Let’s take a look at Parker McLachlin’s iron swing, the winning swing of Reno Tahoe Open.  (Too bad Michelle Wie didn’t make the cut AGAIN!)

At takeaway, notice that Parker’s clubface is actually pointing down at the ground, a little too closed.   This causes lots of pulls and balls that will start left and go left.  It’s best to have rotated a little more here for crisp contact.

At half-way, Parker looks pretty good.

At top of his swing, Parker is in perfect plane.

At half-way down, Parker looks great.

After impact, Parker is slightly outside the plane, meaning he swung slightly inside-out.  Very good stuff.

Parker may have a pretty good swing and he has won a PGA Tour event to prove it with a round of 10 under on Friday of 62.

Here’s Parker McLachlin’s iron swing in slow motion:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

Okay, this does really happen to me every couple months.  That is that I find the secret to the golf swing.

You go to the golf course and return with this “amazing” feeling that you’ve finally mastered the game of golf, or at least just the golf swing in this case.

Let me tell you how it happend and the secret too.

I have been on a long-trail of hitting balls on the range and really not practicing my short game or putting.

Well, yesterday, I go to the range at Harding Park GC, and found that the range closes early on Mondays.  Of course, this was my first time going to the range after 6pm on a Monday.

So, I decided to practice my short game for 2 hours.  What happened after that was amazing.

For the first hour and a half or so, I was really struggling to hit these hard-pan lies.  After trying several things, I hit a goldmine, the secret to my golf swing.

You see, the secret is in the dirt just like Ben Hogan said.  Literally, I found it in the hardpan dirt, where it’s practically impossible to hit the shot good unless you strike the ball perfectly.

As such, I found the secret of the golf swing as the following:

Your full swing is an extended version of your short shots.  It’s never the other way around.

For example, you are hitting the 2-iron really well.  You miniturize that 2-iron swing on the short pitch shots.  It might work and it might not, simply because what’s working for the full swing isn’t guaranteed to work on the short shots.

However, if you are hitting your 30-yard pitch shots from a hardpan lie perfectly (as you do need to hit it perfectly on the ball in order to avoid chunking it or thinning it) and you extend that short swing into a 2-iron swing, you will find that 99% of the time, the swing works.

This is why tour pros practice their short game so much because the rhythm and the swing technique flows into other longer shots.

Now, that is how I found the secret, let me tell you the “technical” details of my findings:

You need to feel that on the downswing, you are rotating everything including your stomach, shoulders, arms, and hands to the left while your weight is centered over the left foot.  You also need to feel you are standing very tall.

Here’s the important part, you need to feel like your wrists are uncocking upwards toward the sky just after impact.

If you take a careful look at Hogan’s after-impact position, you will notice that his wrists are actually lifted toward the sky.  This really helps you to hit the ball perfectly while minimizing wrist action through impact.

Now how to achieve this feeling?

It’s pretty simple, try to imagine there’s a giant ball hanging from the sky sorta like the above picture.

Then, try to rotate your body to move that ball foward toward your target.  Also try to hit the big imaginary ball with your elbows, this will automatically uncock your wrists the correct way by letting your wrists lift upwards.

I tried this and boy, I am going to the PGA Tour Q-School next year baby!

Well, today I kept thinking about how I have been hitting the golf ball for the last 20 or so years of my life and by examining the top golfers in the world, I have come to a conclusion that I have finally found the secret to a consistent golf swing.

Here’s the secret to a consistent golf swing:

“Keep the swing in motion”

What do I mean by that?

Well, if you have noticed, every top golfer waggles his club before starting his/her swing.

The waggle is simply a preview “feel” of you swing before you swing the club.

For example, unlike other sports, Golf requires you to start at a static position. (similar to a Basketball free throw shot)

Once you start your golf swing, you don’t ever want to disrupt or stop your motion in anyway.

How can you achieve this?

You need to think outside the box and think of a swing as a one continuous motion just like throwing a baseball or shooting a basketball.

