As I have written in this space before, golf is one thing if you learn to do it "properly" as a Yoot, and quite another if you take it up later on in life (or if you learned to play un-properly as a Yoot). The reason for this is because the perfect golf swing is so complex that it cannot be learned adequately without embedding it in your "muscle memory," and that phenomenon evaporates at about 16 years old.
So if you take it up as an adult, and if you approach it rationally as an adult, you eventually figure out that there are simply too many things going on with the golf swing to keep all of them in mind while swinging the club. ("Do this with your hands, while doing this with your arms, while doing this with your shoulders, while holding your head motionless...[and so on]." The result is that you will ultimately be a "bogey golfer," who, on average, screws up one stroke per hole. And you will never get any better than that. It is also worth saying that there are a lot of golfers out there who are pretty good - better than Bogey Golf - who do EVERYTHING wrong, who brag that they have never had a lesson, and they simply figured out for themselves how to hit the ball straight. But that's pretty rare.
Because there are so many frustrated golfers out there who either never get to the level of Bogey Golf, or are unable to get any better, there are scores of golf instructors teaching swing methods that all seek to take some of the variables out of the swing. The most prominent "rebel" group out there now is the group of gurus who are selling one or another of the "single-plane swing" methods (both arms held rigidly straight at address). On the PGA Tour, Bryson D is the most visible of the single-plane players and he is popular for the separate reason that he has made it his quest to hit the ball farther than just about anyone else, so he is fun to watch. The Godfather of the single-plane swing is one Moe Norman, a self-taught Canadian golfer who took a lot of mockery as a player for his odd swing (in addition to his odd swing he seems to have been on the infamous "autism spectrum" so he couldn't relate very well to humans).
Since everything worth knowing can be learnt from YouTube videos, I am a big fan of that forum. I have occasionally seen videos touting a swing method called, "square to square." The basic point of the S2S swing is this: In a "proper" golf swing the face of the club starts out at address basically lined up with the intended line of the shot; when you take the club back on the backswing, you rotate the face of the club 90 degrees, then when you swing, you reverse that rotation so that the club face is in exactly the same direction when you strike the ball. Virtually every teaching professional teaches you to do this, and claims it is essential to a proper swing.
But the square-to-square swing rejects this rule. In the S2S swing, you keep the face square to the target line throughout the swing; there is no rotation of the club face. It is a fairly simple change to make, although it helps to do a lot of practice swings when you first give it a shot. There are golfers who maintain that the rotation of the club gives you an extra 10-15 yards of carry on the drive, but this doesn't seem to happen in practice. Otherwise, it stands to reason (and results confirm) that if you don't rotate the club, you are much more likely to have the face in the right position when you strike the ball.
But there is a second aspect of the S2S swing that I hadn't noticed before (I never watched the full videos). In addition to the S2S swing, they recommend that you (a) plant your back foot to prevent yourself from swaying backward on the back swing, and (b) move your hands forward at address (in golf terms, "adding lag to your swing"). What this does is, it ensures that the club is still on a slightly downward trajectory when you strike the ball, which everyone acknowledges is a perfect strike. And not only does it promote better contact, but it helps get good contact when hitting out of the rough. (b) is not necessary when hitting a driver or fairway wood.
And there you have it. It is an easy adjustment for golfers to make and the results are dramatic. After just a couple of days of playing with it, I have dramatically improved the direction of my irons, while adding distance and making hits out of the rough a non-event.
So if you take it up as an adult, and if you approach it rationally as an adult, you eventually figure out that there are simply too many things going on with the golf swing to keep all of them in mind while swinging the club. ("Do this with your hands, while doing this with your arms, while doing this with your shoulders, while holding your head motionless...[and so on]." The result is that you will ultimately be a "bogey golfer," who, on average, screws up one stroke per hole. And you will never get any better than that. It is also worth saying that there are a lot of golfers out there who are pretty good - better than Bogey Golf - who do EVERYTHING wrong, who brag that they have never had a lesson, and they simply figured out for themselves how to hit the ball straight. But that's pretty rare.
Because there are so many frustrated golfers out there who either never get to the level of Bogey Golf, or are unable to get any better, there are scores of golf instructors teaching swing methods that all seek to take some of the variables out of the swing. The most prominent "rebel" group out there now is the group of gurus who are selling one or another of the "single-plane swing" methods (both arms held rigidly straight at address). On the PGA Tour, Bryson D is the most visible of the single-plane players and he is popular for the separate reason that he has made it his quest to hit the ball farther than just about anyone else, so he is fun to watch. The Godfather of the single-plane swing is one Moe Norman, a self-taught Canadian golfer who took a lot of mockery as a player for his odd swing (in addition to his odd swing he seems to have been on the infamous "autism spectrum" so he couldn't relate very well to humans).
Since everything worth knowing can be learnt from YouTube videos, I am a big fan of that forum. I have occasionally seen videos touting a swing method called, "square to square." The basic point of the S2S swing is this: In a "proper" golf swing the face of the club starts out at address basically lined up with the intended line of the shot; when you take the club back on the backswing, you rotate the face of the club 90 degrees, then when you swing, you reverse that rotation so that the club face is in exactly the same direction when you strike the ball. Virtually every teaching professional teaches you to do this, and claims it is essential to a proper swing.
But the square-to-square swing rejects this rule. In the S2S swing, you keep the face square to the target line throughout the swing; there is no rotation of the club face. It is a fairly simple change to make, although it helps to do a lot of practice swings when you first give it a shot. There are golfers who maintain that the rotation of the club gives you an extra 10-15 yards of carry on the drive, but this doesn't seem to happen in practice. Otherwise, it stands to reason (and results confirm) that if you don't rotate the club, you are much more likely to have the face in the right position when you strike the ball.
But there is a second aspect of the S2S swing that I hadn't noticed before (I never watched the full videos). In addition to the S2S swing, they recommend that you (a) plant your back foot to prevent yourself from swaying backward on the back swing, and (b) move your hands forward at address (in golf terms, "adding lag to your swing"). What this does is, it ensures that the club is still on a slightly downward trajectory when you strike the ball, which everyone acknowledges is a perfect strike. And not only does it promote better contact, but it helps get good contact when hitting out of the rough. (b) is not necessary when hitting a driver or fairway wood.
And there you have it. It is an easy adjustment for golfers to make and the results are dramatic. After just a couple of days of playing with it, I have dramatically improved the direction of my irons, while adding distance and making hits out of the rough a non-event.
