Tension In The Golf Swing Causes And Cure Golf Tip (Video) - by Pete Styles
Tension In The Golf Swing Causes And Cure Golf Tip (Video) - by Pete Styles

So many times I’m chatting to golfers about their recent round of golf and I say how did you play, and they say well I started off really badly Pete and then it got better and then I finished really well. So why did you start so badly? Well I finished work, I drove through traffic to get there, I got to the first tee late, I ran to the tee off, I played the first five holes and then I relaxed. And you’d start to realize that although golf is a physical game, if you are tense in your head, and you are tense in your body, you are not going to play the best golf. So it’s quite important we bring in that relaxed attitude in the mind and in the body right from the first tee off, and ideally all the way through your practice sessions as well. There’s no point playing five holes scoring double bogies on all of them and then relaxing for the back, no.

So when you arrive to practice, so you arrive at the golf course as well, make sure that your mind is focused and relaxed and your body is focused and relaxed. So when we are actually practicing here we set up to the golf ball, we want everything to be nice and soft and relaxed. Light grip pressure, not too much tension in the fore arms and in the shoulders, a nice smooth back swing, and a nice big relief through to a finish. And the whole way through that swing I can talk to you because there’s no tension, there’s no real pressure. If we see a lot of golfers when they set up the ball their grip pressure goes through the roof. The fingers start to go white on the back of the knuckles squeezing it ten out of ten. The guttering gets a bit quick and a bit stubby; they hit it with a bit of a grip like a tennis player. And then they fall off balance afterwards. And that whole swing is just filled with way too much tension, way too much anxiety, and way too much physical exertion as well. So next time you go down to the practice range what I’d like to do is a little experiment. We just put ten balls in a line and hit ten balls as hard as you possibly can with the tightest fastest grip pressure you can ever have. So really tight grip pressure, hard swing, fast swing and see how you go with those ten. And then drop ten more down imagine you’re relaxed and you’ve got no grip pressure, you’ve got no care in the world, and you’re relaxed and you knock those ten away. Guarantee the ten that you do relax with better, they’ll be better shots, they’ll feel better, and after the end of those ten you won’t be as tired as when you hit the first ten. So next time you go and play, don’t rush there in traffic and get there late and tee off and after five holes relax. Relax from the next sort of ten minutes before you tee off. Few little putts on the putting green, few little swings nicely relaxed in the net, step up on the first tee, relax from the first shot to last, loose the tension, and you’ll improve your scores. 2014-03-28

So many times I’m chatting to golfers about their recent round of golf and I say how did you play, and they say well I started off really badly Pete and then it got better and then I finished really well. So why did you start so badly? Well I finished work, I drove through traffic to get there, I got to the first tee late, I ran to the tee off, I played the first five holes and then I relaxed. And you’d start to realize that although golf is a physical game, if you are tense in your head, and you are tense in your body, you are not going to play the best golf. So it’s quite important we bring in that relaxed attitude in the mind and in the body right from the first tee off, and ideally all the way through your practice sessions as well. There’s no point playing five holes scoring double bogies on all of them and then relaxing for the back, no.

So when you arrive to practice, so you arrive at the golf course as well, make sure that your mind is focused and relaxed and your body is focused and relaxed. So when we are actually practicing here we set up to the golf ball, we want everything to be nice and soft and relaxed. Light grip pressure, not too much tension in the fore arms and in the shoulders, a nice smooth back swing, and a nice big relief through to a finish. And the whole way through that swing I can talk to you because there’s no tension, there’s no real pressure. If we see a lot of golfers when they set up the ball their grip pressure goes through the roof. The fingers start to go white on the back of the knuckles squeezing it ten out of ten. The guttering gets a bit quick and a bit stubby; they hit it with a bit of a grip like a tennis player. And then they fall off balance afterwards.

And that whole swing is just filled with way too much tension, way too much anxiety, and way too much physical exertion as well. So next time you go down to the practice range what I’d like to do is a little experiment. We just put ten balls in a line and hit ten balls as hard as you possibly can with the tightest fastest grip pressure you can ever have. So really tight grip pressure, hard swing, fast swing and see how you go with those ten. And then drop ten more down imagine you’re relaxed and you’ve got no grip pressure, you’ve got no care in the world, and you’re relaxed and you knock those ten away. Guarantee the ten that you do relax with better, they’ll be better shots, they’ll feel better, and after the end of those ten you won’t be as tired as when you hit the first ten.

So next time you go and play, don’t rush there in traffic and get there late and tee off and after five holes relax. Relax from the next sort of ten minutes before you tee off. Few little putts on the putting green, few little swings nicely relaxed in the net, step up on the first tee, relax from the first shot to last, loose the tension, and you’ll improve your scores.