My Golf Swing

I am not a natural at this game.  Like a lot of people, I got into some bad habits when I was starting out.  I had a bad grip, bad posture and hit the ball short but fairly straight with a little fade.  I got to scratch with that swing, but realised fairly quickly that I wasn't going to get any better unless I fixed my basics.  I started working with Luther Blacklock at Woburn Golf Club, and sorted my grip and posture.  My golf swing has improved gradually over time.  I have walked down the same path most of my students are taking.  I know what they are going through and I make every effort to stop them taking the many wrong turns that I have done along the way.  I'm swinging and hitting the ball better than I ever have. I understand my swing, both in terms of why it works, and also what causes my bad shots.  This is a great feeling because I really trust my golf swing, I don't worry about my bad shots because I know why they happen.

I'm 5'9 and 11 1/2 stones (75kg), pretty average in terms of my height and build..  I can hit a driver 290 yards and hit my six iron 175 with a smooth swing.  This isn't long in comparison with the distances many of the guys on Tour hit the ball these days, but it is long enough for me to compete.  It is easy to get impressed and intimidated by the distances the big hitters on Tour hit the ball, and easy to forget that many of them are 6 feet plus and weigh 15 stone.  They all spend hours in the gym and hours on the range. They have the best equipment and play mostly in lovely weather on fairways where the ball rolls yards when it lands

The average golfer can't do what Tiger Woods or Vijay Singh does, yet that is what many of them see on television and in magazines and try to copy.  No wonder the guy who spends all week in an office or in a car and plays only at weekends gets so frustrated.  He sees or reads about these 'magic moves' that the pro's make, without realising that his body and the way he sets up to the ball make it impossible for him to carry them out.  One of the most important things I ever did was to have a movement assessment, so I could understand the restrictions my lifestyle and environment placed on my body, so I could do exercises to minimise the effects these have on my golf swing. 

The swing I use myself and the swing principles I teach uses rotation of the body, rather than leverage with the hands and arms to generate power.  Why? Because it is the simplest, most efficient and most powerful way for most people to swing the club.  It is easy to learn and understand, it's low maintenance and crucially, very kind to the body resulting in less injuries.  I work with my body, rather than fighing it.  Power comes from the big muscles of the legs, the hips, the abdominals and the back, not from thrashing at the ball with the hands.

When I ask my students what they would most like to get from their golf swing, the most common answers are 1) More distance with less effort, 2) stop slicing, and 3) more consistency with less strain on the body.  The swing principles I use and teach will give you all of these benefits, and more.  Once you have mastered the basic idea of turning the body, the swing  I teach is very low maintainance, because it relies far less on timing and hand eye coordination.  This means less time on the range, and more time playing and enjoying the game.

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