Five Common Swing Myths
There is a tremendous amount of bad advice and information about golf available out there and here are a few bad tips that you should avoid at all costs!!!
1. Keep your head down-
This myth is probably the oldest and most used alibi for a bad shot. After a bad shot the golfer says “I looked up” or “I didn’t keep my head down” A mishit shot was born well before impact. What golfers often sense is the body rising up as a result of being out of position just prior to impact. This is usually from the club approaching the ground at too steep of an angle. The golfer senses a crash and “pulls up” to avoid sticking the club into the ground. To make matters worse their friend reminds them to “stay down”. The more the golfer tries to stay down the more he must “pop up” to avoid the crash.
Another problem that arises from attempting to keep you head down is that it inhibits your ability to continue to rotate your chest and shoulders through impact and into the finish position. This places a considerable amount of strain on the neck and lower back, especially if you are not extremely flexible.
There have been many great players who allow their head and eyes to rotate towards the target even before impact. Former world #1 players David Duval and Annika Sorenstam did so a considerable degree. Others on the “look up” list include Justin Leonard, Jim Furyk, Henrick Stenson, Carl Pettersen, J.B. Holmes, Dustin Johnson, Robert Allenby, and Paul Azinger. The bottom line here is to not make any effort to keep your eyes and head glued to a spot where the ball once was.
2. I swung too fast
Another mislabeled excuse for a bad shot. A slow bad swing just makes you hit the ball short. You need speed to hit the ball maximum distance. Often times what is happening when a golfer senses that he got quick was that the backswing was too slow. As he has been told to do a thousand times before, the club is drawn away from the ball agonizingly slow. As the backswing nears the top, the golfer senses that he won’t have enough speed to hit the shot the appropriate distance and makes a very abrupt and rushed transition into the downswing. This sudden flash of acceleration often leads to excess tension in the grip, arms, and shoulders resulting in poor sequencing and timing. A properly timed swing has a 3-1 backswing-downswing timing ratio. Ideally, the total amount of time that it should take from the moment the clubhead begins to move away from the ball until it returns to impact is about 1 second. The backswing should take about ¾ of a second and the downswing takes ¼ second.
The bottom line here- Don’t make any effort to make an extremely slow backswing. If your tendency is to feel like you get quick, try moving the clubhead faster on the backswing but not your body. Think of an even beat of the drum.
3. Keep the right elbow tucked in-
This myth is only half correct. It’s true that the right elbow should return close to the front of the right hip on the downswing but on the backswing it should be allowed to “float” freely away from the right side of the body and ribcage area. Think of the motion you would make if you were to skip a stone across a pond... As you start your wind-up (backswing) your right arm and elbow naturally moves away from the right side of your body. As you start to step forward with your left foot (transition) you begin to make a lateral-rotary motion with your mid-section that transfers your weight back into your left leg. As a result of this forward-shifting action, your right elbow is naturally drawn back to your right side with the right elbow leading the right hand. All that is left at this point is a powerful right-sided release of the stone toward the pond. Now imagine trying to make a powerful side-armed stone-skipping motion while keeping your right elbow glued to your right side. You would have no power and would most likely make a very weak and uncoordinated looking throw. A powerful golf swing and a side-armed throwing motion both share the same load, shift-rotate, and release movement sequence.
4. Keep your left arm straight
The left arm should remain relatively straight on the backswing. Perhaps a better description would be to keep it gently extended. Making a conscious attempt to keep the left arm straight tends to create excess tension which is a swing-killer. Excessive folding of the left arm on either the backswing or downswing is usually a symptom of another fault somewhere in the swing. Some examples include;
· The right elbow over-folding on the backswing- If the right elbow over-folds or remains too close to the side of the body (see myth #3 above) on the backswing it will cause the left elbow to follow suite.
· Lack of shoulder turn on the backswing- In order to get the club back far enough to have time to build speed on the downswing the left arm breaks down to make up for lack of sufficient turn.
· Lack of wrist hinge on the backswing- The hinging or “setting” of the wrists are part of the power-package assembly on the backswing and when they are not activated the left elbow usually folds to make up for lost leverage.
· A reverse-tilt pivot- This backswing error occurs when the hips slide laterally to the golfer’s right and the upper spine tilts towards the target to counter-balance. This upper-body “tip-over” motion causes the arms to swing back too far and become too heavy to support at the top of the backswing and breakdown.
5. Swing the club straight back and straight through
The swing is a series of tilted circles. There are no straight lines in a circle. At address, the club rests on the ground behind the ball and on the ball-target line. As the backswing begins the clubhead and hands begin to move inward and upward to the right towards the golfer. The right hip and right shoulder also begin to move in and up as well. At the top of the backswing the clubhead, hands, right shoulder and right hip are as far away from the ball-target line as they will ever get. Starting down, they reverse their direction moving down and out. As the club passes through impact they once again begin to move in and up to the golfers left. Making an effort to move the club or hands in a straight line away from or through the ball will take them out of their natural tilted orbit. The result is a loss of speed and a variety of mishits. As long as you make no conscious effort or attempt to swing straight back and through the clubhead, hands and body should move on a proper natural arc.
