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Good golf swings are greater than the sum of their parts

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I love to stop by a range and watch the brand new golfers. Even though most of their swings result in whiffs, tops and chunks, they usually manage to smash at least one shot long and straight. It seems to come out of nowhere, and provides the powerful feedback that they must have done something right. But what was it? Few golfers realize it at the time, but the early search to uncover what they did right, and their subsequent successes and failures, are the building blocks of the golf swing they will have for the rest of their lives.

The hardest part for me as an instructor is trying to understand why a person’s golf swing developed the way it did. Those first few shots that sailed high and far started a golfer on a path. But here is the problem: What if a golfer achieves success by lifting up 6 inches in the backswing and then diving down exactly 6 inches in the downswing? As you might guess, they think moving up and down is the right thing to do. So they try it again. Only this time they come down 7 inches, and their club crashes into the ground behind the ball. Now they are totally befuddled, and wish they knew what changed.

Correcting a fault with a fault, as it’s called, is how most golfers go through their golfing life. But not all unconventional moves are faults. There are what I call compatible moves and incompatible moves. If you’re a better golfer, it’s likely that your motions are compatible — not “textbook”necessarily, just more functional. If you’re a higher-handicap golfer, your moves are more likely incompatible.

Jim Furyk, one of the best players in the modern era, has what many refer to as a “funky” swing. I have never, however, met anyone who does not like the result it produces or the $56 million he’s earned on the PGA Tour. Furyk is great because he has a series of compatible motions in his swing: an extremely upright takeaway, followed by a massive vertical drop of his arms and a flattening of the club. He goes from over the hand path plane to under it in the blink of an eye, and then to keep him from getting too far under the hand plane path he completely opens his body and drives it through the ball. Furyk does this every time. It’s poetry if you like this kind of stuff.

Arnie

Nearly all great golfers have a series of moves in their swing that aren’t textbook, including Arnold Palmer.

I love unconventional swings like Furyk’s because it’s a joy to me to learn how they put it all together. Was it natural for Furyk to lift the club straight up, OR was it natural to drop the arms way down? Whatever one started the motion, the other is clearly a motion that complements it. Fuzzy Zoeller bent way over at address and came up through the shot. Lee Trevino aimed way left, took the club outside and dropped it back in. Bobby Jones took the club WAY inside and across the line, but then flattened the club in transition. All their swings are gorgeous to behold. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Your job as a golfer who wants to improve is to find what works within the existing motions you have, because trying to change your whole swing is fruitless. Be wise and strive to be functional, not optimal. A little fade works, but a big slice doesn’t.

I’ve often thought that if golfers were house pets, they would be more like cats than dogs. If my cat falls from just about anywhere, she lands on her feet. Think about her fall like a compatible move in a golf swing: it may not be pretty, but it worked. If my dog falls, however, she will most likely land on her head. Hitting the ground 6 inches behind the ball is equivalent of falling on your head in the canine world. So if you’re really steep coming down, you may do one of the following: raise your swing center, chicken wing your left arm or back up your upper body, to name a few fixes. These moves would all be the equivalent of landing on your feet. You did what you had to do to avoid a “fall.”

Here a few more examples of things golfers do to avoid “falling on their head:”

  • Running ahead of the ball with the upper body is almost always associated with a very early release. It’s a golfer’s way of getting the bottom of the arc near the ball. You may hear, “You’re getting ahead of it” from your well-intended friends. Your response should be, “Because if I don’t I’ll stick the club in the ground six inches behind the ball.”
  • Coming over the top is a very natural response to a slice.  As soon as the ball starts going right, you WILL swing left. It’s a very “cat-like” thing to do.
  • When golfers play the ball well back in their stances, it is often the result of hooking the ball or hitting it fat. It’s their way of playing the shot to avoid disaster.
  • Golfers who hang back on their rear foot in the downswing often do so because they moved too much weight on their front foot during the backswing. It’s a little thing called balance that our bodies are trying to do with every step we take. Or perhaps you are playing with too little loft on your clubs, or your shafts are far too stiff. In other words, you do what is necessary to get the ball in the air.

The list I could make with similar examples is endless, and I see these things every day. My job as a teacher is not to change a golfer’s swing as much as it is to balance it. Some part of the swing comes very natural to golfers, and are part of a golfer’s DNA. If at all possible, those moves should stay and a teacher should do their best to work around them. The best teachers work to make the swings of their students better, not prettier. What to leave in and what to take out is the essence of golf instruction.

