Have you ever hit a golf shot that felt so good and effortless that you said to yourself – “that was perfect?” If so, then I bet the next words out of your mouth were most likely – “why can’t I do that every time?”

So the question must be – “why?” Why can’t you swing like that consistently? What’s the issue that’s standing in your way of golfing glory? It was probably an effortless golf swing that felt so easy that you say to yourself – “I hardly felt like I put any effort into that swing and look how far it went …. why can’t I swing that easy all the time?”

Now the question is why was your golf swing so smooth and effortless on that swing. Well, at GMS we believe that your golf swing is influenced by how you start the club back. Meaning the very first few inches of your backswing influences the rest of your golf swing through impact.

While most Golfers are focused on having their golf swing “stay on plane” or “stop coming over the top” or “stop coming from the outside to in” or “holding the angle of their wrists through impact” … GMS believes those aren’t ‘Causes’ you should be worried about. Those are actually ‘Effects’ of you not having total control of your club on the first few inches of your backswing. Those often diagnosed afflictions can not be fixed until the ‘Cause’ is fixed. And if you keep working on trying to fix those ‘Effects’ … well, you’ll never permanently fix them until your fix the ‘Cause’.

Have you had any of those problems – yet are never able to fix them regardless of the amount lessons you have taken and practice time you have spent on the practice range? Well now you know why you can’t fix them … your trying to fix an ‘Effect’ – when you should be working on fixing the ‘Cause’.

For example: we have found that about 85% of Golfers start their backswing exclusively with their hands. And we have found that the average Golfer that starts with their hands – moves their clubhead higher than their knees on the backswing before the rest of their body becomes active. Now, that might not mean that much to you, however — that means your clubhead is moving over 2 feet before the rest of your body starts to react.

And if you’re 2 feet out of position only an 1/8 of the way into your golf swing – think about how out of position you probably are as you get to impact. Well, you probably don’t have to think about it — the golf ball has probably been showing you the result of being that far off … swing after swing after swing.

We have found that when you start everything together on your backswing – it becomes easy to keep everything moving together through impact … thus creating a smooth, effortless golf swing. However, we have found that the majority of Golfers we see don’t start everything together in their backswing. Thus, this requires these Golfers to have a golf swing that is built on compensations.

Compensations Equal Inconsistency –

The More You Compensate, The More Inconsistent You Are

Now this is a major reason for your inconsistency because if you’re doing this (and about 85% of Golfers are), this tells you why you can’t get rid of that slice. And it also explains this: that when you really work hard to get rid of the slice – you end up overcompensating and hitting a low hook or hitting the golf ball straight up in the air or hitting a low worm-burner 30 yards into the rough. This is because your golf swing was disconnected from the very start, thus most often causing a slice. However, when you try to compensate in your swing to overcome that disconnection – you end up overcompensating and hitting worse shots!

What has happened is that your hands, your body and the clubhead aren’t working together in your golf swing. Each is working independently during the golf swing … which means bad golf shots. We have found that Golfers that start their golf swing primarily with their hands — most often have their clubface open at impact … hitting a slice. However, when you go to take a normal golf lesson – the pro often talks about the need for you to turn over your forearms or wrists or pronating your hands prior to impact so that you close the clubface at impact.

However, that is just another compensation to fix an ‘Effect’. What do I mean by that? Your slice isn’t happening because you weren’t turning your forearms (or wrists or your lack of pronation) …. Your slice is happening because you aren’t in control of the club from the very start of the golf swing. So now instead of hitting 3 shots to the right and then overcorrecting and hitting one to the left … you’re hitting 1 to the right, 1 to the left, 1 to the right, 1 to the left … and not because you want to — you just can’t help it.

Thus, that’s why most Golfers get worse while going to take golf lessons in the traditional manner. At least before the lesson you knew which way the golf ball was going to fly 3 times out of 4. Now, you have no idea what will happen next.

So how does GMS help our Golfers to become more consistent?

One of the most successful GMS drills we use with our Golfers is the Parallel Hands Drill. This drill allows our Golfers to feel how everything starts consistently in your backswing. It allows our Golfers to sense how their body becomes coordinated with your hands – and even more importantly, it allows our Golfers to feel if something is moving out of place.

We take our time as we don’t hit golf balls for a few minutes as our Golfers feel the movements of their backswing while using Parallel Hands. This special drill forces you to heighten your sense of feel (in your golf swing) more than you have ever experienced.

It’s actually tough to get many Golfers to hit golf balls after a few minutes as they often want to continue doing the drill … as the light bulb has never burned brighter than when doing Parallel Hands. But alas, when our Golfers go to hit the 6 golf balls in front of them (after doing this drill), you have never seen Golfers that are happier about their ballstriking than these Golfers.

Why? Because they started to feel what their backswing feels like. And because of that, they’re able to continue with a smooth swing throughout their golf swing. Whereas in the past, they would be so disconnected before the golf club was even knee high, that the rest of their golf swing was just one compensation after another trying to regain control of their clubhead.

Thus, the feeling of swinging too hard or uncontrollable.

As I say this, watch your friends the next time they play. I’ll bet you see that their clubhead is at least knee high before the rest of their body moves. Now, this happens fast – so you have to train yourself to see it. However, you will see it. Then watch the Pros on television … where you’ll see at least 95% of them starting everything together. Why does Ernie Els look so smooth – watch how everything starts together,

Now saying that … it’s not something that you can just tell yourself to do. I’ve seen many Golfers that feel as if they’re starting everything together … yet they aren’t anywhere close. Often times there is a big difference between “feel and real”. Meaning we often think we’re doing something … yet we’re not.

That’s why drills like Parallel Hands are so valuable and are critical to finally allowing you to feel connected in your golf swing. Because it forces everything to work together and it’s something that you can practice over and over again — as your golf swing gets better and better.

The Monkey continues to work on getting their “golf swing on plane” by working on the most often prescribed ‘Effects’

The Player knows that to be consistent, you need to practice fixing the ‘Cause’

Go ahead, come to GMS and learn to become a Player
Regards,

Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life