Better Golf Swing

When the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. This is one common problem when many weekend golfers go to a professional golf swing trainer for help. Most golf professionals make the assumption that everyone has the basic fitness to play good golf. So when you visit them for “treatment”, they make their diagnosis through the lense of a golf swing mistake. They will look at how you grip your golf club, they will look at the way you stand and how you hold yourself throughout your golf swing. They will analyze all your golf swing angles based on the deviation from fundamental golf swing techniques. They will prescribe some corrections – some training exercises to help you learn the proper golf swing mechanics.

In many cases, they would be right. Many of their student golfers will improve to a certain extent. On their weekend golfing binges, these weekend golf warriors will start their games with only a small improvement. As their games progress, they will improve more. But as their golfing day draws to an end … their golf swings will gradually become more inconsistent and erratic.

Does this sound like your problem? Does that erratic hook or slice of yours show up most frequently in late game? Think back to all your golf games – how did your body feel when you made most of your golf swing mistakes? Was it when your body felt great? Or was it when your body felt stiff and achy?

This is not really the fault of your golf swing trainer, just as it is not really the fault of your doctor when he can’t cure you for that sinus problem that is really caused by a misaligned spine. The trouble is that you went to the wrong specialist. Just as going to another doctor will not cure your sinus, neither will going to another golf swing instructor help your golf swing much. You may need a different specialist – a chiropractor for your sinus, a golf fitness trainer for your golf swing.

But how do you know when you are consulting the wrong specialist? Simple – when you have undergone extensive treatment at the hands of Dr. Black and Dr. White and neither of them has produced a cure, it is time to look at alternative treatment modalities. Give the chiropractor a try. If it works, great! If not try the diet allergy specialist. Try the dietician. Try the nutritionist. Try massage, reflexology, aromatherapy, hypnotherapy. Whether or not it is accepted medical practice in your state and country, try it.

The same goes for your golf swing. If the golf swing trainer, working from the basis that the problem lies with your golf swing technique, cannot cure your golf swing problem, then perhaps it is time for you to look elsewhere for a solution even if it does not seem related to golf.

It is just like Sherlock Holmes said – once you have eliminated all the other possibilities, the last remaining one must be the solution.

Could it be a mental problem? Then try the different mental golf techniques. Try the self-hypnosis golf CDs. Try the golf mental imagery and visualization techniques. Try the binaural beat and hemisynch golf CDs. Learn EFT for golf. Learn mental relaxation techniques. Maybe even visit a good hypnotherapist for help.

Could it be a physical problem? Maybe, just maybe, your body just cannot support or go through all the necessary golf swing angles needed to hit the ball right. Maybe, it is not so much that you are not executing your golf swing techniques correctly, but that your body is not able to go through all the contortions necessary for proper golf swing mechanics to take place.

If your body is the cause of your golf problem, does that mean you need to give up on ever achieving the perfect golf swing? Will you remain with a golf handicap in the three digits for the rest of your golfing life? Not necessarily. Let’s first take a look at the changes in your body throughout your day as you play golf.

When you hit your first golf ball for the day, your swing is probably a little unsteady. That’s because you have not got into gear mentally, yet. That’s also because your muscles have not quite warmed up, yet. But after a few holes, your golf swing should be much steadier. You have finally achieved the right mental state and focus. And your muscles have warmed up, and your joints have become more limber from all the activity. But later on, maybe just after another few holes, or maybe at the end of the day, depending on your physical fitness, your muscles start to ache and your joints start to stiffen up again. You have gone from the high of just enough physical activity to the low of too much physical activity. Your body starts to rebel and refuses to hold all the important golf swing angles you learned from your golf swing instructor.

Do you still think nothing can be done? Or do you see that, maybe, improving your level of physical fitness may help with your golf game. This is the reason why many newer golf pros visit the gym regularly (if they do not have their own personal gym anyway). Simple plain strength training, stretching and physical conditioning exercises can help your golf scores a lot. But what if you just do not have that two or three hours to spend in the gym every other day? Not when you have to work and still spend time with your family.

In this case, perhaps a more concentrated regime of golf fitness exercises can help. You can do a search on the internet to look for the golf fitness exercises that will help you maintain the golf swing angles needed for proper execution of your golf swing. Or you can spend a bit of money on dedicated self-learning course of golf fitness exercises. Following a proper menu of golf fitness training can potentially improve your golf swing much faster than a general physical training course.

When you have a persistent golf swing problem, think outside the box. Is it really due to faulty technique, or is it really because of some other problem? Remember that the same symptom, e.g. inability to maintain the proper golf swing angles, can be caused by more than one reason. Find and fix the real reason if you really want to play a better game of golf.