Destroying Golf Myths...

Here are some golf myths that till today are still being bandied around...enjoy.

1) Don't swing so fast...someone ought to tell Nick Price that.
2) Keep your left arm straight on the back swing - no swing tip has ever made more reverse pivoters than this.
3) Keep your head down - you don't see Tiger telling Steve Williams "look out for my ball, gonna keep my head down."
4) Sweep on your long irons, fairway woods and driver - violates Newton's 3rd Law - Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
5) Drive for show, putt for dough - well, if you can't drive, you won't arrive.

Any others to add?

6) Transfer your weight - also causes alot of reverse pivoting as most transfer their bottom half not their top half
7) Turn your shoulders 90 degrees - ok, but in which direction??
8) Swing from the inside - swing what the hands, the club head??
9) Release - this is what happens when they let you out of prison!!

i think weight transfer is not a myth but most ppl do it the wrong way like you u said...

weesern wrote:

i think weight transfer is not a myth but most ppl do it the wrong way like you u said...

I prefer to use the term weight shift. You can shift a lot of weight without actually moving any. If you turn your body the correct way that is. If you are just gonna say transfer your weight, you need to be specific and clarify which weight. Is the top half, the bottom half or both? Golf swing is about counter balance. If you transfer your bottom half, then your top half will go the opposite way and vice versa. So it is a myth in my opinion as all it does is ruins golf swings. I have never heard any instructor specify which weight to move, hence you see many golfers moving the lower and creating a reverse pivot.

That's an awesome post Paul. Most golfers would get
better contact by moving the CG of the body left and
forward instead of just thinking of shifting their weight.

Or to make things easier, one can simply "start left,
stay left and go left."

The Golfing Machine wrote:

4) Sweep on your long irons, fairway woods and driver - violates Newton's 3rd Law - Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Golf Gurus, can help to explain the correct one? I, for one, is guilty of this... since if I tend to dig when hitting fairway woods, I have been trying to sort of graze the ground (sweeping)...

Your body has too types of weight, top and bottom half. Transfer these in the wrong order and it will end in disaster. As I mentioned earlier, you can shift a lot of weight without moving any, if you set up correctly
The top and bottom halves are in the correct order, he is feeling weight on his right leg but has not shifted across, just turned the correct way.
The guy below feels like he is transfering his weight but the top and bottom half are the opposite way around, so he actually hasnt shifted any weight. His weight is on the left leg (reverse pivot) This is a very common fault. Quincy hasnt transfered any weight but he has shifted it alot, hence the body shapes are opposite



Weight transfer is a myth as it is never explained correctly.

watermyforrest wrote:

The Golfing Machine wrote:

4) Sweep on your long irons, fairway woods and driver - violates Newton's 3rd Law - Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Golf Gurus, can help to explain the correct one? I, for one, is guilty of this... since if I tend to dig when hitting fairway woods, I have been trying to sort of graze the ground (sweeping)...

Every shot must be struck with a downward blow to make it go up.
Most people are apprehensive when told to strike down with the longer clubs as they imagine a steepness akin to that of a wedge shot. Nothing further from the truth.

As you stand further from the ball with the longer clubs, a downward blow will feel less steep than a wedge swing, but still DOWN nonetheless.

I have taken the liberty to edit Paul's picture of Mr. Student and Quincy Quek.
The pics are all standardized in height with the addition of one Mr Hogan.

The yellow lines on Quincy and Mr Hogan are what I call the "Passage Way to Good Golf"
If you somehow are able to do it on your own, slicing will be history.

If you lay these lines on the ground, you will see the inside path!

The Golfing Machine wrote:

5) Drive for show, putt for dough - well, if you can't drive, you won't arrive.

Isnt the above taken a bit out of context? It's a saying about course/game management, and shifts the focus on the short game, putting and finishing, and not just about driving far and long. Drive is also more referring to the use of driver, i.e. you can be better off teeing-off with an iron or wood.

The Golfing Machine wrote:

I have taken the liberty to edit Paul's picture of Mr. Student and Quincy Quek.
The pics are all standardized in height with the addition of one Mr Hogan.

The yellow lines on Quincy and Mr Hogan are what I call the "Passage Way to Good Golf"
If you somehow are able to do it on your own, slicing will be history.

If you lay these lines on the ground, you will see the inside path!

