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Golf Swing Mechanics – The Press and Its Role in a Winning Swing Pattern!

September 18, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Executing a seamlessly smooth, well coordinated and highly potent swing is the essence and overall goal of golf swing mechanics.

Winning golf swing mechanics require the golfer to correctly execute both the forward and reverse press. Together they maintain balance, generate power and synchronize all the various moving components – blending them all into one fluid, well timed expression of the club.

Unfortunately, many golfers struggle to correctly incorporate these two actions into their golf swing mechanics.

In his book, “Golf Can Be an Easy Game”, author Joe Novak describes in greater detail the roles of the forward and reverse press and their rightful place in winning golf swing mechanics.

Novak writes;

“The swinging of a golf club is a double-handed, ambidextrous motion which completely involves the player from toes to fingers. It is this all encompassing involvement of the player in a properly executed golf swing that gives a golfer that completeness of ease, grace and rhythm.

Being the two-legged creatures we are, it is understandable that to swing the club up and to the right we should balance ourselves on the right foot, and to swing the club down and to the left, we should rebalance ourselves on the left foot. However, at the very outset of the golf swing a quandary is presented.

In assuming the initial position from which to start the swing, the natural position for the hands on the club places the right hand in the lower position on the club handle. This invariably causes the player to relax the right knee slightly and by so doing the player finds their balanced on the left foot. As long as they remain balanced on the left foot, it is unnatural to move the club from the ball.

However, through the simple process of the forward press, a slightly added forward movement of the right knee, the player can make a complete change of knee positions and balance on their right foot. Thus they can use their entire right side from hip to shoulder to lead their body into the diagonal stretch action, whereby the club can easily and naturally be raised to the top of the swing.

This handling of the knees—the forward press and the reverse press leave the player so balanced, when the top of the swing is reached, that it is possible to reverse the knee positions and thus rebalance the player on their left toe. The entire left side from hip to shoulder can then be used to lead the body into the diagonal stretch action to the left, so that the club can be brought down into and through the ball with a full, free, powerful movement.

There is no shortcut to this one-two action of the forward press and the reverse press and it will set the body up so that it can follow in perfect timing with the movement of the up and down swing.

In addition to balancing the player so that they are ready body-wise to go into the swing, the one-two of the forward press and reverse press accomplishes one other thing. It moves the hands in a slight forward movement and carries the hands back. It thus places them in a perfect position so that the hands can set or cock the club into position, in harmony with the upswing action of the body.

There is no shortcut to this one-two action of the forward press and the reverse press. Not only will the body be set up so it can swing the club up on the inside, but the hands will be put in a position where their action of cocking the club into position can be synchronized.

Incidentally, it is this four movement rhythm which made Bobby Jones a golfing master“.

Winning golf swing mechanics require that the golfer correctly perform both the forward and reverse press.

Use Novak’s expert advice to properly incorporate the forward and reverse press into your swing pattern!

Check back soon for more tips and posts to help improve your golf swing mechanics!

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Improve Golf Swing – Building A Better Swing At Your Address!

September 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment

To truly improve golf swing performance all golfers need to perform a close examination of their address.

The address reveals much about a golfer’s handicap and quality of movement – signaling to the world the level of golf they are capable of playing!

Golfer’s looking to improve golf swing performance need to fully understand that a correct address shapes the perfect swing pattern from beginning to end.

Shaping the perfect swing pattern is essential to improve golf swing performance. It is through this shaping that the golfer learns to feel their swing.

In his book, “On Learning Golf”, author Percy Boomer offers some expert advice to help golfers improve golf swing performance. He explains, in great detail, the address to the reader – helping them put feeling into their form.

Boomer writes;

“The experienced eye can make a very accurate guess at the handicap of a player after seeing them make a few practice swings, and as soon as their address is completed we can be sure of their quality.

Now at first glance it might seem that it would be simple enough for anyone to learn to stand correctly before the ball—to cultivate an impressive address. Yet there is this difference which enables the cognizant to recognize even the subtle variation between the good and the very good golfer before the ball has been struck.

It is an interesting point and one of some practical importance, because it is directly related to the true aim and purpose of the preparatory movements. We can recognize a golfer’s quality in these movements because they express both what they intend to do and how they intend to do it. The difference between the good and the ordinary golfer is that the good one feels their shot through their address.

Whether or not they have learned deliberately to play by feel, the good player feels, through their carriage and balance as they addresses the ball, the coming movement that will bring their club face squarely against the ball. Briefly to analyze the feeling of carriage and balance—they feel they are set inwards and behind the back of the ball and their legs, hips and shoulders are all braced, inside and behind the ball.