As always, feel free to send a swing video to my Facebook page and I will do my best to give you my feedback.

Dennis Clark is a PGA Master Professional. Clark has taught the game of golf for more than 30 years to golfers all across the country, and is recognized as one of the leading teachers in the country by all the major golf publications. He is also is a seven-time PGA award winner who has earned the following distinctions: -- Teacher of the Year, Philadelphia Section PGA -- Teacher of the Year, Golfers Journal -- Top Teacher in Pennsylvania, Golf Magazine -- Top Teacher in Mid Atlantic Region, Golf Digest -- Earned PGA Advanced Specialty certification in Teaching/Coaching Golf -- Achieved Master Professional Status (held by less than 2 percent of PGA members) -- PGA Merchandiser of the Year, Tri State Section PGA -- Golf Professional of the Year, Tri State Section PGA -- Presidents Plaque Award for Promotion and Growth of the Game of Golf -- Junior Golf Leader, Tri State section PGA -- Served on Tri State PGA Board of Directors. Clark is also former Director of Golf and Instruction at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort. Dennis now teaches at Bobby Clampett's Impact Zone Golf Indoor Performance Center in Naples, FL. .

11 Comments

11 Comments

  1. Tom

    Dec 4, 2013 at 9:33 am

    The cat and dog reference is what Jim Hardy once said on the Golf Channel.

    • Dennis Clark

      Dec 4, 2013 at 2:23 pm

      Jim is one of the finest teachers in the world. I agree with mostly all his stuff and he has helped a lot of golfers for many many years.

  2. naflack

    Dec 4, 2013 at 3:02 am

    i think it really helps to be athletically inclined…having an educated idea of how to get your body to perform a motion with the strengths you naturally possess. i took to golf pretty well and made great strides until i had the grand idea to involve my brain with published do’s, dont’s and how to’s. i then regressed substantially for a fair amount of time until a friend thankfully pointed out that everything i have ever done in sport came natural…”quit reading and quit thinking, just play!”
    i swing like annika, almost literally, minus her skill…obviously.
    i thank the golfing gods often that i had the chance to see her play early in my golf career. if i hadnt i’d still be worrying about seeing the club hit the ball and creating lag. thank you annika!

  3. snowman

    Dec 3, 2013 at 10:23 pm

    I’d say if you are 10-18 hdcp and make decent contact, you can get to a 5 if you follow this advice (maybe with a good teacher, maybe on your own), even if your short game is average. Hardly any of us will develop a pro-style swing, there are lots of legit single digit guys with ‘funky swings’. Good advice to quit striving for perfection, optimize what you got, work on your short game and voila you break 80……

    “Your job as a golfer who wants to improve is to find what works within the existing motions you have, because trying to change your whole swing is fruitless. Be wise and strive to be functional, not optimal. A little fade works, but a big slice doesn’t.”

  4. Scott G

    Dec 3, 2013 at 7:43 pm

    I’ve always had a theory that becoming a good golfer is part “luck” with the first few swings. Do you first hit it solid while experimenting with a bad swing thought? If so, you are thrust down the wrong path. Or do you get lucky and first hit it solid while experimenting with a good swing thought, sending you down a good path?

    It would explain why some good athletes are bad golfers and some so-so athletes become great golfers.

  5. Patrick

    Dec 3, 2013 at 5:08 pm

    I have always thought to be successful I must own the swing that I have created and this helps me to think about what my complimenting moves might be. Thank you sir.

  6. alex

    Dec 3, 2013 at 12:56 pm

    Great stuff. Thank you Mr. Clark

  7. Philip

    Dec 3, 2013 at 12:41 pm

    Great post – I totally agree.

    For myself a chronic slicer I always believed too many work on placing a bandage on a visible fault than striving to fix the core issue(s). I have discovered every time I fix a core problem the rest of my swing just naturally gets better and better.

    For the winter I have gone back to the basics, building my grip up from my left hand and I discovered a simple little thing that totally changed my grip and eliminated a slew of issues, from my grip tension, out-of-control back swing, reverse pivot and even de-accelerating into the ball.

    Not too bad, for just changing how I place my left hand on my club.

  8. Tom

    Dec 3, 2013 at 12:09 pm

    Great article with a lot of information to use. Especially the last line.

  9. Finalist

    Dec 3, 2013 at 11:09 am

    I’d really like to see this evolve into a thread where people list compatible moves that pros and ams have. This is very interesting, and explains a lot of the roots of a move.
    Why does Angel Cab. Left arm bend a little at the top?
    Why does Lee W. Chicken wing through impact?
    Etc etc.

