When golfers from Australia and other countries come to my golfing school, one of the first things I tell them is that there are only three rules they need to understand and learn to make a strong, repeatable golf swing. I'm sure you're a little skeptical as you read this because, let's face it, there is a lot of confusing and contradictory advice out there about how to learn the best golf swing.
It can be hard to understand, and with all the advice out there, you might be asking yourself right now, "Why should you listen to me?" Good question. I've read a lot of golf training books and articles in golf magazines, and I've gone to a lot of golf websites to look at the systems, methods, and techniques they offer.
The difference is that I have actually spent more than 20,000 hours on the golf range (yes, you read that right) helping golfers like you improve their game. So I no longer worry about what you need to do to make your golf swing more consistent and reliable. I've tried and tested many methods in my search for a reliable, logical, and well-thought-out way to help my students improve their golfing skills.
The answer I came up with is that the first step to development is to set the ground rules for the game. Since golf is a game with a stick, a ball, and a goal, you should start by learning how the stick (the golf club) makes the ball go in the direction of your goal. You see, learning how to make a consistent golf swing doesn't have to be hard or complicated. Every golfer, from a beginner to a PGA tour pro, needs to do just three things.
Since the ball is on the ground and to the side of you, it's easy to see why the golf club, which is resting on the ground behind the ball, is shaped like an airplane. From the driver to the putter, the shaft of a golf club is tilted at an angle. Think about a house for a second. The floor is a horizontal plane, the walls are vertical planes, and the roof is an inclined plane.
This moving plane tells you where your golf swing is going as it goes back and forth. Each club in your bag will follow this plane. Because the golf club is set up this way, it becomes its own law.
So the main idea is to control the path of the golf club, which swings back and forth in relation to your target, by keeping your golf club on or as close as you can to this plane. You can do this by putting a flat piece of cardboard or something similar on the same angle as your seven iron, measuring from the bottom of the club head to the bottom of the grip. You can prop it up against something to keep it in place while you practice swinging your golf club slowly back and forth along with it.
The second principle has to do with how the club heads are attached to the golf shaft and how they can turn at the end of the golf shaft as it moves back and forth. When your golf club goes backwards to the top of your swing, it turns a little bit like when a door's hinges are turned on. When it swings toward the golf ball, it rolls back to its original position. This needs to happen at the exact moment the ball leaves the club face.
Keep in mind that you need enough rotation (flip and roll) around the shaft to get this immediate clubface-up effect. If you go much higher or lower, you will be in big trouble. You can do this by making sure that your left hand (if you golf with your right hand) is in a place where you can roll the top more than you can flip it. If you held your golf club horizontally in front of you and then switched it, the face of the club would turn toward 2 o'clock. It will roll to almost 9 o'clock when you roll it. In other words, you want to be able to close your club face more on the follow-through than you can on the back swing.
Learn The Stress Free Golf Swing - Ben Hogans Secret
Most of the golfers I've taught at my golf school over the years tend to open the club face more than they need to on the back swing, which makes it hard for them to close it enough on the forward swing. This causes the shots to go to the right of the target.
The 0.33 rule is about putting enough force on the club at the right time during the down swing so that you can hit the ball a good distance. This rule is about getting the club head moving fast enough as close as possible to impact. When you watch a PGA tour golfer on TV, if you look closely, you can see how the left arm and golf club work together during the back swing and forward swing.
In the grip position, they are almost in line with each other. As they move backwards, the left wrist starts to bend, and the golf club moves away from the left arm. In the end, they form a sharp attitude at the top of the returned swing. This stance has saved up the potential energy of the golf swing and is almost ready to turn it into kinetic energy on the down swing.
The key is to keep this sharp mindset for as long as possible, so that the power that is being put into the down swing is released slowly, like fertilizer to your garden. If the electricity lets go too soon, you flow into the deceleration phase too soon. This is a good way to make your drives and irons shorter and less effective.
If you follow this tip, you can keep this sharp angle for longer. Since pressure can be either a push or a pull, you need to decide how your fingers, which are in front of your golf club at the top of the back swing, move down the plane (see rule #1) toward your golf ball. Some golfers will use their right hand to push harder on their golf club at the top of their swing to give it more power for the downswing, while others will use their left hand to pull harder on their golf club to give it more power.
So that's true? Well, imagine a line that goes straight up from your golf ball when you're at address. We'll call this the "impact line," and it will help us figure out which hand to use to keep the angle between the left arm and the club shaft. How far do you think your hands are from the target line when you're at the top of your swing? Try it now and see what happens. You'll find out that they're between 3 and 5 feet tall.
If you pull the golf club past this effect line, it will take longer for the club and its power to be released than if you push on it with your right hand. So, palms first, club head second. You don't want the head of your club to get stuck on your hands before you hit the ball. The best way to do this is to keep the club head behind your right elbow for as long as you can during the down swing. The more your right elbow moves across the front of your body, the more likely it is that the golf club will hit the ball at the right time. Also, you might find that it's easier to get your arms to pass the impact line well before your golf club hits the ball if you put your hands just above your waist at about 9 o'clock.
So, there you have it: three rules that will help you build a golf swing that is steady and repeatable.
Learn The Stress Free Golf Swing - Ben Hogans Secret