Golf instruction and improvement in golf boils down to one concept.
Don’t restrict natural movements and eliminate excess movements.
Let’s see how many of each of these you guys can come up with. I will start with two easy ones.
Don’t restrict hip turn and eliminate excess arm swing.
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Don’t try to force the club to parallel at the top of the backswing.
Don’t try to create shaft lean by forcing the hands ahead at impact.
Don’t try to preserve an arbitrary right knee bend. Don’t try to guide your arms onto an arbitrary plane. Don’t force your head to stay down. Don’t hold the lag.
Encourage movements that preserve balance. Curtail those that put you off balance.
Thought of another one. Don’t try to square the clubface.
AJ Bonar sold at least a million copies of his DVD at $90, so maybe there’s something to it (but not consciously using his alternative…unless you want to.)
One of the problems with this quest for things that are unnecessary is that you can’t just drop your crutch unless you know how to walk or have access to rehab.
It wouldn’t do any good to tell someone that they don’t have to keep there trailing arm on the side of their chest, unless they know a better way and have the fitness and athletic talent to do it.
Hold the lag. Hold it. But nobody knows what it really means to hold the lag. So it is vilified.
If you don’t stop holding your “lag”, you’ll go blind.
roflmbo!!!
I thought it was the complete opposite – also your golf gloves may start to sprout hair where it shouldn’t.
It should be obvious. The lag holds itself while your action sets up the things that affect it.
The highly-regarded guru Mike Hebron was quoted as saying this in his book “See And Feel The Inside Move The Outside”:
“Retain the angle – retain the angle – some books and golf teachers will loudly suggest. During the front swing, they want golfers not to change the angle or position that the hands and wrists fall into at the top of the backswing until the impact area.
“In my view, when you do nothing consciously with the hands, arms and club in the front swing, this all important move of retaining the angle is automatically accomplished. It has to be. The only time the angle will break down is when the golfer tries to do something…”
[The way I see it, that “something” comes later in the forward move.]
From now on my only swing thought will be:
Just hold it.
Yeah, but don’t pull the shaft. You’ll get an early release.
This would not be complete without “retain the spine angle.” (Kostis)
Turn and face the target on the downswing.