Making Progress - Swing Tips 5

After going through some swing thoughts using plastic practice balls in the backyard, it was time for a "reality check" by seeing how the swing works at the range. The video shows rear views of a utility club and a side view of a couple of driver swings (I think that that background noise you hear is the overhead heaters; it's about 42 degrees).

You'll see almost immediately what I meant when I said earlier that I feel completely relaxed hitting plastic balls, but I can't stop from getting tight and rushing when I hit a real golf ball. You'll notice the quick start from the top of the swing, and you'll notice that the swing is basically over shortly after impact. Instead of swinging around in a nice arc, the clubhead jerks over to the side and slows down dramatically. You'll also see that with the utility club, I let it get behind me on the backswing, whereas I keep the seven-iron in a much more vertical plane in the videos showing my practice swing.

I videotaped myself and watched myself on the camcorder during this session, and you might notice some differences between the first swings and the last ones. They certainly felt different to me. The most important learning point was how loose and relaxed the fingers have to be, and the club has to rest in the fingers. Complete looseness and relaxation are prerequisites for clubhead speed at impact and for greater distance. And surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be any sacrifice of accuracy. Near the end of the session, where I was concentrating on completely loose fingers, during the backswing and maintaining that looseness during the downswing, I was hitting a utility three around 180-190 yards and straight at my target. It was amazing! When I talked about holding the club in the fingers (in an earlier post), I didn't realize that the fingers should stay loose throughout the swing, especially on the downswing and through impact. That looseness is what allows the club to whip at tremendous speed. It is a mistake, I now realize, to think about consciously manipulating the club at impact. There is no way to do that. Instead, the correct approach is to let the club fly. Just let it go and snap at the bottom of the swing arc. And there is no rush getting there, either. I have to work on slowing myself down so that I build up speed gradually from the lag at the top of the backswing and save the club's potential for speed until the last possible instant before impact. The video today clearly shows the work I have to do in my backyard practice.