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Golf Swing Mechanics – The Importance of Weight Shift

August 4, 2010 By Eagle Leave a Comment

There are many components which make up proper golf swing mechanics – all of which must be performed correctly in order to produce a winning golf swing.

There is one specific component of golf swing mechanics which many golfers have difficulty executing – the weight shift. Golfers swinging their club using a poor weight shift action will experience a loss of both distance and control in their drives. Failure to perform a proper weight shift will have a negative impact on the golfer’s overall confidence in their swing and game.

In the book, “Golf Can Be An Easy Game” author Joe Novak offers the reader some perspective on the far reaching implications of failing to perform this essential part of the golf swing mechanics.

Novak writes;

“Some golfing faults are due to erroneous concepts, but most are the direct result of an omission—a failure to do some essential maneuver of part of the swing. As a consequence, the player is forced into a distortion which develops an error that the player neither intended nor is at all conscious of doing. In such a situation, professional guidance and advice can be most helpful.

Failure to Shift Weight

The most common fault, by far, is the failure to shift one’s weight properly. Only one out of ten pupils seems to have any sense of footwork or any understanding of its importance. Carrying out this 10% average to the 200 or 300 golfers who constitute an average country club, you will find 20 or 30 golfers there who possess the quality of footwork that is the basic requisite for good golf.

These 20 or 30 golfers can, as a result of this footwork ability, maneuver themselves into a position where they can utilize their bodies in making golf shots. They will have a natural sense of power and consistency to enable them to score in the 70′s or 80′s. The remaining 90% of the players in the club will be

(a) plagued with a loss of distance so that they cannot possibly reach the greens in two shots—they take three shots, sometimes four to get on the green, so their scores automatically go into the 90 and over range.

(b) players without any sense of club control, a class of golfers who not only lack power but also clubhead control, so the ball goes hither and yon. In this category we have the golfers who score in the high 90′s and over 100.

I hope this analysis will explain why certain scores happen. I further hope that it will arouse sufficient interest so that players recognizing these deficiencies will seek advice on correcting them.

Incorrect Use of the Body

Players are told if they want to get more power into their shots they must turn more. This is harmful because turning more can only lead to a low flat swinging action on the backswing which absolutely prevents the player from coming through correctly.

The only naturally accurate, efficient body action is the two-way diagonal stretch, the gyroscopic pattern of the body. Such an action provides power without effort and without danger of doing oneself bodily harm, such as a lame back or a twisted left knee.

Failure to handle one’s weight properly forces the player to turn, but the added preponderance of advice telling golfers that they should turn (and the advice telling golfers that they should use their left side to take the club away from the ball on the backswing) are things that throw the player out of position, and off balance.

I hope these comments will alert the players struggling under these erroneous concepts and that the suggestions offered will put them on the right track.“

Weight shifting is an essential component of proper golf swing mechanics. Perform it correctly and your golf swing and game will prosper – perform it poorly and your golf swing and game will certainly suffer.

Consider Novak’s advice when trying to evaluate and fix the faults in your golf swing pattern.

Check back soon for more tips and posts on golf swing mechanics.

Filed Under: Golf Swing, Golf Tips Tagged With: beginners, birdie, correct backswing, fix slice, golf instruction, golf success, golf swing tips, golf technique, how to add clubhead speed shoulder, how to learn golf, improve golf swing, par, swing guide

Improve Golf Swing Performance – 6 Simple Steps to Help “Feel” a Better Swing

August 3, 2010 By Eagle Leave a Comment

The best way to improve golf swing performance is learning to swing the club using a sense of “feel”.

Golfers can “feel” a perfect swing just as easily as they can a flawed one.

To improve golf swing performance golfers must build, through practice, a desired swing action which they can instantly and consistently recall. Each time this desired swing pattern is repeated, the less likely the golfer will fall into a swing slump.

In the book, “On Learning Golf” author Percy Boomer better explains this concept.

