Why Golf Instruction Fails the Golfer

Most golfers I encounter want to improve… And they also know that trying to improve their golf swing or golf game can be very frustrating. Often that frustration or even the anticipation of the frustration over lack of improvement will stop the golfer from even seeking help with his or her golf swing issues. I know, I spent years feeling the same way until I figured out why golf swing frustration exists. And it’s not just amateurs that feel it…

Unfortunately. the frustration is built into the method golf is normally taught!

It’s actually very innocent…

Say you decide to go to your local pro for a “tune up” for your golf swing. The pro points out a few flaws and gives you some drills to fix the problems. You go home to practice. All is well… or is it?

What is going through your mind?

  • You didn’t realize you were making the mistakes the pro pointed out.
  • You want to make sure you can take the corrections to the golf course.
  • You practice the drills and hit balls on the driving range.

Sounds like the normal routine right? There is an underlying issue in the back of your mind that will cause a lot of frustration down when you are out on the golf course…

Your mind is looking for a way to know if you are doing things right on the golf course.

Go back to the last time you were in this situation. If you hit a bad shot and you were sure everything “felt” right, you were wondering what went wrong. “Is there a different problem or am I still making the same mistakes?”

You see, your mind has only ONE WAY to try to repeat the instruction you got from the pro… That is to translate the new movement into some feel that will tell you everything was right or a little off.

But right there is where the problems start. Don’t get me wrong, in any other sport but golf this works, which is why golfers do it. The mind is doing what it knows to do, so it’s not the golfer’s fault they have the frustrations they have… So what is the real cause of the frustration?

golf swing frustration
It’s not your fault… nor the club’s fault either

Ask any top pro and they’ll tell you the same thing. The perfect golf swing has “no feel”.

WHAT?

It all goes back to one of the most critical factors governing the golf swing… Dynamic Balance, which simply means balance during movement. For the golf swing to work, the body must maintain dynamic balance during the golf swing. If not, the brain will do whatever it has to in order to try and regain body balance. This balancing act is automatic. It’s wired into the human DNA and you have NO CHOICE in the matter.

Dynamic Balance is also the reason the perfect golf swing has no feel. In a state of dynamic balance, each muscle group works evenly with its opposing muscle group. Since the muscles are not out of balance there is no feel that stands out, hence why the perfect golf swing has no feel.

So how can a golfer remember new movement if there is no feel to know if it’s right?

That is the 64 dollar question and it defines the REAL problem with golf instruction. If you are taught how the golf swing feels you are doomed from the very start… Maybe not.

There is one place you CAN feel that will tell you if you are swinging the golf club correctlyThe bottoms of your feet.

Again Dynamic Balance is the reason this works. Here’s why:

Your balance reaction is a response to the effects of gravity. think about what happens when you fall and hurt yourself. Balance is a built in survival action. Well, your feet are the place that interaction between gravity and balance takes place. For every other sport but golf, dynamic balance corrections happen when you take steps during activity. In golf, your feet stay planted so that automatic balance mechanism has been taken away.

Without the ability to balance during foot movement, your body can only redirect muscles from your golf swing to the task of rebalancing, which changes the golf swing and makes those “funny” shots you blame on a bad golf swing.

The real culprit most of the time is your balance.

So the next question is: “If I maintain dynamic balance during my golf swing, will I make a perfect golf swing?”

Yes and no. I can say that if you maintain dynamic balance during your golf swing, you will consistently make the same golf swing

As long as the timing between the upper and lower body is always the same. That really is the only other factor that decides the outcome of the golf swing…

The timing between the upper and lower body and how power is built and released during the golf swing.

Timing is the reason why you can have a golf swing that looks great but doesn’t quite make the shots you are trying to make.

If this sounds new to you, it’s not. I have read just about every bit of golf instruction written since the early 60s in an effort to crack the golf swing code and the common thread in the early years that I always read from the greats on tour is that the golf swing comes down to balance and timing.

I took me a number of years to truly be able to understand and explain how balance works during the golf swing.

Now I teach it to golfers in as little as 30 minutes.

Timing is a little trickier, but once you have balance down, timing is much easier to master.

Oh… Did you notice we didn’t talk about your golf swing mechanics? We don’t have to because the balanced body will always return the same golf swing.

More importantly, the golf swing created by maintaining dynamic balance is the golf swing that perfectly fit YOUR body. In balance, your golf swing is its most efficient, and in good timing, it is its most powerful. All without effort.

I have been teaching this to thousands of golfers all over the world for almost 20 years in my Golf Swing Control course.

Now I have written all of this down in a book called “Breaking Golf’s Last Barrier” which goes from how to maintain balance and how to find the perfect timing for your golf swing to the short game, putting, and the true mental game where I teach golfer to intentionally think through their subconscious during the golf swing to play every golf shot in “the zone”.

