Learning Golf Knowledge, A Foreign Language, Leads To Better Golf

The golf swing is a complex series of movements. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that most people have trouble mastering it. In fact, when you really take time and think about it, nobody should be shocked at how difficult it is to master the golf swing or to even be moderately proficient at it.

In less than a few seconds, the golfer has to make those complex series of movements and has to complete them in a near perfect fashion in order to return the club to the ball and make proper contact. Is it any wonder that the golfer might be just a little nervous, have just a little doubt, or maybe lack more than just a little confidence that it’s going to happen?

That is why it is so important to study the golf swing before you attempt to practice. I don’t mean that you have to be an expert before you can begin practicing. The thought I am trying to convey is that you should study one small aspect of the golf swing before you go out and practice and put all of your effort into attempting to practice that particular piece of the golf swing.

Using the takeaway as an example, learn how to rotate your shoulders around your spine and study how the rotation should look. When you hit balls you should concentrate on mimicking pictures you may have studied prior to the practice. Get a picture in your own mind how the rotation of the shoulders should look and try to copy those vivid images. It’s much easier to learn the golf swing by taking it apart and trying to get a reasonable degree of proficiency in one aspect of the swing during one practice. After a while, you will have enough proficiency at various pieces of the golf swing to put them all together into one smooth and flowing swing.

When you have completed practicing the pieces of the golf swing including the takeaway, the backswing, the transition, and the downswing; make an attempt to put them together into one flowing swing. It is important to concentrate on what stood out as key elements of the various individual pieces of the swing. Those key elements should be engrained into your mind so that you have them so well memorized that they come to mind as a reflex reaction and are second nature to you. This particular aspect is critical to slowing down your swing and making it a smooth, powerful, and deliberate stroke. I believe the biggest reason most golfers have swings that are far below their natural talent and learned ability is because they have swings that reflect their lack of ingrained golf knowledge and confidence what move they need to make next. You have to know what comes next if you expect to do it in an accelerating and flowing swing. Think of it in terms of a foreign language. You wouldn’t expect to speak fluent Spanish if you’ve never studied which words mean what and how sentences flow together or how adverbs and nouns are used and where. In order to speak fluently you have to know what is going to happen next and have the language so well ingrained into your brain that it almost comes naturally.

Much of the work on your golf swing can be done at home, at work, or while driving to work. Think about the most recent practice you’ve had and think about what went wrong and what may be the cause. If you don’t know, find out. There are many wonderful golf instruction articles with much great advice. Sift through them and try to find the ones that seem to make sense. Naturally, you will want to seek out some that are offered by PGA professionals because these are the people who are trained for just such a task. However, don’t ignore amateur articles that speak to you, in your language. Remember, sometimes those pros speak in terms that only other pros truly understand. It isn’t that the article is wrong, it’s just that they may not be using terms that have any real meaning to you as a “non-professional”. So keep an open mind, you’re smarter than you think you are. If you want to play better golf, you’ll be motivated to separate the wheat from the chaff.