Boomer writes;

“To put the lesson of the concept of control by feel as briefly as possible, we must give up thinking about our shots. In place of thinking there must be conscious control, obtained by building up (by constant repetition of the correct action) a comfortable and reliable feel, a feel that will tell you infallibly through appeal to your muscular memory, what is the right movement —and which will remain with you and control your shots whatever your mental state may be. Not being a matter of thought, this control stands outside the mental state.

As I have said, this controlling feel is built up through the constant repetition of the correct movements. We do not know just where in the system it resides, but whether it is muscular memory, or the wearing of certain grooves or channels in the mind, or—as is probable—a combination of the two, it is obvious that the more often the same succession of movements can be repeated the clearer the memory will be. Also, and this is most important, it is highly desirable that the memory should not be confused by the frequent or even occasional introduction of other and different movements—as happens when the swing is fundamentally changed for certain shots.

It is mainly for this reason that I teach and preach and practice that every shot from the full drive to the putt should be played with the same movement. Of course in the drive the movement is both more extensive and bolder than for the shorter shots, but fundamentally it is the same. The result must be a feeling of “in-to-out” stroking across the face of the ball—played not at the ball, but through it. The “in-to-out” refers to the relation of the feel of the path of the club head to the desired line of flight of the ball.

The only shots in golf which I have been unable to play or to teach as sections of the fundamental “in-to-out” swing are certain shots which call for cut pulled under and across the ball.

But for ninety-nine out of every hundred shots a golfer must play, the swing is the movement necessary. So to clear the ground I will list what I consider to be the essentials of the swing:

1. It is essential to turn the body round to the right and then back and round to the left, without moving either way. In other words this turning movement must be from a fixed pivot.

2. It is essential to keep the arms at full stretch through¬ out the swing—through the back swing, the down swing, and the follow through.

3. It is essential to allow the wrists to break fully back at the top of the swing.

4. It is essential to delay the actual hitting of the ball until as late in the swing as possible.

5. It is essential not to tighten any muscle concerned in the reactive part of the swing (movement above the waist).

6. It is essential to feel and control the swing as a whole and not to concentrate upon any part of it.

In a sense this last point is the most vital. The swing must be considered and felt as a single unity, not as a succession of positions or even a succession of movements. The swing is one and indivisible.

Now I consider that our golf is liable to go wrong if we lose sight of any of these essentials. There are of course innumerable incidentals that could be added that are important enough to have a considerable influence on one’s game, but I will go so far as to say that if you have these six essentials well embedded in your system and if you have developed some conscious control of your swing by getting the feel of the right movements—your game will rarely or never desert you.

Of course the comfortable, reliable, right feel is not a thing that comes all at once. For instance, it takes years—though not if your teacher teaches by feel—to feel nicely set and comfortable before the ball; weight between the feet, perfectly free and active and yet firmly planted.“

Improve golf swing performance by learning and practicing the right swing “feel”!

Try incorporating Boomer’s advice into your next practice routine.

Check back again for more articles and posts to help improve golf swing performance.

Filed Under: Golf Swing, Golf Tips Tagged With: beginners, birdie, correct backswing, fix slice, golf instruction, golf success, golf swing tips, golf technique, how to learn golf, improve golf swing, par, swing guide

Golf Swing Tip – How to Handle The Risky Shots!

July 31, 2010 By Eagle Leave a Comment

All golfers could use a golf swing tip or two when they are faced with a risky shot.

The best approach to successfully playing these gambling shots is two fold;

1. Take the shot which offers the best calculated risk

AND

2. Find within yourself the confidence, whether imagined or real, that the shot is within your golfing ability and skill.

For more insight into this topic, take an expert golf swing tip from the book, “The Winning Touch in Golf, A Psychological Approach” by author Peter G. Cranford Ph.D.

In the book Cranford writes;

“All golfers are faced with situations in which they feel a risky shot should be tried.

Assuming that the need for the gambling shot is clear—the so-called “calculated risk”—what then can be done to give it the best chance of being pulled off?

First, the chances are much better than average if the shot is preceded by what might be called “the surge of confidence.” With this, one experiences an almost overwhelming feeling that a given shot can be made. I have experienced this myself a number of times in various sports. It is followed by success that defies the law of averages and seems to approach the impossible.

