Whatever your golf handicap is, you’ve probably experienced days when everything on the course seemed to fall into place.
You’re golfing with a fun-loving foursome. You’re playing a great course on a great day. And you’re driving, chipping, and putting well. In fact, you’re doing everything well. It all seems so easy.
And, then, for no apparent reason, you lose it. You can’t do anything right. Your drives miss the fairways. Your approach shots fall way short. And your chip shots run by the hole and off the green.
Just To Be Clear
The golf body turn vs. arm swing shouldn’t be an actual question. Let me explain!
To have a whole golf swing, it requires your body to turn… and for your arms to swing. Which is why I’m not sure why this question is being asked in the google search. But I will try to answer it!
Here’s a fantastic golf swing training aid that will help with lag and form. You can swing this inside, so if you live in a place where the weather isn’t great year round, this will be perfect.
Far And Few Between
Good shots are far and few between. And when you finally hit a good shot, you shank the next, turning pars into double and triple bogeys. Everything feels confused as if you’ve never hit a ball before.
One reason why we sometimes “lose it” is timing. In golf instruction timing means synchronizing your turning body and your swinging arms, resulting in a smooth release of the clubhead through impact and beyond.
Timing
Timing helps generate control, accuracy, and distance. More importantly, it helps generate swing consistency, regardless of your golf handicap.
How do you know when your timing is right? When your timing is on, your swing is fluid and effortless. It feels like your hitting the ball on the sweet spot every time.
And the ball is taking off. When your timing is off, your swing feels out of whack. You struggle to hit the ball, never mind generating distance or driving it straight. Your swing feels confused. In fact, everything feels confused.
More Timing
Your confusion often begins with a loss of timing. In golf, loss of timing occurs when the upper parts of your arms separate from your rotating chest halfway through your backswing and follow-through.
If you could see yourself in slow-motion, you’d see your left arm separate and lift from your chest in the backswing and your right arm separate and lift from your chest in the follow-through.
Recapturing your timing is essential to regaining that “everything is easy” feeling. It’s why we take golf lessons and read golf tips. The sensation you want to feel is that of the pressure being maintained between your upper arms and chest.
The left arm should stretch diagonally across your chest on the backswing and the right arm in a similar position in the follow-through. This is called linkage. When it’s broken, timing strays and confusion reigns.
Some Tempo
Another reason why we sometimes “lost it” is tempo. Tempo is the time it takes you to complete your full swing, from start to finish. When you’re playing well, you feel like your hitting the ball long, solid, and accurately.
You find your tempo is pretty much the same on every full shot. But when your game is off, your tempo is off as well.
Generally, a player’s tempo reflects his personality. If you’re a fast moving, quick talking type of person, your swing will be fast and quick. If you’re a laid back, easy-going type of person, your swing will be unhurried, easy by nature.
Timing & Tempo
When combined, timing and tempo help determine swing consistency. But neither is easy to develop. By working on both, you’ll develop the kind of swing even players with low golf handicaps will envy.
Here’s an exercise I use in my golf lessons to develop a player’s appreciation for his/her swing tempo:
Address a ball. Raise the clubhead off the ground slightly. Move it forward to a position a foot or so into the follow-through, and start swinging from there. Guide the clubhead back over the ball, complete your backswing, and swing through the ball all in one motion. Repeat this exercise a number of times. Eventually, you will start developing an appreciation of your swing tempo.
A Little Exercise Tip
Here’s an exercise to develop your swing’s linkage:
This exercise is designed to train no more than a three quarter length swing.
1.Place a ball on the ground.
2.Take a 9-iron and assume a normal address position.
3.Next, place a head cover underneath each armpit,
4.Take three-quarter length swings with the 9-iron.
5.Repeat the exercise
You want to focus on making the swing without losing the head cover; this forces you, in turn, to concentrate on rotating your arms and swinging your body together. Synchronizing your arms and body maintains that all-important linkage between these key parts. Repeat the exercise until you feel comfortable.
Naturally, if you take a full-length swing, the head covers will fall out. So take only three-quarter length swings. Once you feel comfortable doing this, dispense with the head covers, but remember the feeling. Try to maintain it as you hit balls without the covers. Soon, you’ll feel your timing returning.
The Basics Are The Same
The basics are the same for everyone; however, due to the differences in people’s body type, no two people will ever have the same golf swing. Each person will have to adapt their bodies to perform a proper golf swing in their own way.
