If you are taking the time to read this article you are either already aware of the importance of getting your golf swing on plane or you are curious as to exactly what this plane talk is all about.

For the latter group the plane of the golf swing is essentially the path traced by the golf shaft all the way from address to finish. Think of a plane as say a sheet of paper. A horizontal plane would be if it were laying on a table while a holding it straight up and down would be a vertical plane. The golf swing plane is somewhere in the middle – a taller player should have a more vertical or upright swing while shorter players should have a more horizontal or flat swing.

The goal for the average player should be to maintain the same plane throughout the entire golf swing. Professional golfers tend to re-route their swing at the top of the backswing and have a slightly flatter downswing in an effort to store-up a little more power and deliver the club more from the inside. Sounds nice in theory but if you only golf once or twice a week, or month, then simple is best.

A one plane golf swing will help ingrain a consistent swing with more solid contact. This is because in order to accomplish this you will need to swing around your body and not try to manipulate the club with your hands. Ok, so what is the proper swing plane? Perpendicular to your spine angle is the answer. Therefore if you want only one plane for your golf swing you need to make sure that you keep the same spine angle throughout the swing as well. This means keeping a nice straight spine by bending at the hips not waist and not lifting up on your backswing or dipping down on the downswing.

Once you have a consistent spine angle you need some point of reference to make sure that you are rotating properly around your spine. A great way to accomplish this is to try to keep your right elbow (for a right-handed golfer) close to your right side during the backswing. You will probably feel that this restricts your backswing somewhat which is really the whole point. Most golfers keep swinging back with their arms long after their core has stopped turning which does not generate any additional power but does make it more difficult to consistently get the club back to the ball.

A good drill would be to try swinging with a spare golf glove placed under your right armpit and making sure it does not come out at anytime during your backswing. So to summarize – rotating around a consistent spine angle with your right elbow as a point of reference should really help you get your golf swing on plane.

All the best,

Steve

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It is a disservice to golfers everywhere that most golf instruction acts as if golf is not really a sport, but some elusive contortion that only a Zen Master could accomplish. Such is the case when talking about the golf swing release.

When faced with a challenge in golf, like all other sports, go back to the fundamentals.

The golf club release should be a natural extension of good fundamentals. Therefore by looking at what happens when we don’t properly execute the release in the golf swing, we can then trace that back to the basics. When the golf swing release is too early (before impact) most golf instruction calls this a fat release. The results are a fat shot, a hook or pull hook. When the golf club release is late the resultant shot is typically a topped shot, a block or slice. Every one of these swing faults can be traced back to a poor grip.

The second fundamental that has the biggest impact on the release is tempo. Many recreational golfers hurry the swing thus not allowing the hands, wrist, and forearms time to work through the swing naturally. It is better to swing within yourself.

An effective golf swing release is a lot more then the turning over of the hands, as most golf instruction would have you believe. In truth the golf swing release is the end result of the stored energy of the backswing. As you start your backswing using the fingers and hands to lead, when properly done there is a reverse release of the hands that naturally occurs. As you take the club back when you have the shaft about waist high the club head should be toe up. This toe up position is the natural reverse golf swing release.

The hands and wrist should stay in relatively the same position through the backswing and transition. As you start the downswing and the club again approaches the horizontal waist high position there is a natural turning of the right hand, wrist and forearm over the left (for right handed golfers). Visualize the handle of the golf club as a doorknob that you turn using both hands.

The most obvious observation of release is a baseball swing. Big hitters always finish with the right hand and forearm crossing over the left hand (again right handed). The biggest reason most recreational golfers suffer from a poor golf swing release isn’t the release itself at all. The release isn’t complicated to understand or execute. The problem for most golfers is again the golf grip. Since most golfers start with too strong of a grip with the club in primarily in the palms of the hands, it is physically impossible to turn one hand over the other. Instead the handle of the golf club is pushed through the shot. This will cause blocked or pulled shots.

The best drill for a golf swing release is to hit balls taking the club only waist high on the back and forward swings. Your goal is to hit the ball about 100 yards with a 7 iron straight. When you are no longer blocking or pulling these shots advance to a full swing. Additionally a hinged golf training club is helpful in acquiring the feel of a golf full release.

