What is the secret of the golf swing?

[Rainmaker]

14 minutes ago, 70sSanO said:

Over 40 years ago my brother made a statement... golf is easy, all you have to do is return the club back to where it started.  He also said it doesn't really matter what you in between as long as you take it away straight an bring it back straight.

He stopped playing golf a long time ago, and I really don't put that much stock in what he said, but I have carried that around with me since then and I do bring it to mind when there is just too much unnecessary swing clutter going on in my brain.

I really do believe that most people cause the greatest harm to themselves because they approach the golf swing the same way Bob Hope approached the gunfight in The Paleface.

John

Ironically . .that's exactly the concept that keeps people from getting "the secret".  Look any video of any good golfer at impact.  Do they look like they do at address? 

Now look at any high handicapper at impact . .I bet they look more like they did at address than a great player does.  In fact - they might look almost exactly like they did at address.

The "secret", is not a secret at all, lol.  Every golf teacher I ever saw tried to tell me the secret at every lesson I ever had.  They desperately wanted me to know this secret.

Without this secret, at least 80% of further golf instruction is irrelevant. 

Getting this "secret" does not mean you can all of a sudden hit it like Rory.  But it does mean that you now better understand why Rory hits it like he does and you hit it like you do. 

I would say (guess) nearly everyone that is a 5 handicap or better knows this.  Everyone who is a 15 or worse, does not. 

The secret is "where you aim your swing".  Are you aiming it at the back of the ball?  Then you don't know the secret yet.  It's what people, I assume, are talking about when they say "swing, don't hit" or "swing to the target" or "let the club collect the ball" or "hitting the ball is not your job" or, etc, etc. 

We see the ball sitting there on the ground and we aim our swing at it, naturally.  If we do this, we come over the top, we cast it, we are "handsy", we are off balance, etc.  But the worst thing is . .if I told you what the "secret" is and you didn't already know it. .it probably wouldn't matter.  If you're aiming your swing at the back of the ball, a LOT of tips you try to apply to your swing will come out wrong. 

I'm not kidding . .I used to see the ball very clearly in my mind all throughout the swing.  As soon as I made this "cognitive" change . .because it really was in my mind and not something mechanical . . the ball "disappeared".  It's still there, of course . .but I no longer "see it" during my downswing.  And it wasn't something so esoteric as swing don't hit or visualizing my target or anything . .I physically shoved my hands forward, lol . .and then a light turned on in my head and the ball disappeared.    

[GolfLug]

What about a golf swing is not known at this point that would qualify as a secret?

[Rainmaker]

8 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

What about a golf swing is not known at this point that would qualify as a secret?

Exactly . .it's a secret we keep from ourselves.  It's not a secret at all, it's in your face all the time.  If you're not doing it today, the only reason why not is because you just don't.  It's not a hard technique to learn.  It's a hard concept, for some odd reason, to get.  Speaking from my own experience (and only from my own) - if you're constantly asking yourself why the hell can I not hit this stupid ball right no matter what I try to do . . . . this could be the reason. 

[GolfLug]

2 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

Exactly . .it's a secret we keep from ourselves.  It's not a secret at all, it's in your face all the time.  If you're not doing it today, the only reason why not is because you just don't.  It's not a hard technique to learn.  It's a hard concept, for some odd reason, to get.  Speaking from my own experience (and only from my own) - if you're constantly asking yourself why the hell can I not hit this stupid ball right no matter what I try to do . . . . this could be the reason. 

Sure it is a hard technique to learn. It is not 'a' concept. It is not something singular.

I don't think there are psychological reasons at all and that if you peek past this curtain there is a shining light of enlightenment. A golf club is hard to keep on plane and return it square all the time even for the ones who strike it well (supposedly have the secret). Anyone who thinks keeping all the moving parts on the same path, at same effort level and in the same sequence repeatedly to move the club on plane and square time after time (if you can learn those in the first place) can be whittled down to a 'secret' doesn't have enough respect for how hard it is to do. Even harder to keep it on rails consistently. It is no co-incidence the majority of best ball strikers are also the hardest of workers.

If you don't have it yet (whatever it is) you have to put each piece of the puzzle in place, in proper order (priority), both with the help of an experienced eye preferably, solidify (MASSIVE amount of proper practice) and then get to the next one, and then the next one, all the while not letting the previous solidified piece loosen up. Some people have more pieces in place that fall in line with their natural tendencies than others. Even for them the maintenance never stops. If not regression is always around the corner to strike.   

[Rainmaker]

Interesting . .I feel like there is a psychological component to it and that it's not hard to do . . .

But, I've been practicing pretty hard at it for 4 years, lol.  My wife went with me to the range today and I tried to "tell her the secret".  As I thought, it did not work.

As soon as I showed her the drill I used to get it . .she did it wrong, put herself in the wrong positions, etc.  Where, for me, it made the "lights come on" . .for her, it was just as confusing as anything else.  It was clear she didn't have enough "other things" in place to get it this way.  After a few minutes, I stopped trying to show her the drill and let her get back to actually hitting the ball, lol.   

