Tag: golf swing

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Golf Tips

Own Your Own Swing

By Scott Messner

Tiger Woods made an interesting comment at last December’s Hero World Challenge. He said he told his son Charlie “Don’t copy my swing. Copy Rory’s. I don’t move like that anymore, but Rory does. Have you ever seen Rory off balance on a shot? No.”

Sure. Charlie Wood’s and Rory McIlroy’s swings are similar, but Charlie Wood’s swing is Charlie Wood’s swing.

I watch a lot of streaming of the PGA Tour. I watch for things that almost every professional player does that may help me in my game. Many times, that boils down to positions of the club or hands at various points in the swing.

The most important clubface position is at impact with the ball. There are a multitude of different ways that professions golfers get the clubface in the correct position. While many professional golfers will have similar swings, many others will have different swings, vastly different swings.

Jim Furyk has one of the most unorthodox looking swings, with an extremely upright backswing, but Mr. Furyk’s swing is very repeatable for him. It allows him to consistently get the clubface in a great position at impact. Jim Furyk’s swing has produced the only 58 round in the history of the PGA Tour and over $70 million in career tournament earnings.

Watch any tournament today and you’ll see very different swings. Victor Hovland has a more vertical backswing and stands farther away from the ball than most other players. Jon Rahm has a short backswing and stands close to the ball. Tony Finau also has a short backswing. Matt Fitzpatrick has a longer backswing. They all repeatably put the clubface in a great position at impact. They all also, as of this writing, are ranked in the top 15 players in the world according to the Official World Golf Rankings. 

We all have different bodies. Our bodies are different ages and sizes, with different strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities. It’s not practical to watch another golfer’s swing and copy it 100% as your own.

Find ways to get your body in certain positions you see the pros in, especially properly positioning the clubface at impact on a consistent basis. This starts with having self-awareness of your own swing, knowing what causes your mishits, and being able to work on correcting them on your own. This process is made so much easier with the help of a golf teaching professional.

Own you own swing. While we can incorporate successful parts from others’ swings into our own, our unique bodies make our golf swings uniquely ours.

Isaiah 64:8 states that God molds each of us as a potter does a clay jar. Just as each clay vessel made by the potter is unique, God molds us into unique individuals according to His plan.

Isaiah 64:8
8
 But now, Yahweh, you are our Father. We are the clay and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand.

Are you moldable?

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Golf Tips

Every Golfer Needs to Know the Basics

By Shooting 90

Golf can seem highly intimidating for those just picking up the game. It is true that to become a scratch (0 handicap) golfer you need to learn and master many aspects of the game. However, you can produce a plenty good enough swing to get around the course by learning a few principles.

Stance

Ball Position

Alignment

Grip

Backswing (Turn)

Transition at the Top

Downswing (Turn) and Follow Through

The links below will give you a general idea of each principle, but what is the best, fastest, and easiest way to learn them?

Of course the best way is through lessons with a golf teaching professional, but that literally comes with a cost ($$$). Private golf lessons from a teaching professional can be expensive. Even in my rural area, lessons from the PGA teaching professional at my local municipal course cost $60 an hour. That’s a lot of money for many beginner golfers, considering you’re going to need multiple lessons.

One of the goals of Shooting 90 is to show golfers how to make golf more affordable. One way is to get lessons at a vastly reduced rate by taking group lessons. Get a couple beginner friends and a one hour group lesson is only $20 each.

Better yet, every year, a local course conducts a 5 week summer program they call Golf 101. For $135, you get a one and a half hour long group lesson each week followed by 9 holes with a cart. You can do the math. It’s an incredible deal! There are programs like this at many courses.

There are even ways you can learn these basic golf principles by spending next to nothing.

Go out for the golf team if you are in high school! Depending on how competitive your school is in golf, you may not get to go to many or any golf meets, but for a small activity fee you will get a lot of instruction and practice time on the local range and course.

Another way to learn these principles is by practicing and golfing with a good golfer. Ask a friend who is a good golfer to show you a few things on the range. After you know the basics you’ll be able to join them on the course. Watch them and learn! The key to this way is to make sure your friend is actually a good golfer who knows what they’re talking about. The last thing you want to do as a beginner golfer is learn bad habits! That’s also why you should never take unsolicited advice on the range or course from strangers.

Finally, it is possible to self learn basic golf principles at no cost by watching YouTube videos. I’ll get roasted for even suggesting this, but it is entirely possible. Just be sure to do your research and find a reputable online instructor. Watch several different YouTube instructors to begin with until you find one whose teaching style and terminology best connects with you. I’ve been able to improve my game in several areas through social media. Here’s a hint. You’re about to see a few great YouTube instructors in the links below!

I hope I’ve shown you a few viable ways to learn the basics of the golf swing, enough for you to get out and enjoy golfing!

Stance

Ball Position

Alignment

Grip

Backswing (Turn)

Transition at the Top

Downswing (Turn) and Follow Through

Categories
Golf Tips

Learn Everything About the Golf Swing You Can!

By Shooting 90

We have still have bad things in the world, maybe more than ever, but we truly live in the best of times. The internet provides us information on almost every subject accessible 24 hours a day. There is a wealth of information on the golf swing.

Can you teach yourself to play golf? Can you teach yourself the golf swing? Yes, multiple PGA Tour players have taught themselves to play and are their own swing coach. While it has been proven this can be done, it is most certainly not the norm, and this article is not suggesting you should. The best way to fast track your progress in anything in life is to invest in a great coach, but great coaches are hard to find, great coaches are expensive.

Although great coaches may not be in your area, not in your budget, or both, there are still good coaches in your area. Do some research, ask other golfers about their experience, do whatever you need to do to get as much information as possible about coaches in your area.

Lessons with a coach are extremely useful for the beginner golfer to create a solid foundation to build off of. There is just so much that a beginner doesn’t know. A coach can really get you going in the right direction.

High handicap golfers can also benefit from a coach. Of course high handicap golfers bring along a certain amount of baggage. Depending on how long you have been playing and swinging the way you have, the amount of baggage can be quite large and have an affect on your lessons. Golfers many times expect too much too quickly from lessons, and when they do not see results in the time frame they think they should, become frustrated.

If you learn everything about the golf swing you can, you make lessons from a teaching professional much more effective by:

  • Understanding what your golf coach is explaining to you and the purposes of the drills you are instructed to do.
  • Practicing on your own with more confidence that you will not stray from the concepts discussed with your golf instructor.
  • Knowing how instruction you read on social media applies to both your golf swing and the concepts you have discussed with your golf instructor. Or maybe more importantly if the instruction you read should not apply to you.
  • Learning new concepts that your instructor does not teach or heavily focus on and how these new concepts relate to the concepts your instructor has focused on.
  • Realizing how to fix a slice!

Follow these golf instructors on Twitter and learn everything about the golf swing you can!

Joseph Mayo @TrackmanMaestro

Andrew Rice @AndrewRiceGolf

Mark Crossfield @4golfonline

Shauheen Nakhjavani @shkeengolf

These four instructors are world class and will help you begin to self learn everything about the golf swing. There are many other great golf instructors you will also stumble upon. Start learning!