There are two prominent strains of thought in golf swing theory. One is that you swing the clubhead. The other is that you swing the handle. But what you really want to do is swing the whole club, not just a part of it. Doing that irons out swings flaws almost instantly and leads to better shots in the same amount of time.

Have you ever chopped wood? You swing the axe in the exact way that you should swing the golf club. You swing the whole axe. Both ends of the axe, the handle and the head, are traveling in the same direction at any moment. That might sound obvious, but it’s a more subtle point than it appears.

Hold a golf club in front of you, with one hand in the middle of the shaft. With the club hanging vertically, move your hand to the right. The grip end and the clubhead both move in the same direction. This is how the axe is moving when you bring it down on the wood. You know that’s how you get maximum power, so that’s what you do.

Now with the club hanging vertically in front of you again, push the grip end to the right and, with your hand as a pivot, let the clubhead react to the left. The two ends of the club are moving in opposite directions. If you swing the axe this way, not only would you lose power by slowing down the axe head, you would well miss the wood because the head is now flailing around instead of continuing on a directed path.

How do you put this idea into your golf swing? Swing the club back so that the club doesn’t pivot at any time. Breaking your wrists deliberately will do that. Take the club back as a unit and let your wrists break when they have to. Not sooner, not later.

On the downswing, do the opposite. Swing the club down as a unit and hold onto your wrist break until the momentum of your swing makes you release it. If your wrist break releases too early, this is called casting, a short name for the two ends of the club moving in opposite directions.

To see how this really works, hold the club with your right hand (left hand, for left-handed golfers) in the middle of the shaft. Slowly swing the club back so both ends move in the same direction, i.e., there is no pivoting around your hand. Now swing the club slowly back down, again watching the entire club move as a unit. There’s no pivoting around your hand as the clubhead comes into the ball, not handle going backward as the clubhead goes forward.

Once you understand this idea, start taking slow practice swings so the club moves exactly like this. When you can put this movement into your swing at normal speed, better ball striking is assured.

Swingers look just like everyday people. So when you next visit the local shopping centre, anyone you see there could be a swinger. That is what swingers really look like – just your regular everyday person because that is what they are when they are not swinging.

The level of fitness and body shape / size of individuals varies greatly in the swinging lifestyle. There is every shape and size imaginable but the bottom line is that there definitely is someone for everyone who is looking. Some people do take very good care of themselves by eating well and exercising regularly. But it comes down to how comfortable you are in your own skin and the air of confidence you have. If you are comfortable with your own body appearance then that will show and your playmates will also notice.

Some swingers can tend to be a bit self-conscious of their bodies due to the fact that at some point in the near future they are going to be in a hot tub or club naked with others around them. So they feel the need to not get complacent with their appearance and to do something to keep themselves always looking good. Whether that be maintaining a tan or simply eating well and doing some regular exercise.

And some swingers tend to be self-critical when it comes to physical appearance. Again, we are going to be naked in front of other people so some swingers actually do care about this and will make effort to look after themselves, or take extra time to prepare for meeting up with others (eg: trimming hair, being extra clean etc… )

But regardless of how good shape you think you are in, there will be some in the lifestyle who will not find you attractive. Then again there will be some you find attractive and some you will not. Just like the outside life, there are personal preferences and we all have them, so don’t take offence if someone in the lifestyle does not find you attractive.

Think back to when you were first dating someone. How did you look after your appearance then? Did you do any special grooming? Did you work extra hard at the gym for a while? Wear any special clothes? Well, swinging can be looked at in a similar context in that you are constantly meeting up with new people and you want to do your best to keep the odds in your favour of a positive outcome and some fun times ahead!

One of the best tips for you to improve your appearance is to keep your self-confidence high and to let it show – but just don’t overdo it. When you meet people, do it in a confident manner instead of a timid manner. Even if you are not feeling confident you could ‘fake it until you make it’. Act confident and you will be confident and you will be far more attractive to others.

