Nothing Is Forced In Your Golf Downswing (Video) - by Pete Styles
Nothing Is Forced In Your Golf Downswing (Video) - by Pete Styles

If you are now trying to work on extending your hands and arms out during your downswing towards a target one thing you might be inclined to do is watch yourself a few times having a practice go. And I'm sure if you do this, you’ll convince yourself you don't have a problem because you'll make practice swings and your arms will be brilliantly extended. Most people’s always are. They’ll setup the golf ball, get themselves a mirror in front here, swing gently, look in the mirror. Everything looks good. They look like the tour players with their extension. What they then don't notice is actually when it comes to hitting a golf ball that swing changes almost entirely particularly through this phase as they swing through the ball, was suddenly getting in this position. The hands and arms are pulled in. The arms are pulled into the body.

We haven’t extended and we come through to a short a little follow-through. The problem is the golfer generally doesn't -- isn't able to see or watch that swing. They can watch the practice swings of course, but when it comes to the real swing it's over too quickly, too busy watching the ball, didn't see what the hands and arms are doing. And it isn't until I slow people’s golf swing down using the video analysis when we are giving golf lessons that we see there is a marked difference between the real swing, and the practice swing. The main reason for that is tension and pressure. And the fact that during the downswing when there's a ball there, the golfer is generally going to be forcing things a bit too much. So the goal swing is a bit quicker, the grip pressure is a bit tighter. The golfer is more anxious. When we say make a practice swing everything just drops down a tone or two. The grip pressure is relaxed. The tempo is a bit smoother. The extension is a bit better and a bit fuller. Put a golf ball in front of somebody and it all gets a bit quick and a bit rushed and a bit hurried, and becomes more forced. So the big tip and key here is try and hit the golf ball as if it's not there, as if it's a practice swing. It sounds a bit difficult to do and it does take a little bit of practice on the driving range to make your practice swings actually hit the golf ball. So we set up nicely. We've got super smooth tempo, and we make a practice swing. And we walk up to the goal ball and we do exactly the same thing super smooth tempo. You might initially feel like you've lost power, but it just takes a bit of commitment to think I need to extend fully but without the tension. So don't force your down swings. Your arms will start to extend better and you'll hit longer and straighter golf shots with better extension. 2016-10-20

If you are now trying to work on extending your hands and arms out during your downswing towards a target one thing you might be inclined to do is watch yourself a few times having a practice go. And I'm sure if you do this, you’ll convince yourself you don't have a problem because you'll make practice swings and your arms will be brilliantly extended. Most people’s always are. They’ll setup the golf ball, get themselves a mirror in front here, swing gently, look in the mirror. Everything looks good. They look like the tour players with their extension. What they then don't notice is actually when it comes to hitting a golf ball that swing changes almost entirely particularly through this phase as they swing through the ball, was suddenly getting in this position. The hands and arms are pulled in. The arms are pulled into the body.

We haven’t extended and we come through to a short a little follow-through. The problem is the golfer generally doesn't — isn't able to see or watch that swing. They can watch the practice swings of course, but when it comes to the real swing it's over too quickly, too busy watching the ball, didn't see what the hands and arms are doing. And it isn't until I slow people’s golf swing down using the video analysis when we are giving golf lessons that we see there is a marked difference between the real swing, and the practice swing. The main reason for that is tension and pressure. And the fact that during the downswing when there's a ball there, the golfer is generally going to be forcing things a bit too much. So the goal swing is a bit quicker, the grip pressure is a bit tighter.

The golfer is more anxious. When we say make a practice swing everything just drops down a tone or two. The grip pressure is relaxed. The tempo is a bit smoother. The extension is a bit better and a bit fuller. Put a golf ball in front of somebody and it all gets a bit quick and a bit rushed and a bit hurried, and becomes more forced. So the big tip and key here is try and hit the golf ball as if it's not there, as if it's a practice swing. It sounds a bit difficult to do and it does take a little bit of practice on the driving range to make your practice swings actually hit the golf ball. So we set up nicely. We've got super smooth tempo, and we make a practice swing. And we walk up to the goal ball and we do exactly the same thing super smooth tempo. You might initially feel like you've lost power, but it just takes a bit of commitment to think I need to extend fully but without the tension. So don't force your down swings. Your arms will start to extend better and you'll hit longer and straighter golf shots with better extension.