Golf Swing Mechanics – A Simple 3 Step Analysis

Examining the golf swing mechanics of a player requires a specific method of analysis.

Professional instructors use a trained eye to evaluate each component of their clients swing pattern and offer valuable feedback and advice.

Truth is – we can all perform a “self-review” of our own golf swing mechanics using a few simple steps. The three core areas of golf swing mechanics which a player should focus their assessment on are weight shift, body usage and footwork.

Many professional instructors consider these three departments of the swing pattern to be the essence of a successful golf swing. Mastering these three golf swing mechanics can be the key to a winning game!

In his book, “Golf Can Be an Easy Game”, author Joe Novak further expands upon these three aspects of golf swing mechanics using, as an example, one of his students he refers to as D.M.

Novak writes about D.M.;

“What brought his handicap from 13 to 3? What gave him the ability to shoot a 66, and ten years later shoot a 67? It was a simple case of synchronizing the two things every golfer must do if they want to play good golf.

First, there must be a basic ability to swing the club correctly, and the correct way to swing it is with a sense of body control. This ability to motivate or swing the club with the body is impossible unless the player has the proper footwork and a proper sense of balancing themselves, so that they have the full, free use of their body. It is from the body that the power flows, so that the distance aspect of a golf shot depends on just how the body is being used.

Second, the player must be able to keep the club in position throughout the swing so that the club will produce the effect for which it was designed, and the ball will fly true and straight towards the objective.

Now, D.M. had (1) the footwork, which gave him the necessary balance so that he could (2) use his body to swing the club, but he was totally lacking in (3) the proper club positioning control so that his shots kept going “hither and yon,” and until he corrected his errors in this respect, his golf game was erratic.

Everybody’s golf game is subject to the following analysis.

First, how well does the player handle their weight; what is their sense of balance; do they know how to work their feet and legs in order to establish the proper sense of balance so that the body can be established as the motivating factor in swinging the club?

Secondly, how well does the player use their body; do they understand that a golf swing is a double-handed, ambidextrous motion in which there is an upswing as well as a downswing—an upswing that is made with the right side of the body and a downswing and follow through that is made with the left side?

Third, if the player has the footwork which will give them this double-handed, ambidextrous motion with their body, do they knew exactly how to use their hands to exert the necessary positioning control over the club so that they can make the ball do just what they want it to do?“

Knowing how to properly assess these three key components of golf swing mechanics is the key to improving your swing.

Use Novak’s three part analysis to help you evaluate your own swing pattern.

Check back soon for more articles and posts to improve golf swing mechanics!