Why have golfer’s handicaps stayed essentially the same for the past 20 years even with the advent of new golf club technology and improvements in swing instruction? The answer is misinterpretation of golf swing tips. For instance consider the following:
RELAX- Pure
rubbish! How many times have you heard this golf swing tip from a golf pro or a
playing partner? How can you relax when you are standing over the ball, water
left, out of bounds right, and your brain is mangled mess of swing tips? The
golf swing is a violent action – is there any other violent action you take
when you relax? Of course not. So this is ridiculous advice.
STAY LOOSE.
This is the buddy of Relax. When you are loose in the golf swing your hips are
NOT restricted therefore you will NOT generate that all important coil in your backswings
– the result- NO POWER! When you are loose, your muscles feel like water and
you will swing the club all over the place, your body will sway and you will
end up topping and scuffing.
TAKE THE
CLUB BACK INSIDE – More rubbish! I’m sure you’ve heard many times how the
correct golf swing is from inside. So some golfers take the club way inside
early in their backswings thinking this will allow them to hit from the inside.
It is amusing to watch golfers standing on the practice range almost
decapitating their ankles as they attempt to swing the club back sharply inside
the line. These golfers are shocked when they still hit the golfer ball from
the outside. Hitting the golf ball from the inside comes from proper hip and
shoulder action at the start of the downswing. You can take the club back away outside
and still hit the ball from the inside- look at Jim Furyk – he takes the club
away back to the outside however his move from the top of the swing is pure and
from the inside. In fact, the more inside you take the club, the more outside
you will swing it on the downswing!
THE GOLF
CLUB IS ON THE SAME PLANE GOING BACK AS IT IS COMING DOWN.
Again, this
golf swing tip has been misguiding golfers for generations. The path of the
clubface is much more to the inside during the downswing than during the
backswing in a good golf swing. This is because a proper golf swing has a
lateral shift of the hips which drops the club into the all important slot
early in the downswing. This action of the left hip automatically puts the path
of the clubface much more to the inside than the path going back. I love
watching golfers tracing their backswing and downswing paths, trying to match
them up. Pure rubbish!
ROTATE THE
HIPS TO START THE DOWNSWING. This one piece of golf swing garbage has probably
ruined more swings because the golfer spins out of the swing when starting
down. The reason being the spinning of the hips throws the arc of the swing to
the outside coming down causing a shank or mishit. Again, the correct move is a
lateral shift of the left hip to start the downswing and the hips will then
turn automatically.
So, treat
golf swing tips carefully or you may end up destroying your own natural action!
author: ALAN ROGUT
source: Golf & Spa magazine
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