How this feeling develops, I am not sure, but one thing I know. There isn’t a trace of anxiety or fear in it. No extraneous muscles will jerk at the wrong time when this feeling exists, and the ball has the best possible chance of receiving a maximum effort. At these times, if the gamble is indicated, fire away. You’ll probably make it if the shot is in your bag at all.

If the feeling is not there and the shot still has to be played, be deliberate and think the shot through. Even though you must gamble, try the shot which has the most chance of success. This eliminates experimental shots. A well-thought-out shot can inspire confidence, for if you settle down properly to the ball you will suddenly feel right; right feelings accompany right action. This “feeling right” helps to insure a successful gamble.

There are major and minor gambling shots. One of the minor (although cumulatively important) ones involves the decision of when one may permit oneself to aim for the flag and when one should aim for the green. As a general rule, it is best to aim precisely where you wish to go. Your ball has a better statistical chance of going where you are aiming than to any other spot.

In golf, if the problem is simply a question of “win or lose” there is no option. The pin must be shot for. However, there are many situations when the question is strictly statistical. Often the problem can be solved by asking yourself, “Are my chances of gaining a stroke equally as good as my chances of losing one?” If a four can be made by hitting the green in two on a par five, and if a six will be made by missing it, nothing will be lost or gained over the long pull by always shooting for it. This, however, presupposes a knowledge of the pattern of one’s shots, since the golfer would need to know if they could hit such a target half the time. For this reason, it is wise in practice to leave the practice balls on the ground periodically after hitting them, to obtain some knowledge of how well grouped the balls are around the target. Knowing your normal pattern of shots, simply place it over the target point, in the mind’s eye. Then, if your chances of gain¬ing a stroke are about the same as those of losing one, shoot for it. This is a general rule that can be applied to many situations, but would need to be modified at times by other circumstances…

On those occasions when, because of hazards, one cannot safely shoot at the flag, the target must be an artificial one in the center of our superimposed pattern, but even in this case aiming should be precise. The ability to aim can only be developed by aiming.

There are persons who become tense if the target is very precise. Such persons may come up with an abnormal swing because of anxiety, and hence would do well at the moment to have a less precise target. However, psychologically we would have to consider this a weakness, and the ambitious golfer would be obliged to work to remove it.

A great danger in the gambling shot is that it tends to set up a state of anxiety. Much depends on the result, and this preoccupation with the result will generally destroy the golfer’s ability to execute the shot. If you are using a putter in a trap, you are anxious to see if it will run up the bank and are apt to half-top it. If you must shoot through a narrow opening in trees, you will be tempted to pull your head up prematurely to see where the ball is going. On a delicate chip, you may not complete the swing. Hence, to insure a higher percentage of success, a marked effort at self-control is required.
Deliberately complete the shot before you examine the results.”

All golfers can use a golf swing tip when faced with a risky shot.

Try using Cranford’s golf swing tip and advice when deciding the strategy of your next difficult shot.

Check back soon for more golf swing tip articles and posts!

Filed Under: Golf Swing, Golf Tips Tagged With: beginners, birdie, golf instruction, golf success, golf swing tips, how to learn golf, improve golf swing, par, swing guide

Golf Swing Tip – Do You Need to Waggle & Forward Press?

July 27, 2010 By Eagle Leave a Comment

There’s a golf swing tip or two floating around every golf course and club house.

Some tips are quite valuable and vital to shaping a successful golf swing yet other tips are just worthless and unnecessary.

Take for instance a golf swing tip on the waggle or the forward press.

Some golfers perform both acts as a prelude to their backswing, other golfers just one and still other neither!

So what is the official consensus on this golf swing tip?

In the book, “The Master Key to Success at Golf” author Leslie King provides professional advice on the importance and usefulness these two actions play in performing a successful backswing.

King writes;

“You are now properly set up alongside the ball in a position from which to commence the first operation in swinging the club (in this instance a driver, although when giving personal instruction I like to start a pupil with a five iron.)

