Should you Consider a Sweeping Swing, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Should you Consider a Sweeping Swing, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

Now, the reference to a sweeping swing describes the angle of the golf club is going to be hitting into the ball. You generally have two different variations. We've got the sweeping swing, which would imply that the golf club is lower to the floor before it attacks the golf ball and it just kisses the ground and then rises back up again or a steeper or more of a digging action to the golf swing which would imply a steeper angle here where the club is off the floor, hitting down a little bit harder.

Now, you might feel that if you're hitting down into the floor on a regular basis taking quite big divots, that actually the wear and tear on the body can get a little bit punishing, maybe the pain through the elbows and the wrist is starting to sort of dampen your enjoyment of playing golf, particularly if you're a keen at practicing. It might therefore be worth looking at adopting a little bit more of a sweeping action. Now, a sweeping action works well if the ball position can be played a little bit more forwards and you can avoid getting too far in front of the ball and chopping down into it too much. It particularly works well with your hybrid and your fairway woods; so your hybrid and your fairway woods, longer clubs nearer to the front of the stance. If you're hitting down on the golf ball with those clubs anyway, you would lose too much height, too much loft. So, sweep away your longer clubs.

When you go down to your irons, if you find that you've got very wide sold irons, big cavities underneath and quite a lot of bounce on your irons, that can also work well with your irons. But if you're playing with quite tight-nipped, narrow-sold golf clubs or maybe more of a bladed type of golf club, the sweeping action really isn't one that would work well for you because if you did hit the ground too early, you'd find the club would dig in, it would be a bit heavy.

So, have a little experiment next time you're on the practice ground. You really need to do this off grass rather than on the driving range mat because the mat will react differently than the grass would act on the golf course. So, get yourself on the golf course or the practice grounds. Have an experiment with having the ball forwards in your stance, feel like you attack it from a slightly lower position and sweep up on the golf ball slightly. Try maybe a dozen shots like that then bring the ball back a little bit to a more neutral ball position and get in front of it and hit down on it a little bit more and see which one you feel is the most effective for you. And try that with a short iron and mid-iron and a long iron or hybrid club and see which ball position works best for you.

 2012-04-11

Now, the reference to a sweeping swing describes the angle of the golf club is going to be hitting into the ball. You generally have two different variations. We've got the sweeping swing, which would imply that the golf club is lower to the floor before it attacks the golf ball and it just kisses the ground and then rises back up again or a steeper or more of a digging action to the golf swing which would imply a steeper angle here where the club is off the floor, hitting down a little bit harder.

Now, you might feel that if you're hitting down into the floor on a regular basis taking quite big divots, that actually the wear and tear on the body can get a little bit punishing, maybe the pain through the elbows and the wrist is starting to sort of dampen your enjoyment of playing golf, particularly if you're a keen at practicing. It might therefore be worth looking at adopting a little bit more of a sweeping action. Now, a sweeping action works well if the ball position can be played a little bit more forwards and you can avoid getting too far in front of the ball and chopping down into it too much. It particularly works well with your hybrid and your fairway woods; so your hybrid and your fairway woods, longer clubs nearer to the front of the stance. If you're hitting down on the golf ball with those clubs anyway, you would lose too much height, too much loft. So, sweep away your longer clubs.

When you go down to your irons, if you find that you've got very wide sold irons, big cavities underneath and quite a lot of bounce on your irons, that can also work well with your irons. But if you're playing with quite tight-nipped, narrow-sold golf clubs or maybe more of a bladed type of golf club, the sweeping action really isn't one that would work well for you because if you did hit the ground too early, you'd find the club would dig in, it would be a bit heavy.

So, have a little experiment next time you're on the practice ground. You really need to do this off grass rather than on the driving range mat because the mat will react differently than the grass would act on the golf course. So, get yourself on the golf course or the practice grounds. Have an experiment with having the ball forwards in your stance, feel like you attack it from a slightly lower position and sweep up on the golf ball slightly. Try maybe a dozen shots like that then bring the ball back a little bit to a more neutral ball position and get in front of it and hit down on it a little bit more and see which one you feel is the most effective for you. And try that with a short iron and mid-iron and a long iron or hybrid club and see which ball position works best for you.