3 traits of great golf swings (and 3 signs of a bad one)

I like golf swings that have been dominant over the history of the game. I’ve spent days, weeks and years of my life studying them and learning what they did best. It’s the best players in golf who hold the key to this game. Look closely, and you’ll start to see the threads of greatness emerge.

Modern technology has helped us understand the golf swing more effectively than ever before, and social media has breathed new life into these ideas. Suddenly, teachers started liking the idea of lifting the left heel when they saw their students, after years of getting worse and injured, start swinging faster and hitting the ball longer.

Yet unfortunately there are still so many bad ideas out there. Ideas that aren’t based on the principles that the swings of the best players to ever play.

Let’s start with Bobby Jones. He dominated his era, with one of the longest and smoothest swings of all time. He preached a long, flowing golf swing his entire life, and was legendary for his booming drives. Certain elements of his swing, just like MacDonald Smith are Walter Hagan, may look different. But the key moves were the same.

Great players learn through observation and imitation. And he was right. It led to the ride of powerful swings like Sam Snead, and Ben Hogan, who dominated the era. And then, after that, players like Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Bob Toski. They showed up lifting the heel and making a full and hip shoulder turn.

But at the same time, you always had the crop of golf instructors preaching that shortening your swing, will lead to straighter shots. Particularly in the UK, which pioneered a more compact swing compared to the Americans. Partly a product of trying to keep the ball under the wind, and closer to the firm ground often found on links courses, they thought you could swing shorter and hit the ball harder, which was only true because of steel shafts. You could rip at it with a more severe motion with your arms, and less rotation, and get away with it.

The seeds were sown: Restricting the lower body and creating a compact golf swing. Tom Kite switched to a planted left heel, as did Nick Faldo and Nick Price. They experienced success which brought the idea into vogue, and it still lingers today.

For most of recent history, golf instructors have pushed for simplicity. They want to simplify everything about the golf swing, until it’s so simple that golfers are left with nothing.

I want to change the narrative back, and help golfers embrace their natural athletic ability. When you learn it correctly and understand the how the best who played this game swung the club, then train properly, you’ll hit it further and straighter!

The essence of a good golf swing

A good golf swing is one that has a continues flow of motion, with a full turn with their hips and shoulders, minimal hip slide, and properly sequenced. That’s what allows golfers harness their natural athletic ability. Learn it correctly, and you’ll produce a tremendous amount of power and consistently — more than you ever thought possible.

You’ll you’ll be making a bigger turn on the backswing, and have much more fun playing this game.

The bad ideas of the past mean a lot of golfers — especially senior students — have come to doubt what they’re capable of.

Oftentimes, senior players have been told they aren’t flexible enough to make a full swing. I just rarely see this as the case, many of my senior clients, once they, they are shown how to move, realize they can make a full unrestricted, hip and shoulder turns or right away. They’re blown away by the amount of motion they can achieve so quickly. Their speed and distance goes up, and it’s why I see some of my biggest gains from my older students. These moves are for everyone, from tour players to college golfers, seniors, juniors, and recreational golfers.

Embracing the flow, athleticism, and an unrestricted turn will also help you avoid injury. Think about it this way: If I was to move a cinderblock, and tried to use only my arms and back, I may be able accomplish the basic task of moving the cinderblock. But if I use my whole body, my legs, my glutes, my hamstrings, my calf muscles, if I went and I bent down and with hip flex and I distributed that 50 pound load throughout my whole body, I could move the cinder block more efficiently, more economically without injury likely.

That’s why we see players with longer golf swings having remarkably few injuries over their entire career. Vijay Singh has hit more golf balls than anyone, and is still going, injury free. Bubba Watson has chicken arms — he’s never been in the gym a day in his life! — yet his long and unrestricted golf swing has made him one of the most dominate drivers of all time, and largely injury free.

You may be asking yourself: What are the golf swings moves I need to work on, and the ones i should avoid? We’ll dig more into the details later in the series, but an overview:

3 signs of a bad golf swing

3 signs of a good golf swing

1. FREE HIP TURN

The golf swing is a turning motion, and there should be no sign of restricting that turn on either side of the ball. Lift your left heel, extend your trail leg, and get as much turn into your hips as you can. You don’t want any sense of restricting in your backswing. A long swing isn’t a must, but an unrestricted one is. Turn, turn, turn — that’s where the power is.

2. MINIMAL LATERAL SLIDE ON THE DOWNSWING

Shifting over to your left side as a right-handed golfer happens much quicker than most people think. A little after the top of the back swing, all the pressure is pretty much into the left side. If you wait and try to “shift your weight,” you will likely be too late and slide.

3. A CORE-DRIVEN GOLF SWING

The engine of the swing is the middle. How you move your core, your pelvis, your hips, your spine, your legs determine ultimately how good your swing is. That’s a key trait of the most dominant golf swings in this game. You may see the greats get into different positions with their arms and club, but they all move their middle the same.

A good golf swing I want you to have is not gender-based. The legendary women move virtually the same as the legendary men, and there isn’t any reason why women can’t swing like men. Again, this is about technique and skill has nothing to do with gender.

With the golf swing I want to help you build, I do want to emphasize that you will hit the ball further, which no matter what brings the potential for the ball to travel father offline. But I totally reject the idea that a longer, more powerful swing is any less accurate. Ben Hogan, to name one, is regarded as one of the most accurate, ever was way past parallel and incredibly powerful.

Accuracy doesn’t come from shortening your swing. It comes from the correct movements, and proper sequencing. Yes, mishitting a shot at 120 miles per hour instead of 100 miles per hour is a bigger problem. But when the sequencing is correct, control isn’t an issue. You’ll hit the ball farther, and as we’ve seen with the importance of SG: Driving on the PGA Tour, the game will become easier.

We started this section of the series talking about the dominant golf swings of the past and present. As we dig into the meat of the moves in the subsequent sections of the series, I want you to know all my opinions on the golf swings are based on what I see the best players do.

You may remember what I said earlier: Good golfers learn from observation, and imitation. This is especially true with junior golfers, who learn and adapt quicker than adults. If you ever need further guidance understanding what these moves should look like, or how they come to gather, here’s a list of my favorite golf swings to study:

My favorite golf swings to study

Jack Nicklaus

Ben Hogan

Tiger Woods

Arnold Palmer

Babe Zaharias

Rory McIlroy

Gary Player

Walter Hagan

Dustin Johnson

Bubba Watson

John Daly