Golf swing analogies

[Rainmaker]

A lot of us, I'm sure, have heard lots and lots of analogies as to what a golf swing is supposed to "be like".  I had a revelation about a very common today.  We've all probably heard about "hammer the nail through the doorframe"  or "chop the base of the tree with your ax".  I've never felt like either of these were quite right and today I got a new spin that kind of combines both ideas and PROVES to me that they make no sense. 

At my lesson today - my teacher asked me "did I ever show you "pounding in the nail"?.  I thought - oh jeez . .here we go . .except my teacher, in the years that I've known him, has not shown me anything like that or any advanced any of the "golf swing is like a " type ideas. So he gets out a rail-road spike and puts in the ground, where the ball would be, sticking out of the ground at about a 25-30 degree angle.  Then he gets out a driver shaft that has a big rubber mallet head on it. 

He says - the way you're hitting the nail, you're going to hit it below the head and pull it up out of the ground.  To drive it IN . .you do "this"  . .and he shows me how you would use this long whippy hammer to pound in this spike. 

That makes sense . .except if it were my job to pound in spikes, my very first order of business would be to get rid of this joke of a hammer and get something proper to pound stakes with.  Driving stakes this way is nothing you'd do in real life - it's a bar bet, for crying out loud.  You take the guy out front, put the stake in the ground, pound it in, hand him the long, whippy hammer and laugh as he makes the stake go flying. 

So - golf swing is not like pounding in a nail.  At least, not in my opinion. 

Is there anything the golf swing *is like* . .ie . .any analogies that work?  (I don't think so . . at least I've not found it). 

 

[freshmanUTA]

I always hear that hockey players are good golfers because the golf swing is "like a slapshot" which I don't find necessarily true, there are plenty of differences, but I understand why they say so because of the swinging in to out is like a slapshot because you can't swing to the left with a hockey stick and be accurate.

[nevets88]

They don't work for me. Skip a rock, hit to first base, throw a frisbee. YMMV. 

[Lihu]

1 hour ago, Rainmaker said:

A lot of us, I'm sure, have heard lots and lots of analogies as to what a golf swing is supposed to "be like".  I had a revelation about a very common today.  We've all probably heard about "hammer the nail through the doorframe"  or "chop the base of the tree with your ax".  I've never felt like either of these were quite right and today I got a new spin that kind of combines both ideas and PROVES to me that they make no sense. 

At my lesson today - my teacher asked me "did I ever show you "pounding in the nail"?.  I thought - oh jeez . .here we go . .except my teacher, in the years that I've known him, has not shown me anything like that or any advanced any of the "golf swing is like a " type ideas. So he gets out a rail-road spike and puts in the ground, where the ball would be, sticking out of the ground at about a 25-30 degree angle.  Then he gets out a driver shaft that has a big rubber mallet head on it. 

He says - the way you're hitting the nail, you're going to hit it below the head and pull it up out of the ground. *** To drive it IN . .you do "this"  . .and he shows me how you would use this long whippy hammer to pound in this spike. 

That makes sense . .except if it were my job to pound in spikes, my very first order of business would be to get rid of this joke of a hammer and get something proper to pound stakes with.  Driving stakes this way is nothing you'd do in real life - it's a bar bet, for crying out loud.  You take the guy out front, put the stake in the ground, pound it in, hand him the long, whippy hammer and laugh as he makes the stake go flying. 

So - golf swing is not like pounding in a nail.  At least, not in my opinion. 

Is there anything the golf swing *is like* . .ie . .any analogies that work?  (I don't think so . . at least I've not found it). 

You're teacher sounds like a tool. Or at least he likes to use them. . .This is the one who reached into your bag and said "You're hitting your 6i not your 9i <blank inserted>"?

Driving the spike into the ground takes serious skill especially with the whippiness of shaft holding the mallet head, and is about what you need to be doing with your irons and hybrids. Even the fairway woods to some degree, it's a sweeping downward force or something like that.

He sounds like a lot of fun, keep him.

 

***Actually, I was imagining that this would be more or less how @Phil McGleno would teach.

 

[saevel25]

1 hour ago, Rainmaker said:

So - golf swing is not like pounding in a nail.  At least, not in my opinion. 

Is there anything the golf swing *is like* . .ie . .any analogies that work?  (I don't think so . . at least I've not found it). 

Nothing comes to mind. As long as you achieve the 5 keys then most other stuff in the golf swing is very specific to that golfer. 

