Learning a golf swing - Your story

Last night at the practice range I found myself again looking for a bit more consistancy in my swing since I had quite a few bad shots on my round last Sunday.

As I thought through all the things I read on my way to practice and tried to recollect how I felt when things went wrong to best decide my practice focus for the evening it occured to me what a perfect fit golf is for an Engineer. As a high handicapper right now the process of learning the golf swing is incredibly iterative for me. Make a small swing change during practice, try and groove it and remember it. Then test it out on the course. Take the information back home and analyze for the next practice session. Repeat!

I am still amazed when I discover something with respect to the golf swing. Yesterday I realized that my weight was not on the balls of my feet enough. When I fixed that I realized I had too much knee bend which was crowding my left arm because I was too close to the ball. Sorting these things out at address added a lot more consistancy to my ability to produce a repeatable golf swing with somewhat predictable results.

Since I started playing golf as an adult and past the time of youth when it is a lot easier to learn things visually and just mimic, I have often thought that those with good golf swings have just always had them. So I thought I would make a post to hear how others have learned to swing a club effectively (or works in progress).

Hopefully there are some low handicappers out there who struggled in the beginning and can show some of us newer players that you don't have to be born with the ability to swing a club to be proficient at the game.

So in closing as I continue to learn to swing the club I find it encouraging each time something clicks in my iterative process and it keeps me coming back each Sunday morning to play my round. I suspect that some day I will be a low handicapper as I continue to practice and refine my game. As each step gets me a slightly better round and the quest continues.

-E

While I don’t think anyone is “born with the ability” to swing the golf club, I generally think it is easier for athletes of particular sports to get the swing a lot easier; namely both baseball and hockey players.

I played baseball from T-ball to the Instructional League. So, as a former baseball player I have a kinesthetic awareness of the swing - even before I ever picked up a golf club. In this respect I was fortunate, because I have only been playing golf for nine months, and have been greatly gratified by my progress (almost arrogant: shooting in the mid 90’s when I started to the mid 70’s now). I’m not saying that golf is a simple game, but let’s face it - it’s easier to hit a stationary ball than it is to hit an 85 MPH slider. To be sure, as a baseball player, I had already established a practice-work ethic… so spending three to four hours on the range practicing the elements of golf is not a chore (in fact, it’s easier because there’s no running required in golf).

I of course took lessons in the beginning; because, while the swings of the batter and golfer are kinematically similar - they are ultimately different, and it took some instruction to learn the nuances of the golf swing. My swing coach now is a digital video camera, I find it indispensable.

If you haven’t sought the advice/instruction of a golf pro you are doing yourself and your game a great disservice.

I find that some of the fundamentals of Golf apply to Tennis which I loved playing,not so much as of late.Things like swing plane,relaxed arms and hands,release,eye on the ball,rotation,anchoring the hitting foot,transfer of weight from leg to leg.

It's full of similarities and in some ways quite similar to a forehand top spin shot especially when you want to hit a slight draw.

Anyway it has given me a headstart in Golf,and I have worked past some of the obvious swing flaws that could have plagued me,but it's still takes quality practice,and I find personally that catching that ball flush every time is tough.Usually it's holding my posture all the way through,but I'm sure it takes quite a few years to nail that one down.

My story is just like yours.

I played a tiny bit in my late teens and early 20's but never enough to gain anything like consistency, and never broke 120 for 18 holes. Then I decided this summer, not having played for 3 or 4 years, to start seriously trying to learn the game. I'm a 27-year-old engineer. So I took a lesson from a pro, bought a few new clubs (still haven't replaced the irons and wedges, though, which I desperately need to do as soon as I can fit it into the budget), and started hitting the practice range and the course more often. I love the part of the improvement process where I can analyze the mechanical chain reaction that occurs from setting up in a certain way, or hit a certain position at the top of the backswing, and mentally diagnose swing flaws from that perspective. I haven't learned physical consistency yet (grooving the swing), my short game sucks out loud, and I'm not done tweaking my full swing technique either, but ever since I learned how to turn a chronic push/fade into a high draw through mentally understanding the physical chain reaction of the swing, I've been hooked. And every time I hit the course, I strike the ball better. Pretty soon I'm going to turn most of my focus away from the full swing and towards the short game. That'll be a whole new adventure, hopefully involving a sharp drop in my scores. -Andrew

I started playing a bit in high school when I had time from playing football and baseball and other activities. Played more during the summer of course. Never had a lesson, just went out there and played. I managed to shoot a 78 one time and a lot of low 80's and could hit it pretty far. I started playing less and less after high school. Rarely in college, a bit more right after college, then kind of a 10-15 year period where I only played a couple of times a year. I took it back up seriously about six years ago and started off alright but at one point everything went to hell and it wasn't fun going out there at all. So finally I took my first lesson, have had about six others and have been working on my game ever since. I understood nothing about the mechanics of golf before. Now I am obsessed with them but it has been a really rocky road. Had to completely change what I was doing. Went from all feel to too much mechanics and now trying to find a more natural way to swing. I love what I now know about golf and the golf swing. I just wish I could apply it better.

I never know on that age old adage. At the end of the day you must learn to feel the golf swing and while a pro maybe can give some pointers to the novice, on setup and positions they cannot give you a dynamic swing. Too many great players are self taught and the swing coaches are, in my view, more helpful to the accomplished players.

I agree with you wachesawgolfer, a golf pro will not “give you a dynamic swing.” But the golf pro surely can delineate the fundamentals of a sound swing - and from there the player will be able to groove their own repeatable swing. I guess it’s contingent on the temperament of the player too. Some folks just like to play at the game of golf. I freely admit that I have a deep seeded psychosis concerning the game - it’s more addictive than absinthe.

Books, videos, articles, and lessons for over 20 years. Never broke 90. Then I was very fortunate to find the golf swing master key instruction. You can see what my index is now.

Is that a book or what?

Yes. "The Golf Swing and Its Master Key Explained" by Noel Thomas