Amateur golfers are being mislead on how to swing.

[Pete Hurrikane]

A typical amateur golfer tries to emulate the textbook swings of top professionals. Among other endless criteria, he generally tells himself that he's got to get the club parallel at the top of the back swing; shift his weight at impact without moving his head or altering his spine angle; and end up perfectly balanced on his target foot after a smooth follow through.

However, a top professional has a rather lengthy and complicated regime for his swing which, for him, is an imperative for successfully reproducing the miracle shots required for his trade. This regime involves: one to two hours of stretching and exercise before going to the range/course; working for 2-6 hours on various elements of his game with his coach/caddy/video feedback equipment; and then putting this all together playing nine or eighteen holes of golf.

This is a normal non-tournament day for the average modern professional and only the cream of the crop manage to put it together well enough to make a living on one of the tours. I could go on and on but my main point is that there's a swing for pros and therefore there must be a less structured and more individual swing for amateurs. We all walk, run, jump, swim, drive, ride a bicycle etc and although we do these similarly there are no strict directives on how to do them.

I coach this game and, in my opinion, the main mistake that golfers are making is trying to emulate the pros. And it's not their fault! All the magazines, books, videos, golf channels and most teaching pros insist there is only the pro's way. The logic is... they do it best, so they are doing it correctly. Well so are professionals in other sports but I don't see amateur skiers taking corners at 70 mph cutting the snow with a half inch edge of their skis; or tennis players busting a gut trying to place a 100+ mph service in the correct part of the court; or driving a car with slick tyres into a sharp bend at over 150 mph and applying the brakes at the last second in order to glide round the inside of another driver with the same goal. I say different levels for differing skill standards.

I recently took up tennis and decided to follow a training video to improve my service and quickly realised that the hours of precise practice and timing just weren't possible for me. I'm miles away from hitting the ball at professional levels because my consistency and control suffer when I do. I play tennis and golf to my capabilities, the same way as I do every other physical action. So why does an amateur golfer feel he has to try to swing like a pro? Mainly because that is the way they have been instructed and the pros look really good the way they are doing it. And we've all had those days, rather seldom may I add, where our golf swing just knitted together and the results were way above our norm, only to return another day back to square one.

There must be a more consistent alternative. When anyone comes to my school for a golf lesson, I always ask two very important questions before I start... How much time do you intend to spend practising each week? Do you intend to adopt a stretching routine before each practice session and for how long? These questions put me in a better position to advise my students on how they will be able to swing and I can also clear up the myth of why they shouldn't or can't adopt a pro-like swing. Most people want to play for hours on end but devote less than one hour per month on practice. On the same breath, a couple of minutes of stretching each day is well above average.

I have devised an easy drill that proves why this textbook swing is more athletic than golfers are led to believe. (Up to this point they have been so obsessed with looking ''correct'' at the end of the back swing that they were ignoring natural swing fundamentals. Typical errors include: lifting the club to this position; weight over the target foot; straightening of the off target leg; over rotation of the hips and many more.) Performing my drill, my students manage to experience back swing restriction for the first time. The fittest of my students have trouble stretching further than a three quarter length back swing.

Putting it simply, how can a regular golfer who hasn't, and normally doesn't want to, put in the practice hours or essential stretching required, be expected to accomplish the very athletically challenging conditions achieved by the top athletes of the sport. My biggest problem when I coach this game is unfortunately all too common. This textbook swing is so deeply imprinted in every golfer's mind that a much more natural swing with important qualities like fluidity or back swing restriction is a rarity. I used to lose students when I told them they weren't fit enough for a complete back swing. Most of them had the same visual impression of how to swing properly and didn't realise there should be natural restriction.

These days most of my new students are promptly introduced to this natural condition with my aforementioned drill. Let's get down to this simple drill and for most of you it's time to feel this back swing restriction for the first time! I prefer to introduce this drill to my students without a golf club because with one they do the 'same old - same old' and don't feel the natural back swing restriction that I am trying to portray. I use a carpet beater when I introduce this drill. (A tennis/squash/badminton racket does the same job.)

At ground level, I place a cushion against the wall and proceed to hit it one handed - my dominant hand - with a forehand action and don't think about golf but naturally striking the cushion. You should feel little or no backswing restriction at this point and you should notice that you don't take the racket back as far as the conventional parallel position at the top of the advised golf swing. Within a few swings you should feel that this is a very natural task for you that belongs to other motor skills in your repertoire that have been mastered.

