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My Father always got mildly upset when someone used a redundant statement.  Things like "an unexpected surprise" or "at this point in time" he felt was wasting words.  You could say "at this point" or "at this time" but there was no reason to say both.

The other day I saw another teaching professional encourage a student to "let the club fall so it comes from inside the target line to the ball." Redundant!  If the club falls, truly falls, it must be inside the target line.  The only way to get the club to go outside the target line would be to use the upper body to move the club there.  In this case the arms and club would not be falling.

Allowing the arms to fall translates into the arms and the club swinging when the body rotates.  Whatever falls and swings is no longer dependent on the hands to guide the club.  Falling and swinging are controlled by the laws of motion and physics.  Those two are more consistent than you are!

I don't want to startle you but golf season is less than two months away!  It won't be long until handicap computers start accepting scores, and the trees will start to bloom.  What have you done to make your golf more fun in 2012?

The time to get better is now.  Any athlete playing a seasonal sport understands that the time to refine, improve or make wholesale changes to the motions they rely on is NOT during their season.  If you want to make 2012 the best year of your golf career, do not wait until late March to get a tune up.  Start today to make significant and lasting improvements to your golf swing and putting stroke.

Over the winter you can really get into making changes.  You can get your golf swing analyzed via video or 3-D Motion.  We can diagnose your putting stroke using a computer analysis.  You can find out if your body has the mobility and stability to perform the golf swing you are trying to make.  Once you have a clear understanding of what you are doing, we can get a plan in place to address these issues.

The key is to do it now.  In the winter you have an opportunity to work on these changes without the interruption of your normal weekly game. 

Don't hope that this year is a better one.  Take action to make sure it is.

Everyone talks about their "golf swing."  I constantly remind my students of what we are implying when we use the word swing.  There are two things that we must recognize about anything that swings.

1. Whatever it is that is swinging has no engine or motor.  A pendulum in a grandfather clock swings because of the gears in the clock, momentum and gravity.  On a playground, a swing set swings because of momentum and gravity.  There is no engine in the chain.
2. Whatever swings is extremely consistent.  There are no scratches in the back of the grandfather clock box.  The seat of the swing set moves through the same space at the bottom of the arc each time.

How does this apply to your golf swing?  If your arms and hands are guiding or forcing the club through the motion, you are hitting not swinging.  Once the hands control the golf club the consistency that is inherent to anything that swings is gone.

If your body moves correctly and the arms are allowed to swing freely because of that motion, centrifugal force and gravity, the arms, hands and club will move correctly and consistently.

There has historically been some bad advice handed out to golfers over the years.  A lot of these tend to come from fellow golf friends that are commenting on what they see in your swing. 

One of the common phrases I hear is "take it back low and slow."  This is horrible advice to give anyone.  If the club moves away from the ball in a slow and deliberate manner a few bad things are going to happen.
1. The hands will end up controlling the golf club.  Because the club has no momentum, the hands will have to lift the golf club.
2. The players brain will sense that no energy has been created. This will often result in a violent move from the top of the swing.

There needs to be some energy in the backswing.  If the torso rotates with some speed, the golf club will have momentum to swing to the top and absolve the arms and hands from lifting.

For anyone who wants to see what I am referring to, watch Rory McIlroy swing a golf club.  The backswing has enough pace that he can let the club swing to the top while he is at the same time preparing to make an explosive move into the forward swing.

Forget low and slow, create enough energy with the body so the club can swing.