Obviously if you are gripping the club correctly and standing ideally to the ball you are giving yourself a real chance at the outset to shape a sound backswing.

And there are two further preliminaries to be considered before coming to the actual backswing. These are the waggle and the forward press, both of them largely matters of individuality, neither of them to be overdone.

In modern times the waggle has become something of a misnomer among the top players. Fewer and fewer nowadays waggle the club head in the manner of their predecessors of the hickory shaft age.

The object of the waggle is to ensure flexibility in the wrists, get the feel of the club head, make the hands active, and break down tension. Overdone it can have entirely the reverse effect in each case.

Two or three smooth unhurried passes to and from the ball along the intended line of flight with the left hand and wrist in control is all that is usually necessary.

Now for the forward press. This is a slight thrust forward of the right knee and the hands immediately before the commencement of the backswing. If it is natural and instinctive, I say by all means carry on.

However, I never try to build a forward press into the action of a pupil who does not do it instinctively. For one thing to do so would be to introduce another movement and one, moreover, which entails a change of direction when the club is drawn back. We are compelled to change direction when we reach the top of the swing and that is a difficult enough operation for many players.

In any event the main value of the forward press is that it brings the flexed right knee forward and in towards the ball, something you have already done in taking up the position at address which I have outlined.

My advice on these two preliminaries is this. Waggle simply and smoothly and not for too long. Do not worry about the forward press unless it is an action which comes naturally.”

The above professional golf swing tip offers great insight into whether you should perform the waggle and forward press prior to commencing your backswing.

Try incorporating King’s advice in your next swing practice session.

Check back soon for more golf swing tip articles and posts!

Filed Under: Golf Swing, Golf Tips Tagged With: beginners, birdie, chipping hitting it crisp, correct backswing, fix slice, golf instruction, golf success, golf swing tips, golf technique, how to learn golf, improve golf swing, par, pitching backswing, swing guide

Golf Swing Tip – Hey Student Golfers…Think You’re Ready for the Golf Course?

July 25, 2010 By Eagle Leave a Comment

The following is a horrible golf swing tip – “The best way to learn the golf swing is on the golf course”.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This is analogous to first learning poker using real money in a real game. It’s simply not a good idea.

A better golf swing tip is this – “Don’t step on the course until you have developed a ‘reasonable’ swing pattern.”

But how do we know when a swing becomes a reasonable swing? We all know the word “reasonable” means different things to different people – so what do you do?

In the book, “Golf Can Be an Easy Game” author Joe Novak offers some simple and objective guidelines to help golfers determine what actually constitutes a “reasonable” golf swing. Following Novak’s advice will keep golfers from prematurely stepping on to the golf course until they are truly ready, saving them from unneeded frustration and unnecessary embarrassment – the best golf swing tip ever!

Novak writes;

“On numerous occasions pupils express a desire to be taken on the golf course where they feel they will learn more quickly.

This is a snare and a delusion. It is absolutely essential that a reasonably good swing be developed before the pupil be permitted on the golf course. A natural question at this point would be “what is meant by a reasonably good swing?” It simply means that the pupil should be well grounded in the three fundamental actions that constitute a golf swing.

The pupil should be able:

(a) to handle their weight so they can properly balance themselves on their right foot, from which point the upswing is made. They should be able to rebalance themselves on their left foot so that they can make the downswing and follow through.

(b) they should have a thorough understanding of how to cock or set the club into any of the three positions; in other words, they should have a sense of how the two hands work together to accomplish this important matter of club position, which is the basis of directional control in golf shots.

(c) the player should have the sense and ability of utilizing their body as the swing medium—using their body in that natural self-centering action—that two-way stretch which never takes one off the ball and gives the player the ability to make long powerful drives or short delicate chip shots and putts.

These three fundamental actions can only be developed by practice. The practice must be systematic and positive, and have a definite plan that will be stuck to without experiment or change.

Practice this plan—repeat it over and over until (a) footwork, (b) hand action, and (c) body action are synchronized into a smooth continuous action—an action in which you will have a definite idea of (a) where the club is, and (b) how forcibly or how delicately it is being applied to the ball.