Taking the time to develop your own method of playing golf will greatly improve your enjoyment and success at the game. Practicing the basic fundamentals of the game until they are ingrained in your muscles will lead to confidence on the course, and that confidence will lead to success and enjoyment of the game.
Some Golf Swing Tips
One of the most basic steps that you can put into action and see an immediate improvement to your golf swing is to keep your head still and look straight at the ball. The position of your head should be straight in line with your spine, and your nose should be raised up a bit so that when you start to swing, your left shoulder fits under your chin.
Many players tuck their heads into their chests to try and keep their heads still and look straight down at the golf ball. Unfortunately, they cannot perform a proper golf swing while in this position.
Difficulty Keeping Your Eyes on The Ball?
If you are one of the many that are having difficulty keeping your head straight and an eye on the ball try the following. The next time you approach the ball, assume the correct stance with your feet and knees in position but keep your head and back straight, bend forward slightly at the waist and look straight at the ball.
If you try and take a swing in this position, your left shoulder will most likely hit your chin. While keeping your eyes on the ball, raise your head slowly until your left shoulder does not hit your chin. Make sure that your head does not move from side to side by keeping your eyes fixed on the ball.
Slowly go through the backswing and downswing portions of your golf swing. Do not hit the ball and do the follow through. Practice this portion of your golf swing focusing on keeping your head straight and eyes on the ball.
Try This
Practice this exercise in your backyard for about 25 times in a row and then take a break and relax a bit, then start again. Make minor corrections to your head and body position as needed to keep your eyes straight on the ball and your left shoulder from hitting your chin.
This exercise will “train” your body, and your muscles will “remember” the correct position you need to be in to perform the movement correctly. Think about any sports athlete, they train and train to place their bodies in the correct stance and position to properly execute the movements necessary to be successful in their particular sport.
You are doing the same thing by “training” your body to keep your head straight and position itself so that you can successfully execute a proper golf swing.
Another Great Tip
Another basic step that can work greatly towards improving your golf swing is to relax. I know it is easier said then done, especially when you are getting ready to put all your power into drive with an audience of either your co-workers or better still your friends who will not let you forget it if you mess up.
However, relaxing your muscles will help you to maintain the proper balance that is important to a great golf swing. Regardless of the golf clubs you use, your balance is the primary foundation of your golf swing, and the way to achieve good balance is to practice.
A good way to practice improving your balance is to assume the address position with your club, relax your body and try holding it there for about 30 seconds. Does it feel like you have more weight on one foot or the other? Is one part of your body more tense then another?
Keeping your head straight and maintaining good balance are just two basic parts of a great golf swing. The exercises given above are just two ways that you can start training now to improve your golf swing. You can work on either one separately, or combine them together into one exercise. Improving your golf swing begins and ends with you.
Golf Strength
Training the muscles of your body to properly perform specific movements takes time and practice. The effort spent improving your golf swing will pay off on the course.
A better golf swing is inevitable…for any golfer, with the right approach. It doesn’t matter age or ability. It’s a reality…and can happen very quickly!
Golf Is So Physical!
To achieve a better golf swing, a golfer needs to realize just how physically demanding it is on the human body. You are swinging an object (golf club) at up to 100 mph. This puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscles.
If these tissues of the body are weak, tight or brittle they will rupture and eliminate you from playing golf indefinitely. If it doesn’t, your performance will pay the price. The outcome, either way, is not what you want…but will happen without an emphasis on strengthening these areas.
Along with strengthening comes stretching. Stretching muscles to attain a better golf swing is common among most golfers. Although it is common, most golfers don’t stretch. Why? Because it is viewed as ‘work’. But if it were viewed as a form of golf improvement it would be a different story.
Swing mechanics cannot be improved if your golf specific strength and flexibility are ignored. It is an impossibility, unless you compensate for this lack of capabilities in your golf swing. Teaching pros are now starting to realize there is a definite connection between golf swing mechanics and fitness.
But that’s where the BIG gap is. Between instruction and physical fitness. This is the ultimate combination for total golf performance. When your physical capabilities are improved, your golf swing mechanics become much easier to achieve.
Just Remeber
The next time you visit your teaching pro, to achieve a better golf swing, you’ll be able to do what he/she wants and the desired outcome will be achieved. This outcome is inevitable when you get your body moving better. Your golf swing mechanics fall into place.
It will only be a matter of time when all golfers will approach their golf improvement this way. It’s the only way that will warrant lasting results and ultimately a better golf swing.
Through exercise and practice, you will be able to slip into the proper address position and perform an effortless, powerful golf swing and feel just as if you were sliding your hand into a warm soft glove.