At a long drive competition...

The legs waste no energy.

If you have ever been to a long drive competition, the first thing that stands out is how loose these guys are. The second thing you will notice is how their legs seem to be almost bowly.

They look like a clutch of John Wayne’s offspring. You could almost pick them up and pop them onto a horse at the end of their back swing and they would resemble cowboys wielding a lasso.

I have spoken to many of these long hitters and they all preach the same basics and there are a few that stand out for me. I will now discuss the first one which involves the conservation of energy during the back swing.

This is one of the most natural of all the basic ‘gross motor skills’ where our body has learned to waste absolutely minimal energy on any back swing movements.

Pick up an axe to chop down a tree and you’ll feel this. After taking the axe back, stop before you swing towards the tree and you’ll feel this lack of wasted energy.

Pick up a stick and throw it for your dog and again if you stop at the end of the back swing you’ll feel this again. Take the tennis service, the shot putter, the baseball pitcher, the karate chop and many many more.

They are all the same. But oh dear, the golfer is in a world of his own. Most of them expand a lot of energy on the backswing.

Are you one of them?

Try this with any of the other non-golfing examples. At the end of the back swing say the word “soft”. You will notice that it is easy to say the word softly as you are not feeling any strain.

Now do the same with your golf swing and prepare to hear some or quite a bit of strain in your voice.

We are all so caught up with executing perfect back swings that we actually swing way beyond our personal thresholds trying to achieve this.

Take your back swing using this tip and you will find that you will start moving your body and club much more efficiently.

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