[Jeremie Boop]

3 minutes ago, Rainmaker said:

Interesting . .I feel like there is a psychological component to it and that it's not hard to do . . .

But, I've been practicing pretty hard at it for 4 years, lol.  My wife went with me to the range today and I tried to "tell her the secret".  As I thought, it did not work.

As soon as I showed her the drill I used to get it . .she did it wrong, put herself in the wrong positions, etc.  Where, for me, it made the "lights come on" . .for her, it was just as confusing as anything else.  It was clear she didn't have enough "other things" in place to get it this way.  After a few minutes, I stopped trying to show her the drill and let her get back to actually hitting the ball, lol.   

Or, what works for you won't work for everyone. Many times there's a thought, feel, move, etc that works for one person but not anyone else.

[DaveP043]

Golf is like whack-a-mole, the arcade game.  You work hard to improve a specific aspect of your swing, and largely succeed in doing it, and then something else needs to be worked on.  If you're lucky, its a new piece on the road to better golf.  If you haven't been paying attention, its an old item that came back.  No matter what, you're never finished learning.

[Rainmaker]

2 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

Golf is like whack-a-mole, the arcade game.  You work hard to improve a specific aspect of your swing, and largely succeed in doing it, and then something else needs to be worked on.  If you're lucky, its a new piece on the road to better golf.  If you haven't been paying attention, its an old item that came back.  No matter what, you're never finished learning.

Yeah, absolutely.  However, for me . .not realizing how to not hit at the ball . .it was like an insane game of whack-a-mole that I could never win.   I thought I learned how to hit a draw, for example.  What I actually did was learn how to manipulate my path and clubface to produce a draw-ish shot that, yes, moved to the left but not reliably and not back to target . .just left.  That was better than my huge slice - but actually it was just the huge slice in disguise.  Nefarious demon, the slice is.    

 

[DaveP043]

3 minutes ago, Rainmaker said:

 Nefarious demon, the slice is.    

Perhaps the entire game of golf is the nefarious demon.

[DrvFrShow]

11 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

What is the secret of the golf swing and how can I learn it? 
 

This is a serious question, lol . .I know I'm (probably) not going to get the "secret"  . .I want to know what people think it is or if they even think there is one.

 

edit - I actually mean the secret of the golf swing . .not actually the game of golf. 

The secret to the golf swing is learning how to return the club to the original shaft plane on a path somewhat square to inside out while getting your weight moving forward through impact and have the club head make solid contact with the ball reasonably square to your target line so that it lands approximately where you want.

You see so many different swings on the professional tours that are very successful. If there were one secret, this is it.

Every swing you make is different from the one preceding it. It doesn't matter how much you practice either. When you realize that professionals who have hit hundreds of thousands of balls still screw up and make a different swing once in a while - see Jordan Spieth at the Masters.... - you'll understand this. Realize that sometimes you'll hit it flush. Sometimes you'll hit it fat. Sometimes you'll hit it thin. Stop trying to analyze it. Just return to the basic. That's golf. 

[natureboy]

On 5/11/2016 at 11:07 AM, Rainmaker said:

Exactly . .it's a secret we keep from ourselves.  It's not a secret at all, it's in your face all the time.  If you're not doing it today, the only reason why not is because you just don't.  It's not a hard technique to learn.  It's a hard concept, for some odd reason, to get.  Speaking from my own experience (and only from my own) - if you're constantly asking yourself why the hell can I not hit this stupid ball right no matter what I try to do . . . . this could be the reason. 

Or one we forget. Not a single 'secret' advocate, but I think your realization is an important one. I have been shaking the rust off the swing and today had a bit of breakthrough when I remembered the mental image / feel I had established last year of 'collecting the ball' vs. 'hitting.at' the ball with the clubface. This relates to a lot of other terms like the 4:30 line, swing to right field, defaulting to the ball, low point in front of the ball, in-to-out, inside path, and on this site diagonal sweet spot path.

I agree it's a big one...but not everything.

Another one I'll comment on is 'secret is in the dirt'. To me this phrase captures three good ideas:

• dedication to practice / improvement
• experimenting and finding your own swing (& feels that work for it)
• learning to be efficient when you are too tired to muscle the ball or manipulate the swing with your upper body

Edited May 14, 2016 by natureboy

[Rainmaker]

For me, this is kind of "the secret in the dirt".  I'm definitely not a "1 secret" advocate.  In the sense that you could discover some "secret" and suddenly hit it like a pro . .I don't believe in any secret. 

For people like me, though, there is a "mystery" about the golf swing.  Something that makes it seem almost like a card trick.  How can my teacher, let alone the pros on TV, (almost) never miss?  I've seen guys that are not as big, not as strong as me hit it more than twice as far as me.  How come?  My first golf teacher was 62 years old and could hit a driver almost 300 yards.  How?  He was not like Jack LaLanne or anything.  I was half his age - in almost any physical contest, I could've beaten him.    