Now this is a point where I must ask you to stop and consider and analyze carefully exactly the meaning I want to convey by the word braced because this is most important to a realization of the correct feel of the body.

My dictionary defines a brace as “anything that draws together and holds tightly,” and I think that is clear and that it expresses the feeling we have when we are braced. But you may try it and promptly come back with the question, “But how can I feel braced and yet not become stiff?” A very pertinent question, and I will try and give you the answer.

When we take lessons in deportment we are told to walk with our hips pulled in, in other words to brace our hips. Yet we know that this does not make our carriage stiff; it makes it not stiff but firm and decisive.

So also, when I tell you as you address the ball to keep your elbows close together, you will immediately feel a sensation of drawing in your elbows the one towards the other. As a consequence your arms will not feel like two separate and independent arms but like a linked united pair of arms; yet they will not feel stiff. The “holding together” of your shoulder blades holds the top of your structure together and links up with the power from your hips. You will find your biceps being pulled into your thorax, your shoulders and arms being drawn together, and, if then the stomach is drawn inward, one definite (inward) direction of brace is set up.

The second direction in which we brace our bodies at the approach is upwards, yes upwards, towards the sky! The natural tendency as we stand to our ball is to droop from our hips and curve our backs. But if we are good golfers we resist this tendency by an upward brace—slightly bent over but pulled up to our full height and neither drooped nor curved.

Set like this we will feel our left side as straight as a poker, though not as stiff as one, and our left foot pushing down into the ground. Of course as the weight is equally divided between the feet, this pushing down is a feeling in the right foot also. The result is a highly desirable one; as a reaction to our upward brace, we feel ourselves standing firm as we address the ball—a thing we are frequently told to do but rarely told how to do!

So with our hips, shoulders, and arms braced and the body stretched upwards and braced, we no longer feel a loose, flabby, drooping figure but an upright and yet compact one. But we have one more direction of brace to add—this comes from the hips and I can best describe it as a twist forward which completes the bracing up of the whole body at the address.

As we stand to the ball our feet must not be too wide apart; the right foot should be at right angles to the line of flight, the left one pointed slightly out; a line across the toes of both feet should (like the line between the shoulders) be parallel to the line of flight. From this position, we twist our hips round (horizontally) to the left, not as far as they will go but as far as they can go in comfort, i.e., without pulling our hips out of shape. How far this is depends on how supple we are. Probably the degree of movement will be only slight, but the effect of this forward leftward twist is to tauten up the whole body without stiffening it.

Because we are anchored, first by our feet to the ground and secondly by our square-set shoulders held up against the forward pull of the hips, the right knee does not resist so we find our left side straight and our right side bowed inwards. And these, left side straight and right side bowed in, are very definite feels which come from (and can be used to check) correct bracing.

These three directions of brace should now make us feel a complete unit, which we can think of as “the set.” I think they are what makes the good golfer feel compact. They give the feeling that we can carry the club head back away from the ball by the body twist inwards and behind the back of the ball. In other words, if you are properly braced there will be no sensation of wanting to lift the club head up. This is important; we should never feel that we lift the club head, but that we carry it back around with the body and along the ground.

This feeling that the club head keeps down is equally necessary in the follow through, after we have sent the ball on its way. We must feel that we have dispatched the ball out and along but not up“.

Improve golf swing performance by examining where it all begins – at the address!

Try incorporating Boomer’s advice into your golf swing practice routine.

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

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The Proper Golf Swing – 8 O’ Clock – The Best Time To Begin The Downswing!

September 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The true definition of what constitutes a proper golf swing is open to debate.

It is universally accepted however, that to create a proper golf swing pattern, different movements of the body and club must rhythmically come together.

Fusing both the body and club together into one well coordinated and timed mechanism is critical to consistently executing a proper golf swing.

In the book, “The Master Key to Success at Golf” author Leslie King uses the hands as an example to illustrate the important role correct coordination and timing play in executing a proper golf swing.

King writes;

“The club head is released into the delivery when the hands have descended to a point almost level with the ball, at which point the club head is still lagging, POINTING TO EIGHT O’CLOCK, maybe even higher but certainly not lower.

My experience is that pupils generally find this eight o’clock position of the club head one of the most difficult features of the swing to achieve. But how worthwhile it is to strive for. The hallmark of the outstanding player is one who lets the club head go into the same hitting area and maintains the club-line through the ball consistently with each shot. It makes for constant accuracy with the various clubs.

Let me put it this way. Take a fairish golfer with a good-looking shape to their swing but with an unsure delivery. Inferior timing and hand-control cause them to vary the position of the club head as it comes in for release into the hitting area.

There they are with three balls lined up to be struck from the same spot with, say, their seven iron to the green. With their inconsistent delivery the landing area for these three balls is liable to be extensive. They are likely to pitch one on the back of the green, one on the front, and the third probably short. This takes no account of any deviation from the line which may occur.

