Fundamentals of successful golf swing
By Kim Jeong-kyoo
Spring is a good time for a leisurely stroll along scenic mountain trails or a cozy round of golf with relatives and friends. Yesterday, I was conjuring up a 40-year-old memory at a golf course in Rabat, Morocco, not far from Casablanca, when the phone rang. The heavenly Royal Golf Rabat remains the most beautiful course I've ever visited.
The phone call was from an old golf-fiend university friend. He asked me for a single swing key that he wanted to focus on during a round the next Sunday. I thought it was a good question that would interest golf enthusiasts. The following is what I told him.
As you know, a successful golf swing calls for diverse pre-swing preparations and in-swing moves, and no one can play down any single motion. The key fundamentals to a satisfying golf swing vary depending on your present swing. Naturally, others might regard your key swing action as a trivial move and you might also treat their top fundamentals as merely trifling motions.
Typically a swing that worked wonders one day betrays and abandons you the next day. Then you can discover the magic of the great move nowhere else. As this situation repeats itself, you fall further and further into a quagmire of confusion. Your head overflows with a multitude of swing thoughts.
Finding yourself lost in cascade of swing thoughts, you need an exit from the maze of chaos. Just like everything in life, you can seek an escape in your head. But this time, leave your head still rather than using it.
No matter what anyone says, the most important basic is your correct head position behind the ball. Without keeping your head in place at address and during the swing, there is no way to enjoy a decent golf shot. For a solid ball-strike, you need to keep your head from moving around too much during the swing.
To keep your head steady, focus on the lump at the nape of your neck. Leave the lump staying quiet during the swing so it works as the pivot of your swing. When you let the top of your spine work as your swing center, your head will automatically stay steady in the right way.
At an ideal address, your shoulders, arms, hands and club all hang naturally from the top of your spine. In other words, the top of your spine needs to stay still and work as your swing center.
Incorrectly allowing your head to bob, you will alter your distance to the ball, incurring a thin or fat shot. Mistakenly plunging ahead of the ball, you will have nasty pulls and weak slices thrust on you.
For a more effortless, powerful golf swing, you need to do the opposite. You need to make sure your head and the top of your spine move slightly backward away from the target through the shot. This move will ensure that you stop mistakenly lunging forward. Eventually, you will be able to slot your club into the correct downswing path without the hindrance of your body, unleashing power fully into the shot.
Steadying your head needs to be your lasting reset-button swing key. You'd best go back to “keeping your head quiet” if you want to have quality golf swing, or when your swing turns sour.
The author lives in a rustic area near Seoul, studying and teaching golf.