all that they should be building into their ‘swings’ the right tension-free positions and moves to create this wild clubhead rotation?

Here’s the second way in which ‘swing’ is misleading. In Five Fundamentals, Ben Hogan said: “The hips initiate the downswing. They snap back to the left with tremendous speed. The faster they go the better. They cannot go too fast”. Biomechanics research into the golf ‘swing’ uncovered that hip and thigh muscles are the muscles used most aggressively by the body when hitting a golf ball.

So the fiercest move by the body when hitting a golf ball is a snap of the hips. Hmmmmmmm. How can a vicious snap be the primary move within something labeled a ‘swing’?? It can’t. Forget ‘swing’.

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BIOMECHANICS OF THE GOLF SWING

Between 1986 and 1995, a group of doctors and biomechanics specialists led by Frank Jobe, M.D., in affiliation with the Biomechanics Laboratory of the Centinela Hospital Medical Center, Inglewood, CA, published six papers presenting results from electromyographic research they had conducted on good golfers, i.e. all with handicaps under 5, including some professionals.

Data on twenty-four muscles between the knees and the skull were reported. These data reveal how a body goes about hitting a golf ball, and which muscles deserve the most attention.

Only one of the reported muscles fired at 100% of its capacity. I’ve asked over 50 golfers, of all abilities, which muscle this is, and no one has gotten the answer right. It’s the right buttock (for a right-handed golfer).

Even more interesting, the primary function of this muscle in the body is understood apparently only by muscle specialists. It is technically a rotator muscle, not a flexor or extensor. It is the reason speed skaters’ legs rotate and extend so far out to their sides. And, for golfers, when the legs are held in place by spikes, it is the primary reason hips rotate so fast.

The third-ranked muscle (in % of capacity used) is the left quadriceps, coming in at 88%. Your left leg gets pretty well bent at the knee during the backswing, stretching the quads. When they fire, they drive the left hip way around and behind.

Muscles below the waist fire before muscles above the waist. In Five Fundamentals, Ben Hogan says: “The hips initiate the downswing. They snap back to the left with tremendous speed. The faster they go the better. They cannot go too fast”. This research shows how right on Ben’s comment was.

To accelerate the clubhead from 0 to 100 miles per hour in about 0.3 seconds, you must make major use of the big muscles in your thighs and hips. A swing that feels as if it’s trying to hit the ball primarily with arm muscles isn’t going to win any long-drive contests.

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GOLF TIPS FOR BEGINNERS

Much basic golf-instruction terminology is misleading because it is based on a superficial look at the swing. The typical face-on view of a swing appears two-dimensional, certainly on a tv screen or on a magazine page. And the motion looks to be dominated by back and forth movements.

However, a more accurate view of what the body actually is doing when it hits a golf ball is from above. From this view, everything (clubhead, hands, arms, shoulders, hips) seems to be whirling in circles, first clockwise, then counter-clockwise.

When you supplement this overhead view with sophisticated research into what muscles are busiest during the golf swing, the notion of rotation is amplified.

So, all you beginners, pay no attention to any instruction that encourages a back-then-forth motion. Rather, feel yourself coil your torso, and then uncoil your torso.

A second thought. You’ll hear the word ‘power’ often in relation to the golf swing. This suggests force applied by tense muscles. Best to get ‘power’ and all its connotations out of your mind. Rather, think loose, supple, quick, whip. Above your waist right out to your fingertips, get so loose you can hardly hold onto the club. And, don’t lose this looseness. Yes, above your waist feel soft and loose throughout the entire swing.

A final misleading term is ‘control’. You’d be perfectly reasonable to think that you must maintain control over the club at all times. How else can you get the one-square-inch sweet spot on the clubface to meet up with the ball amid all this whirling?

This from internationally acclaimed instructor Jim McLean: “To gain control of your shots, you must give up control of your swing”. Hard to believe, but make sure your ‘swing’ is a loose, out-of-control, wild whirl!

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ONLINE GOLF TIPS

“Lag” in a golfer’s swing will be praised to the skies, and rightly so. Lag seems to be evident in only the best golfers’ swings. Rarely does anyone with a handicap of 10 or more exhibit lag. Indeed, lots of single-digit players have no lag in their swings.

Lag is apparent. When a golfer’s lower body is uncoiling ahead of his arms, an impression of smoothness, fluidity is given. What’s not so apparent is the increased speed of the clubhead through the ball that lag creates. How can golfers build lag into their swings?

Start by thinking of the body as cut into two parts at the waist. The muscles in the lower portion are going to be used consciously and aggressively to rotate the hips as quickly as possible. In Five Fundamentals, Ben Hogan said: “The hips initiate the downswing. They snap back to the left with tremendous speed. The faster they go the better. They cannot go too fast”. Study of Tour pros corroborates Ben’s comments.

The upper half of the body is used completely differently. It must be as loose as possible. If it’s loose, then the hips can snap ahead. If mid-torso abdominal and back muscles are at all tense, the hips will be “attached” to the upper body and the upper body will uncoil simultaneously with the hips. It will not lag behind the hips.

So, when you address the ball, get as loose as you can above the waist, all the way out to your fingertips. Yes, as loose as you can. Soften your grip pressure to almost nothing. Turn your arms into spaghetti. And, feel throughout the entire swing as if your hands and arms stay that loose.

Adam Scott, in a recent Golf Digest issue: “I relax my arms and let them hang from my shoulders. When they start to feel a bit heavy, that’s when I’m ready to swing.”

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