Work and train yourself to give the hands time and room to bring the club into the eight o’clock position from which you will be poised to make that carpet-beater action at and through the ball.

Now do you see why the shaped swing must be harnessed to a shaped delivery? Let me repeat that the way to train your hands to give you this eight o’clock position is to give them time. Wait for it before you let the power pour into the back of the ball”.

A proper golf swing is the result of successfully fusing together the body and club into a well coordinated and timed mechanism.

Use King’s expert advice to help get the most from your swing pattern!

Check back soon for more articles and posts to help you achieve a proper golf swing!

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Proper Golf Swing – 2 Actions That Destroy a Proper Golf Swing!

September 10, 2010 by Leave a Comment

A proper golf swing requires the correct initiation of the downswing phase of the swing pattern.

Many golfers perform two fatal movements when beginning the downswing phase – taking the club back inside the line and keeping the club-head close to the ground.

Both these actions rob the golfer of any chance to execute a proper golf swing.

Understanding exactly how these two movements destroy a proper golf swing may help golfers more effectively avoid them.

In the book, “The Master Key to Success at Golf” author Leslie King explains in greater detail the negative consequences these two actions have on a proper golf swing.

King writes;

“What is of the utmost importance is achieving a smooth and correct start to the backswing, and straight away I want to warn you against those two misleading pieces of oft-repeated advice which you may have heard and to which I referred in my opening chapter.

I say most emphatically you do NOT take the club back inside the line; you do NOT concentrate on keeping the club head close to the ground in the initial stage of the backswing.

Let me explain. If you take the club back inside the line with the hands you either produce a flat concave plane or cramp the backswing. This results in a loop at the top of the swing which throws the club head outside the line on its way to the ball. As you will see, the correct turn of the body must bring the club head back inside without a conscious effort to ensure it. And the extended left arm will give full width to the movement.

A deliberate endeavor to keep the club head low and close to the ground in the initial stage of the backswing is almost certain to have the effect of bringing the left shoulder too far down and collapsing the left side, two evils which we want to avoid at all costs. The correct body-action, incorporating a free smooth turn of the shoulders can only be accomplished by keeping the left shoulder UP, not down.

I want to straighten out these two dangerous misconceptions before detailing the correct backswing“.

A proper golf swing involves the correct initiation of the backswing phase of the swing pattern.

Try implementing King’s expert advice to help avoid these destructive actions and improve proper golf swing performance!

Check back soon for more articles and posts to help you achieve a proper golf swing!

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Improve Golf Swing – Shoulder Function & Swing Performance

September 2, 2010 by Leave a Comment

To improve golf swing performance, a golfer must know the proper function of the shoulder girdle within the swing pattern.

Many student golfers misunderstand and misuse the shoulder girdle in the swing pattern. Golfers have a tendency to translate the left shoulder downward during the backswing and the right shoulder downward during the downswing.

This is simply incorrect.

To improve golf swing performance golfers must learn that excessive and unnecessary translation of the shoulder girdle is detrimental to swing performance – causing, among other things, losing sight of the target – i.e. THE BALL!

It‘s no surprise that keeping your eye on the ball is critical to improve golf swing performance.

In the book, “On Learning Golf”, author Percy Boomer dispenses some professional advice to help golfers improve golf swing performance. He explains the true function of the shoulder girdle and the important role it plays in a successful swing pattern.

Boomer goes on to write;

“Let us get back to the visualizing of our swing. We have laid our foundation by getting the feel of the pivot from the hips. This movement goes up through the body to the next control point—the shoulders. And here I believe that wrong imagination does a great deal of damage to many people’s swings.

We think that in the fine swing we see the left shoulder come down as we come back and the right shoulder come down as we come forward; so we feel that this shoulder movement is right and tend to encourage it— to the detriment of our swings because it is wrong. And I say it is wrong, cheerfully certain that it is wrong in spite of its almost universal acceptance. How much the shoulders actually dip depends upon how erect we stand when addressing the ball. We should stand as erect as possible and I contend that we should not feel our shoulders go down but should feel that we are keeping them fully up.

As we address the ball we look at it a little sideways —we peep at it. The head is fixed (because you “keep your eye on the ball”), and the movement of the shoulders is not an independent movement of the shoulders at all, but is due to the shoulders being moved around from the pivot. We can only keep the shoulder movement in a fixed groove and make it repeatable time after time, by keeping the shoulders at the limit of upness in whatever position the turn from the hips may have placed them. Any excess of upness (that is, actual shoulder lift) will result in the ball being lost sight of. In short, the fixed head determines the limit of lift and dip of the shoulders.