 

[alleztom]

3 gears, one for the arms (swing plane/path), one for the torso (secondary axis tilt), one for the hips (and sort of legs, ie rotation). All turning against each other.

[Rainmaker]

48 minutes ago, Lihu said:

You're teacher sounds like a tool. Or at least he likes to use them. . .This is the one who reached into your bag and said "You're hitting your 6i not your 9i <blank inserted>"?

Driving the spike into the ground takes serious skill especially with the whippiness of shaft holding the mallet head, and is about what you need to be doing with your irons and hybrids. Even the fairway woods to some degree, it's a sweeping downward force or something like that.

He sounds like a lot of fun, keep him.

 

***Actually, I was imagining that this would be more or less how @Phil McGleno would teach.

 

No - I didn't mean to make him sound like a tool.  And he actually never uses tools - this is the first such demo he's shown in me in 3 years of seeing him.  Some traffic cones (not in a long time for me) and alignment sticks is the norm.   

And yeah - he saw me hitting these easy "9 irons" warming up pre-lesson and was all confused for a sec . .and then he grabs my 9 iron and says "that's your 6 iron . .I was going to say . .those were DEEP!", lol.  

IMO - he's an excellent teacher.  He also teaches my wife from time to time and, when we compare notes later, he gives us completely different ideas.  He's not just "giving golf lessons" . .he's really analyzing our swing issues and body types and guiding us on the path to improvement, so to speak. 

I was really talking about the various "internet teachers" - I really don't want to pick on Shawn Clement but he's just an example of a guy with a lot of these "analogies".  I've tried a lot of them . .I don't think any of them work because I actually think what makes golf so hard is that it's *kinda like* a lot of things. . but it's not *exactly like* anything. 

[Lihu]

1 minute ago, Rainmaker said:

No - I didn't mean to make him sound like a tool.  And he actually never uses tools - this is the first such demo he's shown in me in 3 years of seeing him.  Some traffic cones (not in a long time for me) and alignment sticks is the norm.   

And yeah - he saw me hitting these easy "9 irons" warming up pre-lesson and was all confused for a sec . .and then he grabs my 9 iron and says "that's your 6 iron . .I was going to say . .those were DEEP!", lol.  

IMO - he's an excellent teacher.  He also teaches my wife from time to time and, when we compare notes later, he gives us completely different ideas.  He's not just "giving golf lessons" . .he's really analyzing our swing issues and body types and guiding us on the path to improvement, so to speak. 

I was really talking about the various "internet teachers" - I really don't want to pick on Shawn Clement but he's just an example of a guy with a lot of these "analogies".  I've tried a lot of them . .I don't think any of them work because I actually think what makes golf so hard is that it's *kinda like* a lot of things. . but it's not *exactly like* anything. 

He seems like a good instructor by your descriptions of him.

I agree, a golf swing is pretty much like. . .a golf swing. I can't think of any other sports analogies for it.

[RandallT]

One thing that has connected with me the past 2 months is this (it was from somewhere on TST):

"More merry-go-round, less ferris wheel."

I'm very steep from the top, and as I try to get past the same point I've been stuck on for a while with my Evolvr lessons, I think this is helping me a bit to flatten out.  I've tried to analyze how to flatten out my swing from the top of the downswing, and had only marginal success.

But then just by thinking about merry-go-rounds, I see some small improvement in how the club now comes around a little bit better on a diagonal plane. And I typically don't use these kinds of analogies! But this one is clicking.

Well, I think it's clicking. I haven't been on the course much to know for sure, and I haven't yet resubmitted my swing to start up lessons again. By my eye in a few video checks on the range, I look less steep (not a thorough review of before/after). It's mostly a good feel at the moment, and you know what they say about "feel" on this site. I'll have to check back here in a while to let you know if it REALLY worked for me!

(I swear I'm not that guy who is always chasing one last tip- this analogy just is the first for me to feel like it's working)

[nevets88]

Doh, now that I remember, actually the motorcycle rev (which according to motorcycle riders isn't actually a rev) analogy worked for me.

[natureboy]

How about "hitting a two-handed backhand half-volley into the ground 4 feet in front of you".? I've also personally found partial analogies to tossing a heavy sack / bucket along the ground in front of you.

Here's an odd one that has some partial similarities: Tai Chi Scythe Mowing

 

The one that I've found the most apt for the very basic motion is the grass whip (where you properly engage your lower body when you have to do A LOT of it). Interesting fact - old fashioned sling blades used to have a built-in offset.

