Swing Easy, Hit Hard

Swing easy to hit hard.

By: Bruce Munch
Head Professional White River Golf Club

One of the things I hear often from my students is “How do good players seem to swing so easy and yet hit it so far”? The answer is simple! They do not waste any of the energy that they are putting into the shot.

The golf ball is stupid. It reacts to the force we put on it. If we can impart the force on the ball correctly, the ball will fly straight.

The most important aspects of making a golf shot fly to the target are club path and face angle. If the club is swinging to the target and the face of the club is facing to the target, the ball will fly to the target. If it doesn’t go there, you did one of these basic things wrong.

If you do these things correctly, it doesn’t take a lot of energy to make the ball fly far. Watch Fred Couples hit a shot and it looks like he is taking a nap, but the ball leaps off his club.

The key to this is not to swing hard, but to swing properly. You can expend lots more energy but get no result if you don’t have the club working to the target with the face square.

Club head speed comes in two forms. The first is how fast is the club returning to the ball and the second is, how fast is the face of the club closing on the ball. As we know, on the backswing, the face of the club opens away from the target line. On the forward swing, the face of the club closes, and hopefully squares to the target at impact. The closing of the club happens as a result of the natural rotation of the hands and arms through impact, if we allow it. Tension in the hands and forearms will prevent this from happening. Picture the face of the club as if it were a gate. We open the gate on the back swing and then we must slam the gate on the forward swing. We need to slam the gate on the ball to produce maximum power.

Ben Hogan, was once quoted as saying that if he wanted to hit the ball farther, he wished he had three right hands. The right hand rotating over the left, slams the door on the ball and produces a straight, powerful shot.

Any attempt to steer the ball, will prevent the wrists from releasing and will usually cause the ball to go well right of the target. A properly hit shot should start out slightly right of the target and draw back to the target.

So, to try to control your swing, try this drill. Put both heels together, leave the left foot about 40 degrees open and do a few practice swings. This is a great thing to do to improve your balance. After you can do this without falling over, tee up a ball and hit it with your feet together. You will be amazed to see how far you can hit the ball from this position. First of all, with your heels together you will improve your balance and second, you will feel the rotation of a good golf swing. The extra bonus is that you will not over swing.

Hit about 10 shots off a tee with your heels together and then gradually move them apart. The swing you are making, without losing your balance, is the swing you should be making all the time. You will be shocked to find out that you can hit the ball as far or farther, with you feet together, than you can from your regular stance.

So try to swing easy to hit hard. Many times less is more, especially in golf.