A Light, Slow, Short Golf Swing

Two of the biggest improvements you can make to your golf game happen within milliseconds of each other. The third occurs during the set up for the golf shot. The golf swing is a complicated maneuver when over analyzed, but at the end of the day, it can be improved very simply.

When I say your golf swing can be fixed, I don’t mean to say that we can all quit our jobs and run out to Q-School and join the Nationwide Tour. What I mean to say is you can hit more fairways, hit more greens, and reduce your score into the mid to high eighties with less work than you might think.

The three simple fixes are:

1. A Light Grip
2. Slow Down Your Backswing
3. Swing Light

Here’s where you want to start, and it only makes sense:

The Correct Golf Grip

One of the most common mistakes in setting up a shot is in the grip. I think that the most common mistake in grips is simply gripping too tightly. While it’s also important to master the actual placement of the hands, assuring that the V’s formed by your thumb and pointer finger point towards your trailing ear, even that won’t help you if you’re gripping too hard. And it’s an easy trap to fall into.

In essence, you want to hold on to the club with just enough force to ensure that it won’t be launched out of your hands on the back swing or follow through. Gripping too tightly can cause many, many problems, primarily in that it will cause you to loose wrist flexibility. Loosing wrist flexibility will cost you distance, as well as contribute to slicing or fading depending on how the rest of the swing goes.

So the first thing to work on is loosening your grip on the golf club.

Slow Down Your Golf Swing

Tempo in the golf swing is preached by golf professionals all over the planet. Taking away the club from the golf ball too quickly will start another chain reaction of failure. An easy thing to keep in mind is that you’re not hitting the ball backwards. There’s no need to generate excessive club head speed on the way to the top of your swing. A fast, jerky movement during the initial portion of the swing (called the take away) can easily cause you to move your hips off of the center off the ball, as well as making it easy to leave the club face open during follow through. And an open club face is not going to help you hit the ball straight or long.

Tina Michelson from the Golf Channel recommends a drill where you place two balls on the ground, one in the normal hitting position, and one just behind where your club comes to rest as you set up. Then, during the take away, monitor the back ball, and ensure that it doesn’t move back quickly, or gain any altitude as you begin your backswing. If the rear ball goes flying, you need to slow down. If it gets airborne, you REALLY need to slow down.

The idea is to have the rear ball gently roll 4 to 6 feet behind you.

You can also see where a slow backswing will keep you in balance, and allow you to attack the ball from a position of power. You’ll be able to keep the club face closed, and you’ll be able to use the lighter grip described above.

Swing Light

Until you make the Tour (and perhaps even after you do), you’ll also want to swing fairly light. A common misconception is that you, the golfer, are generating ALL of the power that gets transferred at impact. This is not the case.

A good golf swing allows for gravity and angle of the club face to generate its power. I can tell you from personal experience that swinging evenly and lightly actually had a net effect of ADDING distance to my clubs, as well as keeping the shots MUCH straighter.

Go to the driving range and try it for yourself. You MAY lose a few yards, but you will be amazed at how much work the club is willing to do for you if you let it.

Results

When I began to take a serious look at how I could go from scoring 99+ on most outings to scoring in the 80’s, these are the first 3 things I tried to fix. I recall a recent Sunday, when I struggled to a 49 on the front. My grip felt good, and I thought my tempo was good.

I recognized, however, that I was trying to over hit everything (swing too hard) because of a breeze that was blowing that day.

So as I began play on the back 9, I focused on my grip, my tempo, and most importantly, swinging light to allow the club to do the work. I hit 7 fairways and 8 of 9 greens. At my current skill level, that’s about as good as it’s going to get.

I firmly believe that you can teach yourself these things as well. And I believe that then you will be well on your way to lowering your golf scores.

Written by: Kevin Webster