This myth is probably the oldest and most used alibi for a bad shot. After a bad shot the golfer says “I looked up” or “I didn’t keep my head down” A mishit shot was born well before impact. What golfers often sense is the body rising up as a result of being out of position just prior to impact. This is usually from the club approaching the ground at too steep of an angle. The golfer senses a crash and “pulls up” to avoid sticking the club into the ground. To make matters worse their friend reminds them to “stay down”. The more the golfer tries to stay down the more he must “pop up” to avoid the crash.
Another problem that arises from attempting to keep you head down is that it inhibits your ability to continue to rotate your chest and shoulders through impact and into the finish position. This places a considerable amount of strain on the neck and lower back, especially if you are not extremely flexible.
There have been many great players who allow their head and eyes to rotate towards the target even before impact. Former world #1 players David Duval and Annika Sorenstam did so a considerable degree. Others on the “look up” list include Justin Leonard, Jim Furyk, Henrick Stenson, Carl Pettersen, J.B. Holmes, Dustin Johnson, Robert Allenby, and Paul Azinger. The bottom line here is to not make any effort to keep your eyes and head glued to a spot where the ball once was.
2. I swung too fast
Another mislabeled excuse for a bad shot. A slow bad swing just makes you hit the ball short. You need speed to hit the ball maximum distance. Often times what is happening when a golfer senses that he got quick was that the backswing was too slow. As he has been told to do a thousand times before, the club is drawn away from the ball agonizingly slow. As the backswing nears the top, the golfer senses that he won’t have enough speed to hit the shot the appropriate distance and makes a very abrupt and rushed transition into the downswing. This sudden flash of acceleration often leads to excess tension in the grip, arms, and shoulders resulting in poor sequencing and timing. A properly timed swing has a 3-1 backswing-downswing timing ratio. Ideally, the total amount of time that it should take from the moment the clubhead begins to move away from the ball until it returns to impact is about 1 second. The backswing should take about ¾ of a second and the downswing takes ¼ second.
The bottom line here- Don’t make any effort to make an extremely slow backswing. If your tendency is to feel like you get quick, try moving the clubhead faster on the backswing but not your body. Think of an even beat of the drum.
3. Keep the right elbow tucked in-
This myth is only half correct. It’s true that the right elbow should return close to the front of the right hip on the downswing but on the backswing it should be allowed to “float” freely away from the right side of the body and ribcage area. Think of the motion you would make if you were to skip a stone across a pond... As you start your wind-up (backswing) your right arm and elbow naturally moves away from the right side of your body. As you start to step forward with your left foot (transition) you begin to make a lateral-rotary motion with your mid-section that transfers your weight back into your left leg. As a result of this forward-shifting action, your right elbow is naturally drawn back to your right side with the right elbow leading the right hand. All that is left at this point is a powerful right-sided release of the stone toward the pond. Now imagine trying to make a powerful side-armed stone-skipping motion while keeping your right elbow glued to your right side. You would have no power and would most likely make a very weak and uncoordinated looking throw. A powerful golf swing and a side-armed throwing motion both share the same load, shift-rotate, and release movement sequence.
4. Keep your left arm straight
The left arm should remain relatively straight on the backswing. Perhaps a better description would be to keep it gently extended. Making a conscious attempt to keep the left arm straight tends to create excess tension which is a swing-killer. Excessive folding of the left arm on either the backswing or downswing is usually a symptom of another fault somewhere in the swing. Some examples include;
· The right elbow over-folding on the backswing- If the right elbow over-folds or remains too close to the side of the body (see myth #3 above) on the backswing it will cause the left elbow to follow suite.
· Lack of shoulder turn on the backswing- In order to get the club back far enough to have time to build speed on the downswing the left arm breaks down to make up for lack of sufficient turn.
· Lack of wrist hinge on the backswing- The hinging or “setting” of the wrists are part of the power-package assembly on the backswing and when they are not activated the left elbow usually folds to make up for lost leverage.
· A reverse-tilt pivot- This backswing error occurs when the hips slide laterally to the golfer’s right and the upper spine tilts towards the target to counter-balance. This upper-body “tip-over” motion causes the arms to swing back too far and become too heavy to support at the top of the backswing and breakdown.
5. Swing the club straight back and straight through
The swing is a series of tilted circles. There are no straight lines in a circle. At address, the club rests on the ground behind the ball and on the ball-target line. As the backswing begins the clubhead and hands begin to move inward and upward to the right towards the golfer. The right hip and right shoulder also begin to move in and up as well. At the top of the backswing the clubhead, hands, right shoulder and right hip are as far away from the ball-target line as they will ever get. Starting down, they reverse their direction moving down and out. As the club passes through impact they once again begin to move in and up to the golfers left. Making an effort to move the club or hands in a straight line away from or through the ball will take them out of their natural tilted orbit. The result is a loss of speed and a variety of mishits. As long as you make no conscious effort or attempt to swing straight back and through the clubhead, hands and body should move on a proper natural arc.
