Concept Golf's five swing principles have been proven effective by countless golfers at all levels. The principles are not just theory -- they are what works and what the best players have always done. These five fundamentals cause all of the positive, desired effects you see in the Tour Players' swings. They are based upon the same fundamental athletic motion you use when you throw a ball. They are not scientific, but they do follow the laws of physics. You don't need to think about these things, but having a thorough understanding of the total concept of the swing will benefit you.
1. Weight Transfer: This is the foundation the basic athletic motion used in every ground based sport. It is simply the moving of the body to the back foot to cause the back swinging motion. Then moving the body to the front foot to cause the through swinging motion. It is movement OVER to the back foot. You can accomplish this by picking your front foot up in the air. What happens? All of your weight moves to your back foot. That's exactly what you want to have happen.
By moving all your weight to your back foot you have gotten the mass of your body behind the ball and it is now ready to move back through the ball. To reverse the direction of the swing, transfer all of your weight from your back foot to your front foot. That is all there is to it. Stand on your back foot then stand on your front foot.
There is NO turning, just a lateral move to your back foot then to your front foot. Might your head move when you do this? YES, it will. Is this OK? It is necessary, not just OK. The still head thing is a myth, a folk remedy discussed in The Swing book.
It is the moving of your body through weight transfer that permits the swinging of your arms. This is strength, power, effortlessness, distance, consistency. Other than that its not important.
This principle is intertwined with the next principle, Relaxation. They are dependent on each other. Without weight transfer, relaxation will not and cannot occur. Without relaxation weight transfer cannot and will not occur.
2. Relaxation: This is possible for you, and every golfer, to accomplish. It is necessary for every golfer to accomplish if he is to have any real quality shots success. This is the secret to great distance. It is the secret to high consistency quality shots. Nothing works well in athletics without relaxation. It sems to be counter-intuitive in golf.
You see the green 442 yards away and you drive the ball with all your might. That's seems to be the effective thing to do to make the ball go as far as possible. What happens to the drive? It goes 157 yards slicing in to the trees. The solution? Swing harder. You're really going to kill the ball this time. The result? You do kill it this time. It dies at your feet!!
The golf swing is an expression of centrifugal force. Remember swinging the rock at the end of the string in science class in 8th grade? To make the rock go faster you had two choices; speed up your hand that held the end of the string or make the string longer. PUSHING ON THE STRING MADE THE ROCK STOP, NOT GO FASTER.
That's centrifugal force, that's the golf swing. The rock on the end of the string is the club head. The string is the shaft and your arms. The string attaches at your sternum. To make the club head move more quickly you have two choices; lengthen the string (longer shaft) or speed up your sternum. BY PUSHING ON THE STRING YOU WILL NOT MAKE THE CLUB MOVE MORE QUICKLY, YOU WILL SLOW IT DOWN.
To create maximum speed in the club head requires maximum relaxation in your shoulders. Then the club will be swung without interruption. Your job is to relax so your arms can swing freely, so your club can swing freely and at its maximum possible speed.
Trying to swing your club at the ball with all your might will keep you a 100+ shooter. I promise.
How do you speed up your sternum? With your feet just like you do when you throw a ball. Want to throw it farther, quicken your feet. Want to hit a longer shot? Quicken your feet a little bit. Don't try hard to quicken your feet a lot. A little additional speed in you feet translates to a lot more speed in your sternum and a whole lot more speed in your club head.
Relax your shoulders until it seems they are coming out of their sockets DURING THE ENTIRE SWING and you have increased your club speed exponentially. I promise.
3. Back leg and knee: This is your real source of power. During your backswing, keep your back leg flexed and the weight and pressure on the ball and big toe of your foot. Now as you reach the top of your backswing your back leg is in position to push against the ground in order to push your body forward to your front foot. The good baseball pitchers pitch with this motion. You throw a ball this way , pitch a horse shoe this way, shoot a basket ball this way, etc., etc. your power, and delicacy come from your back leg. It can and will work automatically if you have weight transfer, relaxation and keep you back leg flexed during the backswing.
Did you notice that I spent more words describing the relaxation section than the other four sections? Would it seem that I think relaxation is important?
Now, relax your shoulders and go play golf. The five Concept Golf swing principles are not five things to do but a whole concept to understand.
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