Once a degree of proficiency is developed there is no club or department of the game that can give you any problems; golf can be an easy game because you will be the master in control of the club as you swing it.

Then and only then are you ready to go out on the course to play. Just as it takes practice to develop, create and establish a swing, it will require added practice to maintain and retain a satisfactory performance.”

Here is a golf swing tip worth following!

Review your golf swing using Novak’s guidelines. His advice could be the difference between you enjoying your golf game or not!

Check back soon for more golf swing tip articles and posts!

Filed Under: Golf Swing, Golf Tips Tagged With: beginners, birdie, bogey, correct backswing, fix slice, golf instruction, golf success, golf swing squat, golf swing tips, golf technique, how to learn golf, how to squat in golf swing, how to stay down thru the shot on golf, improve golf swing, par, squat hits golf, swing guide, the squat in golf swing

Improve Golf Swing Performance – Improve Your Iron Play By Perfecting These 4 Easy Steps!

July 23, 2010 By Eagle Leave a Comment

To play winning golf, a golfer must constantly strive to improve golf swing performance.

Learning to better swing your irons can do wonders for your golf game.

To improve golf swing performance, especially with the irons, always remember to always keep it simple.

In the book, “How to Master the Irons, An Illustrated Guide to Better Golf” authors Gene Littler and Don Collett offer 4 simple steps to better your iron play!

They write;

“After having played, practiced, and experimented with my own swing over a period of some 20 years, I have reached some rather definite conclusions concerning the swing and its execution. These conclusions, which I have boiled down into four categories, have been tried and tested under all conditions and types of play, from casual rounds to tournament competition, and, while there is nothing startlingly new about them, they do serve to emphasize the fact that you must practice and perfect them if you wish to become an accomplished player. These four steps to better iron play are: (1) form, (2) rhythm, (3) a proper turn and shifting of the weight, and (4) a good follow-through.

The Form Of A Golfer

A player must have good form if he is to achieve success in golf. Naturally, some players aren’t as formful as others, but they are almost identical at two important stages of the swing—the address and at impact. Develop your form, and the development of your game will follow naturally.

Swing With Rhythm

Every golfer has a different tempo to his swing. You should develop a smooth, powerful swing that will generate the maximum power through the ball. Good tempo and good timing go hand in hand in a golf swing. The windup should start slow and be unhurried. At the start of the downswing, the first move should also be smoothly performed; then, as the hands and arms reach the hitting area, they can lash out and through the ball with all of the power the legs and body have generated. A good point to remember is that the upper part of the body winds up the swing and the lower part of the body starts the unwinding process.

Weight Shift

The weight is shifted to the left side much faster on an iron shot than it is when you are hitting a wood. The reason for this is that the shaft and the swing are shorter, thus making the swing more upright. Also, the ball must be contacted on the downswing, so the action of the body, arms, and hands must be faster. Another thing: The wrists are broken sooner on the back-swing with the irons, because this aids you in making the downward hit.

The weight shift is accomplished by the entire left side, but mainly by the left hip, followed by the straightening of the left leg and planting of the left heel on the ground. A strong pulling-down action of the left arm and shoulder follows as the left hip moves slightly laterally and then around. This clears the left side, eliminating blocking action which results when the left leg buckles and the body slides too far past the ball. The movement described above eliminates another enigma the beginning golfer encounters —the fat shot. The fat shot is caused by the beginner failing to shift his weight to the left side early in the downswing. As a result, he takes turf in back of the ball instead of in front of it, because either he starts out with too much weight on his right side or he initiates the downswing with the upper part of his body rather than the lower part.

One final word of caution about this weight shift: It must be smoothly done, not in a jerky, convulsive movement.

The Follow-Through

Turning out of the shot properly is one of the last things a golfer learns how to do. Assuming that you have moved into the downswing correctly, you can increase your directional control immeasurably if you will permit your right hand and arm, as an extension of the clubshaft, to follow through toward the target. Do not permit your right shoulder to rush around in front of you. This would throw the entire swing outside the line of flight. Instead, the right shoulder works under the chin so that you can follow through properly on line with the target.”