You are now ready to feel natural backswing restriction! It's time to use the other hand but we don't want this hand to interfere with what I describe as your own natural swing. This hand has to be put in place as a non-interfering passenger. Lie the four fingers of this hand on the back of the hand holding the racket and fold the palm snugly above the adjacent thumb. Now repeat the forehand action. I expect most of you won't get your hands much higher than your hips on the back swing. This drill makes you experience tighter restriction than the conventional grip but the important thing is to feel this natural condition. At this point everybody is surprised at how fit you have to be for a full back swing.

A golf swing without restriction is always unnatural and almost always wrong.

[stevem]

It's a nice concept, but IMO swinging a golf club isn't a natural motion and ultimately you're just throwing another swing method out there that won't work for most people. My golf club swing doesn't resemble a baseball swing, how I swing an axe or how I throw a ball underhanded which are all analogies I've heard for this natural swing idea. Can most people hit a ball off a mat left to their own devices, given enough time and practice, yes. Can most people hit a golf ball proficiently on a golf course left to their own devices, IMO again, not without a huge amount of time and practice.

I spend a lot of time at the range, and have seen scratch golfers (fun to watch) and kids and adults who have never swung a golf club. The kids and adults that never swung a club don't have any natural reference on how to do it. They either try to emulate someone else on the range or try to emulate the movements they use when swinging a baseball bat which usually includes too much hip and foot movement, a bent lead arm and an outside-in swing. For every shot they make contact with the ball, they miss it 2 or 3 times or dribble one off the mat. Even if they get to the point where they can hit it consistently, they have no control over distance or direction. Place these people on a course with awkward lies, deep rough, sand and make them swing different clubs of varying length one after the other and I doubt you'll find that the majority of people will enjoy their experience.

As a relative newcomer to golf (2 years) and someone who has been athletic all their life, I am honest enough to admit golf is probably the most difficult sport I've ever played. The other problem with golf is everyone is selling their own brand of magic in a book, dvd, training aide, or instruction. Open up any golf magazine and you'll see influences from pro's and instructors who all have different opinions on set up, swing theory on the back swing and down swing. You'll still see guys in the same magazine that don't agree on the ball flight laws.

If golf wants to gain in popularity there needs to be consensus on at least what the basics of the golf swing are. I understand no two batters have the same exact batting stance and swing, but the fundamentals to get to the point where you customize the swing are there. I've taken instruction with three different golf instructors over the past two years and all three have totally different swing philosophies. They were all certified PGA teaching pro's, one was even a golf coach of a major university golf team. How can three people become PGA certified instructors and completely disagree on everything?

If golf is going to gain in popularity, there needs to be a core set of fundamentals that all PGA certified golf instructors can agree upon that cover address, back swing, and downswing that gets a person to a level proficient enough to play a round of golf without wanting to throw their clubs in the lake. After that they can decide if they want to develop their skills further by adopting a more specific swing theory or method.

[Gladguy]

After playing pretty often now for about a year and a half, and shooting to a single digit, I think the amateur needs his short game way more than the pros. In fact, I honestly believe that short game is all that matters if you can make consistent contact. I'm trying to put together an 88 to 79 article like a 130 to 89 I have already written, and I've come up with some general conclusions that simplify the swing (at least for me... YMMV).

Like stack and tilt says, you improve in the following order: 1. consistent contact; 2. accuracy; 3. power. You cannot do it in any other order (or it goes very slowly). Until you are hitting virtually every shot clean (and I don't mean perfect - slightly fat / thin is OK - but I do mean not duffing or hitting hot grounders - I define 'virtually every' as 19 out of 20 on the range or 9 out of 10 on the course) you shouldn't even worry about accuracy. Once you can get consistent contact on those ratios, start thinking about accuracy. Anyway, I have two swing thoughts for each one (again, that worked for me).

Consistent Contact - Two keys: weight starts left, stays left, and goes left; hip slide starts the downswing. Work on nothing else.

Accuracy - Two keys: clubface straight and slightly inside for first foot of backswing (see Rickie Fowler article in Dec 2011 golf digest), shoulder goes down at the same speed (not around). Almost in sync with each other - club goes back slightly inside for first foot, same pace shoulder goes down (not back).

Power - Two keys: extremely loose grip, back to target.

Not saying its perfect, but that really worked for me. First, worry about hitting the ball only. Next, worry about hitting straight. Finally, work on power. In that order.

There are other important things (hands forward at address, right elbow stays tucked, still head, etc...) but I've found if you can do those above things you can play really good golf with a good short game. Obviously I'm not a pro, but this way of thinking about it / working on it worked for me. Also the books "The impact zone" and "the timeless swing" by clampett and watson really helped me improve. Huge pictures in both which is awesome.