One continuous motion requires that your whole swing flows at one continuous speed.

Ben Hogan used to start his downswing before the completion of his backswing.  In reality, the concept backswing, impact, and the finish are only “snapshots” of your one continuous swing.

Do not try to achieve a backswing position, rather try to swing in one-motion.  To correct any swing flaws in your swing, you need to do that while keeping in mind that a swing is one continuous motion.

So next time you head out to the range, practice swinging in one continuous motion.

Drills for feeling this?

You can setup about 5 to 10 balls in front of you and try to hit them all, one-by-one, without stopping your swing.  This drill is actually very well-known by most teachers and pros but it will definitely teach you the “feel” of one continuous swing and help you swing with “feel” and less “mechanics”.

Well, that’s all for today folks, this might be the best secret, of course for making few bucks off your golf buddies and winning that club championship.

I might analyze a lot of the pro swings, but you have to realize golf is not a game of swing mechanics, but of swing motion.

Yey, Kenny Perry wins this week’s Buick Open. Although not an avid fan of Kenny Perry, he certainly has proven himself by winning twice this year and also coming up runner-up once.

So, why is Kenny winning at 48 years old while all the youngsters in the 20s are struggling?

Well, golf is a game of smart thinking more than it’s about power and accuracy.

Kenny Perry does not have a perfect swing by any means but he does very consistent with his swing, mostly controlled by arms and hands.

At top of Kenny’s swing, you can note that his left shoulder comes over his right leg.

On the downswing, Kenny keeps his lower body quiet while letting the hands and arms do most of the work.

At impact, you can see clearly that Kenny really “swings” the club rather than hit the ball.

After impact, notice how Kenny’s right foot is implanted on the ground. Kenny really tries to swing nice and smooth, which is what is required for a hands and arms swing.

If Kenny swung any harder, all his balls would hook or go left.

What to learn from Kenny’s iron swing?

You need to note that in order to be accurate with your irons, you need to let the club do most of the work for you. Of course, you can give the ball a real smack in the back but you probably won’t be consisten that way.

Here’s Kenny Perry’s iron swing in action:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

Today, I will explain couple basics about how to putt like a pro.  Trust me, I have read more books about putting than most people will ever in their life and I have spent $2000 on a lesson with Stan Utley, one of the best putters on Tour.

So here’s how to putt like a pro:

1. You need to learn to sink a lot of short putts within 3-10 feet range.  To do this, think of the short putts as the “short game” of putting.  That’s right, these short putts are the most important and count as much as a 350 yard drive.  If you can’t sink ‘em, go home.  If you can, you might become a pro.

2. Soft hands, hands like noodles, gentle grip, or whatever you want to call it but make sure you are holding the putter very very lightly while you putt.

3. Learn to lag putt real good from 20, 50, 100 feet.  Lag putts are great for absorbing the speed of the greens.  The more you can lag, the better putter you will be overall.

4. Putt for money.  Next time you are with a buddy, play an 18-hole putting match, one dollar per hole.  Without putting pressure on your putting, you never know how it’s going to be in a real tournament situation.

Heck, most of the time I play with my buddies, we are betting like $20 per putt or hole.  Pressure games make you better.

5. Develop a consistent putting stroke that rolls the ball true.  Whether you are putting a 20 footer or a 100 footer, your ball should roll very true from the start to finish.  If your ball bumps up in the beginning or at the end, you might want to work on your putting stroke so you putts roll true.

When your putts roll true, you will notice that your putts roll a lot smoother and also get less effected by any breaks in the putt.  Probably the biggest difference between an average golfer and the pro golfer is how true the pro golfer “rolls” the golf ball while the average golfer doesn’t even understand that putting can be so complicated.

Well, that’s it for today, I might need to go hit some balls. 

As Ben Hogan said, “Everyday you don’t practice is another day longer it will take you to become a good golfer”.

Practice, practice, and practice while playing pressure games in your head.  That’s right, you should be putting for the U.S. Open win on every practice putt.  (Damn, I let anther worst kept secret out…)