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"The fundamental objective of all the movements you make when you have a golf club in your hands, on every shot from the drive to the putt, is to get the clubhead to meet the ball correctly. You may use a variety of devices to help you do that - pivot, weight transference, head still, wrist-cock, etc... but those are not objectives in themselves. In the final analysis, proper impact of club on ball is what produces good golf shots." (from "PLAY BETTER GOLF" by John Jacobs).
What constitutes a good golf swing? I will give my answers to what makes for a good golf swing and I'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not you agree with me. Keep in mind that my answers assume a total belief in the above statement by Mr. Jacobs - and I do agree, with a few additions. Please note that with all due respect to Mr. Jacobs, I'll assume he also believed in the following without actually mentioning it (he does continue in his book describing what he believed made for "proper impact" - at the moment of impact, the face is square - at right angles - to your target line - the direction, or line of your swing coincides with your target line and the angle of the club's approach is such that it allows the face of the club to hit solidly into the back of the ball).
Now, if all of that can be made to happen consistently and correctly (assume we are hitting a driver), but the club is only moving 40 mph - well, the ball just isn't going to go very far now, is it? Let me back up here a second and clarify for those who may have no idea regarding the importance of "clubhead speed, correctly applied". The average clubhead speed (with a driver) on the PGA Tour is somewhere around 111, 112 mph. The longest hitters on the tour can get it up to the 125 - 135 range (swinging from the heels which they rarely do). OK, I'm getting ahead of myself here. What I'm saying regarding the necessary pieces to a good golf swing is that a good golf swing:
1. Is Repeatable... - the way we chew our food or the way we handle going up or down a staircase - this is how our golf swing's should be - we "just do it" - we don't have to think about it.
2. Creates Sufficient Clubhead Speed... - this is a totally ojective entity based on our current level of play or a higher level that we may aspire to... to clarify - if your goal is to get to the PGA tour and the most you can muster out of your driver is, say, 80 mph... well, you had better find a way to greatly increase your clubhead speed... or lower your expectations. That having been said, let me relate a personal story (as you may have noticed throughout this site, I have avoided lumping various levels of golfers together based on their ability, sex, age, scores or playing experience - I have faith that if you have gone this far, you pretty much know what level you are at and can either accept it or take the appropriate steps to raise it - totally your choice - I just want you to have as much fun as possible and only you know what will bring you the most fun as far as your golf is concerned)... now back to the personal story.
I've assembled hundreds upon hundreds of clubs over the years (including several dozen full sets as well). I would never be so irresponsible as to just make a club for someone because they requested one ("hey Nick, can you make me a 3-wood or a wedge or a driver"?). I will only make those clubs if I have the necessary information regarding your physical makeup and golfing ability. One gentleman came to me and said he wanted me to make him a set of irons. He said something to the affect - just make me a 5-iron thru pitching wedge - I can't get any height or distance with the longer irons. I said OK, let's go hit a few balls with your present clubs. I brought along my usual set of little fitting gadgets - a swing speed measuring device, a golf club that measures the amount of "load" someone exerts on the shaft, a little black board to hit balls off of to show me how the current clubs fit for lie angle (more on all of this in the "Knowing Your Tools" section).
Long story short, this gentleman, when making "HIS" normal swing, generated about 65 to 70 mph of clubhead speed (with his driver). He claimed he almost always sliced his irons - well, the fact is, his irons were about 4 degrees too flat for him. When he made contact, the toe of the club would hit the turf first and the clubface naturally "opened up" thru the hitting area and his irons basically flew on a straight line anywhere from 5 to 30 yards to the right of where he was aiming - he wasn't slicing the ball, he was 'pushing' it dead right. I built him a set of irons that were half an inch longer than his existing set, 3 degrees upright and with very soft and very light graphite shafts... and I added a 3 & 4-hybrid to the mix. He thought I was a genius. I really wasn't... I just used the information that his swing and current set supplied (I should mention that this gentleman had a very consistent swing and that is always much easier to work with than someone who makes a different swing every time). It's really not rocket science folks - it's knowing something about clubs and the golf swing - and then coming up with a combination that compliments the two. Back to what constitutes a good golf swing...
3. Returns The Clubhead To The Ball On The Correct Angle... this is an especially sensitive area to me as I know for a fact that the thing that has held me back the most, is that I often have the clubhead coming into the ball on much too steep of an angle. Use the analogy of landing an airplane. I held a private pilot's liscense for over 10 years and as pilots like to say - "taking off is like jumping off of a fence post (the start of the golf swing) and landing is like jumping back up on that same fence post (clubface to ball contact)". I wouldn't be a very good pilot if every approach to land started from a very high altitude and close to the runway - I would nearly have to go vertical and hopefully be able to level out in time to not nose dive into the tarmac. By the same token, If the runway was six miles out and I wanted to get close to the level of the runway too soon, I just might not notice the large clump of mature trees quickly filling up my window - either way, the results are very hazardous to your well-being.