Re Spam: The OP is clearly trying to promote something. Regardless, I think the question of "should you emulate the pros" is a really good one. Hence why i posted, and I think it is interesting. Should you try to swing like the pros? Or should you keep it "simpler" ? I'd like to hear thoughts on these questions from people better at golf than I am.

[thetxn]

Jim Flick wrote a good article about this somewhere. Flick on Modern Instruction for Most Amateurs

Trying to teach most amateurs to do something that professionals do may not work for all amateurs. There are certain elements of a swing that I am sure all good swings, amateur or pro, have in common. But replicating Tiger or Rory or Hunter or anyone's swing, just because they do it well, is a cookie cutter approach to instruction. Flick's point (which I think I agree with) is that you need to tailor a lesson to a student, not vice versa, in cases where the student is not a world class atlete who's single goal in life (exaggeration) is to play tour quality golf.

I have physical limitations. I have professional limitations. I have family limitations. I don't have it in me to golf like Pro X. What I can do is to continue to improve, continue to build repeatability in my swing, and continue to focus on the fundamentals that i need to improve without trying to be Mahan, Woods, Hogan, Vijay, or any other pro golfer. I think Flick is right - for me. That doesn't mean it is right for everyone - any more than any other approach is better/best/optimal/etc.

[thesandtrapper]

Interesting.

However I don't see the problem with golf instruction being that amateurs are taught to swing with proper form and technique.

Where I see the problem laying is that golf is way behind other sports in:

1. Identifying that there are multiple ways of swinging the club, and that each way has its own distinctive fundamentals. Too many people insist that their way is the only "proper way".

2. Identifying what is fundamental to the swing....and what is a personal swing quirk.

3. Tailoring swing technique to the physical capabilities and limitations of the individual student. Trying to teach a 70 year-old to swing like Tiger Woods or Hunter Mahan is an exercise in futility unless you are dealing with a freak-of-nature like Sam Snead was.

4. The nature of golf (and the people who tend to be attracted to it) lends itself to over-analysis.

[Pete Hurrikane]

Apr 24, 2012 14:01:49 GMT -5 thesandtrapper said:

Interesting.

However I don't see the problem with golf instruction being that amateurs are taught to swing with proper form and technique.

Where I see the problem laying is that golf is way behind other sports in:

1. Identifying that there are multiple ways of swinging the club, and that each way has its own distinctive fundamentals. Too many people insist that their way is the only "proper way".

2. Identifying what is fundamental to the swing....and what is a personal swing quirk.

3. Tailoring swing technique to the physical capabilities and limitations of the individual student. Trying to teach a 70 year-old to swing like Tiger Woods or Hunter Mahan is an exercise in futility unless you are dealing with a freak-of-nature like Sam Snead was.

4. The nature of golf (and the people who tend to be attracted to it) lends itself to over-analysis.

1. I believe any sport or movement for that matter, is 10% consciously controlled and 90% a subconscious action. Golfers tend to be attempting to tip this balance too much in the conscious direction.

2. There are many fundamentals: grip, posture, swing etc but there are no absolute standards. Although the modern pros swing similarly many have their own individual quirkiness Jim Furyk, Lee Westwood and Bubba to name but three.

3. Almost every golfer who I come across is swinging way beyond his capability. The pros have put in 10's of thousands of hours tweaking their swings and many amateur believe that they can emulate these advanced movements.

4. First video, then drawing those fancy lines and now using sonar for putting and Trackman for ball flight and club face angles etc. I think we are trying to get the game ready for robots to play instead of us.

[thesandtrapper]

Apr 24, 2012 14:03:42 GMT -5 Pete Hurrikane said:

1. I believe any sport or movement for that matter, is 10% consciously controlled and 90% a subconscious action. Golfers tend to be attempting to tip this balance too much in the conscious direction.

2. There are many fundamentals: grip, posture, swing etc but there are no absolute standards. Although the modern pros swing similarly many have their own individual quirkiness Jim Furyk, Lee Westwood and Bubba to name but three.

3. Almost every golfer who I come across is swinging way beyond his capability. The pros have put in 10's of thousands of hours tweaking their swings and many amateur believe that they can emulate these advanced movements.

4. First video, then drawing those fancy lines and now using sonar for putting and Trackman for ball flight and club face angles etc. I think we are trying to get the game ready for robots to play instead of us.

Dean Reimuth said it best, about the Four stages of learning a skill.

a. Unconscious, Incompetence.
b. Conscious Incompentence.
c. Conscious Competence.
d. Unconscious Competence.

The difference between poor players and good players is not that poor players try to learn proper technique.

