(This article on the golf swing is followed by a drill, and a link to that drill on video.)
Have you ever noticed that while the golf courses the pros play are getting longer, their golf swings are getting shorter? Tiger’s done it. Sergio’s done it. Phil’s done it. Why? How can players who depend on dominating long golf courses give up distance by shortening their golf swings? Well, guess what? They’re not. Not giving up distance that is.
One of the most important facts to remember when playing or learning golf is that the number one variable in swinging a golf club - that directly relates to distance - is clubhead speed. In my teaching experience most players either do not realize this, or wrongly associate size of swing with clubhead speed.
It’s really this simple: given that clubhead speed equals distance - with all else being the same - if my swing is big yet slow and yours is small and fast, you’ll get more distance than I will. The added bonus is that your shorter swing is likely to be far more consistent than my big one.
In my writings I talk a lot about - and try to explain away - many golf myths. One such myth is the supposed need to get the club shaft to horizontal at the top of the golf swing. Why should the golf club get to horizontal? Why is this the ideal position? What is the scientific reasoning for this? Because it is parallel with mother earth? What if it is a little shy of horizontal? What if it goes beyond horizontal (see John Daly)? Getting the club to horizontal is an arbitrary instruction that unfortunately cripples many a player in their efforts to get it there, and distracts them from the primary ingredient of the golf swing: the downswing. What if someone came along and told you it did not matter if you got the club to horizontal or not? What if someone told you you do not need to be a contortionist while executing the backswing? Wouldn’t that lift some big burdens in playing golf?
There is irony in the fact that most of us try to make a big backswing, while telling our friends to slow their swing down. What if you were told it was okay to speed up? Should speed up? While many will claim that even on the Tour there’s nearly as many different golf swings as players, there is one undeniable common denominator among them, and that’s acceleration.
All good players accelerate the golf club to impact. Many a struggling player makes such a large backswing that they either get into a position from which acceleration is difficult, or they are so out of control that they unintentionally decelerate in order to try to regain control by the time they reach impact. Either way the result does not produce the distance desired, or the contact required. Deceleration is contrary to centripetal force while acceleration contributes to it. Suffice to say, two swings that are 90 mph at impact are not the same if one was accelerating from 80 to 90, while the other was decelerating from 100 to 90 at impact. Consider the racecar driver (or you depending on your driving) who slows before a curve in the road, in order to accelerate into it. Then consider a time when you were going too fast for a curve and had to slow down. Remember how hard it was to maintain control of the vehicle as you took the turn? The golf swing is no different. A decelerating club cannot remain on its intended path and will veer wider than intended. This creates a wider arc, the bottom of which is now behind the ball. Hello fat shot. Even if your club was going 200 mph before it hit the ground, hitting the ground will slow it down incredibly, not to mention all the other negatives associated with hitting the big ball before the small ball. Slowing down is not the answer.
The answer is acceleration, from an advantageous position. Interestingly, while a big backswing tends to promote deceleration, a short backswing does the opposite. A short backswing promotes acceleration. Your proverbial win-win. Mentally, it is almost like you don’t believe the short backswing will do the trick, so you accelerate to make up for it. Hello good shot. Being it was good, you are willing to try it again. And it works again. The next thing you know, rather than trying to attain difficult physical positions (such as getting the club to horizontal at the top of the backswing) you are practicing accelerating. Imagine practicing something good. Hmmm.
And there’s a bonus to the bonus. Practicing leads to muscle memory. And muscle memory leads to speed. Think of anything you do that requires muscle memory and that which you do on an ongoing basis. Whether it is tying your shoelaces, or your tie, or calling home, you do it faster now than when you first tried. I doubt that since you mastered phoning home, you started trying to phone home harder. I highly doubt that since you mastered tying your tie, you began trying to tie much bigger ties. And I highly doubt that since mastering tying your shoe laces, you began trying to tie bigger laces. Okay, so I am pushing the point. But I think you see the point I am trying to make.
Surprisingly, Tour players don’t enjoy one luxury that we do. They do not have the luxury to mess around with their golf swings. We can mess around and only our recreational hobby suffers. They mess around, and suddenly their day-to-day subsistence suffers. Ian Baker-Finch will tell you. Tour players have learned that by shortening their swings and working on acceleration they can attain just as much (or more) distance than they used to, and improve ever-critical accuracy and consistency - two staples to life on the Tour. That is why we are seeing, and will continue to see a growing trend of shorter backswings on the long golf courses of the PGA Tour.
Clive Scarff is author of Hit Down Dammit! More information can be found at www.hitdowndammit.com.
Drill: The Right Hand Thrust Drill
The Right Hand Thrust Drill is one of many found on “Hit Down Drills!” - one of four DVDs in the Hit Down Dammit! Golf Instruction DVD series. The goal of this drill is to develop acceleration from a shortened backswing position. It is harder than it looks, but the results will surprise you.
Swing your club back to waist-high, pause a split second, and then use your right hand to “thrust” the clubhead down toward the golf ball. You will find you have now created sufficient speed with the clubhead that it follows through to the target, naturally, putting you in a finish position wherein the clubhead is pointing at the target, the toe is up, and the shaft is roughly horizontal (waist-high) and parallel to the target line. This position should roughly mirror your top-of-backswing position.
As you perfect this drill you’ll create more clubhead speed, the momentum from which will see a follow-through position that “naturally” swings through a little higher than the height of your backswing. It is important that this follow-through is natural, not forced or abbreviated.
(To see this video drill just visit: http://www.hitdowndammit.com/#Drills)
For more articles, or further information, please contact Clive Scarff at clive@hitdowndammit.com
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