Drew's Tip of the Month, "Learning to Swing Effortlessly is Worth the Effort"
Proper pace and acceleration should feel very smooth during the change of direction and the first half of your downswing. If you feel like you are adding speed at the start down with quick or jerky motion, you are probably over-accelerating and once you reach your peak speed, you begin to decelerate or slow down. So, think of the golf swing as ever faster, never fastest (at least until three feet past the ball. That is where Ben Hogan felt his peak speed and who is going to argue with one the of the greatest ball-strikers of all time). When the swing feels smooth, your speed happens later, and the ball actually goes farther.
Think about the last time you tried to lay up short of a penalty area and, unfortunately, hit your ball right into the water. It may have been the best shot that you hit that day because you did not try to put the speed at any particular place in the swing. Swinging with proper pace and acceleration can feel effortless with your arms and hands as the turning of the body does all the work. But be careful, the temptation to add more arm and hand effort, increase your grip pressure or tense your upper body, known as the dreaded hit impulse, actually causes the opposite to happen.
Not sure if you are adding effort in your swing? Try the following: when you are by yourself, try humming during your swing. Can you hum in a continued monotone from start to finish, which is what we want, or does your humming grow louder, more strained, or do you even grunt, which we don’t want? Remember, smooth and steady always wins the race. Keep Swinging!
Golf Quote
“Everyone who knows me knows that I love music. I used my music to help maintain my swing’s rhythm. For me, waltz time, or ¾ time, was perfect for the correct swing tempo."
-Golf Legend Sam Snead