The most important thing to know is that there are people in the lifestyle who are great fun to be around and then there are people who simply are not. Personal fitness has got nothing to do with how pleasant a character you are. If a couple is fun to be around then others are more likely to want to spend time with them. If you can have a few laughs and have decent conversation with the other couples, then you are more likely to enjoy your time spent with them and this will make them more attractive.

Most swinging couples would rather spend intimate time playing with others who are great people but not so physically attractive, than to play with attractive looking people who are not fun to be around.

Enjoy your time playing with those who are attracted to you and just forget about the ones who are not. At the end of the day ‘attractiveness’ is subjective.

As a young man, my introduction to golf involved a few rudimentary tips on golf course etiquette, what the different clubs were for and what ‘fore’ was for.

Beyond that, I learned a lot of the bad habits of my buddies (both on and off of the links). As to the golf swing, I could have used a lot of help. All right, I could STILL use a lot of help, but frankly getting my mind full of do’s and don’ts only confuses me and gives me ‘tee jitters’.

So, what to do and where to go to get good golf instruction? If I do find a good instructor, how can I get the most out of the money and time that I spend?

Well, for starters, if I were in high school again (Yes, it was after wooden club shafts) then I would chuck the glory of the football stadium and get into the relatively sedate envrons of the golf clubhouse.

Joining a golf team could provide any young man or woman the right instruction of how to swing properly. This would lay a solid foundation for this ideal lifetime sport from a qualified golf instructor.

That being said, most of us will learn golf at a later stage in life from much less qualified individuals. When we do finally decide to take a few golf lessons from a qualified instructor, we might find it initially frustrating to have to unlearn a lot of bad habits. Moreover, we may find that our bodies just are not able to do what the golf swing instructor advises.

Here are some thoughts about choosing the right instructor.

First of all, have some goals in mind for your game. These could range from learning the basics to advanced course management. As with all goals, make them specific, measurable and timed.

For instance, rather than a broad goal such as ‘I want to lower my handicap to… “. Narrow it down to something like: “I want to eliminate my slice with my driver on 4 out of 5 drives within the next 6 weeks.”

This will at least give the instructors that you interview, an idea of what they can help you with and set up a specific plan.

Secondly, look for an instructor with patience and knowledge of golf swing body mechanics. If you can find a TPI certified instructor, he or she will have the knowledge to perform a simple movement screen to help identify your body’s current limitations.

There is nothing more frustrating than being asked to do something that your body is incapable of. Often, some simple stretching and stability exercises can do wonders for improving your ability to control your golf swing.

Lastly, find a golf instructor that you can have fun with. You should be able to play a round of golf with him or her and not feel pressured to perform or made to feel that you must kiss their clubhead covers.

There are a lot of other things to look for in a golf instructor of course and it may take you a while to find the right golf instructor to help you with your goals. Keep trying because you will always be able to learn something new.

Whether you are a swinger or not, it is normal for guys to wonder about their sexual performance. We all want to be good at sex and to be confident that we are giving the ladies maximum pleasure. I am sure I am not alone when I say that I am conscious of my performance whenever I have sex. Not to the point that I am so focussed on that and that I forget about concentrating on the lady I am playing with, but it is in the back of my mind that I want to leave her with a smile on her face after we have finished playing.

A lot of this is in the head and not necessarily caused by something physical. One big key to help you to overcome any form of performance anxiety is to remember is that if you are in a swinging scenario then the lady is obviously into you and likes you enough to allow you to play with her. She has accepted you for who and what you are and wants to take things further with you. So that should give you enough reason to grow in confidence and be able to relax knowing that she is actually into you and is looking forward to continuing. So don’t over think what is happening and what you are doing.

If you are in a swinging situation, swap in a location that is most comfortable for you. Whether it is someone’s house or some other private location where you won’t have to worry about others around who may be watching you. If you are at a swinger’s resort or a swinger’s party where there is sex happening left right and centre then this may also increase your anxiety levels. If you have been with this person before and you are feeling comfortable with her, then you may want to get into the more adventurous scenarios such as having sex in front of others eventually, but don’t just jump straight into the public setting if you think it will add to your performance anxiety.

