Different but the Same
There are certain essentials that happen in a swing that allow you to become more consistent. Good golfers may look different in motion, but when their swing is looked at more closely, they have performed similar actions to produce golf’s equivalent of consistency. To become a consistent golfer one must understand two essentials that good players do which I believe should be called the fundamentals of the golf swing.
Over the years, the grip, stance, alignment and posture have been called the fundamentals of golf. Fundamentals should mean that everyone should do them similarly in set up which will produce consistent results for all golfers. Yes, a beginning golfer needs to be told generally what the grip, stance, alignment and posture are but in order to become a consistent golfer I feel the essential “fundamentals” are not in the set up but rather in the swing. I work with every golfer on two universal essentials that all good players try to do consistently. The first essential is understanding how the entire golf club swings on a correct plane with a certain width of arc, at a certain angle of attack with a squaring club face. This should be done at the golfers’ most efficient speed. The second essential is rotating your body in a way that allows you to perform the first essential consistently.
When one refers to muscle memory, the golfer means that he is trying to repeat these actions. My teachings specifically work on these essentials for consistency. I work with students to eventually work them out of trying to fix what is broken, but rather develop what is right by repeating the essentials. After helping my students understand these essentials, then and only then we start to build a specific solid grip, stance, alignment and posture around their essentials.
These set up positions now become the golfer’s uniqueness that makes each golfer appear to be different. The closer you can get to have a swing that matches your personality the better golfer you will become. My passion is helping students work towards becoming consistent with golf’s essentials while bringing out their own style of swing that they should play golf successfully and up to their personal capabilities.
