A Swing You Can Trust: A Breakthrough Approach for Confident, Low-Scoring Play

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SWING MOTION
"How did you hit the ball today?"
That's one of the most common questions you'll hear golfers ask one another after a day of play. But it's also one of the most misguided for anybody who wants to execute a great swing.
In baseball or tennis, where the ball is moving -- often very fast -- your object is to "hit the ball." In both of these sports there's a lot of emphasis on proper hand-eye coordination.
But in golf, where the ball is stationary, trying to "hit the ball" is the underlying cause of many a faulty golf swing. In golf, your object should be to move your club and body through space in a consistent, repeatable way. If you can learn to do that while holding a club, you'll be able to move a golf ball around the course with power and precision.
But it all starts with swing motion -- with how your body moves through space, even when you are not holding a club. It's much more like dancing than like baseball or tennis, which explains one of the joys of mastering golf. It's a sport that really involves your entire body in a coordinated effort, combining grace and power.
The key factor for a correct swing is developing a feel for how your entire body moves from the beginning, through an intermediate point, to the end of the swing.
Of course all those pieces are involved, and indeed lots of golf instruction teaches you how to move one of them separately, then another, then another. But the piecemeal approach actually works against what you ultimately must learn and feel: having all the parts working effortlessly together. I've found that it's actually easier for students to get all their body parts moving together right from the start than to learn how to integrate them later.
To develop that feel, try the Swing Motion drill:
1. Stand tall.
2. Simply turn your body and shift your weight.
3. Next, bend forward from the hips into more of a golf posture, and make the same motion.
4. Finally, repeat the same motion with a golf club and ball.
You may be surprised how natural and graceful your swing suddenly feels! Especially at the onset, the simple act of feeling the general Swing Motion is the singularly most important element, the cornerstone of your development.
As time passes, you will share my conviction that the Swing Motion is the "lifeblood" of your swing. Its benefits include:
- A clear perspective. Knowing how your body moves and "swings the club" puts you way ahead of those trying to "hit the ball." You are seeing the big picture before focusing on any individual element. Even if you are an experienced player, this powerful exercise can help you override an inefficient swing motion.
- A conditioned move. Your top priority is developing a conditioned and consistent movement that takes the club through space. When you've repeated this exercise a few hundred times, as your muscle memory increases, your swing will begin to assume its ideal shape. You may also try this exercise with your eyes closed. When you eliminate the visual component, you experience a heightened physical sensation and further develop your "proprioceptive" abilities.
- Power. The Swing Motion exercise engages the larger, stronger core muscles, thereby generating the most powerful and efficient motion. Athletic posture, pivot, and rotation become the blueprint for all powerful athletic motions. By learning these positions, you will automatically rotate your body and shift your weight. Rotation and weight shift underlie the biomechanics of many sports, including tennis, skiing, baseball, and basketball.
I recently brought this point up with Jay Feely, place kicker for the New York Giants, and perhaps the best golfer in the NFL (a scratch player "in season"). He told me emphatically that the mechanics of his golf swing and kicking motion have fundamental similarities.