It is that they stall out at either "b" or "c". ..whereas good players play from "d".

There are no short cuts. Golf is a game that demands precision...and hard work to master. You cannot leap from "a" to "d" and not go through the steps in between.

The only way you get to "d" is by repeating the move so many times that it is so overlearned that you DON"T have to think about it, in order to execute it. Freedom is found from within structure. Competent play is the product of the determined drilling of proper fundamentals, until you can finally hand things over to the unconscious, and go on auto-pilot.

But you have to earn your way to that point.

No free lunch.

[Pete Hurrikane]

Interesting point but my train of thought is a little more selective.

Surely the process speeds up if you don't rely too much on conscious competence. The end result is 10% conscious, 90% subconscious where most of the conscious stuff should be happening out with the swing mechanics, e.g. club selection, tactics etc.

[thesandtrapper]

The process isn't "sped up".

You just remain at Unconscious Incompetence...and (unless you are very lucky) you simply ingrain poor technique.

There are no short cuts.

"Master your instrument. Master the music. Then forget all that bullsh!t and just play."

----Charlie Parker.

In other words, you must work your way to conscious competence...then TRUST the work you have done so that you can INVITE IN, Unconscious Competence.

That's when the magic happens.

[Pete Hurrikane]

So conscious incompetence would be the state of not knowing how the mechanics of a movement are performed suggesting that with conscious competence you would definitely be able to perform the moves better. I disagree...

For example, I believe I was a much better putter before I learned the bio-mechanics of putting inside out. I know I'm too much in my head when I putt and I blame that on conscious competence. I think the four stages of competence may apply to some people but we are individuals with differing learning habits. I believe most golfers would benefit from reaching unconscious competence without conscious understanding.

I would say I perform all of the everyday motor skills with unconscious competence but conscious ignorance.

Just a thought!

P.S. I like a little more substance or simple examples of this clever sounding logic. Vague quotes about how to reach excellence sound very logical but there's no real wisdom being shared.

[thesandtrapper]

No.

"Conscious incompetence" would be the state of knowing the proper mechanics/technique of a particular skill, but not being able to perform them correctly yet. When the person is finally able to perform them correctly, while thinking about them/concentrating on them....then you have moved into the state of "Conscious competence". The state of Unconscious Competence is the state of mastery, when the person can perform the skill correctly without having to think about it or focus on it.

You learned to tie your shoes the same way. You went from not knowing how to do it----Unconscious Incompentence. To the stage of tyring to learn the individual motions necessary to do it----Conscious Incompetence. To the stage of being able to do it, but having to think about each seperate motion while you did it----Conscious competence. To the adult stage where you simply think, "Tie my shoe"....and the proper motions simply flow out one after another without any thought. In fact, at this stage, trying to think about the individual motions makes you slower and worse....

....but you had to earn your way to this stage by tying your shoes everyday over a period of years as child.

Your being stuck in your head is NOT the fault of conscious competence. It is the fault of either failing to translate your MECHANICAL knowledge into a set of practical FEELS that gets you out of your thinking brain..or not TRUSTING what you have learned, and thus inviting in Unconscious Competence. The problem is usually the latter, because people are too attached to a particular OUTCOME (gotta make the putt!!!), to be willing to let go, and trust the PROCESS of rolling the putt.

I too have learned a lot about the mechanics of putting. But I DRILL on those mechanics at home, and on the practice green. When I'm on the course I TRUST what I have TRAINED...and the only thing in my mind is seeing the speed and line to get the ball to the hole...then trying to feel the proper length of back swing to produce that speed.

I FORGET the mechanics I've trained....and then trust the FEELS associated with those mechanics, and I just play the game.

There are no bypasses. I won't say that you cannot reach mastery without conscious understanding of proper mechanics.....but if you do, it would be through sheer luck. A random event. You may not learn best by Left brain/mechanical means (your best learning method may simply be through imitating someone with good technique). Your understanding then will be kinesthetic (feel) rather than conceptual...but it is still conscious. It is just a different kind of conscious awareness.

But thinking you can just leap somehow from "A" to "D" without moving through the stages in-between is a pipe-dream.

[Pete Hurrikane]

Yes, but how many players ever get beyond conscious incompetence in the art of golf. I do think the shoelaces task is both relevant and an excellent example. It is however difficult to compare this with the levels of conscious competence that are required for more complex skills. I have tied my laces competently from the age of five or so and, in sobriety, rarely or never have problems with the task.

But to compare this to a skill like putting where players of every level continually get in their own way with conscious interference is debatable. I believe the problem lies in the overload of data that is fed to the conscious mind in the game of golf.