The precision required to hit an absolutely straight golf shot is so great that, for all intents and purposes, such shots don’t exist. For that very reason, every golfer is either a hooker or a slicer. You may only hook or slice a little at times, but your shots do have a pattern. Even the game’s best players favor a fade or draw.
Even golfers with technically sound swings make mistakes due to poor execution or bad decision-making. But on the whole, golfers with solid mechanics are able to consistently play solid shots because their technique allows them to do so.
Just how important are the feet, legs and hips? Well, some argue that they are the heart and soul of the golf swing. In fact, it was Byron Nelson who brought us the idea of flexing the shaft with the lower body. Jack Nicklaus also has repeatedly said that the swing begins from the ground up. Then why, despite advice from two of the best golfers who ever played, does the average golfer try to muscle the ball with his or her upper body?
In order to deliver the golf club powerfully into the back of the golf ball, you must maintain a firm base with your lower body and create a powerful backswing coil. This coil results by turning the upper body against the resistance of the lower body. Good players facilitate the creation of coil by maintaining the gap between the knees on the backswing (right). They unleash the energy stored in the coil by closing the gap on the downswing.
Why is it that some golfers improve dramatically and rapidly while others, no matter what they do, fail to advance beyond the level of novice? As a golf instructor who has given more than 10,000 golf lessons over the past eight years, I’m here to tell you why: Achieving successful results from a golf lesson begins and ends with you, not the instructor._Ê An effective golf instructor can only do so much and is only as good as the student allows him or her to be. Hence, the first step to becoming a better golfer begins with becoming a better student.
The golf swing in its most simple form is a circle. The radius of this circle, back and through to the finish, is defined by the length of your left arm (for a right-handed golfer). Obviously, the wider the circle, the better.
Want a 300-yard drive? No problem for Iron Byron. It can hit it right down the middle all day long. How about a 60-yard wedge shot? Just set it up to the ball, and that’s exactly what you’ll get, time after time. It has the only __perfect swing on the planet. That’s why almost every major golf equipment manufacturer has used it to test the performance of their __products and why everyone should be learning how to copy this machine.
There are a number of reasons why the majority of recreational golfers never seem to get better. Lack of serious practice and playing time are major contributors, as are a lack of proper physical conditioning and improperly fitted clubs. But perhaps the most significant cause of most golfers’ inability to improve is poor instruction.
Using Video to analyze and improve your golf swing is the essence of being a serious student of the game. Attempting to tackle the golf swing without taking advantage of video technology is a tremendous handicap. In fact, there’s no question in my mind that one of the main reasons we’re seeing so many young superstars in golf today is the use of video analysis.
Although there are many different swings, there are only two kinds of golfers: those who live in climes that allow year-round golf and those who don’t. For those who must suffer through months of frost-covered greens, watching wedges and irons collect dust, we feel your pain. However, there’s no reason why you can’t use the between-season time to prep your game for when the gates of your home course reopen to the rites of spring.
