EVERY GOLFER HAS SOME
type of idiosyncratic motion in his swing, from
Tiger Woods' hips to Jack Nicklaus' flying right
elbow to Lee Trevino's loop. Indeed, each player
has his own best way to move his body and club throughout
the swing. While certain fundamentals apply to everyone,
there is no one way to swing.
When it comes to making a change to the swing,
the average weekend golfer should focus on compensating
for major flaws in his swing that can't be overcome
through normal practice. In other words, change
the factors that are easily controlled to fit
those that are difficult to change.
For example, Jim Furyk will never work the club
on plane to the top. Sure, he can move more in
that direction, but he will never be there naturally.
So what does he do? He just makes sure he re-routes
the club with the proper plane angle shift from
the top.
Likewise, if you only play and practice once
a week, there is no reason to try to overhaul
your entire swing. Yes, there are certain things
that you must do from day one to be more fundamentally
correct, but you and your instructor are severely
limited as to what can be accomplished if your
practice time is minimal.
This is the reason I ask all my students up front
how much time they can realistically play and
practice. This gives me an idea as to the direction
we should go instructionally. I also tell them
that their scores and consistency will be correlated
to the amount of play and practice they do. Remember,
there are only a few non-practicing good players,
so don't try to beat the odds.
Golfers must approach instruction as a step-by-step
process. A careless beginning can be disastrous.
It's also premature to expect the complete results
of good instruction before the last factor is
added, understood and mastered.
The golf swing is like a ladder. Everything preceding
the position you are in directly affects what
is going on currently. If you are out of position
at address, then your takeaway will be faulty
unless you make compensations from the start,
which often leads to another compensation if you
are not careful.
Keep in mind that the swing is based on cause
and effect. Usually when an untrained teacher
or one of your playing partners tells you to work
on something in your swing, it is to correct the
effect of a prior cause. How many times has someone
told you how not to come over the top during the
transition by dropping your right elbow, looping
the club, etc., when in fact the root of the problem
is a faulty backstroke plane and/or a faulty pivot
motion to the top causing the over-the-top motion?
This is why these band-aids never work, because
they are trying to fix the effect and not work
on the fundamental cause.
Consider the overswing and how hard it is to
correct. This is because just stopping at the
top is not the answer. It lies in fixing the disconnection
causing the arms to overswing.
So when contemplating a swing change, take the
time to understand why you do the things you do
and why they happen before you try to alter something
in your swing. If you do, you'll be on your way
to an improved swing and better ball striking.
