Another old friend, sort of

In relation to a 'sort of' old friend, I'm referring to Paul Wilson's Swing Machine Golf approach or method, which partly explains why my blog's name contains 'effortless' in it. My own search for the effortless golf swing makes me think it's time to revisit some of his ideas and re-assess them taking into account where I've been for the past few years.

It was three years or so ago when I first came across the SMG concept and bought the books and dvds. It was also about the time I had some success on the course and all was well with my game - up to a point. But as is usual for me, and for many golfers, I was still not fully satisfied with my swing or results and set out to find that elusive final element - consistency.

Needless to say, this led me to continue my journey through many and varied swing theories, hundreds of tips and dozens of instruction concepts. Now while some of these theories had merit and the methods being espoused by some pretty good teachers were probably fine, because my handicap did drop a few levels,  I still haven't been really happy with my game: too many silly mistakes, no pattern to my shots, and no real confidence.

One thing I have learnt, however, is that because no two golfers are built exactly the same or have the same physical, mental, etc. prowess, there is no one theory or method that will - in it's entirety - work for all golfers. There are far too many ways to swing a club effectively or to skin a cat. Incidentally, I love cats and The Cats.

On the PW SMG front, I like his approach a lot, particularly the powerless arms, constant forward tilt and core generation of power concepts, however, I have a few minor issues.

It is not so much that I don't think his methods are effective, they are; it's the fact that some of his explanations, for example, around weight shift, are not quite complete enough for my liking. I'll try to explain.

PW does not like lateral hip shift ideas for initiating the downswing and talks about rotation instead. This is fine, many average golfers overdo lateral shift, particularly when they sway back trying to generate power on the backswing. However, people reject the rotation concept because they don't think this is a weight shift and they want there to be the weight shift they hear so much about and see in the great golfers on TV. Also, some instructors say if you rotate the hips, the shoulders will necessarily rotate causing the dreaded cast or over-the-top move on the downswing. These instructors have apparently not heard of what is usually called 'separation' - the independent movement of the hips and shoulders.

In fact, hip rotation does create a weight shift of the lower body because the slight weight shift back during the backswing is exceeded by the weight shift forward because the hips rotate about 45 or so degrees further on the downswing than they do on the backswing, moving the lower body weight forward. Part of the weight transfer is also inherent in the mass of the swinging club head. This swing of the club head shifts weight also, without any conscious need to shift weight.

This is all a bit complicated, but when understood, explains why rotation does achieve weight shift in the correct direction. I just don't think PW explains this in sufficient detail, although he is no doubt trying to simplify his message for the people he is teaching.

There are a few other SMG issues, mostly minor, so I'll mention just one that has bugged me in the past. Perhaps ironically, this is my hesitation in accepting the complexity in PW's system of distance control, which he advocates for pitching and chipping. I'm generally in favour of formulas and systems, but his rotational speed regulation ideas for the short game I think are too complicated for the average player.

My belief in relation to the short game is that the only really effective measure is a certain amount of careful and sensible decision making about club selection, including landing point selection, followed by the placing of some trust in one's brain to calculate how hard to swing - and therefore how much body action is needed to complement the swinging of the arms.

I suppose this is to argue that the short game is more of an art form, a creative process that must be learned (as often as not the hard way). For beginners, there is probably a case for some rules and guidelines (formulas), but I think this can go too far. I think that as players gain experience they need to trust more on touch and feel to get results, especially since the actual conditions (lies, slopes, grass types, green speeds, etc.) encountered on the course will vary considerably from hole to hole and day to day.

Anyway, that's enough on SMG and PW for now. I'm going out tomorrow to swing with powerless arms, loose wrists, while keeping a constant forward tilt. I'll be back with a report.