Much has been written on the golf swing and in particular tips on the golf swing. Golf for some is a hobby, for others a passion and for some, well, it is pretty much an obsession.
What is it that attracts so many people to the game of golf?
Obviously it can be a wonderful way to get some exercise and spend time with friends but perhaps more than anything else it’s a challenge. It is simply a sport that cannot be mastered.
So why do some people have the idea that there is a perfect swing they should strive to achieve? If there was a perfect swing whose swing would it be? Maybe Tiger’s (from a few years ago)? If that was the case wouldn’t every PGA Tour player have a swing that looked like his?
The truth is there is no perfect swing. People need to learn to play golf and not play golf swing. The only thing that really matters is what happens at the point of impact; not what you look like at the top of your backswing or how you initiate your downswing.
Think about this for a minute. Have you ever played table tennis? If so, chances are you probably figured out pretty quickly how to get the ball to go where you want and maybe even how to slice the ball or put topspin on a shot. Did you need to go see a table tennis instructor to figure this out? Probably not. You used your hand-eye coordination to move the paddle in the right direction and apply the center of the paddle to the ball.
So what makes golf different? The ball is stationary so that is one variable out of the way that should make golf easier. On the other hand the clubface is relatively small so that makes it more difficult to hit the ball in the sweet spot. What makes it totally different though is that most people do not really know how a golf club is meant to be used. Understand this most fundamental of golf swing tips and you are on your way to having a more consistent, repeatable golf swing.
Let the club do what it was designed to do – get the ball in the air. When a golf club strikes a ball the ball compresses and actually “climbs” the clubface which imparts the spin that makes it go up in the air. You do not need to help it. All golf clubs have a certain loft. The more loft the higher and shorter the ball flight.
Your only job is to apply the force to move the ball in the direction of the target. This is a horizontal force i.e. along the ground – not upward nor downward. To visualize this, imagine that there is a large nail or stake jutting out from the front of the golf ball and simply “hammer” that stake toward the target.
Probably the biggest obstacle to good golf is the idea of helping the ball get in the air. Try using this “hammer” golf swing tip to overcome this.