Hello, my name is Julian Mellor PGA Professional , Positive Impact Golf Coach based at Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club in Coventry.
A Question I frequently as my clients is , if I were a complete beginner and it just so happens that my set up seems ok what pieces of advice would you give me?
I get a few varied replays but these 4 remain constant.
• Keep your head down.
• Keep your left arm straight on your backswing.
• Keep your left foot on the floor in the takeaway.
• Keep your eye on the ball as you hit it.
So my questions to you are, do they serve you well? are they good pieces of advice? Do they improve your Golf?
I'm pretty certain you will answer yes to these questions so I'd like you explore something different with me!!
Set up to your shot as normal, and hit the ball with your eyes closed!! Repeat a few times and see what happens.
Next I'd like you to hit a few shots allowing your LEFT ARM to soften in the backswing.
I'd then like you to hit a few shots allowing your LEFT HEEL to lift in the back swing,
Which will look something like this.
And the finally I would like you to hit a few shots looking away from the ball prior to impact like so
All of these exercises should be done with LITTLE to NO EFFORT, all I'm asking you to do is see what happens to your shots.
Now you may think I'm crazy asking you to do this but there is a serious point to it. You see modern teaching is all about Mechanics and Techniques, Measuring devices have become the norm and so to have teaching aids, just like these
But do they really allow you to swing naturally?
At POSITIVE IMPACT GOLF we use this saying.
“The current science-based understanding that we humans don't learn well when Teachers over – complicate their subject, we help identify and get rid of debilitating techniques that are not apt for you and your body.
P= P-I( PERFORMANCE = POTENTIAL – INTERFERENCE)”
The golf swing is a flowing movement and not a series of positions pieced together, to be successful you need these 6 big things
Turning
Weight shift
Coordination
Rhythm
Balance
Souplesse
With these in mind I'm going to ask a few more questions.
• Can you turn freely if your head and left foot are static?
• Can your weight shift from one foot to the other?
• If one part of your body is moving and another still would this appear to be coordinated?
• Would your swing have rhythm or wood it look wooden?
• Would you be swinging in balance or would you be swinging to stay in balance?
• And finally would you swing with Souplesse?
If you were to describe a really nice golf swing in a few words I would imagine you'd use ones like easy, effortless, flowing, simple, rhythmical etc etc, and if you were to describe a bad swing you'd maybe use words like , tight, full of effort, too fast, uncoordinated, tense etc etc am I right?
With this in mind, why is it OK to take away somebody's natural swing and replace it with mechanics, something that feels totally unnatural, Creating positions within a golf swing leads to tension, tension leads to effort and effort results in bad golf swings.
I've been a PGA Professional for almost 30 years , I strived to be a tour professional but never made the grade, I was taught by one of the most successful coaches in the world and constantly worked on my swing believing that positioning my swing was the only way to get better and be consistent.
Since becoming a POSITIVE IMPACT GOLF COACH and working closely with Brian Sparks the founder, I've realised how debilitating my old philosophy was. I now hit the ball further, straighter and with little effort, I absolutely love playing the game, it's fun and I'm no longer shattered by the end of each round.
Can I urge you to try swinging freely , reduce tension, reduce effort and Stop believing all you read, allow your natural swing to shine and leave your technical swing in the garage with all the clubs that you no longer use.
Discover your best swing by letting go.
If you have any questions please contact me and I'll be more than happy to chat through things with you.
HAPPY GOLFING
Julian Mellor
PGA Professional
Positive Impact Golf Coach
www.julianmellorgolfschool.co.uk
Julianmellorpga@icloud.com
http://julianmellorpga.blogspot.co.uk
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