What Is The Perfect Golf Swing?
If you were to ask 100 people this question, you would get 100 different answers. Some people probably think it's a swing that would allow a person to hit the ball 400 yards. Other people probably think it's a swing that would allow the person to shoot 64 every time they went to play. Still others would say that it would be the swing of Ben Hogan, while a totally different group of people would say that Byron Nelson or Tiger Woods who has a perfect swing. There isn't one clear idea of what the perfect swing is.
When I was learning the game, perfect to me was a toss up between Ben Hogan (flatter swing now known as a one-plane swing) or Jack Nicklaus (upright swing known as a 2 plane swing). Sure, there were other great players on tour at the time, but these were the 2 everyone talked about. It made sense to pick one of their styles and copy it.
Out of these 2 golfers, Jack Nicklaus had the swing that I wanted to copy. I used to imagine I was him on every shot I hit. I had quite a few people at the club tell me my swing looked like his and I even had the blonde hair to match. In 4 years of using this Jack Nicklaus swing, I became a scratch golfer and our Men's Club Champion at 17 years old.
As I got a little older, golf instruction started to gain popularity. It became mainstream in the late 1980's, early 1990's when David Ledbetter created Nick Faldo. This was a whole new way of building the golf swing. Dissecting every movement and setting very precise positions was now the way to perfection. I remember how people described Faldo as having a machine-like swing. To me, mechanical was cool. Setting perfect positions was cool. The thought of perfection had now become my obsession. I was no longer using my old out-of-date Nicklaus swing, I was a new man and I was seeking perfection. I was trying to become a blonde haired Nick Faldo. Unfortunately, this is where the trouble began.
In seeking the perfect swing, I totally destroyed my game. My obsession with perfection became my demise. I read books, watched videos and I listened to anyone who would give me a tip. I couldn't break an egg for over 10 years. Within this span of terrible golf, I tried going back to my Jack Nicklaus swing (that didn't work anymore) then the flat Ben Hogan swing (that didn't work either). Then it was Faldo swing again which I knew didn't work but I thought it might (again). Then, Nicklaus, Hogan, Faldo, Hogan, Nicklaus, Faldo (I can't remember but I think there may has even been a couple of Greg Norman's in there as well ) it was never ending and I was totally frustrated.
After floundering for many, many years, I finally saw the perfect swing ... really I did! The perfect swing I saw was that of the Iron Byron swing machine. For those of you who don't know, the Iron Byron is a robotic golfer that was designed by True Temper Sports in 1963 to test their golf shafts. The Iron Byron hits the ball perfectly every single time. The funny thing is this machine was not just picked out of thin air, it perfectly replicates the golf swing of the legendary golfer, Byron Nelson (hence the name "Iron Byron").
By seeing the Iron Byron hit a ball, it made me clearly understand what the perfect golf swing was and how it worked. By incorporating the movement of Iron Byron into my swing, I immediately improved (when I say immediately, it really was). Because of the Iron Byron, I got my swing back and I now hit the ball better than I ever have (and I rarely practice).
To this day, I teach all of my students to copy the Iron Byron swing machine. Why? Because it really is the only perfect swing on the planet and it only has 2 moving parts! I invite you to see a video clip of the Iron Byron and myself hitting a ball together on my website at www.swingmachinegolf.com so you can see that it really is possible to copy the only perfect swing on the planet.
Hopefully after seeing the Iron Byron in action, you too, can stop searching for the answers and changing your swing like I did for so many years.
As published on:
http://www.paulwilsongolf.com/golf_tip_17.htm
When I was learning the game, perfect to me was a toss up between Ben Hogan (flatter swing now known as a one-plane swing) or Jack Nicklaus (upright swing known as a 2 plane swing). Sure, there were other great players on tour at the time, but these were the 2 everyone talked about. It made sense to pick one of their styles and copy it.
Out of these 2 golfers, Jack Nicklaus had the swing that I wanted to copy. I used to imagine I was him on every shot I hit. I had quite a few people at the club tell me my swing looked like his and I even had the blonde hair to match. In 4 years of using this Jack Nicklaus swing, I became a scratch golfer and our Men's Club Champion at 17 years old.
As I got a little older, golf instruction started to gain popularity. It became mainstream in the late 1980's, early 1990's when David Ledbetter created Nick Faldo. This was a whole new way of building the golf swing. Dissecting every movement and setting very precise positions was now the way to perfection. I remember how people described Faldo as having a machine-like swing. To me, mechanical was cool. Setting perfect positions was cool. The thought of perfection had now become my obsession. I was no longer using my old out-of-date Nicklaus swing, I was a new man and I was seeking perfection. I was trying to become a blonde haired Nick Faldo. Unfortunately, this is where the trouble began.
In seeking the perfect swing, I totally destroyed my game. My obsession with perfection became my demise. I read books, watched videos and I listened to anyone who would give me a tip. I couldn't break an egg for over 10 years. Within this span of terrible golf, I tried going back to my Jack Nicklaus swing (that didn't work anymore) then the flat Ben Hogan swing (that didn't work either). Then it was Faldo swing again which I knew didn't work but I thought it might (again). Then, Nicklaus, Hogan, Faldo, Hogan, Nicklaus, Faldo (I can't remember but I think there may has even been a couple of Greg Norman's in there as well ) it was never ending and I was totally frustrated.
After floundering for many, many years, I finally saw the perfect swing ... really I did! The perfect swing I saw was that of the Iron Byron swing machine. For those of you who don't know, the Iron Byron is a robotic golfer that was designed by True Temper Sports in 1963 to test their golf shafts. The Iron Byron hits the ball perfectly every single time. The funny thing is this machine was not just picked out of thin air, it perfectly replicates the golf swing of the legendary golfer, Byron Nelson (hence the name "Iron Byron").
By seeing the Iron Byron hit a ball, it made me clearly understand what the perfect golf swing was and how it worked. By incorporating the movement of Iron Byron into my swing, I immediately improved (when I say immediately, it really was). Because of the Iron Byron, I got my swing back and I now hit the ball better than I ever have (and I rarely practice).
To this day, I teach all of my students to copy the Iron Byron swing machine. Why? Because it really is the only perfect swing on the planet and it only has 2 moving parts! I invite you to see a video clip of the Iron Byron and myself hitting a ball together on my website at www.swingmachinegolf.com so you can see that it really is possible to copy the only perfect swing on the planet.
Hopefully after seeing the Iron Byron in action, you too, can stop searching for the answers and changing your swing like I did for so many years.
As published on:
http://www.paulwilsongolf.com/golf_tip_17.htm
Labels: Swing Improvement