Importance of a Simple Golf Swing

Tiger Woods won back to back 1st at the Bridge Stone Invitational held at Firestone CC, Ohio followed by another stunning championship victory at the PGA Championship 2007 Sherwood CC, CA.

I particularly enjoy watching Tiger play because he has such an aesthetic looking swing. Of course, a good looking swing does not automatically translate to a good score but if your simple golf swing looks good, looks correct, then chances are your swing can't be too far wrong. Furthermore, its much easier to replicate a simple golf swing over 18 holes, then an un-natural golf swing that works well at the practice range but cannot stand the rigors of playing golf under the hot sun.

We may get by from time to time with a strange looking golf swing, but golf will always be able to weed out the fakers from those with sound basics. Without sound basics, its impossible to play good golf. Its impossible to hit a 5 iron 200 yards or drive a ball 300 yard the way the pros do. Its not possible to consistently shape a shot, whether it be a draw or slice, and do the amazing things the pros do, such as putting a back spin or stopping a ball the instant it lands on the green. Its not possible to plough the ball out of thick rough and save par.

Without a good simple replicable golf swing built on sound fundamentals, its very hard to hit the ball flush consistently. Since we cannot control the course environment, whether it be an uphill, downline, ball above feet, ball below feet lie, the only thing we can control is our knowledge of the golf swing and whether we implement and ingrain the right techniques into our muscle memory.

I think the most important aspect of the golf game is knowledge. Knowledge is power. We can only practice what our brain knows and is familiar with. If our brain is unfamiliar with the correct fundamentals of how to hold a golf club, the grip, the posture, the timing, we will never be able to tell our muscles to do the right thing. What's most dangerous in golf is that our muscle sensation can deceive us and what feels correct, is actually not. For the amateur who wants to enjoy a good golf game with pals, and perhaps a little money wager, a good litmus test is to check if we can produce a good ball flight at the practice range 7 out of 10 swings.

The basics of golf is important because once we get started off on the wrong foot, its very hard to teach a bad golfer new tricks. It's much easier to learn from a clean slate and build our golf foundation on sound golf fundamentals.

As Yoda said ,"You must unlearn what you have learnt" So before you head to the practice range, start filling your brain with the right golf concepts by reading golf books and you'll find your practices 100% more fruitful.