Love your work TGM. The RSS is modeled off Mr Hogan himself. The greatest ball striker ever to play the game. Probably why Quincy is such a good player. You can see the similarities

Mr Student looks like MT... Is that him?

Way to skinny to be MT......

siaw8 wrote:

Mr Student looks like MT... Is that him?

Na mate. JS. Either way, most golfers will look like this (their swing that is) as they turn wrong and transfer weight the wrong way around. PM you tmrw

Why not concentrate more on the impact position?
I agree that a certain backswing could be more "mechanically advantageous" to arrive at the desired impact position, but it's not the be-all and end all.
I've also managed to find some pics of a golfer and draw a line (only drew a straight line though)

Don't think the line I drew looks similar to your pics' lines. But then again, he's won quite a bit on the tour too.

Oppss... I tot it was MT due to the retrieving hairline:)

not the be all and end all, i agree. Just as you say, the more mechanically advantageous way. We just try to teach an easier way to get to impact that doesnt require the high skill level this guy has. Most of us are not that talented.

kopiO wrote:

The Golfing Machine wrote:

5) Drive for show, putt for dough - well, if you can't drive, you won't arrive.

Isnt the above taken a bit out of context? It's a saying about course/game management, and shifts the focus on the short game, putting and finishing, and not just about driving far and long. Drive is also more referring to the use of driver, i.e. you can be better off teeing-off with an iron or wood.

kopiO,

I didnt mention anything about hitting far...
What I meant was that you need to be able to hit the ball as far as you possibly can to have a chance at low scores.

If you are pumping your drives out there carry + roll at 155m then its going to be very tough to break par.

Short and straight or long and crooked?
I would take the former - easier to get closer to the hole from the fairway.
Length is important but sometimes overrated. If you have 200m to the green, just use a 4 iron - thats what it is for. You do not need to be flipping half wedges into the green all the time to have fun. There is nothing more satisfying than a cracked 3 iron shot with a blade.

Low golf scores do not come from hitting it long, it comes from hitting it straight and solid.

Ssquirrel wrote:

Why not concentrate more on the impact position?
I agree that a certain backswing could be more "mechanically advantageous" to arrive at the desired impact position, but it's not the be-all and end all.
I've also managed to find some pics of a golfer and draw a line (only drew a straight line though)

Don't think the line I drew looks similar to your pics' lines. But then again, he's won quite a bit on the tour too.

The picture you provided is great, but it will be a more accurate comparison if he were square to the camera.
Look at Furyk's belt buckle, a little tough for it to be square at the top of the swing but thats what it shows in the picture.

A certain type of backswing and pivot makes it easier to come back down on the right arcs.

A Furyk-esque backswing would require a straight line drop of the arms from the top to the release position WITHOUT the body turning for it to work.

It is a move that few can do consistently. One of them is Furyk.

I like your suggestion....I will start a thread on impact.

What about me?
I think I overswing and I didn't do any weight shift.

alamak.. picture too small..

Ssquirrel wrote:

Why not concentrate more on the impact position?
I agree that a certain backswing could be more "mechanically advantageous" to arrive at the desired impact position, but it's not the be-all and end all.
I've also managed to find some pics of a golfer and draw a line (only drew a straight line though)

Don't think the line I drew looks similar to your pics' lines. But then again, he's won quite a bit on the tour too.

As you can see, can not get proper impact position from this body shape, this is why the body angles are so important

watermyforrest wrote:

The Golfing Machine wrote:

4) Sweep on your long irons, fairway woods and driver - violates Newton's 3rd Law - Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Golf Gurus, can help to explain the correct one? I, for one, is guilty of this... since if I tend to dig when hitting fairway woods, I have been trying to sort of graze the ground (sweeping)...

Duh... no comment????

I thought there was a reply.
Ok...your digging is causing by an over steep downswing
which is caused by an outside in swing path.
What you need to do is to setup your fairway wood next
to a wall and do shadow swings. The wall should get rid of
the steepness since you do not want to be hitting that.

Hi TGM,

Thanks for your reply. I was actually referring to the myth no. 4:

4) Sweep on your long irons, fairway woods and driver - violates Newton's 3rd Law - Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

You mentioned here that sweeping is a myth... I thought this is the correct way to hit woods and long irons?


I was trying to illustrate that I tend to take some divots with my woods so when I am practicing (before the actual swing) I try to sweep the ground with no divots i.e. conforming to the myth.

So, to sweep or not to sweep: that is the question...