![\"Trap](\"\/b\/imgs\/trap_five\/tf_title.gif\")
Earlier this week, I took the first lesson I’ve had in years. As always, it was a slightly unsettling experience to have someone watching and critiquing my swing, but one that I hope will eventually result in more consistency and lower scores. Regardless, it’s definitely got me thinking about the golf swing.<\/p>\n
I didn’t take lessons as a kid. I just started hitting balls around, had about ten minutes of instruction from a friend on the high school golf team the first time I played a course, and that was pretty much it for the first 20 years I played. I’ve just experimented on my own and found things that worked (or didn’t). I’ve read golf books and picked up tips from playing partners. Again, some worked, and some went horribly awry. Some of them worked for awhile, and then<\/em> went horribly awry. It’s a fun game, isn’t it? As I tried to help my buddy learn to get the club on the ball (let alone make solid contact), I was prioritizing the myriad helpful little tidbits I could pass along. But I didn’t want to throw too much at him at once. So I started compiling a list. I was thinking something in the line of “The Universal Truths of Golf.” But, honestly, I don’t have the pedigree to pull that off.<\/p>\n What I ended up with are the following five (mostly) unbreakable rules. They’re as close as I could come to useful truisms of golf. These are concepts that have proven to work for me over 30 odd years of experimentation with my golf swing. They may or may not work for you. <\/p>\n Number Five: Inside Out<\/strong> OK, I don’t know anything about that last one. But I do know that to hit the ball straight, I have to swing from inside to out, at least slightly. Several articles I’ve seen have advocated imagining that the ball is sitting on a clock face with 12 o’clock facing the target. Then you should swing from 7 o’clock to 1 o’clock(that’s 5 to 11 for you lefties). That’s a pretty good visual to remember.<\/p>\n If I’m not swinging from the inside, I know I’ll be hitting pulls, hooks or slices all day, depending on whether the clubface is square, closed or open. That’s because if the club is not coming from the inside for a righthander and the face is square to the target line, the ball is going to start left, or start straight and draw a little farther left. And worse, if it comes over the top (outside in), the ball will go well left if the clubface is square, hook wildly left if the clubface is shut, or start left and slice back to the right if the clubface is open.<\/p>\n Suffice it to say, inside out beats outside in hands down.<\/p>\n Number Four: Down Means Up<\/strong> Number Three: Look Ma, No Feet!<\/strong> Of course, that’s not the kind of thing you can incorporate (or would want to incorporate) into a repeatable swing.<\/p>\n Number Two: Think Smooth<\/strong> This was one of the hardest things for me to accept. It just seems to me that to hit a really good shot you should have to swing hard. Afterall, more effort should result in better results. Right? Of course, it doesn’t work that way. In fact, swinging hard is counterproductive. A smooth swing results in tighter dispersion and more distance than a jerky swing can produce.<\/p>\n That doesn’t necessarily mean that fast swing can’t work provided there is a smooth transition from backswing to foreswing. But in my personal experience, I can hardly go slow enough on my takeaway and backswing. The “low and slow” takeaway really works. And because I tend to make better contact with a smoother swing, the ball actually goes farther than it does when I swing hard. Go figure!<\/p>\n Number One: Step on It<\/strong> Sure, the clubhead is going to be accelerating more when you hit a driver than when you hit a three-foot putt, but it’s still going to be accelerating on that putt.<\/p>\n Some of the most unsatisfactory shots in golf result from not accelerating through a shot.<\/p>\n Care to dispute my “indisputable” truisms? What would you add or remove from this list? You can chime in below or in the forum topic<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\nRecently, I’ve also been helping a friend of mine try to pick up the game in his 40s. He’s not quite ready to shell out a wad of money for lessons, so I’m trying to help him along while doing no harm. We worked on basic setup and grip, and then he started swinging away.<\/p>\n
\nGolf is a game of seeming contradictions. You hit down to make the ball go up. You swing easier, or at least more smoothly, to hit it farther. You score low to move up a leaderboard.<\/p>\n
\nAll iron shots (and some woods shots) require a descending blow for consistent results. Some “sweepers” might disagree, but to make solid contact in the middle of the clubface with any consistency I think you have to be hitting down to some degree. The only true exception for me is the driver, which should be hit with a slightly ascending or level path through impact. Fairway woods can be played with any of these three path types, but I personally have better results hitting them with a slightly descending blow that lets the club’s loft get the ball in the air. Therefore, I hit down on the ball on all but about 14 shots a round, generally.<\/p>\n
\nTrue story: Playing in a scramble (which is where this kind of thing usually happens), I once hit a drive about 285-290 dead straight to the middle of a fairway with no<\/em> feet on the ground! I just swung out of control and both feet slipped out (before<\/em> contact, by all accounts). After I got off my rear end, I naturally accepted everyone’s congratulations on my unorthodox but effective technique.<\/p>\n![\"Harry](\"\/b\/imgs\/profiles\/harry_vardon_swing.jpg\")
If my feet are moving around in the follow-through or immediately following it, that means one thing: I’m not swinging balanced. While I have made good contact with poor balance, I’ve seldom done it twice in a row. When I have to step through with my right foot, like Gary Player, I know that means I’m probably reaching or lunging at the ball (which is also generally the reason when the dreaded “s” word shows up). I’ve been working on this by standing closer to the ball and by hitting shots on the range with my feet together. This drill helps me get the feeling of swinging under control. Try to hit it hard with your feet together, and you probably won’t stay on your feet.<\/p>\n
\nGolf is a game of moderation. I know I cannot swing all out and hit more than one good shot in a row (and it’s usually less).<\/p>\n
\nThere is no shot in golf that should be hit with a slowing clubhead. In other words, the clubhead should always<\/em> accelerate through the ball. From drives, to chips, to wedge shots, to putts, the clubhead should accelerate on each. (I think this might be the only inarguable point in the bunch here.)<\/p>\n