As much as we would all love to stay hard and erect all night long, we need to accept the facts that guys just cannot keep an erection going for hours and hours on end. Well – there may be a very lucky few who can! We all wish that we could do that but unfortunately that is not going to happen. You want the experience to last so just pace yourself through the encounter and take things slowly. If you are with someone new for the first time then try to get to know her and play the game of trying to work out what she likes and doesn’t like. Use your arsenal of oral and manual tricks and skills and see which ones are working out to be most effective. Treat that as part of the game and the fun of the experience.

Here is a big tip for you guys – go easy on the alcohol! By all means have a drink or 2 to help you to calm those nerves, but stay in control. There are countless stories and occasions of guys who have been unable to perform properly because they had a limp dick due to the excess alcohol. Don’t let the drink be the cause of your poor performance and subsequent apologies!

So there are a few words of wisdom to help you deal with the performance anxiety that we all encounter at some point in our lives.

I like to introduce an oppurtunity for a golfer to have increase ability in their golf swing mechanics and game by appoaching pacitice and game from a Zone/Zen core breath wareness ability where Stress does not exist.

In order to form a Zone/Zen sensations abilities is centered around core breath awareness during club swing mechanics practice and playing in order to alter Stress in shoulders cause by emotional doubt.

The Zone/Zen club swing mechanics abilities is base on the influence of developing types of core breath control awareness techniques that alters shoulder stress by bring about calmnss Calmness over comes nervouness, anxiety and fear through act of inhale and exhale mindfully that alters mind focus and mental emotional values.

What is a Zone/Zen physcial practice? It is mindful learned core breath pactices awareness sensations that goes to the brain where mind comes aware of the many physical sensations thereby altering abstract thinking. Without abstract thinking the mind can form calmness that prevent stress in shoulders and loss of swing abilities. Here is rule the more thoughts in head genertor for performances the greater the stress in shoulders is produces that lower range of movement and abilities.

By centering the mind on control core breath awareness mindfully that act changes energy going to emotional thoughts and with lower thoughts phyiscal sensations can become aware and used in swing mechanics

The more you feel physcially the less you can have word emotional thoughts. Having the ability to transition from judgement thoughts of playing to club practice swing mechanics sensations is the centeral value around core breath awareness techniuqes to bring about a Zone/Zen focus/physical swing.

The term Zone is Western ideas has been used to described athlete performances with no abstract thoughts. The body just acts. You see it in golf players at times. Ben Hogan was great at it. They called him in England the Ice man for there was just purposeful playing. The Zone term state has no emotional stress active in shoulders that affect body muscle tenson..

The word Zen is an Eastern practice around awareness of one own breath as they physically do things. Example is the Zen tea ceremony movement. Every part of the movement is learned like club swing mechanics. How one learns to move all the parts in the cenemony has an attitude developed through breath awareness.

One own breath sense of awareness is part of the ceremony in attitude movement. The attitude that is being projected in the ceremony add to the beauty of the Tea. It is an experinces just like club swing mechanics.

The Zen core breath timing awareness in the ceremony practices creating physical state that others can sense as a formed attitude during movement in each part of the ceremony.

The number one reason to spend time on this idea of Zone/Zen practice incorportated into your existing golf swing mechanic practices is to change stress in shoulders which will allow greater range in the swing.

What ever mindful Beath awareness approach you practice and play with you can measure it abilities by how it affects stress in shoulders and your attitude emotional generator to address nervousness anxiety and fear that forms stress.

I say the higher your quality mindfulness of aware core breath the lower ones stress can exist in shoulders therefore calmness.

Example to be tested. The higher up and tighter the shoulders are the less inhale or exhale can be done physically in the torso. You can physically test it for your self. Just bring shoulder up high then move belly button and torso to feel inhale and exhale range abilities. You will find range will be far greater if shoulders are down. Understanding the contrast between two states is to bring awareness of differences of body sensation and abilities is shoulders are up or down and soft which means calmness.

