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The last part of this is technical, so if you are not interested, the three elements are enough to make you better.
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So far the three elements were pretty simple, now we are on to the complicated goal. I have narrowed complicated golf mechanics down to one spot. Bad golfers rarely reach this spot and great golfers miss this spot when they hit a wild shot under pressure.
I will do a video on this later in the week to make absolutely sure you all know what I mean.
There are shaft planes, arm planes, shoulder planes, hand planes, carpenter’s planes, airplanes…hinges, levers, angles, restrictions, power packages and all sorts of other mumbo jumbo we are supposed to perfect to just get the ball on the club face and in play.
Now there are exceptions to every rule, but what I am about to say is nearly infallible. If you draw an imaginary line on the golf shaft at address, that is the “shaft plane.” I have found almost every good shot hit…draw, fade, worst beginner, all the way up to Tiger…a square club head hits that shaft plane just before impact.
A few points. Obviously any time the club hits the ball it is on this line at impact, I am talking just before impact. You can miss this spot and still hit a good shot if you save it with some contrived body movement. You hear them on TV say, “he saved it with his hands,” at least once per telecast.
When a high handicap slicer is just before impact, the club head is above this line…thus the term “over the top.”
When Tiger hits his wild block to the right where he lets go of the club…or when he has to shut everything down and flip it causing a snap hook, the club head is under this line…thus the term “underneath.”
The sooner you get the club head on this line, the easier it is to square the club at impact.
There are infinite ways to get there. Kenny Perry and Jim Furyk being 2 odd ways. How about Jeev Milkah Singh? WOW! Hogan got there, Nicklaus got there, Couples got there and Trevino got there. The point is, perfect swing mechanics are bogus and arbitrary, you just need to get the club to that spot however your body will do it.
That is why it is complicated, because how to get there is different for every golfer…not the one perfect way that book and DVD salesman have led you to believe.
I am making this complicated point for one reason and one reason only. Modern golf instruction has become about hitting 3,429 perfect positions and if you miss even one of them, you are toast and will never hit this “sweet spot” I am talking about. I am saying you only need to hit one position…and what you have to do is find out how you personally do that in the easiest, most efficient way possible. This is where elements 1, 2 and 3 come in. Being tension free, balanced and rhythmical are the base. Then eliminating the muscle memory/movements that are getting you out of position. Some can do this on their own, but most need someone who actually knows what they are talking about and want things to be simple. That is the hard part, finding an instructor that can help you simplify things and hit that sweet spot.
In case you care about what my problem has been and how I am trying to find the spot. As far back as I am aware, I have been underneath. From short little chips all the way up to driver…and even putting. You know those two videos I posted about proper release and doing it constantly and smoothly from the top? Guess what? The sooner I start the release, the sooner I am hitting that “sweet spot” and regardless of what the “delayed release” guys tell you, I am hitting it farther because the ball has less spin and better trajectory. I was taught to delay the release and no matter what I have tried, it didn’t work for long. I am retraining 25 years of bad muscle memory to release the club properly and it’s working. Guess what else? The better my relaxation, balance and rhythm are (elements #1 and #2), the better I release the club (my element #3) and hit the sweet spot.
I guess my friend and I are both right. Elements #1 and #2 are what are most important, but element #3 must take place first before #1 and #2 can take over and be the base of your golf swing.
PS-just to make sure I have all of you on the same page of what I am saying…whenever I refer to the “sweet spot” I am not referring to the sweet spot in the middle of the club face. I am referring to the club hitting that spot on the shaft plane just before impact.
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