Is the "authentic golf swing a myth?

The other day a friend of mine told me an amazing story. Like many of us , he has spent years learning to play this wonderful game. He plays of a 16 h/cap( should really be single figures ) and has struggled for quite a while with his game falling apart mid-round. He told me " On this one occasion i had played really well for 11 holes and then for no apparent reason i started to shank the ball, first with my short irons then with every club in the bag and with every shot. I could feel the sense of anger growing inside me becuase i knew i was a better player than this".
Now i have known this person for many years and i can attest that his set up and fundamentals are sound and i cannot understand why his game falls apart during rounds ( every round ). i dont mean that he starts to hit one or two bad shots , his swing completely goes. If you were to see him at this point you would swear that he was a complete begginner.
He went on to tell me " I walked off the course, i was so angry with myself. I had made up my mind that i was beaten . I grabbed my clubs , intending to throw them in the bin the minute i got home. I was walking to my car when the heavens opened and the rain began to fall so heavily that i had to take shelter in the driving range . As i stood there watching the rain fall i began to calm down and then i noticed an abandoned basket half filled with balls. i took my 8 iron out of my bag , placed a ball onto the rubber tee, took my settup and BANG i hit the ball 150 yards straight down the makeshift fairway. I didn't even feel the clubhead hit the ball, it just sailed through the air. Excited , i hit another and another , all with the same outcome. Pretty soon i had used up all the balls so i got another basket full. Again evry single ball just sailed through the air.

He told me he couldn't wait to get back on the course with me because he had found his AUTHENTIC swing." No more swing thoughts . No more trying to force the ball to go in a specific direction. i just take my set up and swing"
I asked him how he had found this " AUTHENTIC SWING " and he said " As i was stood watching the rain come down, i thought back to my childhood and how we have all learned to walk. Once we take take our first few stumbling steps , we soon find our balance and with a little practice we become more adept and after a while we give absolutely no thoughts to how we walk, we just walk. We all have our own unique way of walking but the basic movements are the same. I just applied the same knowledge to my golf game and that is how found my AUTHENTIC swing ".

Yesterday he invited me to play 18 holes with him and he shot a 78 and beat me in the process.

Maybe he has found his authentic swing . What do you people think?.....
Do we all posess a god given unique swing and if so how do we find it.?........
Does there come a time when we can only do so much with swing drills before our own unique way fights to the surface.?........
Will England win the world cup.?
Will i ever get to see THE EAGLES play a live gig.?

Couldnt agree more. I am areplica of your mate at the moment and walked off the course last week. For no apparent reason couldnt hit the ball and shanks everywhere. Went to my teacher who said that I didnot have a problem with fundamentals or swing, but had a problem with mind set and belief. Sure enough at the range, no problem. The problem now is getting it back to the course. Mental issue is such an important part of this game.You have to admire the pros who can do it right everyday

Hi robert .
I think the point he was trying to make is..He had found is own unique swing.
If evrybody tried to analise how we walk, scrutinise every single step, we probably wouldn't get to our destinations.
We all have the ability to run , but not everybody will become an olympic sprinter. We just have use what we have.

great post mate
i think we can and should relate to that in some way!

Hi Artford,
Your friend has a valid point. We sometimes need to go with our body's natural rhythmn. I think the problem develops when we try to over analyse the stroke B4 we play it.
Now regarding your other questions:
1. Trinidad & Tobago will defeat England 3 nil in the first round, whether Rooney plays or not.(sorry Liam)
2. Yeah, you will probably see the Eagles perform live, hope you enjoy "Hotel California"!

Hi curtmay
t&t 3 england nil?
whats the weather like on the planet you live on!

Hi all
Ever since i took up golf i have searched for a totally effortless swing. I have never ever been able to just let go, too many swing thoughts run through my head, it's so hard to block them out.

Great post Aftford

Hi tpg.

My thoughts on this are, you must first engrain the basics and then learn to trust the swing that you have.

Once your swing becomes GROOVED, you can then start to concentrate on targets at address as opposed to swing thoughts.

dammed was wondering who stole my half basket of balls from the range!!