Well, for starters, they're not aiming their swings at the back of the ball.  As long as somebody is aiming their swing at the back of the ball, they will always suck at golf.  Even if they're pretty good - they'll still totally suck.  If that last sentence makes sense to you, then you know what I'm talking about, lol. 

But I've also come to realize - this is a secret that can not be "given".  As obvious as it seems to me now, I couldn't truly convey it to somebody else.  About 8 years ago I bought a "Real Feel" golf mat.  As awesome as this mat has been . it is starting to show some wear.  Scattered around my garage are several partial golf balls . .broken just from being hit so many times.  That's where the secret was, unfortunately.    At least for me. 

[Rainmaker]

Missed the edit window  ..argh.  I just checked my emails . .it was 5 years ago, not 8.  But it *felt* like 8 .. ifyaknowhwatimean. 

[Lihu]

3 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

For me, this is kind of "the secret in the dirt".  I'm definitely not a "1 secret" advocate.  In the sense that you could discover some "secret" and suddenly hit it like a pro . .I don't believe in any secret. 

For people like me, though, there is a "mystery" about the golf swing.  Something that makes it seem almost like a card trick.  How can my teacher, let alone the pros on TV, (almost) never miss?  I've seen guys that are not as big, not as strong as me hit it more than twice as far as me.  How come?  My first golf teacher was 62 years old and could hit a driver almost 300 yards.  How?  He was not like Jack LaLanne or anything.  I was half his age - in almost any physical contest, I could've beaten him.    

Well, for starters, they're not aiming their swings at the back of the ball.  As long as somebody is aiming their swing at the back of the ball, they will always suck at golf.  Even if they're pretty good - they'll still totally suck.  If that last sentence makes sense to you, then you know what I'm talking about, lol. 

But I've also come to realize - this is a secret that can not be "given".  As obvious as it seems to me now, I couldn't truly convey it to somebody else.  About 8 years ago I bought a "Real Feel" golf mat.  As awesome as this mat has been . it is starting to show some wear.  Scattered around my garage are several partial golf balls . .broken just from being hit so many times.  That's where the secret was, unfortunately.    At least for me. 

Lots of people aim for a specific dimple at the back of the ball. Not sure there's a correlation there and sucking at golf or not?

The one secret I can think of is to hit it long. The longer and straighter you hit, the easier the game.

[Rainmaker]

On 5/16/2016 at 3:38 AM, Lihu said:

Lots of people aim for a specific dimple at the back of the ball. Not sure there's a correlation there and sucking at golf or not?

The one secret I can think of is to hit it long. The longer and straighter you hit, the easier the game.

 

For somebody like me, with a tendency to come over the top, to cast it, etc . .aiming at a particular dimple is probably a terrible idea. The big switch I made was that I'm now aiming for what feels, to me, like 18 inches in front of the ball.  

Before, in my mind, I could picture the ball clearly through my entire swing.  I could almost make out the dimples.  

Now, it looks more like a blurry line to me.    

This didn't really help me hit that much longer, though.  A bit longer, for sure . .and way more consistent and better ball flight.  Nicer looking divots. 

At my next lesson after making this realization, my instructor started me working on using the ground.  That's how I'm going to hit it a bit farther.  But I couldn't have done that without this, first.  I tried . .didn't work. 

 

 

[Lihu]

Just now, Rainmaker said:

 

For somebody like me, with a tendency to come over the top, to cast it, etc . .aiming at a particular dimple is probably a terrible idea. The big switch I made was that I'm now aiming for what feels, to me, like 18 inches in front of the ball.  

Before, in my mind, I could picture the ball clearly through my entire swing.  I could almost make out the dimples.  

Now, it looks more like a blurry line to me.    

This didn't really help me hit that much longer, though.  A bit longer, for sure . .and way more consistent and better ball flight.  Nicer looking divots. 

At my next lesson after making this realization, my instructor started me working on using the ground.  That's how I'm going to hit it a bit farther.  But I couldn't have done that without this, first.  I tried . .didn't work. 

You kind of have to do what ever works for you, but it's difficult to generalize on feel or perception stuff.

[nevets88]

On 5/11/2016 at 2:15 PM, DaveP043 said:

Perhaps the entire game of golf is the nefarious demon.

A harsh mistress.

[Marty2019]

Okay, my first contribution on this subject was facetious.   Here is my serious response. 

Of course there's no one "secret" to a golf swing.   That said, the one thing I think most hackers fail at during the golf swing is, they are not relaxed.   They are all tensed up.   They put so much effort into hitting the ball hard.   They have so much anxiety at the top of the swing, they yank the club downward, or they try too hard to rotate and as a result come over the top, or they simply get everything out of sequence from anxiety.   

So, if I had to pick one thing, and say this is the secret to the golf swing, I would say, relax.   I don't mean get like a wet noodle, but simply slow it down a little.   Don't get all tensed up.