Golf Tips for Amateurs Aiming or doing anything involving directing the ball is a swing wrecker. Have you wondered why you hit it flush on the driving range but not so much on the course. The answer is as simple as it is counterintuitive. On the range, all you are thinking about is your swing. You are not THAT concerned about hitting it straight. And you discover that you DO hit it pretty straight, even without lining up or aiming your body. That’s because:
As long as you make a good SWING, the straightness will take care of itself.
Once you have a swing you can trust, all you do is try to repeat that swing. This involves reproducing the same ‘feel’ over and over again.
This simple idea cannot be carried too far. Instead of going to the range to ‘hit a bunch of balls’, go with the idea of ‘making a bunch of swings’. I know it sounds trivial but it is an important psychological shift.
Summary
Most of us, do not work on reproducing a ‘feel’. We work on reproducing certain ‘positions’ – both during the backswing and during our through swing. This is incorrect – and will not result in a repeatable swing. Only a correct pre-swing feel results in a repeatable swing.
One Comment
Elizabeth
If I’m picturing what you are syniag correctly, yes. Ironically, I was working on a blog entry very similar to what you are syniag. In a lesson yesterday, I had my student simulate impact against a pole on the range he then hit wonderful shots because the muscle image was still fresh and he just reproduced it with a drill. This is not finished yet but I think you will get the idea. I will do a video soon.Here is the post draft:Use A Kinesthetic Drill to Map Impact for Recall If you setup in a doorway with the door jamb opposite your front hip socket, then simulate impact by putting the palm of your back hand on the jamb, and turning your core to push against the jamb (rotating like the downswing, not sliding forward), you will push on the jamb and actually program or map this feeling in your brain, Kinesthetically. So why would you want this? Well, it is teaching the muscles the feeling of what you want to achieve through impact. It is kind of like recording a mental picture of all of your muscles (turning and pushing), that you will recall just before you swing. Then once you’re setup, recall the feeling of the drill then go. The visualization is so fresh in your mind, your body will reproduce it.