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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: Beating the yips into submission

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There may be no more painful affliction in golf than the “yips” – those uncontrollable and maddening little nervous twitches that prevent you from making a decent stroke on short putts. If you’ve never had them, consider yourself very fortunate (or possibly just very young). But I can assure you that when your most treacherous and feared golf shot is not the 195 yard approach over water with a quartering headwind…not the extra tight fairway with water left and sand right…not the soft bunker shot to a downhill pin with water on the other side…No, when your most feared shot is the remaining 2- 4-foot putt after hitting a great approach, recovery or lag putt, it makes the game almost painful.

And I’ve been fighting the yips (again) for a while now. It’s a recurring nightmare that has haunted me most of my adult life. I even had the yips when I was in my 20s, but I’ve beat them into submission off and on most of my adult life. But just recently, that nasty virus came to life once again. My lag putting has been very good, but when I get over one of those “you should make this” length putts, the entire nervous system seems to go haywire. I make great practice strokes, and then the most pitiful short-stroke or jab at the ball you can imagine. Sheesh.

But I’m a traditionalist, and do not look toward the long putter, belly putter, cross-hand, claw or other variation as the solution. My approach is to beat those damn yips into submission some other way. Here’s what I’m doing that is working pretty well, and I offer it to all of you who might have a similar affliction on the greens.

When you are over a short putt, forget the practice strokes…you want your natural eye-hand coordination to be unhindered by mechanics. Address your putt and take a good look at the hole, and back to the putter to ensure good alignment. Lighten your right hand grip on the putter and make sure that only the fingertips are in contact with the grip, to prevent you from getting to tight.

Then, take a long, long look at the hole to fill your entire mind and senses with the target. When you bring your head/eyes back to the ball, try to make a smooth, immediate move right into your backstroke — not even a second pause — and then let your hands and putter track right back together right back to where you were looking — the HOLE! Seeing the putter make contact with the ball, preferably even the forward edge of the ball – the side near the hole.

For me, this is working, but I am asking all of you to chime in with your own “home remedies” for the most aggravating and senseless of all golf maladies. It never hurts to have more to fall back on!

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Instruction

Looking for a good golf instructor? Use this checklist

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Over the last couple of decades, golf has become much more science-based. We measure swing speed, smash factor, angle of attack, strokes gained, and many other metrics that can really help golfers improve. But I often wonder if the advancement of golf’s “hard” sciences comes at the expense of the “soft” sciences.

Take, for example, golf instruction. Good golf instruction requires understanding swing mechanics and ball flight. But let’s take that as a given for PGA instructors. The other factors that make an instructor effective can be evaluated by social science, rather than launch monitors.

If you are a recreational golfer looking for a golf instructor, here are my top three points to consider.

1. Cultural mindset

What is “cultural mindset? To social scientists, it means whether a culture of genius or a culture of learning exists. In a golf instruction context, that may mean whether the teacher communicates a message that golf ability is something innate (you either have it or you don’t), or whether golf ability is something that can be learned. You want the latter!

It may sound obvious to suggest that you find a golf instructor who thinks you can improve, but my research suggests that it isn’t a given. In a large sample study of golf instructors, I found that when it came to recreational golfers, there was a wide range of belief systems. Some instructors strongly believed recreational golfers could improve through lessons. while others strongly believed they could not. And those beliefs manifested in the instructor’s feedback given to a student and the culture created for players.

2. Coping and self-modeling can beat role-modeling

Swing analysis technology is often preloaded with swings of PGA and LPGA Tour players. The swings of elite players are intended to be used for comparative purposes with golfers taking lessons. What social science tells us is that for novice and non-expert golfers, comparing swings to tour professionals can have the opposite effect of that intended. If you fit into the novice or non-expert category of golfer, you will learn more and be more motivated to change if you see yourself making a ‘better’ swing (self-modeling) or seeing your swing compared to a similar other (a coping model). Stay away from instructors who want to compare your swing with that of a tour player.

3. Learning theory basics

It is not a sexy selling point, but learning is a process, and that process is incremental – particularly for recreational adult players. Social science helps us understand this element of golf instruction. A good instructor will take learning slowly. He or she will give you just about enough information that challenges you, but is still manageable. The artful instructor will take time to decide what that one or two learning points are before jumping in to make full-scale swing changes. If the instructor moves too fast, you will probably leave the lesson with an arm’s length of swing thoughts and not really know which to focus on.

