Anybody "Just Hit The Ball" ?

[oiler45]

I know - simple question, but I'm curious - do any of you serious golfers just set up to the ball and hit towards your target without any swing thoughts or feels or whatevers ? My wife plays 5 or so rounds a year and hits the ball quite consistently. I ask her what she thinks about in her swing and she says "I just try to hit the ball where I'm aiming". I've always been a "15 most important things to think about at impact" which I realize may not be optimal either. Is it possible to play decently well without any thoughts on swing positions or swing paths or swing feels? I know pro's always talk about what they're working on so I assume their swings are not totally natural either.

[SNIPERBBB]

When playing well, there's no swing thoughts. Kinda like trying to sleep...hard to sleep or play golf well when a myriad of thoughts, especially negative ones, keep running through your head.

[ShortGolfer]

Yes, I can do that.  Most of my misses are the results of improper setup.  Or rushing the swing.

[golferdude54]

If you play 18 holes and hit 100 balls everyday without working on your technique, within a year or even 6 months your back will go out completely and that applies to 99% of players. Because those 99% have swings that are not anatomically functional in the long-term. Early extension, jumpy knees, excessive head dipping, steep shoulders, etc.

[MonteScheinblum]

At any given time you should not have more than 1 swing thought and not less than one swing thought.

[oiler45]

Monte - I appreciate you weighing in and I realize you have probably forgotten more about the golf swing than I know. But - say for example one is working on keeping his left hand flat at the top of the backswing, and you want to feel like you are transitioning more smoothly, and you have a tendency to scoop at the ball etc etc. Do you recommend just addressing ONE of these issues at a time or when you practice addressing all of them - and then only one thought while playing ? Genuinely interested in your advice. My issue is I will shoot a good round (for me), then tell myself I'm not going to tinker with my swing, then next round is terrible without seemingly changing anything. Frustrating to say the least.

[iacas]

I'm not answering for @MonteScheinblum, but…

 

You address the highest priority item at a time, typically earlier in the swing, because a lot of downstream things are resolved from that.

 

Sometimes you fix a static thing or two (like setup or grip), and the highest priority dynamic thing. But those static things aren't swing thoughts/feels.

[MonteScheinblum]

27 minutes ago, oiler45 said:

Monte - I appreciate you weighing in and I realize you have probably forgotten more about the golf swing than I know. But - say for example one is working on keeping his left hand flat at the top of the backswing, and you want to feel like you are transitioning more smoothly, and you have a tendency to scoop at the ball etc etc. Do you recommend just addressing ONE of these issues at a time or when you practice addressing all of them - and then only one thought while playing ? Genuinely interested in your advice. My issue is I will shoot a good round (for me), then tell myself I'm not going to tinker with my swing, then next round is terrible without seemingly changing anything. Frustrating to say the least.

In most cases, working on more than one thing at a time has a diminishing returns affect.  On the course, you for sure don’t want more than one key to drive you.

[oiler45]

Thanks guys - I'll try to simplify things and boil it down to one thing at a time. I've been golfing for over 50 years and I honestly don't think I've ever really "played golf" - I've only played "golf swing". I manage to shoot some pretty low scores but then go through periods of bad golf when I get caught up on positions and feels and I remove all athleticism from my swing. 

[skraly]

Sam Snead famously said, “miss-’em quick”.  That pretty much says it all.

[Canada8888]

I just look at a small window in the sky at the apex of the ball flight.  Then I try and hit my ball into the window.

[dashanks]

I remember an interview with Fred Couples - "I just take it back and hit it."

[Rocky Ball-boa]

I do this. I don't even take a practice swing normally. Only if the lie is abnormal or I want to feel the thickness of the grass or whatever. But from fairway I don't. From arriving to my ball and it being airborne, it's about ~10 seconds at most.

I look at sports like tennis, ice hockey etc.. Balls/pucks come at you at 115 mph, and you can just "react" to it. A skilled hockey player will find a gap smaller than a foot from 15 yds away while slapshotting a pass coming in sideways at considerable speed. A tennis player will slice-spin a ball coming in at a funny angle into a corner of their choice etc. etc.

 

I refuse to think that I can't take a shot a stationary ball and hit a 20 yds wide area without stepping back twice, fiddling with my grip, stance, look at it 15 times, waggle 20 times and "visualise" a bunch of stuff.. So I don't.

It serves me well. Maybe I'm an outlier, but I've given the whole "having a routine" thing a go. It just throws me off and I feel ridiculous and conscientious about it. My inner monologue goes something like "look at that *****, trying to look like the guys on TV with his waggles"

 

At the same time, I acknowledge that the top players in the world do all those things, and they don't do anything without a reason. So I'm perfectly willing to admit that I'm the odd one here!

Edited July 8, 2024 by Rocky Ball-boa

[naval2006]

I mostly play like this.  My only thought 95% of my rounds is go through with arms and body to the finish.  I think it takes miriads of  acceptable swings to do this until you know your swing will perform most of the times.  

 

I found that most good golfers that play this way do not chase for the perfect swing: they try to loosen up and swing with good rhythm; their swings are not flawless, some look homemade, but they consider solid contact and ball flight the determining factors to pass or fail.  

[jonsnow]

On 7/6/2024 at 8:44 PM, MonteScheinblum said:

At any given time you should not have more than 1 swing thought and not less than one swing thought.

Doing the math...so we should have 1 swing thought?

[Pepperturbo]

On 7/6/2024 at 12:34 PM, oiler45 said:

I know - simple question, but I'm curious - do any of you serious golfers just set up to the ball and hit towards your target without any swing thoughts or feels or whatevers ? My wife plays 5 or so rounds a year and hits the ball quite consistently. I ask her what she thinks about in her swing and she says "I just try to hit the ball where I'm aiming". I've always been a "15 most important things to think about at impact" which I realize may not be optimal either. Is it possible to play decently well without any thoughts on swing positions or swing paths or swing feels? I know pro's always talk about what they're working on so I assume their swings are not totally natural either.

IMO, too many people make the golf swing far more complicated than it needs to be; usually the result of instruction and or reading too much on the subject. 

 

My "YES" is limited to those that are physically blessed with hand-eye-coodination.  

 

I almost do that.  No practice swings, stand behind the ball and see my target, see the bailout area, address the ball and with ONE swing thought, "slow takeaway"... using a stick, SMACK the ball at the target.

Edited July 9, 2024 by Pepperturbo

[Wardonation]

no practice swing.. focus on hitting down on the ball and finish left (I am a picker) that is it.

[MountainKing]

I never take a practice swing for a full swing shot, my only swing thought is to feel my right shoulder start the swing, although at times that changes but my only real swing thought ever is generally tied to how I'm starting the swing.   If I can't get it started right, nothing else matters.

[Kuuuch]

I’ll play with a swing thought if I have to (going through a swing change, not hitting it ideal etc.) but the vast majority of my rounds I have 0 swing thoughts on the course. 
 

I have never liked having a swing thought on the course. Even in previous years when I was working through changes and my shot shape was say a big draw, I would just play it and swing freely on the course.