Thursday, August 25, 2011

Get Back To Golf Swing Basics

By Roderick Fraser


Golf swing basics starts with understanding that the mind, your physiology and golf club combined create the swing. This is what might be called the foundation of modelling golfing excellence. A golf swing has a series of processes or routines that need to come together from address, takeaway, backswing, downswing through the ball to your follow through.

On top of this considering your golf mental game is important such as when to think, what to think about, managing your emotions before, during and after the swing as well as being aware of your body throughout the swing. From your approach and setup to completion of the shot. Routines and good physical conditioning are a vital part of setting yourself up for success.

Focus on playing to the target as many golfers make a mistake of simply focussing on hitting the ball. It should be simple, just hit the ball. A simple equation of hit the ball harder and it will go further. Only if you play true to your golf swing plane and it is on line with the line the ball needs to move along. Assuming of course you hit it square.

Many factors make this much harder for the average golfer.

Are you playing against yourself before you even get started? Here is just a few ways you might be making it harder than it needs to be.

Poor physical conditioning, muscles imbalances or tight shoulders, hamstrings and an inability to rotate impeding your golf swing. You have not put in the time or practice with the right coaching to have a reliable golf swing sequence that never changes. You are thinking your way through every step of the golf swing completely distracted from playing to your target with a clear mind. Your golf clubs are poorly fitted to you in length, shaft flex and type or grip. This impacts your golf grip and how you hold your posture over the ball. The golf ball you are using is second hand, out of shape or worse cold which means less distance or worse.

It is time to get back to basics with your golf swing. Here's what you can do.

Work on finding a groove for a swing you can repeat every single time without fail. The simplest thing is to break your golf swing routine into 5 or so easy chunks you can master one at a time.

Before every round or practice session warm up - stretch. This includes wrists, elbows, hands of course, your back legs and every joint and muscle in the body. Think of your golf swing and go through your golf bag one club at a time to warm up with 2 or 3 swings with every club.

Start with a solid address of the ball with your feet aligned to the target, your club face square to the ball and line. Once you address the golf ball all the decisions have been made, breathe to manage those emotions or nerves. Breathe to let go, relax, get into your body. Focus on your target and the shot you intend to play.

Sometimes it is worth swinging the golf club from shoulder to shoulder and focus on accuracy and control. Take a shorter backswing and you can build strength and power over time.

Notice how you start you backswing. You want your hands, arms, shoulders and chest to move as a triangle. A slow backswing will serve you best with your arms fully extended.

Build club head speed from the top of the backswing through the downswing. Timing and rhythm comes from a smooth golf swing. Your natural rhythm can be found through the breath. Breathe in on the backswing and out through the downswing through the ball to the target.

Your spine needs to be straight as this is the axis of rotation for the golf swing. Keep that in mind otherwise your swing will be all over the place from vertical and horizontal movement such as swaying or your head moving.

Make the effort to build a solid golf shot routine and focus on the golf swing basics. Slow is fast what I mean is we learn best often in slow motion one step after another to build a repeatable golf swing. Remember your mind, body, clubs and swing all work together to create a result.




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