Swing, Don't Hit.

[Paiste]

"Swing, don't hit" is a phrase that I've come across about 1000 times since I started playing golf. I knew what it meant or what the meaning of it was but for the longest time, up until recently, my brain could not process the ideology behind it. There were times when I thought to myself, "There's no difference between swinging and hitting as the objective is the same." Wow, was I wrong.

For the last year, I've been a fairly solid ball striker but if I was to hit 10 balls in a row, I would say 6 would be solid, 2 would be a slight mishit and 2 would be brutally topped. I worked relentlessly on fundamentals, took lessons, you name it but I couldn't become more consistent. This is until 3 days ago. After watching a video on tension in the golf swing, the saying "Swing don't hit" finally dawned on me. It felt like a revelation. I immediately grabbed an iron, went out in my backyard and practiced my swing while eliminating all tension. It felt like how a golf swing is supposed to feel.

On my way to the range, I was thinking, "Is this what I've been looking for? Is all this hard work going to pay off today?" Holy s**t did it ever. It was/is unbelievable. Effortless power, no more trying to muscle the ball. I finally understand what "Golf Swing" means. Now, I would say maybe 1 or 2 shots out of ten are either a top or a mishit and that's because I allow some tension to leak back into my swing, creating problems (the other 8 or 9 shots are not all pure but they are solid strikes). I have never felt so confident over the ball. I know that there is still many things to work on but this was a HUGE step in becoming a better player.

Hopefully, when I play my next round, I can relax and allow myself to "Swing" the club, therefore crating better shots, opportunities and better rounds. Just thought I'd share that with you guys. It's an unbelievable feeling to finally comprehend this. Cheers.

[whatwoodtigerdo]

  Paiste said:

"Swing, don't hit" is a phrase that I've come across about 1000 times since I started playing golf. I knew what it meant or what the meaning of it was but for the longest time, up until recently, my brain could not process the ideology behind it. There were times when I thought to myself, "There's no difference between swinging and hitting as the objective is the same." Wow, was I wrong.

For the last year, I've been a fairly solid ball striker but if I was to hit 10 balls in a row, I would say 6 would be solid, 2 would be a slight mishit and 2 would be brutally topped. I worked relentlessly on fundamentals, took lessons, you name it but I couldn't become more consistent. This is until 3 days ago. After watching a video on tension in the golf swing, the saying "Swing don't hit" finally dawned on me. It felt like a revelation. I immediately grabbed an iron, went out in my backyard and practiced my swing while eliminating all tension. It felt like how a golf swing is supposed to feel.

On my way to the range, I was thinking, "Is this what I've been looking for? Is all this hard work going to pay off today?" Holy s**t did it ever. It was/is unbelievable. Effortless power, no more trying to muscle the ball. I finally understand what "Golf Swing" means. Now, I would say maybe 1 or 2 shots out of ten are either a top or a mishit and that's because I allow some tension to leak back into my swing, creating problems (the other 8 or 9 shots are not all pure but they are solid strikes). I have never felt so confident over the ball. I know that there is still many things to work on but this was a HUGE step in becoming a better player.

Hopefully, when I play my next round, I can relax and allow myself to "Swing" the club, therefore crating better shots, opportunities and better rounds. Just thought I'd share that with you guys. It's an unbelievable feeling to finally comprehend this. Cheers.

We need an update in like a week. I have finally found the secret to my golf swing 15 times in the last month.

[David in FL]

  whatwoodtigerdo said:

We need an update in like a week. I have finally found the secret to my golf swing 15 times in the last month.

And in my experience the golf gods get pretty pissed off when you tell people that you've "figured it out"........

[Golfingdad]

  David in FL said:

And in my experience the golf gods get pretty pissed off when you tell people that you've "figured it out"........

Not so sure you even need to tell people ... pretty sure that they get irritated when they feel that you even THINK that you've got it figured out.

I've been playing really well lately, and yesterday got through 12 holes at +1, so I'm figuring that I'm 90 minutes away from recording another solid, handicap reducing round, then proceed to finish double, double, double, bogey, double, triple.

[Paiste]

  Golfingdad said:

Not so sure you even need to tell people ... pretty sure that they get irritated when they feel that you even THINK that you've got it figured out.

I've been playing really well lately, and yesterday got through 12 holes at +1, so I'm figuring that I'm 90 minutes away from recording another solid, handicap reducing round, then proceed to finish double, double, double, bogey, double, triple.

I never ever said once that I've figured it out so stop putting words into my mouth. What I was saying was that I work very hard but haven't improved in over a year due to the fact that I hade too much tension in my swing. Now that I've eliminated tension, the improvement is big and I'm more consistent. I even said that there's still a lot more work to be done. What I've figured out is how to swing instead of muscling the club. Never once did I say that I've figured out golf, I figured out what "Swing, don't hit" means.

I'm excited that I had some improvement and I wanted to share it with the forum but obviously that was a mistake. You guys are brutal. I've broken through a plateau and it makes a big difference. I said as well that we'll see what happens when I get on the course. I never said that I'm going to go out and rip the course up and break 80 or any shit like that. I'm just excited that I made a big improvement.

Never mind, I don't need to justify myself.

