What makes us stare in amazement at a professional golfer’s swing? There is something magical about the way they hit the golf ball that is amazing to the eye. It draws us in and makes us stare, but only for a couple seconds as we then switch our focus to watching the ball fly to its location. We stare at the swing. We watch the ball. Why do we stare at the swing? I have a theory.
For the better part of 90% of professional golfers, their swings are pretty much the same. Some people have funny looking swings (read Jim Furyk) or do a little thing or two slightly differently than others, but for the most part, almost all swings are the same to the half-trained eye.
Now take a look at the way all of your buddies swing. They all swing differently from one another, and all of their results vary, as well. You can’t see yourself, but if you could your swing would probably be a lot different from any other one of your buddies. Most of my buddies swing pretty hard – some of the time the ball is traveling pretty far, but most of the time it doesn’t in relation to how hard they swung.
Why can’t we consistently hit the ball as long and as straight as a professional golfer?
I know it’s not strength alone (even though today’s professionals are very athletic and fit). I am pretty sure that I could take Tom Watson in a bar-room brawl, but yet he can consistently drive the ball 300 yards straight down the fairway compared to my 250-yard sliced drive. I would never think of doing such a thing to Mr. Watson, but it lamely demonstrates my point: It is not strength alone that allows a pro to hit the ball so far. If you have the proper body mechanics, you can make the ball travel as far as it needs to go. If you couple proper body mechanics with strength, then the ball goes farther than you necessarily need it to go. Young, wiry Rickie Fowler weighs about 155 pounds and can hit the ball a mile.
In Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons, Hogan mentions the 4 parts of the golf swing – the grip, the set-up, the backswing and the downswing – and that was it. I strongly believe a good (i.e. the professional) golf swing relies on 5 parts. I feel like Hogan does not mention the 5th and arguably the most important part of the swing – rhythm, timing and tempo.
You can have the 4 points that Hogan mentions in his book, but without the rhythm, timing and tempo, you are left with a swing that is inconsistent and will utilize the wrong muscles at the wrong time in order to make up for what has been lost. This is the world in which the amateur lives. It is a swing that is too choppy, some parts too fast and some too slow, often result in using our arms too much to try and make the ball go far. You need to have that 5th and crucial element – rhythm, timing and tempo – to take your swing from ‘here’ to ‘there’. I firmly believe that without that final element, there will be a limit in which you will reach. If you play golf and want to hit the ball well and score under par, I believe you need that 5th element.
Take a look at the way Louis Oosthuizen swings in real time. Here is a good angle of his swing from behind, but it is in slow motion. Please do yourself a favor and find a clip of his swing in real time.
His swing truly is a thing of beauty. It is so fluid and rhythmic – it is something akin to magical. The next time you watch golf on television, watch how smoothly the club goes back and the club comes accelerating forward with such a beautiful rhythm – on every shot. It doesn’t matter if it is from the tee box, a long iron, short iron, chip shot, bunker shot or putt – each shot has its own rhythm to it.
I felt that rhythm, timing and tempo in the bunker and on the chipping green yesterday. That made me think more and more about it today and when I got home I watched golf swings on the Golf Channel and sure enough – every single pro golfer had the same rhythm, timing and tempo with whatever shot it was that they were taking. It is a full commitment at address that in about a half second this machine is not going to stop for about another 10 seconds and those 10 seconds are going to be wild – controlled, yet extremely powerful and balanced - but wild.
We stare at the pro golf swing because they are doing something that we are not doing. They are hitting the ball with a certain rhythm, timing and tempo that we are not swinging with. Granted their mechanics are also much better (which are the 4 lessons in Hogan's book), however we can have the same or similar mechanics as a pro, too - but without the rhythm, timing and tempo, we will always be left with our own swings - for better or for worse.
The next time I play, I am going to think about my own rhythm, timing and tempo and see if I can't make something happen.
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