How I finally understood a golf swing

I have tried to learn golf the “proper” way. By getting a golf coach at a local golf club. Pay them about 100$ an hour to teach me how to swing a golf club. Of course with the current golf teaching method, what he was trying to teach me is how to walk. Dissecting a golf swing into a dozen moves to teach me the “perfect” swing. Naturally, I sucked at that like everyone else.

It’s mindboggling to think that most golf coaches teach that way. Describing a golf swing as a series of moves, shifts, shoulder rotations, etc, etc. Complete nonsense. A golf swing is just a way to strike a ball with a stick in the direction of the hole.

That is why children learn it so quickly and so instinctively. They have not been subjected to all the BS that comes out of all the golf coaching industry. I don’t blame the coaches as much. I mean being a golf coach is a business like any other. And like any other business, it’s easier to keep a customer than to get a new one. So what do they do? They feed us nonsense so we keep coming back for months and years. Perfect. But what about golf? Well, the golf suffers, but… what do they care. Their job is to feed their family. And if it takes telling garbage to people about a golf swing, that’s what they’ll do.

But enough about the coaching, which in my opinion is killing this great game. People are told that it’s extremely difficult and it takes years of coaching to be good. BS. It takes a long time to forget the “lessons” I received from a “golf coach” and go back to basics. And the basics are simple. How do I hit the ball with a stick to go in the desired direction.

How I visualised the golf swing

To experience what the golf swing should feel like, people talk about baseball. And it makes a lot of sense. And I tried to visualise a golf swing like a baseball swing. The trouble is, I never held a baseball bat in my hands. So, first I had to imagine a baseball swing, and translate into golf. No can do.

Another person showed a grass cutting tool which people swing left and right and it cuts grass. Roughly, but it does it. It’s mainly used for the thicker bush. And I saw them do it, and it made sense, but I never held this tool in my hands. So, again, I had to imagine it. The only grass cutting tool I used in my youth is a scythe. Well, one does not use a scythe like a golf club. That’s for sure.

Then it finally clicked.

An axe. I have used an axe. I know how it works and I know how to use the weight of the head for the best result. No one can manipulate an axe because it’s too heavy. And there is no need to think about the 20 moves that a golf teacher asked me to remember every time I lift the golf club. None of that BS.

I hold an axe almost like a golf club. I pick a point on a tree where to strike it, and the body does the rest. There is no need to think about the angle of attack. There is no need to shift or rotate the hips. All that my body already knows perfectly. I don’t need to worry about angles and body shifts when I walk. I should not think about these things when I swing a golf club.

This method has allowed me to finally get the golf swing that I wanted. Just need to think about an axe when I hold a golf club. I’m still getting flashbacks from the golf lessons about the fckng angles, but a lot less these days. I will never play competitive golf, but shooting in the 70s and low 80s is more than enough to really enjoy the game. That is good enough for me.