I’ve only had the opportunity, as much as I love it, to practice and work on my game, but a handful of times this year. However, this week I found a couple of hours to hit some balls and work on my swing.  Since I don’t have the time to make some of the “bigger adjustments” in my swing, I work mostly on tempo and rhythm, with the main focus on trying to get the transition, the part of the swing from backswing to downswing, as smooth as possible. I have the tendency, like many golfers, to rush my downswing. I’m not working on making my motion slower; I’m working on getting it to be smoother.               

So I start out by hitting a sand wedge with a full swing, then move to a pitching wedge, and start working up to the longer clubs. Now in theory, the swing is the same whether it’s a wedge or driver. We don’t need to swing harder, the length of the club, and lesser loft with the longer clubs, will take care of the distance. 

But somehow that seems to be very counterintuitive for golfers, me included. I make very smooth swings with my short irons, but once I get up to the mid irons I can start to see a difference, there’s a slightly more abrupt movement in the transition. It just seems that, as humans, some of us just can’t get our minds to convince our bodies, that the same smooth swing can be used for the pitching wedge as well as the 5 iron. As we get farther from the target, there’s a switch in our mind that tends to make us swing harder and faster. And what’s really crazy about that switch is that right before I hit a shot I’m telling myself to be patient, smooth in the transition, and allow the club to gradually accelerate, and yet I get the club to the top and BAM!, the switch goes off and I jerk the club down in the transition. It’s amazing! And of course, I know I’m not alone with this.

So an exercise (drill) I do, one that I’ve heard is one of Tiger’s favorites, is I hit a 5 iron with a FULL SWING, but only try to swing at 50% and hit it about 120 yards. Then slowly, I try to increase the amount of energy and the distance I hit the ball, till I get up to about 90%, which will get me to hit my normal distance. What’s good about this exercise is that I really learn how sooth and effortless I can swing and still get the ball to fly the required distance – all the while developing better rhythm with my swing. It’s also a great exercise when trying to integrate new swing thoughts.

Remember, as humans we learn to do physical skills slowly, before doing them at faster speeds (we walk before we run), and golf is no different.

Last year I attended the PGA show in Orlando and during it attended a couple of seminars.  One of them of the seminars was on teaching and my friend, Tom Patri, who is also a top 100 instructor, was one of the speakers. Tom was talking about how he helps students and how he uses a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 approach to helping his students. He spends one third of his time with them on the full swing, one third on the short game, and one third on the golf course.  I thought this was a very balanced approach, and while I was already working with my students on the full and short game, it was rare that I gave playing lessons, so I started suggesting these to my students and it turned out to be one of the best things I’ve incorporated into my teaching.

The reason for this is simple.  When I go out with one of my students and actually watch them play, I learn far more about their games then I can working with them on the range. And ultimately, on the range we end up working too much on “golf swing” and not enough on “playing golf” – which is an entirely different thing. When I watch a golfer play, I can better see things like pre-shot routine, alignment, strategy, club selection, trouble shots, etc., and the insights I gain from these observations are invaluable – I really learn how the student plays golf.  And many times the discussion we have about these areas on the course really helps the student to improve their games, and of course their scores, just by improving these parts of their games.

I would highly recommend, to anyone taking lessons, to ask your pro about taking a playing lesson – he will learn so much more about your game then he could possibly learn sitting on the driving range watching and helping you hit ball after ball, while working on your golf swing. And you will most likely learn things about your game that can bring you instant results – which is nice.