It’s all there, 30 years of research that all started because I was frustrated every time I hit a bad shot on the golf course.

Check out “Breaking Golf’s Last Barrier” here:

Thanks for reading.
Tracy
 

Golf Inconsistency – The #1 reason for golf swing inconsistency

For years I’ve been seeing articles and videos about the different components of your golf swing that cause inconsistency. If you try them all you’ll get tied up in knots… But golf swing inconsistency all stems from one of 2 deeper problems that are much easier to fix. Why don’t pros tell you about it?

“If it was easy, ANYONE could do it!”

So by leaving out information, or by ignorance, you don’t ever learn the real truth. But I’m not here to rant but rather to solve problems.

The first reason for golf swing inconsistency is Balance during setup AND during the golf swing. If you’ve read anything I’ve written, this is old news, but I continue to shout it from the roof tops and as of late it seems to get more attention. What’s funny is I give this information away for free and the pros teaching balance often STILL get it wrong. I can only shake my head…

Even pros feel it from time to time…

In this post I want to relate how the golf swing inconsistencies tie into balance.

Let’s start with one of the most popular problems pros talk about – Swing Plane. That’s a doozy because no matter how much you practice your swing plane, there is still no way to know if it’s right on the golf course until AFTER the ball is in the air… Too late.

Or is there?

There is! You see the simple fact is: If you monitor and keep your body in dynamic balance during your golf swing, you balance the whole body… including the golf club!

Here’s where golf swing inconsistency comes into play… There is ONLY ONE balanced swing plane for your body in balance.

The number of out-of-balance swing paths = infinity.

Let that sink in for a second…

So, if your swing path is off, you were out of balance… But if you maintain balance you don’t have to worry about your swing plane!

And that is why I get so frustrated with swing plane training!

So you are thinking, what if I want to draw the ball or fade it? No problem. Here’s the secret and it gets a little complicated – there are more than one balance configurations for your body depending on where you want to center your balance during the golf swing. You simply learn all three  balance configurations and you have three consistent shots, fade, straight and draw… All without ever trying to figure out where the golf club is during your backswing.

How about swing timing. Timing is a major factor in golf swing inconsistency. Most golfers swing too fast as if the swing is an Olympic timed event. when I ask them to slow their swing down, they can… until they are making a golf shot on the golf course. What is happening to cause that? The mind has gotten distracted by a conscious thought, probably about where the ball might go. I understand this is extremely difficult to correct. This problem is a mental one but with the right mindset, stemming from Balance, it can quickly be fixed.

The goal here is to occupy your mind with a visual process more stimulating than wondering where the ball will go… But how?

This is where balance comes in, but it will take some practice to build up confidence in where the ball WILL go without your conscious mind worrying about it.

Here’s the concept: If you move at a pace during your golf swing that is slow enough so you can monitor AND control your dynamic balance without throwing it off, you will hit the ball well and that pace will be your natural swing speed.

Remember that once your body starts moving IN dynamic balance it will fight to STAY in dynamic balance. Your conscious mind is the only thing that can screw that up. But your conscious mind has to have proof that what your are doing will get the results you want. That’s where the practice comes in. The only way you will convince your conscious mind that balance works is by practicing away from the golf course. By practicing balance monitoring ONLY at the range, you will start to see consistent results and your conscious will build confidence in the process.

The first time you go to the golf course, other factors will get in the way and your conscious will doubt you and cause problems… Trust me, you will think that golf swing inconsistency is repairable. And it will be frustrating but at that crucial moment you have two choices: give up or show the conscious again that balance works.

If you want to make the fastest progress, you have to fix it on the course, which isn’t easy. On the golf course you have to tell yourself to let go of consequences of where the ball will go and act as if you are hitting the ball back on the driving range. Once you can do that on the golf course you will have taught your conscious mind two things: Balance works… and STOP worrying!

I know golfers who struggle with this every time they go out. I can talk them through it, but they can’t do it themselves.

Here’s the secret: To cure golf swing inconsistency, before you step foot on the golf course you have to remind yourself about what is of most importance during the round. If you are working on monitoring balance, than don’t play for score. Play every shot with the goal of knowing that you knew your balance during the shot. Let everything else just happen and see what happens. You may be amazed at the results.

That ‘s all for now.

For the long term cure, it’s all in my book:

Golf Swing Weight Shift – Yes or No?

There are two schools of thought when it comes to the golf swing weight shift. You either shift your weight during your golf swing or you leave it on the target side leg. I know golfers who are successful with both. So in many cases it is a matter of choice.

Lately, there is a new factor that may change your mind. It’s called Ground Reaction Force, also called GRF.

