Is Timing A Crucial Component Of Your Golf Swing Mechanics?

What is the %%%proper way to swing a golf club%%%? It all starts with having the correct golf swing fundamentals in place, and if your not sure then continue learning and practicing on your own golf swing until you feel comfortable enough to move onto more advanced techniques. The golf swing is a combination of balance, strength and fluidity, and they must be in that combined mix for your golf swing mechanics to produce the kinds of golf shots that are on target.

One of the most frequent errors to a golf swing is the consistent over-swinging of the golf clubs.  Relax as much as you can during your golf swing.  You do have some power, however accuracy is the name of  any golf game.  Set your goals to expend very little effort when swinging the golf club.  Hitting the golf ball the right way will feel easy and smooth.

Swinging hard will only reduce your power. Distance can only come from being fluid and accurate, and not from the amount of extra strength that you can put into it.  Keep the idea of strength out of your head. You want to just use the amount of power that you will be able to control and manage.  The purpose of the golf game is accuracy, not power. You want to have the ability to manage each part of your golf swing so that you just hit the ball cleanly and it goes wherever you need it to travel to your intended target.

I noticed for myself yesterday that for most of the golf round, I was hitting the golf ball consistent and solid. However, I could start feeling by the sixteenth hole that my energy was draining fast. I have a fast back swing to begin with, but in order to get that extra distance I had to swing even harder. This completely threw my timing off, and the end result was I started to hit a push slice. As we all know slicing the golf ball can put you into all kinds of trouble. The best thing I could have done was slow my timing down even more, and make sure my hips were rotating out of the way before my hands were going through the impact area.

Golf swing speed is usually referred to as timing. It’s one of the most misunderstood golf swing mechanics being discussed over the internet.  So let’s talk about what timing a golf swing really means. Timing a golf swing is when you start the entire golf swing process back into a coiled position on top of your back swing.  The speed of your golf swing happens from this point forward, when you begin releasing out of this set position. The downward motion needs to be in sync with every part of your arms, body, feet, hands, hips rotating, neck and shoulders. As the golf club moves  back into the golf ball, your hips  must  rotate or turn to clear out of the way.  The reason your hips have to clear out of the way is to allow the club head to return back to the golf ball squarely at impact, and then follow through with a wrap around picture finish. This is the function of timing a golf swing.  It’s the energy behind the pendulum golf swing that must be mastered by everyone who intends to improve upon their golf swing mechanics.  This is the key element of learning the proper way to swinging a golf club.  It’s equivalent to anything you do in life, you must first be able to learn the basic skills before you can apply the fundamentals.

How do you correct your golf swing speed issues and get your timing back on track? This is a difficult question to answer and one of the most sought after in the game of golf. There are times when you might have felt like you were swinging beautifully, everything was in sync, but the golf ball traveled to the left of your target. To correct this you need to slow down the turning of your hips to allow the golf club more time to return back to the golf ball at impact before clearing out completely.  In order to fix the problem of slicing, you need to pay closer attention to how centered your body is balanced, and you must keep your head still over the golf ball during the entire golf swing. You can’t produce a swaying motion of your body, because your head is moving out away from the hitting area due to shifting of your shoulders.  Think of your head as being the apex and your feet as the base. At all times you must remain in this triangle, and not sway to far too the left or to the right with your body motion. You also need to pay closer attention to your arms, hands and shoulders. Are they flaring out wide open to the intended target, or are you maintaining your parallel line from your golf ball to the intended target.

Learning the correct golf swing mechanics must be one of the most frustrating challenges to any golfer. Modifying your golf swing in order  to get more distance or to correct a slice is virtually an every day work in process for most golfers. The golf swing is just a matter of mechanics and putting the correct body motions together in the right way to become more consistent.  Keeping yourself under control to ensure that you can be more precise with your golf swing is what counts the most. This doesn’t happen over night, it takes practicing the correct way. Here are a few golf tips:

1. Keep Working on the Golf Grip. Stay focused on making sure you have the right golf grip for yourself. It is important that your hands do not move when swinging a golf club. Too much movement is a primary cause of wayward shots.
2. Keep Good Posture. Practice good posture by swinging the golf club with your toes slightly pointing outward and your feet being approximately shoulder-width apart.  Don’t lock your knees and bend them just a little bit.  In addition to bending at the knees, you also need to bend at the hips.  Keep your back spine straight and tilted slightly forward to promote a healthier back.
3. Maintain Good Balance. For most of your golf swings  a wider base will produce more balance, and prevent you from falling wayward from the golf ball during the full pendulum swing. As in any sports, the key to playing well is having good consistent balance. Attempt to not tense up while making contact with the golf ball. You will loose your balance if you tense up.
4. Weight Shifting. As you begin moving into your back swing, your weight naturally will shift to your back foot. You want to keep your shoulders on a single plane and allow the momentum to swing naturally. For a firm base, keep your feet planted into the ground. Don’t allow your front foot to come off the ground. As you start the downward golf swing, you now move your weight onto your front foot and move your hips forward. Do not dip your hips. Try to keep them on the same lateral plane as your golf swing. As your bringing the golf club around to the finish position, the weight that was on your back foot should now be on your front foot. This is called the three step golf swing, or natural golf swing that Moe Norman helped developed.
5. Tempo or Timing. Having good swing speed or timing is the key element of producing maximum power of your golf swing. It’s the fuel that will allow you to gain that extra distance off the golf tee or fairway. When you swing a golf club, the swing speed is determined by how much energy your body produces into the rotational movement of the golf swing itself. This energy is transferred to the golf club, then to the club head, then to the golf ball on impact.  The end result it produces isn’t only distance, but accuracy and control.