The Zone/Zen is a breath awarensss phyisal development with mind/mindful coodination around practice of club swing mechanics that allows shoulders to be down and soft. Stress in shoulders makes you physcially weaker in hands and throughout the body. FACT

Picking the most affective breath awareness techniques is like picking the right club for a shot. You will feel it working on swing.

Be clear what do you want your practice to do for you. There many forms of bearth awareness like the Tea ceremony breath awarensss will not work for Golf swing mechanics but it can work for other times in the game.. Finding breath practices that goes into your purpose is a testing challenge. Measure affects always related to shoulder stress affect in purpose.

Once golfer as foundation breath awarensss techniques that is affective for time then adjustment can begin to make it more affective in swing mechanics and game.

Golfers go on the range and hit balls to bring their Swing mechanic into focus or affect change in the swing mechanics. What is missing to me in swing mechanics practice is a process to reduce stress in shoulder with a conscious technique methods.

What golfers do so many times is hit balls until they feel swing mechanices and abilities. This a a subconscious approach method and it may works or not and to what level of feelings. When the shoulders feel good the swing feels good.

Ben Hogan shown in two drawing in his Five Lessons book I say shows what I am talking about is the two drawings of his swing and how it has 4 parts of understandding in the drawn illustratons. It the only book on golf to show internal core genortor force for energy and strength and link to head attitude genertor to direct the energy into the club head.

Like he said the rotational force of body goes into the grip finger ergonomics to the club head for power..

In my view Ben Hogan has the Best swing mechanics but what missing is the understanding of Core genorator development and head attitude genortor development relationship he shows.

To learn about core and head genertor abilities can be found in Qi Gong breathing awareness techniques. I am a Master of my form of Qi Gong breath useages and awareness techniques which I have incorportated into Golf swing mechanics and game.

Adding breath awarenss techniques which there are many forms to your club swing mechanics and game will alter your stress in shoulders that will allow your physical to come into your game. The Zone/Zen calmness abilities in each swings and playing golf has many benefits out side golf.

Talking about Stress from fear, anxiety and nervousness.

When you experience nervousness, anxiety, or fear in your golf game, you will often simultaneously experience muscle tension in your shoulders and people call it stress. When people say they are stress is a great word for bring focus to physical going to shoulders. The physical effects of stress in the shoulders limits physical performances is will noted. Fear is foundation to nervousness anxiety and confusion so many times.

• Humans experience two types of fear one physical and other judgeemtn fear.
  • The first type of fear is physical harm. For example, this would occur when a car is about to hit you.
  • The other type of fear is learned founded on emotional defintions in judgemetn learned in the culture. This type of fear is rooted in making a mistake.
  • Both types of fear cause you to raise your shoulders and create muscle tension that makes the body weak.
• 
  When you anticipate harm, you become afraid, which causes your shoulders to rise. When your fear is not due to physical harm, it is emotional definition then one needs a method to release it emotionally. Recognizing defences in harm allows the mind to alter fear that forms stress between physical and emotional.
• 
  Learning to release muscle tension in your shoulders comes with Breath awareness for all relaxing/calming programs have a form of breath control that bring about level of calmness physicallly and mentally. I go from physical calmness to mental release using breath awareness rooted in Zen practice and Qi Gong training.

How to get alter stress muscle tension from emotional judgement fear during competition:

• Once you are aware that your fear is emotional rather than physical, you need to release judgement fear and re-direct your awareness to physical sensation like in golf swing mechanics practice comes the main reality.
• Here are suggestions to begin understanding and testing and play around with breath awarenes sensation for physcial affects and reduction of stress in shoulders
• This process is to bring sensations to the mind then you judge what works by playing aroudn with many forces. Learning difference affects to form your own use of breath awareness to change stress that affects mind set attitude in playing.
• Test these ideas out and see if affects shoulder stress and what it produces in the body. This is body to mental approach that affects abilities. If you change the body the mental can change. You can say the Mind locks the body in place so changing body the mind has to alter with Body change.
• First, close your eyes and practice breath awareness to alter stress in shoulders before swinging your golf club. This is a conditioning process you practice to form a state between mind and body.
• Your eyes always project energy, so by closing them the mind energy awareness increases. With each breath awareness can flow energy and increase body sensations that alter shoulder stress.
• Sports psychologists has strengths and limitations and lot of times they use Visualization techniques employed to reduce stress and direct energy in a purpose. Since Visulaization is in the head attitude genertor other forces Stress will not allow energy flow into Visulaiztion. Head attitude genertors conditioning is not simple for I approach it from energy flow sensation feedback evaluation ability base in Qi Gong core aware breath.
• Your performance improves more by redirecting your energy through a trained attitude.You must be mindful that only your body can produce energy and control your emotions. All projection of your reality comes through your body.
• Golfers have to process many variables during playing. Having Breath awareness techniques as center focus change from mental to physical is my suggestion for it about transtion method really affects things.