[billchao]

  Paiste said:

I never ever said once that I've figured it out so stop putting words into my mouth. What I was saying was that I work very hard but haven't improved in over a year due to the fact that I hade too much tension in my swing. Now that I've eliminated tension, the improvement is big and I'm more consistent. I even said that there's still a lot more work to be done. What I've figured out is how to swing instead of muscling the club. Never once did I say that I've figured out golf, I figured out what "Swing, don't hit" means. I'm excited that I had some improvement and I wanted to share it with the forum but obviously that was a mistake. You guys are brutal. I've broken through a plateau and it makes a big difference. I said as well that we'll see what happens when I get on the course. I never said that I'm going to go out and rip the course up and break 80 or any shit like that. I'm just excited that I made a big improvement. Never mind, I don't need to justify myself.

Dude, relax. Nobody was criticizing you whatsoever. Looked like a bit of light-hearted ribbing, some of it self-deflating. @David in FL even used a smiley. You're reading something into these comments that's not there.

[Golfingdad]

  Paiste said:

I never ever said once that I've figured it out so stop putting words into my mouth. What I was saying was that I work very hard but haven't improved in over a year due to the fact that I hade too much tension in my swing. Now that I've eliminated tension, the improvement is big and I'm more consistent. I even said that there's still a lot more work to be done. What I've figured out is how to swing instead of muscling the club. Never once did I say that I've figured out golf, I figured out what "Swing, don't hit" means.

I'm excited that I had some improvement and I wanted to share it with the forum but obviously that was a mistake. You guys are brutal. I've broken through a plateau and it makes a big difference. I said as well that we'll see what happens when I get on the course. I never said that I'm going to go out and rip the course up and break 80 or any shit like that. I'm just excited that I made a big improvement.

Never mind, I don't need to justify myself.

You're right, you don't need to justify yourself.  Nobody said that they weren't happy for you, we were just, well, what Bill said:

  billchao said:

Dude, relax. Nobody was criticizing you whatsoever. Looked like a bit of light-hearted ribbing, some of it self-deflating. @David in FL even used a smiley.

You're reading something into these comments that's not there.

Exactly.

[Vinsk]

Ok settle down. Golf is a cruel sport. It's a sport where you really have to have some innate ability to be real good. Unlike many other sports, really hard work is often unrewarded or temporarily rewarded at best. I do agree the responses to your improvement were a little harsh. But they're just stating the inevitable. Golf hates us. I hope this feeling you've found sticks. I'm anxiously waiting for my next good day of ball striking, as temporary as it will be.

[David in FL]

  billchao said:

Dude, relax. Nobody was criticizing you whatsoever. Looked like a bit of light-hearted ribbing, some of it self-deflating. @David in FL even used a smiley.

You're reading something into these comments that's not there.

Yep!

@Paiste , hope you kill it next time you play.

[Paiste]

  billchao said:

Dude, relax. Nobody was criticizing you whatsoever. Looked like a bit of light-hearted ribbing, some of it self-deflating. @David in FL even used a smiley.

You're reading something into these comments that's not there.

You're right, I realize now that it was just a little ball busting. I know very well how cruel the sport can be, that's why it's so exciting when you have a break through, whether big or small.

The golf gods giveth and the golf gods taketh. Cheers guys. Sorry if I overreacted.

[Lihu]

  whatwoodtigerdo said:

We need an update in like a week. I have finally found the secret to my golf swing 15 times in the last month.

  David in FL said:

And in my experience the golf gods get pretty pissed off when you tell people that you've "figured it out"........

  Golfingdad said:

Not so sure you even need to tell people ... pretty sure that they get irritated when they feel that you even THINK that you've got it figured out.

I've been playing really well lately, and yesterday got through 12 holes at +1, so I'm figuring that I'm 90 minutes away from recording another solid, handicap reducing round, then proceed to finish double, double, double, bogey, double, triple.

So, I haven't figured out anything. Did you hear that, NOT. . . ONE. . . THING.

Pleeeease, nothing. . . really. . .nothing. . .

Shoot, I think everyone on this site has been jinxed. Why did I even look at this thread!

[CarlOwen]

tell us how you feel in a month!

[Jakester23]

  Paiste said:

You're right, I realize now that it was just a little ball busting. I know very well how cruel the sport can be, that's why it's so exciting when you have a break through, whether big or small. The golf gods giveth and the golf gods taketh. Cheers guys. Sorry if I overreacted.

Don't be sorry for over reacting Dave in FL is a dick :). I think this is a cool to have a swing thought or thoughts that help you. I also think it's cool to share those since we are all looking for ways to get better. I had a similar situation a month ago or so. What I figured out was if my only swing thought is 80% swing and finish I was hitting very solid tee shots. Honestly it still seems to be working if I remember to make it part of my pre-shot. Great thread and keep up the good work Paiste.

[vangator]

So many times you hit a great shot followed by a crappy shot and you no idea what was different. It's a nice feeling when something clicks. That's way you waggle.

[Lihu]

I just taped some of my shots, and my feet are flat at impact. Going to have to work on this now. . .

Grrr. . .Just when I thought I was getting my distance back.

[dchoye]

I like the pure "hit" concept for the short game. I had the same "ah ha moments " early this season, but one can't just swing without solid contact with the ball Swinging goes hand in hand with hitting for me now however it's not the same concept of hitting I had earlier in the season. Hitting with swinging involves proper release of the club so it feels effortless

[bossfrog]

I've only been playing 3 months and one of the first piece of advice I got from an old codger I met on the course was to just work on making a consistent swing.  Once the swing is consistent, just put a ball in the way and the actual contact becomes incidental to the swing.  I'm not there yet, but I am able to use the idea effectively because I've been using that as my guiding principle from day 1.

[rb72]

I think its pretty amazing that you've gotten to an 11 HC while "brutaly topping" 20% of your shots. I don't think I'll ever get down to an 11 and I top the ball less than 5% of the time.