Distance is not just about club head speed and power, it’s also about correct choice of club face and driver shaft. If you want to improve beyond your foursome buddies, you must keep this in mind. Your club head swing speed is not the be all and end all of distance. You also have a choice of flexibility of your driver shaft. Did you know that a stiff shaft is needed for faster golf swings, and more flexibility is needed for slower golf swings.  If your driver shaft is too stiff or too flexible for your average swing speed, your timing won’t be correct. You will hit the golf ball too soon or too late. That will also affect your distance overall. Another factor to consider besides golf shafts is degrees of your loft. The loft of your driver face should suit your average golf club swing speed. The lower the swing speed the higher degrees in the the loft. If you need  to get the golf ball up into the air quicker so that it can travel farther,  then a 10.5 – 13 degree loft is recommended.

QUIET GOLF – THE KEY TO LONG DRIVE Krank Golf is in the business of selling drivers. We are also in the business of making sure every golfer who buys our driver hits it as straight and long as possible. Many golfers have asked us to put in writing what we teach. So after spending countless hours watching over 60,000 golfers demo our drivers, we have had a unique opportunity to see virtually every swing type on the planet. Combine that with the experience of competing on the Long Drive Tour where accuracy and distance goes hand in hand, we have decided to put in writing and soon to create a DVD on what we call ”QUIET GOLF”. It is very important to us at KRANK GOLF that every single golfer that purchased a driver from us hits it very very well! We know that a few simple swing suggestions will dramatically enhance the distance and accuracy for every golfer. Our goal is to improve your golfing experience. To be honest, our real goal is to have you KRANK the ball so Long and Straight that all your buddies freak out, fall to the ground and start worshiping the ground you walk on. Well maybe that’s a little too much. Seriously, the success of our company is only going to come from how well you hit the ball not us. Therefore, we have created a hitting system called ”Quiet Golf”. The simple explanation is ”’the elimination of all unnecessary lower body motion”. This is truly how big hitters can swing as hard as they do, maximize their distance and still hit it straight. Our training methods concentrate on creating a swing so simple that it is easy to duplicate under any pressure situation. We believe by eliminating all unnecessary lower body motion during your down swing, keeping the feet flat on the ground, driving at the ball starting with the upper body not the feet, the premature jump, slide, dive and turn will for the most part will be eliminated. Thus, creating a much more consistent impact and significantly more power through the ball. Its really simple if you think about it. If you are going to jump, slide, dive and turn your lower body 12 to 15 inches to the left (right handers) during your down swing, by the time you get to the ball your hands and hips are so far in front of the ball that not only have you wasted all your lower body power, you have created so much motion that the ball may as well be moving too, because the only time you are going to hit it straight is when you get lucky. The following are two different swing techniques: Feel verses Technical: The first is a Feel Swing: This golf swing has a lot of motion during the entire swing. The lower body is in full motion during the down swing and relies on your ability to control and coordinate all that motion so that it meets up at the ball at the right time. An example of a Feel Golfer is John Daly. We believe this swing type is by far the most difficult type of swing to master and for the most part cannot be taught. Certainly great golfers have feel, but we believe it is a natural gift that great golfers develop over time. The second is a Technical Swing: This swing has very limited lower body motion. That doesn’t mean that you don’t take a full swing, just that your lower body, starting with your feet doesn’t fire, jump and push ahead of your upper body. This swing is a controlled swing. It looks effortless. It looks Quiet. This is the type of swing you have seen and you might have said to the golfer ”I can’t believe how smooth your swing is and how far you still hit the ball”. An example of a Technical Golfer is Mike Weir. As a left handed golfer, his left heel is still on the ground or less than an inch off the ground at impact of ball, even when he hits his driver. If you really think about it, you cannot slide, dive or turn your lower body with your heel still on or close to the ground at impact of ball. (right heel for right handers and left heel for left handers). This type of swing is far easier to duplicate under pressure and when done correctly creates far more power, which means distance. The science behind Quite Golf is solid. By driving at the ball starting with your upper body, leaving your feet flat on the ground, leave your right heel on the ground longer (right handers), powering thru the ball and simply turning the right foot after impact, not pushing off the right foot and sliding the hips to the left, you will create the power and accuracy you have been looking for. Not to get too scientific but power is created by resistance, compression and velocity. By staying connected to the ground and eliminating all the unnecessary motion that most golfer mistakenly think is important, accuracy and power is created. When you combine QUIET GOLF and the Krank Golf Drivers, which is the highest ball speed and lowest spin driver made, all your driving dreams will come true.

Here’s the secret to speed and distance… ready?
Go to the driving range and just hit a load of balls, day after day. Your body will naturally build up the muscle memory and flexibility needed.  Distance will only  come from practicing daily.  Practicing with the right training aids and learning by taking your time with each new golf swing. If you want to learn faster and with little to no practicing time,  then invest with fujikura golf shafts, or be nice to yourself for Father’s  day and get yourself the El DiaBlo Driver. You soon will be out driving all of your golfing buddies. Click the following link and treat yourself to a whole new world of golfing excellence. #1 Leader Fujikura Golf Shafts!

Fred Couples Swing Tempo

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