What is GRF? In accordance with Newton’s laws, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Just like it sounds, if you push into the ground, the ground pushes back!

Absurd! Not so fast…

If I push my 160 pounds into the ground, how much does the ground push back? Remember – Equal and opposite reaction…

You don’t see the ground actually swell up and push you back up. But then the ground probably doesn’t sink much when you push into it either. Then again the earth weighs a helluva lot more than I do so it doesn’t have to do much of anything to push back, but it does…

Here’s a link for further study – Best Performance Group

And that seemingly imperceptible push back can add power to your golf swing if you time it correctly.

I discovered how GRF works during the golf swing by accident. Literally, I twisted my ankle while running! The result was a very painful high sprain and over eight months of recovery. That was the accident that led to my discovering this phenomenon for myself.

I stumbled on this wonderful force because some of my golf students wanted me to play golf with them despite my injury. They believed I could find a way to hit a golf shot without using my left ankle, so I couldn’t let them down. After about 30 minutes, I found a way to make a golf swing that not only prevented my occasional hook (my nemesis), but it also added 20 yards to my drives. I didn’t understand it, but I liked it.

The difference was  my golf swing weight shift. I have always made the traditional backswing on my right side and shifted to the left foot for the downswing. The issue I have always fought with that weight shift is head movement and an occasional slide(during the shift) that would cause the hooks.

Why did I stick with it? Did you see how much I weigh? At 160 pounds, I need everything I can put into the ball for distance, or so I thought.

How did the new weight shift change things?

Well, instead of shifting weight to the left foot, I turned my core toward the ball and only moved my weight slightly, with the idea of keeping the weight behind the golf ball so as to save my ankle. So during the transition instead of moving my weight toward the target, I pushed it down into the ground. At the same time, the power stored during my backswing was releasing to uncoil my right side for the downswing. As I pushed into the ground, the Ground Reaction Force pushed back, effectively compressing the imaginary spring I had coiled during the backswing.

It sounds far-fetched but the result is that I had more power behind the ball. In addition, my weight moved toward my left foot AS the club moved through impact. So instead of having a large part of my weight already on my left foot during impact, I had the majority of it adding to the power of impact.

This new weight shift is part of the modified pre-set swing drill you can download when you subscribe to the Breaking Golf’s Last Barrier newsletter.

So, back to the original question… To shift or not to shift?

The difference I see now between staying left and my modified weight shift is that staying left doesn’t take advantage of GRF. I have students who hit the ball a country mile staying left and I would never suggest that they change, but if you need some distance, it might be worth looking into.

Also, if you use a traditional weight shift and you fight “getting stuck” or your snarf shot is a nasty hook, this weight shift could be the cure.

Hit’m well

Tracy

 

Suggested Reading

While you are waiting patiently (thank you) for Breaking Golf’s Last Barrier to be completed, There are a few books I have read that are related to many of the concepts I use in my teachings. I put them on my suggested reading list because these are books that will help you in golf and other areas of your life. I don’t often recommend books, but these are some of the best I’ve read lately.

So here are three that I think you will like.

The first you may have seen on the Golf Swing Control website. This book explains what Myelination is and why it is important for anyone trying to learn a skill. Daniel Code gives real life examples of how certain teachers around the world have used methods that promote myelination and have turned out years of world class athletes, musicians and the like.

The second book is one I mention in Breaking Golf’s Last Barrier. I talk about the importance of nasal breathing for your health, focus, mental clarity, and most importantly how nasal breathing is one of the factors that will help you find the Zone on the golf course. Before I read this book, I had no idea that something so simple could do so much until I made a concerted effort to follow the program. My life is now so much calmer.

The last book I am suggesting is also important to anyone striving to attain any kind of goal. This book explains the truth behind how those who make it to the top get there. There is no quantum leap as most people think. Anyone can do it if you follow Jeff Olson’s advice.

Much of my research about how to succeed with your golf game is outside of the golf world. These three book are good examples. The will help your golf game, but they will also make a difference in other areas of your life.

Once again, thanks for your patience. I’m getting closer…
Tracy

Golf Starts with Balance

In every lesson I teach I always start with the one element a golf swing CANNOT exist without – Balance. But balance is so much more than any other instructor will teach you. balance is the key ingredient AND it’s where the rest of the game, including your mental game starts.

In Golf Swing Control, I give you the first lessons on balance free. I often get questions as to why I give away the ground breaking information that will straighten out just about any golfer’s game for free. It is because it is just the start of a golf game that few golfers ever get to experience.

The golf game I am describing is one where you are not frustrated, even if you hit a few bad shots. You really enjoy playing the game, the scenery, and the company you play with. It all starts with balance.