As an instructor, I develop a priority list of changes I want to make in a player’s technique. We then patiently and gradually work through that list. Beware of instructors who give you more than you can chew.

So if you are in the market for golf instruction, I encourage you to look beyond the X’s and O’s to find the right match!

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What Lottie Woad’s stunning debut win teaches every golfer

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Most pros take months, even years, to win their first tournament. Lottie Woad needed exactly four days.

The 21-year-old from Surrey shot 21-under 267 at Dundonald Links to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three shots — in her very first event as a professional. She’s only the third player in LPGA history to accomplish this feat, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).

But here’s what caught my attention as a coach: Woad didn’t win through miraculous putting or bombing 300-yard drives. She won through relentless precision and unshakeable composure. After watching her performance unfold, I’m convinced every golfer — from weekend warriors to scratch players — can steal pages from her playbook.

Precision Beats Power (And It’s Not Even Close)

Forget the driving contests. Woad proved that finding greens matters more than finding distance.

What Woad did:

• Hit it straight, hit it solid, give yourself chances

• Aimed for the fat parts of greens instead of chasing pins

• Let her putting do the talking after hitting safe targets

• As she said, “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots”

Why most golfers mess this up:

• They see a pin tucked behind a bunker and grab one more club to “go right at it”

• Distance becomes more important than accuracy

• They try to be heroic instead of smart

ACTION ITEM: For your next 10 rounds, aim for the center of every green regardless of pin position. Track your greens in regulation and watch your scores drop before your swing changes.

The Putter That Stayed Cool Under Fire

Woad started the final round two shots clear and immediately applied pressure with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes. When South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim mounted a charge and reached 20-under with a birdie at the 14th, Woad didn’t panic.

How she responded to pressure:

• Fired back with consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th

• Watched Kim stumble with back-to-back bogeys

• Capped it with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th

• Stayed patient when others pressed, pressed when others cracked

What amateurs do wrong:

• Get conservative when they should be aggressive

• Try to force magic when steady play would win

• Panic when someone else makes a move

ACTION ITEM: Practice your 3-6 foot putts for 15 minutes after every range session. Woad’s putting wasn’t spectacular—it was reliable. Make the putts you should make.

Course Management 101: Play Your Game, Not the Course’s Game

Woad admitted she couldn’t see many scoreboards during the final round, but it didn’t matter. She stuck to her game plan regardless of what others were doing.

Her mental approach:

• Focused on her process, not the competition

• Drew on past pressure situations (Augusta National Women’s Amateur win)

• As she said, “That was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win. So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this”

Her physical execution:

• 270-yard drives (nothing flashy)

• Methodical iron play

• Steady putting

• Everything effective, nothing spectacular

ACTION ITEM: Create a yardage book for your home course. Know your distances to every pin, every hazard, every landing area. Stick to your plan no matter what your playing partners are doing.

Mental Toughness Isn’t Born, It’s Built

The most impressive part of Woad’s win? She genuinely didn’t expect it: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event as a pro, but I knew I was playing well, and I was hoping to contend.”

Her winning mindset:

• Didn’t put winning pressure on herself

• Focused on playing well and contending

• Made winning a byproduct of a good process

• Built confidence through recent experiences:

  • Won the Women’s Irish Open as an amateur
  • Missed a playoff by one shot at the Evian Championship
  • Each experience prepared her for the next

What this means for you:

• Stop trying to shoot career rounds every time you tee up

• Focus on executing your pre-shot routine

• Commit to every shot

• Stay present in the moment

ACTION ITEM: Before each round, set process goals instead of score goals. Example: “I will take three practice swings before every shot” or “I will pick a specific target for every shot.” Let your score be the result, not the focus.

The Real Lesson

Woad collected $300,000 for her first professional victory, but the real prize was proving that fundamentals still work at golf’s highest level. She didn’t reinvent the game — she simply executed the basics better than everyone else that week.

The fundamentals that won:

• Hit more fairways

• Find more greens

• Make the putts you should make

• Stay patient under pressure

That’s something every golfer can do, regardless of handicap. Lottie Woad just showed us it’s still the winning formula.

FINAL ACTION ITEM: Pick one of the four action items above and commit to it for the next month. Master one fundamental before moving to the next. That’s how champions are built.

 

PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” on RG.org each Monday.

 

Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more Tips!

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