Golf.. why simple is difficult

[upanddown]

Interesting perspective.. comments welcome..

 

 

The Pros Make the Golf Swing Look So Simple!

by: Paul Wilson

 

I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say "the pros make it look so simple" or "it looks like the pros are swinging so easy, yet, they hit it a mile". Here's a question to all golfers out there. If the pros look like they are making this simple movement, why are you twisting up in circles and swinging out of your shoes on every shot? It makes sense to me that if the best players in the world have a simple, easy movement, you should be trying to copy what they are doing. Unfortunately, as much as you want this simple, easy swing, you can't do it. Why? Because simple ... is difficult.

 

Simple is Difficult?

 

What do I mean by simple is difficult? What I mean, is the less you move your body in golf, the harder it is. Now you're probably thinking that this just doesn't make sense. Everyone knows that If you were to move less it would be much easier! Well if this were the case, you would be seeing everyone with nice, compact, easy golf swings out there and I would have no reason to write this tip. Here are the reasons you don't have a simple, easy, compact swing:

 

1. Human Nature

 

A couple of ways human nature affects your swing is that it is telling you that the farther you swing back, the farther you will hit the ball. It's also saying that the harder you hit the ball, the farther it will go. Both of these thoughts involve your arms and hitting the ball hard. Unfortunately, you are only so strong. If golf was a purely a strength game, every body builder would also be a professional golfer. Also, if golf was a strength game, you would have never heard of Chi Chi Rodriguez, who, in his prime, was only 128 lbs.

 

Now that you understand that you don't have to have a long backswing to generate power, how far should you go back? I tell my students that once their shoulder rotation stops, so should the club. You want the shoulder rotation to determine your backswing length instead of your club still going back long after the shoulders have stopped. At first, this shorter backswing will feel like you don't have a lot of power so it will be more difficult to do, but as you get used to it, you will soon see your shots fly just as far, if not farther, with half the backswing.

 

The feeling of hitting the ball hard must be eliminated from your swing as well as the long backswing. This is because harder you try to hit the ball, the tighter your wrists will become. If your wrists tighten, the club will actually swing slower and the clubface may be held open at impact causing you to spin the ball to the right. In order to understand the proper feeling you should have in your wrists, think of them like a hinge on a door. The hinge on a door is loose and free flowing. There is no resistance. If you keep your wrists as loose as a hinge on a door, you will allow the club to whip faster and square up through impact. This whipping action is what gives a pro tremendous clubhead speed with what looks like an effortless swing.

 

2. Distance Doesn't Necessarily Equal Effort

 

Throughout your golfing life, you have equated "X" amount of power, with "X" amount of distance. As an example, if you were to swing really hard, your mind is saying that this should produce a really long shot. Unfortunately, the harder you swing, the shorter the shot ends up going. As I explained above, the harder you swing, the tighter you get, the more the clubface will hit the ball in an open position. So when I tell you that you should swing easier and looser, you have to convince you mind that this is going to produce shots that will go farther than ever before. If you don't believe me, think back to the time you hit that one drive 30 - 50 yards farther than any other shot in your life. What did you feel when you hit this shot? I bet you said that you felt "nothing" and that it was "effortless." This means that you could not have swung really hard yet you produced a shot that went farther than ever before.

 

The hardest part about swinging effortlessly is that it goes against what your brain is thinking. Your brain is thinking that swinging hard equals more power and swinging easy equals less power. If you think about the pros, they look like they are barley swinging and yet they can hit the ball a long way. So forget about trying to smash it as hard as you can. Swing in control and you will be amazed at how far you will hit it even though it doesn't feel like you are putting any effort into it at all.

 

3. Less Movement is More Strenuous

 

Now I know you're shaking your head at this topic because you know for a fact that if you move less it can't possibly more strenuous right? Wrong! Moving less in the golf swing is more strenuous because moving less creates a tighter, more coiled up swing. To understand what I mean, think about your backswing. Imagine turning your shoulders back while resisting the lower body rotation. If you did, you would feel very tightly coiled because your hips would move approximately half that of the shoulders. This tight, coiling in the backswing will allow your body to uncoil quickly in the downswing. Think of it like a spring. If you coil up a spring, it will snap back very quickly. Now imagine if you were to turn your shoulders back but this time you lifted your left heel and turned your hips excessively. If you did, you would move more than if you resisted with your hips and you would not develop this tight, wound up, feeling. If you are not tightly coiled, you will not uncoil properly thus causing you to use your arms to hit the ball. So turning back more is actually less strenuous because by turning more, you don't get the same tight wound up feeling you get when you resist your hip rotation in the backswing.

 

Here's a re-cap of 4 things you can do to make your swing look like that of a pro:

 

1. Shorten up your backswing. When your shoulders stop, so should your club.

 

2. Keep your wrists looser to allow the club to whip faster.

 

3. Convince yourself that swinging easier will hit the ball farther than swinging harder.

 

4. Resist the lower body rotation to create a simple backswing and tighter coil.

 

If you can work on these 4 things, you will start to look like the pros you idolize. The more you look like them when you swing, the more you will start hit it like them when you play.

