Golf for Beginners- How to Swing a Golf Club
Many golfers are good
athletes in other sports. They excel at
some other sport or activity because they rely on their natural abilities. However, when they try to learn how to swing
a golf club they listen to too many different sources. As a result, they suffer from paralysis by
analysis. They can't begin to learn how
to swing a golf club because they are thinking too much and not keeping it
simple.
One of the problems is that
we start with something called the golf swing which sounds nice and
rhythmic. But what we swing is called a golf
club which brings out our primal tendencies to stab and chop at something. Perhaps we should call the golf club a golf
instrument so it's easier to think about swinging it.
The biggest problem with learning
to swing a golf club is the plethora of information out there. It is very easy to read back to back articles
in popular golf magazines that contradict each other in terms of how to swing a
golf club.
They get into issues like are
you a one plane swinger or a two plane swinger?
Are you short and stocky or tall and thin? Then assuming you get assigned the right type
of swing to work on, the technical aspects of the technique are
overwhelming. The golf swing has been
dissected by slow motion cameras into such minutiae that it is a wonder anyone
can learn how to swing a golf club.
Imagine if someone tried to
tell you how to eat with a fork the way they write about swinging a golf club. Keep your head still, flex your right elbow,
now extend and pronate your wrist at impact to spear the food, now while
bending your right elbow begin to rotate your wrist so the fork and food are
presented to the mouth at a 180 degree angle.
We would all starve to death! No
wonder it's difficult to learn how to swing a golf club.
So here is a simple swing
concept. Imagine your are standing at
address in front of a giant circular clock.
The clubhead is at 6 o'clock; your head is at 12 o'clock. You want to start the swing by moving the clubhead
back to 9 o'clock. At this point your
hands travel up until they are at 10 o'clock.
Your wrists will naturally cock due to the weight of the clubhead. So the clubhead will fall across the top of
the clock and be pointing at 1 o'clock.
This is the top of your downswing; your hands get no higher than 10
o'clock. To start the downswing you
drop your hands back down to 9 o'clock with the clubhead trailing. You release the clubhead so that it travels
back to 6 o'clock. The momentum of the swing
will naturally bring the clubhead through to 3 o'clock with your hands
trailing. This momentum will continue as
the club goes up and around and your hands end up around 2 o'clock in the
follow through.
This is one simple swing
concept designed to help you learn how to swing a club. We didn't talk about weight shift and loading
and unloading the shaft etc. It’s a
simple picture of the path your hands and the clubhead travel in any good golf swing. If you can keep this one clear concept and
visual in mind for your swing, you will allow your natural athletic abilities
to come through. Your swing will be
freer. You will enjoy the game more and
actually play golf instead of playing how to make a golf swing.
Golf is a game that is meant to be played. It is not supposed to be work. So, typically things like training aids and complicated instructions are not recommended, especially for beginning golfers. However, the Medicus driver is a great training aid that really promotes the type of swing described here.
It pretty much forces you to swing the club correctly, on the clock as described here. As a result Medicus is one of the few training aids that gets our recommendation for beginning golfers. You don't need any training aids to get started in golf but if you are going to consider one, think about the Medicus.