I had a question from a member who wanted to know how the mental game and balance are attached. The following is my explanation.

In lesson one you have to feel where the weight is under your feet. If you can describe where the weight is, it means you are describing the picture that your subconscious has created from that feel. In other words, even though you may not realize it yet, you have tapped into your subconscious and can see what the subconscious sees when it interprets feel.

In lesson two, you take the picture from lesson one and adjust it and your body responds. You may not realize that you have done this, but if your body responded by walking correctly, that is how the brain accomplished this task.

In lesson 3 you must feel your feet as you look away to make sure you are staying on the proper parts of them for balance. The reason you look away is so that the subconscious has NO CHOICE but to make sure you are in balance.

Here’s the sneaky part… In order to place your feet properly, you must keep a picture in your head of where the ball is relative to your feet. That visualization is what starts the visualization process for the shot.

In lesson 4, as you make the backswing, you monitor your weight AND control where it goes using the feet. Your golf swing follows the weight in the feet, your swing plane is a result of how you control the weight in the feet. The shot shape is a result of where you move the weight in your feet. Your swing tempo is a result of taking the time to feel and control where you feel the weight under your feet as you make your backswing.

Because the subconscious changes all of the feel in your feet to subconscious pictures, you are visualizing live images and all of the control is a result of your mind/body communication. The more you do this, the better your mind gets at doing it until it is second nature.

Golf is a game played mostly in the mind. In the 4 hours of a standard round of golf, your physical activity of swinging a club or putting is actually only around 40 minutes or less. During that time, your subconscious mind must be engaged to get the best results. The rest is conscious. When you aren’t thinking about a shot, you may be enjoying good conversation. That’s part of the game as well.

When it gets down to it, golf teaches you to shift mind sets, changing from conscious focus to subconscious focus and then conscious relaxation. It’s not something that you do in most other sports.

The next time you’re out on the golf course try to be aware of the mind you are using at any moment and I think you’ll get a different appreciation for what the game is doing for you.

Hit’m well,

Tracy
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Free Golf Newsletter #1

So what does it take to succeed and achieve your golf game goals?

Every year, Vince Lombardi would start his season with the same words: “Gentlemen, this is a football.” Even though his players were high caliber veterans, Lombardi left nothing to chance. he started with the basics, the purpose of the game, the goal of the game.

When planning a trip, you start with the end in mind. Without a destination, there is no way to plan the trip.

So, what’s the goal with your golf game? Are you looking for low scores? Do you want to compete… And win? Do you just want to get around the course without losing a dozen golf balls?

The first step is to make that decision, create your goal.

Step two is how to get there. Take stock of where your game is now. What are your strong points and your weak points. If you don’t know, it’s time to start keeping stats. The fastest way to improve your golf game is to find the weakest part of your game and work on improving it. Start writing down your putts, fairways, and greens. Write down your saves and as bad as it will be to take… write down the wasted shots and what caused them.

For most, the weakest part of your golf game is consistency. One week your putting is off, the next it’s your driver and the following week, your irons are all over the place. So how do you improve if you never know what part of your golf game is going to show up? I know the feeling.

Two questions:

  • How often do you practice?
  • How do you practice?

Woody Allen once said that the secret of success was just showing up. I’d like to adjust that to, “showing up consistently”.  So if you practice once every 2 weeks, can you expect to see improvement?

Second: If you go to the range and blindly hit balls out into nowhere, what are you improving? On the golf course every shot has a distance and a target. If you remove those 2 elements, you’re just working your muscles… and in many cases OVER-working your muscles. (I’ve seen range rats who beat hundreds of balls every night wondering why they never improve.)

So… Gentlemen… This is a golf ball…

It all starts and ends with the golf ball. The golf ball is the target. It’s the reason you swing the golf club… To move the golf ball. Knowing how and why the golf ball moves is the start.

Do you ever wonder why you slice? It starts with how the club and the golf ball interact. Once you know that, you can work backwards to figure out the root cause. Once you know the root cause you can fix it and end your struggles with the slice forever… And mark that problem off of your list.

Is distance your issue? It’s a complicated one because you have to understand the physics and difference between speed and momentum and how either one affects the golf ball.

And of course there is consistency. If you don’t know from shot to shot which way the golf ball will go, you need to start by understanding what creates consistency and inconsistency of movement in the body.

And once you understand all of that, you STILL need to understand how the brain and body react to practice so you can make every shot in play and practice count toward moving your game forward.

I think we have a full plate here, but a lot depends on you. I need to know where you, the reader stands with your golf game. What are your struggles. What do YOU want to fix. None of my words matter if they don’t help you.

Leave a comment and let me know where you stand and what you would like to accomplish with your golf game.

I’m back once again to serve you.

Tracy