Swoosh

How many of you guys take note of the swoosh in your swing? When you do a practice swing, do you ensure that the swoosh sounds off at the point of impact, or just after? Does the swoosh necessarily mean that you are swinging at a good speed?

I noticed that if I start the downswing fast, the swoosh comes before impact. If I slow down the first part of the downswing, the swoosh then comes at the point of impact. If at the start of the downswing I feel as if I'm moving the hands but let the club stay back a tad longer, I can get a much louder swoosh. Is that necessarily a good thing, or could I be using too much wrists as a result? (It is possible to be using the wrists too much to get a good swoosh, right?)

The swoosh is the point of highest speed in your swing. So, at or after impact (ideally) is the spot for it.

Simon

If I may, can I offer you some advice for range practice. Please feel free to discount it but its something that really works for me and as I guy who obviously practices hard and is making progress I think it may be worth a try

For the next 5 or 6 visits to the range try and spilt your sessions so that one 200 ball visit is your technical one but alternate with a session which is entirely based on rythmn/timing with only a PW, 7i and a 3w/5w

How do you do that? Well during this other visit, try and build yourself a pre shot routine. Makr it last say about 9-10 seconds, no more, before you hit the ball. Mine is basically to feel the club very light in my fingers, take a few waggles, keep my feet tapping so I feel athletic, keep looking at the target in between the waggles, settle, slight kick in of the right knee and swing. Really try and keep this quick, and dont freeze over the ball. Dont worry too much about alignment and aim in this session, do that in your technical one

Now between each shot, walk away, let go of the club, then walk up and do the same. Only 9-10 seconds, feel athletic and make it start becoming natural

Now when this more natural try and experiment with rythmn, try making your swing tempo a little bit faster or slower until you find something that feels really goos and you start hitting the ball a good distance. Focus on a really light grip pressure. You'll be amazed how much good rythmn breeds good timing breeds good distance

Try not to worry at this stage where the ball goes or how far, If you hit a bad one forget it. Just keep that pre shot routine and rythmn going, I suggest towards the end you'll hit more good than bad. If it goes really bad then just hit PW for a while

You'll find that when you come to play you can apply this pre shot routine and mentally your body knows whats going to happen and how quickly it is you will swing

I wont guarantee this will work but please try it at least once, I think for a guy like you who probably now has the makings of good mechanics its time to focus more on learning good balance and rythmn and I think/hope your distances and sweetness of contact will really start to improve

HTH
Paul

Thanks Paul! I just finally managed to get a decent backswing where my left wrist does not cup so horribly, and now the downswing feels all different in that new position at the top

I can't believe it has already been 6 months since I picked up golf, and I must have been to the range at least 2-3 times a week since then. That makes it like more than 60 times at the range! It's been a great 6 months, I must say :P

Thank you for your advice. I am definitely game for trying out new things. You brought up a good point, as I also just recently noticed that I just keep hitting the balls over and over again without some sort of break or a really good routine. So I must say, it is good advice indeed. I know my swings don't look very athletic, probably because I'm just afraid to let go, and that also explains my tendency to grip the club too tightly. Well, more things to work on!

Simon, thats a position I get to as well hence the importance to me of this alternate session. ALL i want to do is focus on a pre-shot routine that keeps me loose and athletic and ensures I dont freeze over the ball consumed by swing thoughts. Indeed my only thought is light grip

Then the session is just working on different tempos of the swing and clearing my mind, Ive learnt not to be too worried about where the ball goes but what ive found more often than not in these sessions that i start hitting the ball great and that is down to lack of tension and a good rythmn

How many times as the range have we had that half an hour where we pound everything straight down the middle only to not find it the next time we go? Its because we get into a rythmn, place ball on mat, get set and swing, your body and mind gets into a routine so it knows whats coming .. this range session for me is all about making a routine and some feelings that gaurantee i hit the ball well each time. You may even find as you get into this that you can start experimenting with slower swings to take a bit off or faster swings to add a bit more but what it will do is help you find your natural tempo

good luck, please let me know if you try it and it works for you

Hi Paul,

Well I can safely say, I am consistent. Consistently bad that is . At least 8 out of 10 shots, I can land the ball right around the 100m (110yd) sign with my 7i. But I know I'm losing out on at least 2-3 clubs here, in terms of the distances. I can generate a very nice swoosh now, but I want to make sure it's not a result of swatting. I suspect so though, as I can feel myself using more wrist in these instances, which is definitely a no-no right?

Yes, Simon, my view here is that mid-high handicappers shouldnt be concsiuosly doing anythin with their hands/arms/wrists during the swing

The body should turn the arms back and through. I would suggest hitting half swings for a session, focusing entirely on a light grip and having your body turn the club back and then your body turn the club through. Try and feel like your hips and shoulders and torso all move together

My guess if you do this then even with a half swing you will start to feel 'real' contact and the ball will start to go further than 100M. Indeed you shouldnbt really swing a 7i much more than 3/4 anyway

As you do this make sure the grip is light and try hard to forget about hands and wrists and arms, just trust that a good turn back through the ball will pull your hands and arms and clubface back to the correct impact position

This is a session I go back to when things start getting really off

Thanks Paul. You are right. I was looking at some of my old videos and they certainly looked more natural and uninhibited I will try to take a step back and start working from the ground up again Thanks!

Great stuff mate

Let us know how you get on wont you