 

Edited April 26, 2016 by natureboy

[Rainmaker]

Ya - to be fair, I suppose there are some analogies for mini-parts of the swing that I've had some success with.  It's not really what I meant in the OP - but I have this thought lately of having sat in some wet paint .. and during my downswing, the idea is to roll the paint onto the imaginary wall behind me.  Unless you're my 5 year old, though - you probably wouldn't choose to paint that way . .if you're real purpose was to paint the walls. 

[natureboy]

9 minutes ago, Rainmaker said:

Ya - to be fair, I suppose there are some analogies for mini-parts of the swing that I've had some success with.

Personally, I find the grass whip very close to the full thing. Have you ever had to do it for a long time? You start really getting the hips into it to save energy.

9 minutes ago, Rainmaker said:

It's not really what I meant in the OP - but I have this thought lately of having sat in some wet paint .. and during my downswing, the idea is to roll the paint onto the imaginary wall behind me.  Unless you're my 5 year old, though - you probably wouldn't choose to paint that way . .if you're real purpose was to paint the walls. 

That's not quite a real-world analogy, but an interesting swing thought. I've also seen a similar approach (Clement again actually) to wiping a mirror with rags in each of your back pockets (but that only addresses the hip motion).

[Rainmaker]

21 minutes ago, natureboy said:

Personally, I find the grass whip very close to the full thing. Have you ever had to do it for a long time? You start really getting the hips into it to save energy.

That's not quite a real-world analogy, but an interesting swing thought. I've also seen a similar approach (Clement again actually) to wiping a mirror with rags in each of your back pockets (but that only addresses the hip motion).

Yeah - the paint idea is actually my own personal spin on Shawn's wipe the mirror drill . .because the part I'm interested in is the downswing where you *don't* wipe the mirror . .so I thought up the paint idea. 

I think Shawn Clement has a lot of great tips - that's why I didn't want to pick on him it's just that he's probably the most well known of the internet teachers who use a lot of these analogies. 

I'm undecided on the whip.  I've never used one - not for golf and definitely not to cut down a field or anything.  I just checked for some videos of people actually using grass whips and mostly what I found were golf videos.  The people actually cutting grass with similar tools kind of looked like they were more focused on making an even sweep in front of them.  There were for sure similarities to a golf swing . .but, also, the few peeps I saw using grass whips for real were not real experienced at it.  If I ever get my hands on a grass whip, I'll definitely give it a go. 

 

Edited April 26, 2016 by Rainmaker

[natureboy]

18 minutes ago, Rainmaker said:

Yeah - the paint idea is actually my own personal spin on Shawn's wipe the mirror drill . .because the part I'm interested in is the downswing where you *don't* wipe the mirror . .so I thought up the paint idea. 

I think Shawn Clement has a lot of great tips - that's why I didn't want to pick on him it's just that he's probably the most well known of the internet teachers who use a lot of these analogies. 

I'm undecided on the whip.  I've never used one - not for golf and definitely not to cut down a field or anything.  I just checked for some videos of people actually using grass whips and mostly what I found were golf videos.  The people actually cutting grass with similar tools kind of looked like they were more focused on making an even sweep in front of them.  There were for sure similarities to a golf swing . .but, also, the few peeps I saw using grass whips for real were not real experienced at it.  If I ever get my hands on a grass whip, I'll definitely give it a go. 

 

Yeah, she's not really doing it right, though she seems to have one or two okay swings in there. When you do it for 5 or 10 minutes you can be really sloppy and armsy. Do it for an hour or more clearing trails or over 20 minutes in really heavy / wet grass or weeds, and you realize you have to get efficient to keep at it.

I also found few examples as this tool has largely been replaced by the powered weed whacker. This guy's got a full body motion going, but he's only dealing with relatively dead / dry stems.

 

Edited April 26, 2016 by natureboy

[Lihu]

All this grass cutting training reminds me of those old Shaw Brothers martial arts movies.

 

[natureboy]

1 hour ago, Lihu said:

All this grass cutting training reminds me of those old Shaw Brothers martial arts movies.

Where was the no fingers sequence? I feel cheated. Pretty sure I actually saw this one as a kid.

I also had a thought that martial artist screen performers would probably be universally good at resisting high G's.

[Patch]

I have heard that swinging a scythe is alot like the golf swing. Never swung one myself, so I dont know.