The same can be said for "angle of approach" to impact... too steep and you get (with the irons) a fat shot, a steep downward glancing blow to the ball that might produce height but will produce very little in the way of forward thrust (as a side note - this MIGHT be the type of swing you want when buried deep in the rough). By the same token if the clubhead is already almost at ground level and it is still a foot or foot and a half from the ball... well, you most likely have already expended most of the energy you have stored up and there is very little left to apply to the ball. Additionally, if the ball isn't sitting up perfectly (like on a tee), chances are you will make a different kind of glancing blow. If you don't bury the clubhead somewhere in the ground before you even reach the ball, you will most likely hit a very thin or even a totally topped shot. If I had to choose the lesser of two evils, I would choose the "too shallow" approach... I've made hundreds of birdies off of "skinny' or "thinned" shots but none off of a fat shot - this is the absolute worst shot in golf (OK, we can argue that the sh*** is the worst shot but I'm assuming that shot is not even in your arsenal).
There is absolutely no more sickening feeling in golf than carefully assessing your situation - for example, you have 150 yards to the green - the green is slightly elevated - there is a creek in front of the green - a 10 to 15 mph wind is hitting you right in the face... you factor in all of the elements and decide to make a nice 3/4 controlled swing with a chocked-up 6-iron - you take a few appropriate practice swings emulating the real thing, all the while picturing the shot in your mind's eye - you step up to the ball, do a quick final check that all system's are go - you pull the trigger, and, THUD... you bury the club into the ground a good half inch before the ball (the only logical reason for this happening is... you were not totally commited to the shot... you had not successfully performed that type of shot many, many times on the practice tee... you lost focus at the last second and an extraneous thought crept into your mind... something happened at the last second to disrupt your "process" or your vision of "the ideal shot you pictured in your mind's eye"). The chunked ball weakly goes forward about 20 or 30 yards - you don't even come close to reaching the creek that fronts the green. Totally in despair now, you get to your ball as quickly as possible, grab an 8 or 9 iron and take a thoughtless whack at the ball and - "kerplunk"... NOW you've knocked it in the creek. Sound familiar?
The point of all this wordiness is "AVOID AT ALL COST - THE NO-HOPE SHOTS IN GOLF"... the topped shots, the fat shots, the sh****... and you can do it, if you work on some very easy, sound fundamentals... loosely defined they go something like this... work on YOUR proper golf swing - not some new type of swing that someone is trying to sell you...
If done correctly it will go something like this - you will have a nice hand-to-club connection (a good grip, one in which the hands work in unison - not too tight, not too loose) - you will feel almost like a camera tripod at address, solidly grounded, athletically poised to deliver the blow - you are totally in balance and your core is totally engaged - incorporate the movements/feelings described in the drill in the last section - you will/YOU MUST feel confident that the shot will come off exactly as planned - keep your mind free of extraneous thoughts (ironically, TRYING to keep your mind in this state often creates the exact scenario we are trying to avoid) - all I can say is that the critically necessary "clear mind" is a by-product of repetitively executing successful shots in your practice sessions - feel that your swinging motion is totally in balance and you are swinging at a tempo that compliments the tempo used in your day to day living - you are, in effect, a human metronome and nothing short of an earthquake can disrupt your tempo and your rhythm - understand what centrifigal force is and feel as though you are creating ever increasing centrifugal force as the club approaches the moment of truth - picture a nice solid follow through and a balanced finish and chances are, you will witness the desired results! The sometimes painful truth is that you can do this, if you will just allow your mind, body and your hands to do what they have been trained to do... if you are not successful, the onus is on you and you need to readdress all of the "right stuff" until you find that perfect formula that will carry you to golfing Nirvana... you can do it -
YA JUST GOTTA BELIEVE!!!
8/10/10 addendum: The following applies to every section of this site that assumes the striking of a golf shot. If your very last thought or "feeling" before starting your swing (and during the swing itself) is not one of total optimism, "letting" and not "forcing" the shot to happen, a sense of inner calm and total belief in yourself as a human "Iron Byron", a good shot will be more of an accident than a carefully planned, perfectly executed golf swing... clear the mind and just LET IT HAPPEN - DON'T FORCE IT TO HAPPEN. You must develop an almost "cocky" sense of belief in yourself... a less than acceptable shot should seem impossible in your mind.
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