Golf and Breath Awareness Core Breathing Technique

Breath awareness Core-breathing is a purely mechanical process which influences all of your physical activities.

The methoded of awareness of Core-breathing helps you become more aware of what you are feeling and helps lessen situational fear.The more you feel, the less you think. Fear is thought based and an abstract thought, which is why core-breathing is the most effective technique to lessen fear.

• Core-breathing stabilizes your hips and brings you more confidence to swing from the ground up by enhancing the ability of both your hands and feet and softening your shoulders.

Golfers adding to practice mindful breath awareness core breathing into all parts of game to allow less stress in shoulders has the affect of having enhanced physical and mental clarirty. Breath awareness core breathing at basic level is transtion method from mental to physical and it learned and practice for physical condition. By developing breath awareness core breathing the next level is using it for a Zone/Zen playing abilities.

One of the largest joys of a kid as far as I can think of with my younger days is when always there is a circus spectacle there would surely be the trapeze performance. A trapeze for those who might be unacquainted with the word but positively would have seen this particular carnival showpiece is composed of a swing or a horizontal bar used by acrobats to swing the other side of the flagstaff. It’s an aerial support, from where a performer or a circus performer has to use both his and her balance and suppleness to victoriously finish the performance. The most stupefying exhibitions if you would ask me would be of a trapeze number completed by two to three acrobats, swinging or soaring athwart each other, at times also by group with fire breathing or pyrotechnics in the backdrop.

If you have found yourself with your mouth open even when you are watching this performance in front of your television, see in your mind’s eye what more would it make your heart stop when these acrobats are fleeting just above your head. It would be completely awesome! But think about this, you yourself doing the trapeze performance itself! It would just be sensational.

Trapeze is indisputably something of a grand excitement for those who are in search of a new kind of adventure-extreme adventure-for that matter. It is another way to test your suppleness and your flair for airborne excitement. If you can notice in circus acts there are three performances other regular people can do. One is juggling, next is trapeze and the last is the bungee-trampoline. There are workshops and special coaching schools actually which offer this kind of lessons for different levels and ages.

Some folks might actually worry of its safety. If circus performers can be off unscathed with their performance, what more can you? That is if supervised with a proper instructor and secure circus apparatus you can definitely pull this off. The second worry would be, “Is it right for me?” You don’t really have to have a special ability of bending backwards up to your knee so you can successfully hover athwart the second post. There is the static trapeze you and your friends can try. The static trapeze is an implanted horizontal bar that stays unto its place while the trapeze artist, probably two at times three or four do their exciting acts such as lifting or catching each other.

For advanced to pro trapeze performers you can enhance your act by doing a trapeze act whilst sailing on a fast running sailboat. Catamaran sailing on trapeze high-speed adventure for example is a package for three in an affordable price for an ultimate and remarkable kind of midair euphoria. This is also ideal for close friends and cliques who are in simple terms searching for more adventure and amusement. Maybe you and your two other buddies are by now tired with the common sailboat ride, so instead of just merely sitting there on the sailboat why not do some trapeze flying to have a more whisk of the air. Just think about yourself whizzing against the air and looking down at the blue waters!

The common concept of making power in the golf swing is of trying to keep the lower body from turning as the shoulders wind up the torso. This line of thinking uses the idea of unwinding the body to gain power as if the body were a big spring. Kind of like the unwinding rubber band that spins the propeller of a child’s model plane.

