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Common thoughts for the golf swing that are not true

By Mark Krause


Keep your head down and I will watch the ball for you. Doing this is the biggest mistake you can make. If your eyes are glued to the ground your body can not turn on your forward motion. Have you ever swung a baseball bat and kept your eyes glued to the contact point? The proper thought is to keep your eyes on the ball. This will allow your shoulders and hips to control the movement of your arms on the forward swing instead of trying to move the club by pulling with your arms. You will also see your distance increase provided you allow your back foot to pivot during the forward motion.

Hit down with your irons. Hitting down really forces you to move the club at the ball. If you are moving the club at the ball you are really just swinging for contact. How do you get direction? When you bend over, that motion puts the club on the ground. As long as your head stays the same distance from the ground as it was in your setup and in the same position between your feet, the club must return to the same point as you started. To give the ball direction you must make a motion with your body and arms straight back from your target and then turning towards the target on your forward swing. When you swing a bat, tennis racquet or hockey stick that tool is moving towards the target with the object getting in the way. This same motion must happen in the golf swing.

Take the club back along the ground keeping your right elbow close to your body. This is the main cause of hitting it fat and having a reverse weight shift. Keeping your club low to the ground causes your left arm to swing across your body instead of staying parallel to your target line. This means that your club shaft is pointing to the right of your target at waist high. If you swung this way you could only take the club back to waist high. What normally happens is, you then lift the club and tilt your body towards the target. As you make your move forward your body then falls backwards causing the club to drop to quickly towards the ground causing you to hit it fat and/or to the right. The right shot is due to your body and arms not being able to swing towards the target but instead they move towards the ground.

Aim your feet at the target. The club head is what hits the ball and is the only thing that can be aimed at your target. Your feet and shoulders are aimed at a point that is parallel left of your target. Two separate lines can not both aim at the same point without crossing somewhere in space. Good Luck!!


Revised: 05/10/2007 - Article Viewed 29,520 Times


About: Mark Krause


Mark Krause Owner of Muskego Lakes Country Club and PGA Professional for 33 years. Mark is the founding father of the Wisconsin State Golf Course Owners Association.

AWARDS

  • PGA Junior teacher of the year 1992
  • Man of the Year for GCOW 1994
  • Teaching Facility of the year for 18 hole course 2005 by GCOW
  • Golf Course of the year awarded by GCOW for 18 hole courses 2000

    TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
    To always explain "why" instead of just telling the student what to do. Use other sports that the student is more familiar with to help explain the motion of the golf swing. Strong emphasis on the body posture and ball position. Simplified explanation of the swing motion by not getting caught up in specific positions of the arms or body. Main basics that must be learned are the correct posture, keeping the right knee in the same flexed position that it had in the setup, firm left wrist position in relation to the left forearm and a turning of the shoulders to move the club in both directions.



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    Contact Mark Krause:

    Muskego Lakes Country Club - Head Professional
    414-425-6500

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