What’s the secret to getting more distance with your golf swing? How can a PGA or LPGA Tour Player hit the golf ball so far … yet make it look so effortless? What is their secret to more distance?
One of the most amazing things I have ever experienced was the first PGA Tournament I attended when I moved to Florida in the early 1990’s. It was at Arnold Palmer’s course at Bay Hill in Orlando. At that time, and still today, all the top Golfers always play in Arnold’s tournament.
I can still remember the first time I saw Davis Love III hitting what looked like an 8 iron from 170 yards from the green. Now these days, it is common to hear a PGA Tour Player hitting an 8 from 170 … but not in the early 90’s. At that time, most Players were hitting their 8 irons from 160, but not Davis (and Freddie), they were the long hitters on Tour.
Davis’ swing was so smooth and effortless … but at the same time I could sense the power of his beautiful golf swing. He, Freddie and Greg Norman had a different golf swing than most of the other Golfers on the PGA Tour.
At that time, you could say that Davis was using a “modern golf swing”. This “modern golf swing” is a swing that differed from the golf swing of the 1920‘s and 30’s, and even the 70’s and 80’s. His swing was more about finding the correct mechanics that would allow for the perfect combination of power and accuracy. Something that is much more common these days than prior to the early 90’s.
What Davis did, and what you are seeing the best Players of today doing, is they are starting to understand how to use their “Center of Gravity” in the golf swing. Whereas the Golfers before them were more focused on using their hands and arms to hit the golf ball.
Now, this is not to say that the best Players today are not using their hands and arms … of course they are. But the emphasis is not as great as it was prior to Davis, Freddie and Greg Norman in the early 90’s.
A lot of this changeover from more of an armsy swing to a more of a “Center of Gravity” swing can be attributed to the change in golf equipment. Today the shafts of the golf club are so much more advanced that it allows us to swing using our “Center” for more power.
Back in the day, the shafts were much more whippy (flexible), so the Golfer had to wait for the clubhead to catch-up to their hands … thus, they couldn’t use their “Center” to create power. They had to really concentrate on keeping their body out of the swing and keeping their head behind the golf ball. Because if they didn’t stay behind the golf ball … they would hit a bad golf shot.
Unfortunately, many Golfers are still taught these old golf tips. Yet with the modern equipment that we have, using these old golf tips about staying behind the golf ball is causing you to lose power, as well as lose accuracy. I can’t stress how amazing (and disappointing) it is to see how many Golfers that come to see us that had recently taken a golf lesson with a local Pro … where they were told to stay behind the golf ball, this forcing them to get more armsy!
Yet, this Golfer wasn’t getting much distance before the lesson … and he/she is getting less distance now. Plus this Golfer is now hitting the golf ball even more to the right since trying to stay behind the golf ball.
If this is you … you are using a golf tip from the 1920’s.
A golf tip that was probably a valid swing mechanic back then when you had hickory shafts that were incredibly whippy. So you had to wait for the clubhead to catch-up by staying behind the golf ball. And unlucky for you … this same golf tip has been passed down from generation to generation of Golf Pro … and it is unfortunately being passed onto you.
Just as most fitness has been moving towards strengthening your core. The golf swing has also moved in that direction. And it has moved that way because golf equipment has gotten so much better that it allows us to swing more with our “Center/Core” to create consistency and power. As opposed to having to wait for the club to catch-up … thus losing a huge amount of power and consistency.
For example: we see so many Golfers that are “looking to create lag in my golf swing”. Yet, they can never create it as much as they try. Why? Because the swing mechanics they are using do not allow it to happen. So regardless of how much you practice it … it will not happen until you stop using the old swing tips in the other parts of your golf swing.
My question to you: Are you still using the swing techniques and swing tips that were invented in the 1920’s and passed down from generation to generation … yet are not valid anymore because of the equipment we now use?
And the answer is most likely you are … as we see over 1,200 Golfers a year that come to see us … and there is no doubt that over 1,100 of these Golfers are using these old swing tips because they were taught to swing that way.
That is why the gap between the PGA/LPGA Tour Player and the regular Golfer has never been wider. The Tour Players are getting better and better. The Tour Player of today is much, much better than the Tour Player of 1992 … let alone the Tour Player of the 1980’s, 70’s, 60’s, 50’s, etc.
Yet, the average Golfer is still playing at the same exact level as the Golfer from 1992, 1980’s, 70’s, 60, 50’s, etc.
Isn’t it time you got your golf game up to the standards of the modern age? Come on … we’re less than 20 days from being in 2013 .. yet you are swinging with the same swing tips that were taught in 1963! A lot about the golf swing has changed in those 50 years.
The Monkey has a golf swing that was being used before the computer was invented
The Player is playing better and better as they are focused on their “Center of Gravity”
Go ahead, be a Player!
Regards,
Marc Solomon