 

 

 

Paul Wilson

 

...

[swingdoc80]

Having a simpler motion sounds like a good idea, however I disagree with almost everything else in that article.
it sounds like the kind of stuff that we have been reading in magazines for years with no benefits to the majority of players.

[upanddown]

[quote name='swingdoc80' timestamp='1334683798' post='4738514']
Having a simpler motion sounds like a good idea, however I disagree with almost everything else in that article.
it sounds like the kind of stuff that we have been reading in magazines for years with no benefits to the majority of players.
[/quote]


That is funny Doc.. I think its very different from what you usually read which either promotes a certain method as "better" or the usual tips like "clubface square at the top", "one piece takeaway" etc. I think the wrist tightening thing he mentions is the biggest reason why people hit it right. Also another reason why players fare better at the driving range where this is no pressure and less instinct to tighten up.

[swingdoc80]

Fair enough, variety is the spice of life and all that. In my experience people tend to go right more often because there weight is on the non target side which moves path left causing more shots to the right. If I ever have to feel like I use my hands and wrists through impact then something has gone wrong earlier in the swing.

[cbrian]

For most, resisting with the lower body is going to encourage the arms to keep moving after the shoulders have stopped and lift off the body.

[swbyps]

From my own experience a shorter, smooth, more compact swing has worked. The way I got myself to commit to this is by being convinced that I wasnt concerned about distance..and I wasnt. I was typically a half club shorter than most I played with. I never tried to swing hard. I would even take it as far as to keep my tempo like that of my practice swing. We never try to kill it when we take a practice swing. I found that with that same practice tempo I could hit the ball almost as far as with my regular swing..and much more accurate. Once my swing was grooved and I began to strike the center of the clubface more, then I began to hit bullets and im now a club longer. Everything isnt perfect by any means, but my well struck shots are now much better with respect to distance and trajectory than they have ever been. I think what ends up happening is that I actually do swing faster now than I did initially but it doesnt feel like it because its just naturally happened over time. When I step over a shot and my final thought is "tempo" my mind is still thinking im swinging like a practice swing, but in reality im not.

[MonteScheinblum]

1 I totally agree

2 can and is over done

3 wasn't explained correctly

4 is just plain wrong

[russc1597187869]

1 Correct.One of the most important concepts for the average golfer.
2 Correct as long as it is not overdone.For those minority of golfers who are blessed with very "oily" wrists ,not a great idea .
3.Correct for most golfers .For those who wind up correctly going back,they can let it rip going down
4 Correct ,if he means to let the brace of the right knee act as a natural governor of the backswing and help to create that elastic stretch at the top .Incorrect if he means to ACTIVELY restrict the hips from turning going back

[MonteScheinblum]

[quote name='russc' timestamp='1334690438' post='4739224']
What does he mean by #4
[/quote]

He means he didn't get the guru newsletter that revealed x-factor is fertilizer.

[Josh The Nosh]

i think the better I have got the simpler my swing has got

[bscinstnct]

A golf swing should feel like a natural pivot that you would use to throw a ball or hit a ball with. See hogan, skipping a stone

New golfers ruin this pivot because of their pre conceived ideas of what it takes to get a ball off the ground.

So they hit off their back leg with the right palm facing up

A good grip will feel odd at first but it is the first step to freeing yourself and hitting the ball with your true ability

But it seems like golfers are very resistant to that initial discomfort and never even get that far

[upanddown]

[quote name='MonteScheinblum' timestamp='1334690991' post='4739294']
[quote name='russc' timestamp='1334690438' post='4739224']
What does he mean by #4
[/quote]

He means he didn't get the guru newsletter that revealed x-factor is fertilizer.
[/quote]


I know what he means... I have the tendency to straighten my right leg on the backswing and never get that coil-feel at the top.. Then it seems like I have to force the downswing and slap at the ball. When I have that coil at the top, the rest does seem to happen naturally.

One thing I know is you can't generalize about the golf swing.. I have all the overswing, body too active issues. I'm sure others don't move enough. Things like turn and get to my left side have never been an issue for me but timing and inconsistency is always a problem.

[cbrian]

[quote name='upanddown' timestamp='1334705780' post='4740810']
[quote name='MonteScheinblum' timestamp='1334690991' post='4739294']
[quote name='russc' timestamp='1334690438' post='4739224']
What does he mean by #4
[/quote]

He means he didn't get the guru newsletter that revealed x-factor is fertilizer.
[/quote]


I know what he means... I have the tendency to straighten my right leg on the backswing and never get that coil-feel at the top.. Then it seems like I have to force the downswing and slap at the ball. When I have that coil at the top, the rest does seem to happen naturally.

One thing I know is you can't generalize about the golf swing.. I have all the overswing, body too active issues. I'm sure others don't move enough. Things like turn and get to my left side have never been an issue for me but timing and inconsistency is always a problem.
[/quote]

Thats based on the condition that a tighter feel is better. Phil and Bubba let the trail leg lose a ton of flexion and absolutely pound the ball.