The 7 Worst Instructions in Golf
(including “Keep your head down”)
Why has the average handicap not improved in the last 40 years? Why do so many normal people who play weekly golf have so much trouble swinging a golf club? Why do people who have been good at all other sports have so much difficulty with golf? Why does their natural sense of rhythm, balance and coordination evaporate into thin air as soon as they get a golf club in their hands? I believe the following instructions, given to most golfers by 99% of golf coaches and instruction manuals, play a massive role in interfering with our natural ability to swing a golf club. Here is a list of the 7 worst instructions in golf, courtesy of Brian Sparks and his book Positive Impact Golf.
1. Keep your head down.
Your head should move with the body in a coordinated way throughout the swing, away from the target on the backswing and then forwards towards it on the through swing. Studies show the average head movement in top players with a driver is over two inches away from the target in the backswing. Why then do most amateur golfers still believe that they should keep their head still? Even as you hit the ball your head should not stop, just as in any throwing movement.
2. Keep your eyes on the ball.
Honestly, what else will you be looking at? This instruction is for other sports where you play with a moving ball. Over-emphasis on the ball in golf creates tension, restricting your movement and giving you the feeling of being a prisoner to the ball.
3. Keep the left arm straight.
Your arms should be as relaxed as possible just as you would if you wanted to throw a ball a long way. Your muscles work best and at their fastest when they are supple and elastic. How many amateurs do you see with hyper tense and rigid shoulders? In golf you want to ultimately develop speed with feel and you cannot do this when you are holding the club tightly.
4. Keep the target foot planted on the ground.
I believe that keeping the feet still in the backswing is one of the major factors in most players`awkwardness in the golf swing movement, especially those who are not naturally sporty people and almost any golfer over 50 years old. Traditional thinking advocates the `coil`method wherein the shoulders turn against the resisting hips and legs with the feet glued to the ground. On the contrary, movement should start from the feet as they are the real motors of the swing. I invite you to have a look at some videos of the oldies and greats of the game such as Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus.
5. The one-piece takeaway.
In my opinion, the one piece takeaway is responsible for over-mechanical and unnatural backswings where the wrists become inactive. Ideally, the wrists should start hinging at the same time the club moves away from the ball and continue to hinge until the club gets to the top of the backswing. Just like using a hammer, you wouldn`t think about your wrist action, you`d just swing and hit the nail without any thought of how you were doing it.
6. Take the club back in a straight line.
What is a straight line in the golf swing other than the one between the ball and the target. Trying to keep the club on a straight line is likely to produce an upright swing plane and cause the body to slide or sway instead of rotating. Let us remember that centrifugal force is the most powerful aspect of a throwing movement and can only be created by a turning motion so when your body fails to turn sufficiently its ability to produce this force is compromised.
7. Keep the club pointing at the target for as long as possible after impact.
Same response as above in point 5 and I will add some interesting information about clubface rotation from research and studies of top players. The studies show that the toe end of the club rotates by up to two-and-a-half degrees per inch. That is too say it is thirty degrees shut by the time it is twelve inches past impact. Amazing isn`t it? Rather than keeping it pointing at the target for as long as possible, (which seems logical), it should be closed for the ball to go straight as the ball has already left the clubface. Therefore, holding it square is actually holding it open to where it should be. This is the main reason for slicing in golf! As well as resulting in loss of distance as the weight of the club has not been fully released into the shot. The correct position of the clubbed a foot after impact is to the left of the ball to target line and the correct orientation of the clubface is considerably left of that.
I am convinced that the above traditional instructions which so many of us know so well are making it extremely difficult for you to tap into your natural ability to swing the club in a relaxed, rhythmical and effective manner with any degree of consistency. I believe you can make astounding progress simply by letting go of these misconceptions and embracing a more natural way of playing the game. Why don´t you give it a try and see what happens?