| My friend has a golf swing that is fairly slow and | | | | Your nice smooth golf swing goes the way of the |
| rhythmical with a good follow through. However, his | | | | dinosaurs - HISTORY! |
| problem is that he has great difficulty in starting his | | | | Go to the range and do the following mental drill. Put |
| downswing by moving his hips first, yet I have seen | | | | yourself on your favorite, most memorized golf |
| him do a practice swing without the ball there and it | | | | course. Play an entire round (except for putts). |
| is perfect | | | | Before you shoot, during the practice swing, say in |
| Why is it that when the ball is in front of him he just | | | | your head (or out loud) the word "fluid" during the |
| seems incapable of hitting it with a swing that is as | | | | backswing, and "swing" on the through-swing. |
| good as the practice swing? This set me thinking | | | | Also do this when you swing with a golf ball in the |
| how I could help him out. | | | | way. Doing this will DISTRACT YOUR CONSCIOUS |
| Here's what I think. If you have a nice smooth | | | | MIND so your subconscious can take over and swing |
| practice swing, and everything goes to hell in a | | | | like it knows you can swing. I've done this many |
| handbasket with a ball there. There is only one | | | | times just to get myself out of thinking about |
| explanation. It's all in your head. At this point, it's a | | | | mechanics when I swing. It works, or at least it |
| mental thing that you have to overcome. | | | | works for me. |
| ALL of your energy and thought is focused solely on | | | | One more thing...you should think of your swing as a |
| the OUTCOME of the swing instead of the swing | | | | means to an end. By doing this, you'll have less |
| itself and where the ball ends up after the fact. | | | | pressure on yourself. In addition, before you swing, |
| You're putting too much pressure on yourself and its | | | | use the visualisation that the top golf pros use. In |
| killing your smooth swing. Now don't get me wrong. | | | | your mind, have the golf ball ALREADY on the target. |
| I'm not saying that you should be over thinking the | | | | Have it there in your mind before you even set up. |
| mechanics either. I know some golf practice drills in | | | | This will increase your confidence and help you to |
| that help conquer that issue. | | | | swing smoother. |
| However, when you have total confidence that you'll | | | | And what's more, I told all this to my friend and now |
| hit your target, you'll nail it most every time. You see, | | | | his hips move the same when the ball is there as on |
| there is nothing on the line when you practice your | | | | the practice swing. He said that the most helpful thing |
| golf swing so everything moves like a well-oiled | | | | was using the words which took his mind off the ball |
| machine. But, put a little pressure on you and BOOM! | | | | - the practice swing became the real swing! |