Focusing your attention on these above 4 steps can greatly improve golf swing performance and confidence.

Implementing Littler and Collett’s instruction into your practice sessions could payout huge dividends on the course.

Check back soon for more posts and tips to improve golf swing performance!

Filed Under: Golf Swing, Golf Tips Tagged With: beginners, birdie, correct backswing, fix slice, golf instruction, golf success, golf swing tips, golf technique, how to learn golf, improve golf swing, par, pitch shot instruction golf, swing guide, wedge distance control

Beginner Golf Swing Instruction – The Right Way to Think About Your Shot!

July 22, 2010 By Eagle Leave a Comment

Beginner golf swing instruction programs teach their students to use visualization techniques prior to performing their shot. This helps the golfer get a mental image of the shot before they perform their swing.

Student golfers however, forget that the visualization process should end BEFORE they execute their swing. Many students continue the imaging process throughout their entire swing pattern.

Beginner golf swing instruction programs know this can ruin a golfer’s swing and shot, creating unnecessary distractions that jolt confidence in both the golfer’s judgment and ability.

In the book, “The Master Key to Success at Golf” author Leslie King offers valuable insight into the correct way to approach the imagery process.

King writes;

“If you took a golf ball in your hand and tossed it up on to the green from, say, twenty or thirty yards, you would make a simple, effortless movement. There would be no sharp jerk such as a small child with no familiar feel imparts to the action when he first attempts to throw a ball. The adult, whether he plays golf or not, instinctively knows better.

You as a golfer will apply the same simple principles to the tossing of a golf ball on to the green from the face of a lofted club instead of from the hands. The main difference in depositing the ball on to the green with a golf club is that you need the control which is derived from the correct left arm action.

I will act as your caddie as you walk up to play a pitch to a green thirty or forty yards away. Together we study the ground and take into account the conditions, hard or soft, any fall or rise on the way to the green. There may be a bunker jutting across our direct route to the hole-side. We take note of it but are not frightened by it. With these points in mind we make our assessment. How far will the ball run when pitched on a selected spot? Our joint, but not lengthy, deliberations give YOU a clear mental picture of the shot you require to play, and how the ball will behave if you play it well and be it noted firmly. Tentative approach shots pay no dividends.

The shot demands firmness and resolution…

You are ready to play the stroke which is now pictured in your mind. This mental picture of where the ball will be dropped to coast up to the hole enables you to develop a “feel” of the length of the stroke as you prepare yourself to play it. Only one thing remains. Play the shot without further deliberation and with conviction.

You must now back your judgment. It is fatal to allow yourself to become prey to last-second doubts. Let no fear of failure enter your mind. Watch the ball and then look momentarily at the spot where the ball lay before allowing your head to turn slowly with the easing off of the arms in the unchecked finish. Uncertainty will mean that you either hurry the stroke in a belated endeavor to pitch the ball further up to the hole or you quit on it through a last split-second feeling that you need to drop it shorter.

In either case you have distorted the delivery of the club head to the ball. This is weakness. Make up your mind to go ahead with the stroke you have pictured. To change the picture half-way is out of the question.

Practice these vital approach shots, which open up the prospect of a birdie every time they are properly judged and correctly executed. Indeed practice in this type of shot can be doubly beneficial. You will develop a greater accuracy and confidence in your ability to attack the hole by firm, not diffident stroke-making. And by making the correct movement away from, back to, and through the ball in this compact stroke you will consolidate your action in the hitting area consolidation which will spread into your playing of the longer clubs.”

Beginner golf swing instruction programs know the value imagery can provide to a successful golf game.

Try incorporating King’s advice into your pre-swing visualization process.

Check back soon for more beginner golf swing instruction posts and tips!

Filed Under: Golf Swing, Golf Tips Tagged With: beginners, birdie, bogey, correct backswing, distance control with a wedge, fix slice, golf instruction, golf success, golf swing tips, golf technique, how to learn golf, improve golf swing, par, swing guide, wedge distance control
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