You will see that this is why you must feel you keep the shoulders up to the same degree with, say, a driver and a full swing and a mashie (a more upright club) and a half swing. The closer you stand to your ball the more upright the swing and the more directly downward your sight of the ball . . . also, the less extensive the swing you can make without losing sight of the ball.

Now try this conception of the shoulder action without a club, and link it to your feel of the pivot from the hips. Feel how the two become connected. This is the first connection in our building up of a controlled swing—and a very important one. You cannot take too much trouble in understanding it and building it up.

From the shoulders our power travels down through the arms, and as to arm action also, I believe, the common conception to be erroneous. Most people think they lift their arms to get them to the top of the back swing. With a modern controlled swing they do not lift them . . . the arms work absolutely subjectively to the shoulders that is why they are controlled.

But, you may say, if I do not lift my arms how do I get them up to the top of my swing? To find the answer, think this out. As you stand to the ball with the wrists slightly up, there is a straight line practically from the club head up the shaft and along your arm to the left shoulder, and as your hands are already waist high it needs only the inclining of the shoulders as we turn (on the pivot) to bring them shoulder high, without having altered their relative positions at all. They have not been lifted; they have gone up in response to the shoulder movement. This accounts for the curtailment and the control of the modern swing.

Naturally, the more flexible we are the more we can get our hands up without breaking up this connection, that is, without moving the arms independently. The triangle formed by our arms and a line between the shoulders should never lose its shape . . . it should be possible to push a wooden snooker triangle in between the arms and to leave it there without impeding the swing back or through.“

To improve golf swing performance, golfers must have both a working knowledge of the shoulders and a clear understanding of their true function in the swing pattern.

Try implementing Boomer’s advice into your golf swing practice routine.

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

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Golf Swing Mechanics – A Simple 3 Step Analysis

August 19, 2010 by Leave a Comment

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!

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Golf Swing Tip – How to Best Learn This Great Game of Golf – Take a Tip From the Past!

August 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

There is a golf swing tip for every department of the game. From driving to putting and everywhere in between, a “reliable” golf swing tip you are sure to find.

Most likely, a golf swing tip you’ve heard is either a watered down or distorted version of the original, past on from generation to generation. But no matter, this “oral tradition” is truly great, helping to advance both the player and the game.

The fact that golfers are willing to entertain a golf swing tip is a testament to the respect and admiration they have for the previous generation’s knowledge and experience.

In the book, “The Winning Touch in Golf, A Psychological Approach” author Peter G. Cranford, Ph.D. offers a worthy golf swing tip of his own. Cranford discusses the value of leveraging the wisdom of golfers past to help accelerate your mastering of the game.

Cranford writes;

“A great deal of time can be saved if we absorb what is already ‘pretty well known about the game. Each generation of golfers is better than the preceding one because use is made of the experiences of those who have come before us. Hence the individual can speed up their mastery of the game by sticking close to present orthodox form. A description of this form is the stock in trade of the professionals, and should be acquired from them. It is true that there are good golfers who profess never to have taken a lesson, but most of these have been good imitators. Further, there are hundreds of thousands who have not taken lessons who are still duffers, and thus are not in a position to boast. There is no greater frustration in golf than to find out, ten years too late, that a golfing flaw could have easily been corrected by a competent professional. All would be well advised to seek the services of one, and to stick to them until what they had to teach had been absorbed. This does not mean that many lessons should be taken ad infinitum. Fewer lessons, spaced so that ample time is allowed for the learning to sink in, is the better way.

In addition, it is an excellent idea to obtain all the visual instruction one can. This can come from a study of still pictures, or films, or from observing professional golfers, particularly when they are practicing. Written instruction from golf books and magazines is also valuable, provided it is followed by the objective observation of your professional. Otherwise, a misconception of what the author intended will bring about a confusion in your golf learning. It has taken golf 500 years to develop the modern grip, stance, and swing. It is the height of folly not to take advantage of these discoveries.

In the early stages of lesson taking, it is advisable to spread the instruction time over many parts of the game. If, for instance, you had the good fortune to be able to take a series of lessons from someone of the calibre of Arnold Palmer, it would be best to obtain instruction in all broad aspects of the game, such as might be obtained from a playing lesson. Generally speaking, it has been found that learning is tied together much better if one goes through the whole process than if they learn it piece by piece. This should be followed up with considerable practice before the next lesson. By “considerable,” we would mean at least a thousand shots each for woods, irons, chips, and putts“.

A golf swing tip is a product of all the experiments, fortune and misfortunes of golfers past. Leverage the previous generation’s wisdom to help accelerate your golfing success.

Remember to keep Cranford’s advice in mind next time you’re approached with a golf swing tip!

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

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