If you had to find one word that is the most important thought in your golf swing … what would it be? The reason I ask is because too many Golfers have too many thoughts in their head as they play. And as your mind is cluttered with two or three different ideas as you prepare to hit a golf ball … you often hit a bad golf shot.

Now the same word doesn’t work for everyone. But it is essential that you find your word. Some common words Golfers use are: swing slow; head still; turn; release; stay down; follow-through; finish the swing.

Although all of the above are popular amongst Golfers — the most popular might be “finish”… as in “finish the swing”. And that is probably because many Golfers feel as if they don’t complete their golf swing. “I just need to finish my swing.”

Yet the word – “finish” – could actually cause you more problems than it solves.

Many Golfers that don’t feel as though they finish their golf swing are constantly working on learning how to finish. They are trying everything from making sure their belt buckle is facing the target – to trying extra hard to rotate their shoulders all the way around – to making sure the club finishes behind their back/head – to making sure all their weight is on their front foot at finish.

Yet someone that feels that they need to work on finishing is actually working on something that has nothing to do with how well you hit the golf ball — as the golf ball isn’t affected by your finish. How the golf ball travels is effected by how you impact it.

Once the golf ball is in the air … trust me, it doesn’t care what your finish looks like. Its your golf swing before impact that determines whether you will have a good looking finish.

A good impact will create a good looking finish … but a good finish doesn’t create a good impact!

So basically, the Golfer that is trying extra hard to finish is doing it for no reason other than for the fact that they have heard other Golfers talk about the importance of finishing. So if other struggling Golfers are talking about finishing … it must be important!

But you must understand that the reason you maybe struggling to finish your swing is because of errors in your golf swing that are happening towards the beginning of your swing, most likely in the backswing.

Yet so many Golfers get caught up listening to other Golfers complaining about finish … that you spend all your time on the finish, but without seeing the benefit of improved consistency. This is because the real issue with your swing is happening well before the finish.

Plus, and this is extremely important: a forced finish is actually worse than no finish.

Why is a forced finish a negative?

Most Golfers in their attempt to manufacture a finish are creating additional compensations that are making it more likely that you will keep your weight on your back foot at impact, causing bad shots.

Although these Golfers will have the majority of their weight on their front foot at finish (left foot for a right handed Golfer) … your weight at finish has zero influence on how well you hit the golf ball. It is where your weight is at impact with the golf ball that determines how far and straight you hit the golf ball.

Again, because it is important to repeat: your finish has zero influence over how you hit the golf ball as the golf ball is already in the air. Yet trying to manufacture a finish will cause you to create additional bad habits in your golf swing.

At GMS, after having worked with many thousands of Golfers that have traveled from around the world to see us for our 3 Day Program … there is no doubt that when we help a Golfer get their mind off of finish and onto impact … these Golfers improve.

And ironically, it is amazing that when a Golfer learns how to move into impact correctly … that they start receiving compliments from other Golfers about how well their finish looks. And then coincidentally, these other Golfers start to think how they need to improve their finish so they can start hitting the golf ball as well as the GMS Golfer.

Many Golfers work on their finish … but don’t see any improvement in how they hit the golf ball

The Player works on impact … which helps them hit the golf ball better, as well as creating a finish that is the envy of every Golfer

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon