The golf swing is a series of “Causes and Effects” that determine whether you hit a good shot or not.
When you hit a good shot – it’s because you either have a perfect golf swing … or you have a swing flaw, but you were able to align your compensations to produce a good shot.
The interesting thing about the statement above is that no one in the history of the world has ever had a perfect swing. Every person has a swing flaw. However, the better the Golfer … the less the flaws.
We can talk about Jordan Spieth or Tiger (in his prime) — but, as amazing as they are/were … they have/had swing flaws. Yet, those flaws are small … thus, they didn’t have to make many compensations in their swing to produce a good shot.
Contrast that to a Golfer that scores over 90.
This Golfer may only have 1 swing flaw … however, they might have 4 compensations in their swing that are related to that swing flaw. Which means they need to perfectly align all these compensations in order to hit a very good shot. But the chances of having those 4 compensations work together is going to happen once every 10 shots.
On those other 9 shots – the quality of the shot will be determined by how close you get to having those 4 compensations working together. If 3 of the 4 work together … it’s an above average shot for you. If 2 out of the 4 compensations work together … it’s your usual, average shot. If one of the compensations work … it’s a below average shot. If none of the compensations work … it’s a disaster shot!
Thus, out of 10 shots, the average Golfer has 1 great shot, 2 above average shots, 4 average shots, 2 below average shots and 1 disaster shot. Or in other words … not much consistency.
The key to improving the consistency in your golf swing is to find the “Root Cause” in your golf swing so that you can start to eliminate these compensations.
The problem that most Golfers have is that the golf tips that are told to them by other Golfers as well as from many Golf Professionals … are nothing more than tips to fix compensations. Yet, you can not fix a compensation as it essentially is an “Effect” of a primary swing flaw that we call a “Cause”. So until the “Cause” is determined and worked on … the “Effect” will continue regardless of how hard you work to eliminate it.
To give you a clearer picture of “Cause and Effect” in your golf swing –
A Golfer is hitting the top of the golf ball so that the ball doesn’t go up in the air. So he/she goes for a golf lesson. The Pro watches you hit a few shots and says “I see what your problem is. You’re lifting your head. You need to keep your head still and stay down through the shot.”
So the next shot you hit, you work really hard on keeping your head down. But this time … you hit behind the golf ball. So the Pro says “don’t worry, try it again.” The next swing, you work just as hard not to move your head and again hit behind the ball. So the Pro says “hit another one.”
This 3rd shot you hit the top of the ball and it rolls along the ground. The Pro says “see, you lifted your head again. You need to keep it down.”
Now tell me, what’s going to happen the next time you try to keep your head down? Of course, you’re either going to hit behind the ball again or you’re going to lift up.
Is the lifting of your head a “Cause” or an “Effect”?
It’s an “Effect” … a compensation. Because if you don’t lift up … you’re going to hit behind the golf ball. So your brain says “lift up dummy.”
So what’s the “Cause”? I can’t make a 100% determination without watching your swing. However, it most likely has to do with your Center of Gravity being too far behind the golf ball at impact. Thus, your club would hit the ground before the golf ball … unless you compensate by lifting up.
Which means that you can not eliminate “lifting up” by just trying to “stay down”. It’s unfixable until you determine the “Cause” for why your Center of Gravity is too far behind the golf ball.
But, because these Golfers are convinced that it’s their head causing the problem … they continue to work on it with fluctuating results …. but never consistency.
Why is this “keeping your head down” tip so popular? Because it’s so simple to see … anyone can notice another Golfer picking up their head. But, it’s just like all the other compensations …. they’re easy to see … but unfixable unless you determine the “Cause” that’s happening before you lift. Once the “Cause” is determined … the “Effect” will start to disappear. But if you continue to work on keeping your head still … you’ll continue to either hit behind the ball or top it.
Take the PGA Tour Player for an example. Why don’t they ever pick up their head during the swing? Is it because they’ve worked on keeping it down? No, it’s because they’re moving in such a manner that there’s nothing in their swing that would “Cause” their head to pick up … like yours might be doing.
The same scenario also relates to these common swing compensations: coming over the top; outside in swing; casting; swinging off plane; reverse pivoting; swaying; not being able to follow through; not keeping your left arm straight in backswing; not turning your shoulders; not turning your hips; using too much right hand; chicken wings; trying to lift the ball and not taking divots. Each one is an “Effect” … a compensation that can not be fixed until the “Root Cause” of the swing flaw is determined.
But, unfortunately for over 90% of the Golfers out there … you’ve been most likely working on trying to correct at least one of these compensations without much success. And you’ll never have success on fixing any of these until you determine the “Root Cause”.
The Monkey is working on fixing their compensations
The Player digs deeper than the surface to find the “Root Cause”
Go ahead, Be a Player!
Regards,
Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life
www.GolfMadeSimple.com
