Josh’s Tips & Tricks: Exaggerate Feelings
Intro
Hello golfers. It’s been great seeing lots of you getting some practice in as the courses have been closed. It’s starting to look a bit milder and drier so hopefully we can all get out and play some golf over the following weeks. With the season fast approaching I wanted to show you how you could make bigger swing changes in a smaller space of time. We are going to really over exaggerate the swing feelings. Let me show you what I mean.
Exaggerate Feelings
See It
When we practice our golf swings we need to be aware of where the club is and what the body is doing to influence that club. You firstly need to understand why your ball goes where it goes and then how to improve it. Having lessons and seeing your swing on video is a great way of visually seeing this. What you think you’re doing and what you see on the video are very often two different things. Therefore when we try to make swing changes to change the ball flight we really have to over exaggerate it.
My Faults
The video above shows an example of the errors I make in my golf swing and then how I practice the improvements I would like to see. I have always laterally slid my hips towards the target from the top of my backswing meaning my spine leans away from the target and my head is behind the ball. This often adds loft to the club at impact sending the ball high and losing me distance. With some shots, such as driver, it really helps me to launch the ball in the air but with a wedge it causes me some problems.
To improve I have to practice getting my left shoulder low with my spine leaning towards the target and my chest ahead of the ball. This takes lots of loft from the club at impact and ensures a much better ball first contact. Notice how much I exaggerate it in practice. It feels really uncomfortable, it’s supposed to because it’s different! Doing this for a load of shots saw a complete reverse in ball flight and if anything I was hitting my wedge too low after rehearsing it.
When it came to hitting shots again I set up forward and tried to keep the same feelings, just not quite so exaggerated. My body still wants to make the same original movements but it is slightly improved from the start.
Big Changes, Small Gains
Swing changes take lots of reps. You will have to repeat the changes you want to make in an extreme form over and over again just to see a minor change. Don’t get too hard on yourself if you struggle with the drills or don’t see immediate change. Be patient. I see my own golf game as a long term project and you should do the same. We would all love to see overnight improvements but the reality is that we wont. You have to practice on the range and you have to apply it on the course. You will hit bad shots and you will lose golf balls but that is all part of learning.
CoachNow App
The app that the video was filmed on is called CoachNow. For those of you that already have lessons with me you will know that the videos and notes from every lesson get stored there. You can also download it for free and upload and analyse your own content.
Every lesson I do uses video analysis to help the pupil see how they move at the start of the lesson and then hopefully the improvements they have made by the end of it.
If you would like me to take a look at your swing before the season starts CLICK HERE to book a lesson now.
Summary
Be patient. Film your swing. Understand you swing faults. Have lessons. Make big exaggerations for small changes. If you do all of these things you have a good chance of improving. If you’re not willing to make swing changes it’s likely your golf will stay at a constant for the rest of your career. You will have some good days and some bad days but likelihood is you’re not reaching your full potential.
I’m looking forward to seeing lots of funky looking movments on the range as you all exaggerate the feelings to improve.
See you soon!
Josh