Eighteen Holes

I’ve spent many hours sitting in my favourite cafe watching people teeing off from various greens on the course it serves. There is a good view of people driving off up the first and an even better view of the drive from the 8th tee, which includes the view right down to the green. It is an excellent way to spend a lazy lunchtime, watching other people playing the game I wish I could dedicate more time to.

Now I am not going to claim to have the best or purest swing out there. It certainly has room for improvement and needs a lot more consistency. But watching others take their tee shot, I can certainly spot the good swing from the bad swing before the ball is struck. Usually the practise swings will show what sort of swing is coming up. Sometimes, just the backswing will show the faults.

The thing is, I know if I could stand 20 feet away from myself and watch my swing I would be able to point out corrections. Now, this might not be possible, but down on the driving range it is possible to get my wife to video my swing on the camera video phone. The very first time she did that for me I instantly corrected my swing and lost the worst of my slice in an instant. My swing, like many of the people I watch down in the cafe, was far too flat. By bringing the top of the backswing higher the path to the ball was corrected, the spin was lessened and the ball flew straighter.

Why is getting the basic swing correct so important? Golf is a difficult game at the best of times. Sticking at a static ball leaves fear in most people’s hearts. It should be easy, but look at the distance a goal keep kicks a spot ball against the distance of a dropped ball. We, as humans, find a moving ball easier to strike.

So when it comes to the time to hit the 1.68 inch golf ball with a rapidly moving club head at the far end of a golf club, held at arm’s lenth, the odds are drastically against us. How often when you were beginning did you top and even just take a fresh air shot? Probably more than you care to admit?

By reproducing an ‘authentic’ golf swing, one that is the accepted shape, we are benefitting from the many years of playing experience of those who have gone before us have put into finding the perfect swing. The ideal swing shape puts the clubhead on the straightest line for the longest length of time, which in actually fact is a mere fraction of a second.

For this brief moment in time, for that split second just before the club strikes the ball to the fraction of a second later when the ball has left the tee, the clubhead is travelling straight towards the target and at a level height.

Getting the perfect swing is not easy. But we can try!

Keith Lunt

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