How do YOU Swing?

Filed in archive Golf Instruction on June 12, 2007

Courtesy: Canadian golf academy

I'd like to try something a little different today. I want to begin an interactive discussion on the golf swing.

Specifically, I'd like to know what you find the most difficult to master with the swing.

Is it the weight transfer? Starting the downswing with the lower body first? The backswing? Grip? Alignment? Do you hook the ball or slice it? Push-fade your driver?

You get the picture! Everyone has some area of the swing that bedevils them on a consistent basis.

But, along with what plagues you with your golf swing, what works for you? What tip or tips have you tried that have worked and that you would like to pass along?

Let's not restrict this discussion to the full swing, either. Let's include the short game and putting, as well. How do avoid stubbing a short chip shot? What's your knack on a high lofted pitch over a greenside bunker to a tight pin location (if you're like many of us, you perform this shot in two parts: into the bunker and then onto the green...)?

The overwhelming response to my calls for thoughts on the Stack and Tilt swing that's featured in this month's Golf Digest tells me you have plenty to say about the swing and when something comes along that works, you go for it!

So post your thoughts under the Comments section on this site and I'll include as many of them as I can in a couple of future posts.

I'll also try to get some feedback from the teaching pros who contribute to this site.

If, for example, I get half a dozen comments speaking to problems with the grip or weight transfer on the downswing, then I'll fire them off to a few teachers to get their suggestions.

Let me kick-start the process. I'd always learned that a completely still head was one essential part of performing the golf swing properly. But when I kept my head still, I wouldn't shift my weight to my back foot. Consequently, I couldn't feel a trigger to start the downswing with a return weight shift.

But now there are swing theories that suggest letting the head slide laterally away from the ball on the backswing is a good thing because it helps the weight transfer. However, last week at Angus Glen in Toronto, I watched Davis Love hitting wedges and 8-irons on the practice range while conducting a clinic. His head didn't move an inch. Go to the Golf Digest site and check the video swings of some of the pros. Their heads don't move an inch.

So, should my head move or not?

This should be an interesting process and a rewarding one for all of us!

Let the discussion begin!