The most important job of our body in good golf is to provide an efficient blend of balance (legs, hips, spine), speed (arms), and reliability (club face). When we get this blend correct, rhythm and confidence is a by-product and will produce a full golf swing that will produce successful results.
The most common error in putting together this blend is to put too much emphasis on speed, before we create balance and reliability. The greatest inhibitor of good balance is too much effort at the wrong time from the wrong place. Sometimes it is because of a physical deficiency, inflexibility or lack of adequate strength in a part of the body.
Speed is a result of good balance. Reliability is a result of good balance (contact) and clubface awareness (direction). Complicated, inefficient swings are usually the result of bad balance. Good balance is very attainable for most any golfer if it is made a priority. It must be understood conceptually and practiced consistently.
The most important component to balance is a stable lower body. Lower body stability will allow the upper body to rotate behind the ball in the backswing and flow through the ball during the forward swing.par
If the pursuit of speed compromises balance and reliability, it is very harmful to good golf. Our priority should be to only swing as fast as we can maintain good balance and solid ball contact. Being a good player is being smart about our approach, not simply expecting to bully the ball around the course.
The Kendall Academy Teachers are very capable of helping you to evaluate where you are in your pursuit of efficiently coordinating these vital attributes: balance, speed, ball flight and reliability.
I’ve read a couple of books just this past year that have been both thought-provoking and helpful. First was Golf for the other 80% by Jim Hartnett. He discovered that most pros are wired cross-dominant for handedness and eye dominance, e.g. Right handed and left-eye dominant (Nicklaus, Snead) while 80% of human beings are same-side dominant (e.g. right-handed and right-eye dominant) . The problem is not that same-siders can’t be great golfers – he cites David Duval as one of many examples. The problem is that if a beginning same-side dominant player gets instruction based on Snead’s or Nicklaus’ swing, the more they follow that instruction, the worse they play.
The other book is Golf Sense, by Roy Palmer. He talks about movement quality in general, and the mind-body interface in general, within the context of the Alexander Technique (AT), and presents very helpful analysis of golf through that lens. The basic tenet of is that we become most efficient by eliminating all elements of an activity, like the golf swing, that don’t actually contribute, but have been taught. Waggling, the forward press, looking at the target, keeping the head perfectly still, trying to sense where the clubhead is or where the clubface is pointed are all nonessential movements. Beyond that, he advocates taking control of the swing by first assuming a proper stance and then saying NO, I’m not going to just start the swing, I’ll wait and then be conscious of the start. This works amazingly well both in the full swing and short game and putting.