“By the time you get to your ball, if you don’t know what to do with it, try another sport.”
~ Julius Boros, a U.S. Open and PGA champion
Obviously your success at the game of golf is going to be very dependent upon your swing. It might seem like the pros have a natural ability when it comes to their golf swing and in some cases they do, but like so many other sports there are ways to improve your abilities. In other words, if you know how to swing you’ll have a much better swing. While general coordination is good and the ability to gage and “feel” the swing can help some golfers, for others it’s good to get instruction on how to actually swing and then worry about improving that swing as you learn the basics.
Typically mistakes made during the golf swing are made because the golfer hasn’t taken into account some basic laws of physics. The golf ball is an inanimate object without a mind of its own; it will go where it’s pushed to go, and that pushing comes from the club, arms, and body of the golfer. Understanding a few basic principles will enable anyone to improve their swing and correct where and how they push that ball forward, creating a better game.
Some golfers tend to shy away from this type of learning and understanding. Usually they just want an instructor or pro to tell them where to put their hands and how to hold their arms when they swing, but this is somewhat shortsighted. Everyone’s body is different, everyone’s natural swinging abilities are different, everyone’s level of physical strength is different. An instructor that says “do this” or “don’t do that” to every student is not taking into account their natural abilities. However, if you know what you’re trying to accomplish with a golf swing and how the many elements of that swing control the ball’s distance and direction, then you have freedom to make your own adjustments with your swing. In other words, you can find things that work for you that might not work for another golfer, and this means your swing will improve naturally no matter what you do. So if you understand how the different elements of a swing – the grip, the stance, the backswing, the follow-through, the curve of the shoulders and straightness of the arms – all affect the ball’s path, you can better understand how to improve that swing overall.
Let’s first go over some mistakes that many golfers make. This is because sometimes with a golf swing, you need to eliminate the negative habits before you can bring in the positive pointers to help your swing improve. If you don’t do this, you may be learning something wrong and making that a habit which then makes it that much more difficult to unlearn down the road. Your swing becomes like a permanent program in your brain and every time you go through that swing, that program is becoming more deeply embedded. So even if you learn tips and pointers for how to improve your swing in a positive way, if you don’t learn to get rid of the incorrect things you’re doing they may just become more permanent down the road.
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