I swung like a girl....

[Walther]

I swung like a girl...and I liked it!

After reading through an *old* thread called the Passive Swing that came up in Swing Tips a few days ago I tried a passive swing during my practice round before.

I'd been playing around with it on the range the last few days. The real emphasis for me was rhythm, tempo and swinging easily. The second item was concentrating more on rotation and relaxed arms and virtually no weight shift.

Well I finally got to try it out on my home course last night and I was very happy with the results. I thought I would have to club up to hit my normal distances with a "slower" swing but after airmailing the green a few times I was shocked to see I was hitting my normal distances without any effort.

There were still a few shots where the thought that I needed to kill the ball to get it there crept in and I had more erratic hits. But overall, my ball striking was much improved.

It's amazing the male machismo... When I started playing golf a few years ago I would swing all out. I kept hearing you needed to slow it down and I tried, but I realize I've still been putting way too much speed on to the ball. It's just really hard not to try to hit it 50 yard past all of your friends!

Finally, I was happy with tips I got from Ron Del Barrio's website ( http://www.rdbgolftips.com/about.htm ). I'm not following all of his advice about picking your head up, but allot of the things he mentions like letting your arms swing back naturally, not concentrating on weight shift, rotation, and hitting through the ball are very similar to what Shawn Clement ( http://web.mac.com/shawnclement/Site/Welcome.html )

It sure felt great to take a smooth swing and feel the ball just crack and rocket off the clubface! I know everyone finds "swing religion" and has a few good days in their golf swing life before it comes back down into the crapper again, but I'm hoping this is longer lived.
w

[klaymon]

I, too, have been working on this type of swing. I find that if I use a slower, more controlled swing speed, I get just as much distance (if not more) and much better contact than if I have a good hard strike at it. I went out yesterday and played 9 holes with this relaxed swing feel and played a personal best.

[jaragon126]

I agree completely! If I stay relaxed and smooth and just worry about making a good swing (not trying to kill the ball), then my results are much better. Sometimes I feel as if it's boring golf ... fairways, greens, fairways, greens. But when I get upset or play with other people that are trying to kill the ball, that bad swing creeps into my head & I start doing the same ... with bad results.

Congrats on finding swing thoughts that work for you both, I learned that lesson early on and it has been the best thing for me!

[Walther]

  jaragon126 said:

I agree completely! If I stay relaxed and smooth and just worry about making a good swing (not trying to kill the ball), then my results are much better. Sometimes I feel as if it's boring golf ... fairways, greens, fairways, greens. But when I get upset or play with other people that are trying to kill the ball, that bad swing creeps into my head & I start doing the same ... with bad results.

To me it was exciting golf! Ball in the fairway, green in regulation! Golf is a crazy game. If you incrementally improve, the game actually becomes easier! You have a better second shot, from the short grass, short distance, less obstructed, etc! And golf is a very perverse game as well. The end results you want always seem accomplished by the *opposite* action you think they should take!

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[kfowler]

I've always joked that testosterone was the cause of most bad shots.

Here something else to try that's enlightening. Get some of those impact stickers and put one on your driver. Hit 5 balls as hard as you can. Hit 5 more with a nice easy swing. I bet you'll find that on average, the easy swing had more distance and closer impact to the sweet spot on your club face. You'll have a greater dispersion with the hard swing.