Is golf "swing" a bad term? Just thinking...

[sonicblue]

I played baseball all my life, 10 y/o through college. My son is playing Little League now. Comparing the two swings is interesting, IMO. In baseball, you can hit a ball lots of ways: line drive, ground ball, fly ball, left, right, middle. You can 'swing' really hard and not really suffer. In golf, you are severely limited. A little left or right, or too high or too low, and your result is going to be significantly penalized. Golf has a need for accuracy like virtually no other sport, so the 'swing' must take on a different definition.

The word 'swing' itself - just based on my gut reaction, but also fueled by what I would say I see in a lot of 'bad swings' - seems to imply something more like a 'whip' action. I'm definitely guilty, a lot of times, of trying to build speed by getting my body way ahead, lagging my arms/hands/everything behind, and then trying to whip the club through. Trying to time that action never leads to solid contact, and even days I feel like the timing is good as far as squaring the club, it's rarely on the sweet spot, so I feel maximum effort with minimal distance.

I think the concept of 'swing' needs to be redfined, or maybe just rethought slightly. Lately, I'm trying to think of it more as just a 'turning,' a back and forth rotation - with completely connected units (arms, shoulders, torso) - forgetting any sort of 'whip' connotation, and letting the timing and accuracy of my release be (more or less) solely responsible for my speed.

Or, it could just be the alcohol and this could make no sense to anyone

[chspeed]

I think swing is actually a good term. Even though what you say in your inebriated state does make sense :)

You bring up baseball. The truth is most people who play baseball or softball have lousy swings, but they just don't know it because they've never tried to hit a 90 MPH fastball, or an 80 MPH curveball for a base hit - let alone make contact. If they did, they'd quickly see they don't have the technique, swing speed, coordination, timing, and strength required to hit those pitches. They'd also see that "swinging hard" does nothing for you against pitches like that.

That feat is somewhat equivalent to us trying to consistently hit 300 yds down the middle, followed by a 125 pitching wedge to 6 feet. They are both things professionals athletes do, and that we try to emulate. For some reason, we think that since we can hit a slow-pitch softball for a home run easily without any practice, and can't hit a golf ball consistently, the baseball swing is easier than the golf swing. I don't think it is.

If you remove the differences caused by different balls, different "clubs", and different body positions, I think the swings of baseball, golf, hockey, tennis, etc, are all remarkably similar. It's just that our expectations in golf are different.

[Joeyvee]

I've played hockey for a long time and I think the swings pretty different. You ever try one timing a 60 mph pass over a goalies shoulder and under the crossbar at 35 feet away with 7 people between you and him? They're both really hard. Golf and Hockey. Baseball too. Tennis I know nothing about. A good slapshot will hurt your golf game because you have a tendency to roll your wrists and opening or closing your club face some. I did come into golf with the ability to get my hands around my body quicker than most non atheletes. and started with a club head speed over 100mph. Absolutely no control until recently though..

[chspeed]

I've played hockey for a long time and I think the swings pretty different. You ever try one timing a 60 mph pass over a goalies shoulder and under the crossbar at 35 feet away with 7 people between you and him? They're both really hard.

No I haven't, and I'm sure I couldn't do it. Tiger Woods probably couldn't do it either.

When I say the swings are similar, I mean that the general motions share basic body movements (weight shift, rotation, hand control, etc.) not that if you learn one, you can do the other.