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Find Your Best Swing Quickly
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I received a question regarding a section in my book that states something along the lines of - "Forcing the club into specific positions will typically not be as effective as swinging a club through those same positions". Or in other words, focusing on sequencing and rhythm will often allow the body to subconsciously coordinate these positions and their timing. Now, if we apply this concept to our practice, we can use the following rules:
- A focus on rhythm/sequencing will often create better contact, improve low point-control, and benefit longer clubs such as the driver
- A focus on positions/mechanics will help with face-control (i.e. start line) and be more effective with shorter clubs such as wedges.
Ultimately, using the pros/cons of each approach and understanding your game's weaknesses/strengths should help you decide which strategy to choose and hopefully, speed up your progress.
Playlists: Practice Strategies, Find Your Best Swing Quickly
Tags: Practice Strategies, Concept, Intermediate
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This concept video is rhythm feels better than positions.
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So there's a section that I go over in the book and I got an email question about it.
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So I thought I'd expand on it a little bit for the website.
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And the line in the book is something along the lines of basically that forcing the
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club into specific positions typically won't succeed or have the same level of efficiency
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as swinging a club through positions.
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So one way to kind of look at it is if you get the club swinging, if you can feel
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the weight of the club and you get it swinging through space, your body will coordinate
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a lot of the timings to kind of match the rhythm of the club swinging.
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And so some of the fine details as far as low point control and face control are better
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sing up when the whole body is working in harmony or in unity or basically working together.
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I like it to if I was doing a squat movement, I want to make sure that I have a tight energy
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transfer all the way from my shoulders and neck, all the way down to my feet.
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If for example I had tight in line in line in line and then I got to my knee and my knee was
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loose and sloppy and not in connection with the whole movement, then once I got under
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more load it'd be more likely that I'd hurt my knee.
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In the golf swing, if I get two position focus, what can happen is I lose the fluidity
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of everything kind of working together and what'll happen is even if I get into a good
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position, my weight transfer might be off or my sequencing might be off or the timing of my
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arm extension might be off and all of these things affect the low point as well as affecting
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the face. So if you're struggling and you're working through some position-related skills,
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it's natural that it's not necessarily going to feel quite as good as if you're working more
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on sequencing, timing, or pivot and rhythm drills. So it's common that you'll have to go back and
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forth between these two ideas. If you're working more on position drills, then I'm a little bit
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more lenient as far as quality of contact, but I'm typically a little bit more strict in terms
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of ball flight, face control, and the amount of curve. But if you're working more on the timing
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in the rhythm, then I'm a little bit more strict on terms of quality of contact. Let's say pivot
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and where your body is finishing, and I'm a little less kind of strict on the specific curve.
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So when you're first working on some sequencing drills, you might hit the ball better, but it
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might fade just a little bit more, or it might have more of a pull to it. I'll usually work through that
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kind of get more comfortable with the rhythm, and then cycle back may be a position reference.
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But typically when you're working more on rhythm, you'll have more solid contact,
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rhythm, or sequencing. I sometimes use those interchangeably. You'll typically have more solid
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contact, better low point control, and typically have better success with the driver in the longer
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clubs. When you're working more on positions, you'll typically have better face control,
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and you'll typically have more success with the wedges and the shorter clubs. So understanding
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how to use each tool will help speed up your learning process, so you don't get too frustrated
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if you're having some sequence problems, and you should be working on tempo and rhythm,
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or if you're having some direction problems, and maybe you need to work a little bit more on positions.
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So let me give you a specific example. So from this down the line, let's say I have a tendency to
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kind of get some early extension, get stuck on the inside. Well, if I start to get a little bit
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better path, I might get a little bit steep in kind of toe contact, but I might have more of a
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straight bulflight. So that would be while working on positions. But let's say I was early extending,
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and that was my main issue. If I was able to hone in a really good rhythm, I might be able
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to early extend and still play well. In fact, I might actually be able to play better,
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early extending with rhythm in the short term, rather than getting in the perfect position,
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but maybe having the upper body overtake the lower body and not quite having as much rhythm
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and fluidity throughout the whole shot. So that's part of the reason why working on rhythm is
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such a good warm up activity because it'll take whatever pattern you have and tend to get you
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to perform as best as that particular pattern is capable of performing.
