Jul 14 2006
What Messes-Up my Golf Swing?
If you check out the available instruction on golf swings, you will find a lot of information on what you are doing wrong in and with your golf swing. These perspectives on fixing the golf swing are all mechanical views and fixes for what is believed to be a mechanical problem. Enlightened Golf says to go beyond the obvious and to ask yourself if your golf swing really comes from a ‘mechanical’ place; because if it doesn’t, mechanical fixes will not hit their intended mark – and golfers, on average, will remain at about their current level of play. A golf swing is what your body does in order to move a club-head straight down your target line through the impact with the ball; the swing movements should establish the club-face in the proper position and alignment, at impact with the ball (and just before to just after), to deliver the proper energy and directional guidance to the ball. Your results are the ultimate indication of problems; if the ball doesn’t get where you want it to go, then you have a problem with your swing. But is the problem really with your swing, or is it just ‘showing up’ in your swing? I go back to the original question; “What messes up my golf swing?” The first obvious answer is that you just don’t have a golf swing because you haven’t learned one yet; or if you have learned one, you simply haven’t practiced it long enough to become comfortable, or proficient. If you do know how to hit a golf ball properly, and you still have something wrong with your swing (as indicated by your ball travel), then think it through more than the next step… Most of the flaws typically blamed for poor swings have to do with unnecessary, or unwanted, body movement: “You turned your shoulders too early…,” or “You lifted your head and pulled in your hands…” Obviously, this list is rather long and you’ve probably heard more of it than you care for me to repeat. Don’t worry; I won’t repeat the laundry list of mechanical glitches. But I will tell you that any mechanical glitch, or body movement, which occurs during your swing is beyond you ability to ‘fix’ physically. Like Jack Nicklaus said, “The golf swing happens far too fast to control it consciously…” Once you’ve started your swing, anything that happens either hurts, or helps, your body’s efforts to move the ball to the hole; conscious thinking always hurts at this point. And, any unconscious movement is the result of Psychological and Neurological ‘static’ which can quickly be eliminated with several of the RESET techniques. When I say ‘eliminated,’ by the way, I mean in seconds, and forever. If you move your shoulders, or lift your head, or even squeeze your club too tightly, there will be obvious effects on the swing which will show up in the path of the ball. If you move your body, eyes, head, or hands, we know that to be the result of muscle activity; and we know muscle activity is ‘caused by’ hormonal and neural activity. Neural and hormonal activity is caused by Psychological and Mental activity; this is the Performance Pathway. Physical glitches in your swing mechanics come from unmonitored nervous system ‘glitches’ which are all the result of brain activity. What messes up your swing is always the Mind – regardless of where you try to address it.
Pete Koerner, Sports Performance Consultant