The body does not unwind like a spring, it uses its muscles to move its levers. To prove it to yourself grab your left hand with your right hand and twist your left arm as far (rotating it) without swinging it. Once you have twisted it as far as it will go, let go. It didn’t spin back, did it?

When we try to hold our lower body still we do not allow the levers of the lower body (the legs, feet and knees) to become properly positioned for the down swing. Nor have they been prepared for the upcoming event with the proper stretching of the muscles we need to reverse the motion. Many instructors teach the holding of the weight to the inside of the fight foot and the keeping of the right knee in a braced position.

There is no need for the feeling of being braced. We are not trying to hold the right leg still and create torque in it. We are instead readying it for the actions it must perform to first shift the weight to the left leg (which should act like a post) and then once the weight has shifted to rotate the pelvis on top of the posted left leg.

Rather than feeling as if we are holding the right knee from moving and the weight on the inside of the heel, the feeling is just sliding the hips to the right as the right knee straightens and the left knee and ankle flex.

The weight should initially feel to go to the outside edge of the right heel, and then after the weight has shifted as the shoulders turn the left hip will rotate in toward the ball and the weight will feel to return to the center of the right heel. At the top of the back swing the weight will be 95% on a straight right leg with the remaining 5% of the weight on the inside of the ball of the left foot and the big toe.

Going back we simply slam down the left heel and pull the left knee back under the left hip with no attempt to turn the left hip to the left. As you do this pick up your right heel and rotate it out toward the flight line. You should feel as if your belly goes up under the left arm as you try to pull your right shoulder blade into your right hip pocket using the lower back muscles on the right side of the back.

If you can maintain the feeling of the left arm remaining pinned to the chest as you also keep the chest wound to the right of the hips the shift of the weight will bring the left arm down the perfect plane. Simply twirl the club with the right hand and you will have a perfect swing.

The biggest (technical) roadblock to improvement for the once-a-week golfer is confusing cause and effect. How do we distinguish cause from effect? Common elements are the causes – variations in technique are the effects. Why do the majority of once-a-week golfers struggle to break 90 consistently? The answer is simple: they try to change effects without addressing the underlying cause.

Are you familiar with the phrase “band-aid” teaching?

Consistently solid contact is a by-product of accurately re-creating the three key positions outlined in the previous article. These basic elements are the foundation for analyzing any swing in slow motion. Everything you else you hear or read about proper swing mechanics are by-products of the three key positions.

Let’s dig a little deeper. Is there anything we can do before the swing begins to increase the odds of achieving the three positions automatically?

What is the basic element (ie. cause) underlying every swing? A golfer’s balance at address. Based on my experience, the majority of once-a-week golfers assume they are perfectly balanced at address, but fight to maintain it once the swing begins.

Can you predict a golfer’s skill level by examining their posture at address? Any golfer, even a novice, can sense a player’s proficiency by observing their body shape at address. If we can agree that posture affects balance, then poor posture is the ultimate cause underlying every recurring swing fault.

Here is a guideline for mastering perfect posture: you want to stand as close to your natural height as possible.

How often do you see a golfer on the practice range “hunched” over the ball at address? Perhaps this is an unconscious habit developed over years of being told to “keep your head down!”

Is there a simple technique that guarantees perfect posture (and balance) every time? Of course. Every tour player uses a modified version of this technique. As you develop a feel for the technique, the three elements (ie. positions) mentioned above will quickly become second nature.

What is the secret to perfect balance?

The key is feeling the weight of the club – from the moment you take it out of the bag until the end of the follow-through. If you can’t feel the clubhead before the swing begins, then the odds of maintaining perfect balance at impact are slim indeed.

There are two guidelines for creating perfect balance at address.

Number one: stand tall and allow the clubhead to extend your arms naturally so the clubhead hovers above the ground. Number two: bend the knees enough to just kiss the ground with the clubhead.

Watch closely and you will see how tour players barely ground the club behind the ball (or if they do, the club is raised slightly before the swing begins).

Focus on feeling the weight of the clubhead and get ready to hit the ball farther with less effort.

Thanks for reading!