Golf Mental Swing Tips
April 15, 2008 – 10:19 pm | by GolfdirtBy David Kierstead
When we finally realize that golf is in our head in a big way, we can attack the animal where most of our golf swing issues arise.
For instance, when you take your backswing, I bet that in your head you think, “terrible back swing I am in trouble,” and you give up on the swing on the way down. Meaning, you straighten up and remain on your backside and flip it. Now, I bet that if you stayed with the swing and transferred your weight, you would have hit it a ton better then when you gave up on it. So why don’t we just trust our swing even if we feel it’s a bad backswing and complete the downswing?
How about when you are on the first tee and you swing so fast because you just want to get the swing over with and move on. Plus you know your swing looks so ugly, or you are so concerned about your swing that you do a hundred mile an hour takeaway and a thousand mile per hour downswing, of course while looking up before impact. And then you peak and it goes in the creek.
What if you just took two big breaths instead and slowed everything down? Slow your backswing down and swing through on the downswing. I bet you’d hit a much better shot. I speak from experience; trust me. Most of my swings were “get it over with as fast as possible cause everyone is watching.” Guess what? Crooked, crooked and more crooked.
Go ahead, I dare you to videotape your swing at the range and see how fast fast fast you swing. When you swing so hard and fast, your body can’t do the things you want it to do becuase it is always playing catch up.
The best lesson I ever had was when my pro made me hit my 8-Iron 100 yards. Guess what? That drill was impossible for me. Know why? Because I swung so damn hard, darn it! After half an hour, I realized how slow and smooth I had to swing to hit a full 8-Iron 100 yards.
Go ahead and try it some time; your tempo will thank you. Suddenly you will start turning your hips on the downswing, turning your right knee towards the target and trapping the ball like a pro. How can you do all those things at 130 miles per hour? (My swing speed by the way is 130.)
So the biggest thing amateurs can do to improve is fight the mental midget that lies in our heads and swing sloooow and smooth. Trust me, even your slow speed will be plenty to hit the ball a long way. Think about it, you are hitting a rubber hardened ball with an iron head at the end of a long stick. It will go no matter what.
We all see the guy at the range with the dark sun tan, beautiful white teeth and beautiful clubs that look like they cost him a ton. Beautiful golf clothes head to toe, sweater vest, etc. Then you see the swing, and oh my what the heck was that? One hundred miles per hour back and 200 miles per hour through, all while standing up on the downswing. The ball flies 140 yards dead right. He immediately in rapid fire succession launches 30 more balls in a row directly right and further right because he keeps swinging over the top, and further left so he cuts across everything.
Don’t be this guy. Realize that swinging on the inside is the only way to not slice. The club must come inside! How to get it inside is very difficult for most amateurs because it feels so wrong.
In baseball, a game we all played as kids, if we want to pull the ball to left we swing the bat faster and earlier and pull it left. A slicer sees the ball going right, so he starts pulling the club left to try and make the ball go left. Makes sense to me and I used to do it. However, this doesn’t work in golf. To fix it, I’d get a weighted club and slowly swing it 20 times a day, forceing that club to come from the inside on the downswing.
Good luck and don’t be that guy on the range any more.
David Kierstead is an ex-20 handicapper that is now scratch after only three months of lessons and hard work. Learn how he did it on his site.
