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.

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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…)

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In case you don’t know about Ben Hogan’s golfing career, Ben didn’t start winning a lot of tournaments until he started to “fade” the ball from left to right.

Why?

Ben Hogan was one of the worst “hookers” of the golf ball.  In this video, Ben explains his change to a “fade”.

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I have been studying Ben Hogan’s swing for about 20 years now and I’d have to say he’s the best ball stiker in the world.

Here’s some analysis into his iron knockdown swing, which he was very good at and Tiger Woods has copied his moves.

Ben’s takeaway is simply rotation of his triangle formed by his shoulders, arms, and hands to the right. (sorta like shaking hands with person on the right)

There’s no “visible” weight transfer whatsoever here. His belly or the stomach, also turns along with his triangle.

This is probably the most important takeaway you can learn from Ben.

To put it simply:

Rotate your triangle and belly together to the right from a fixed single axis.

At top of Ben Hogan’s swing, you can tell that he’s almost doing a “reverse-pivot” by traditional teachers’ standards. In my opinion, he’s proving to you that there’s no need for a visual weight transfer to the right side. Hey, this picture proves that point.

This might be why there’s so much buzz with the tilt and stack swing when in reality, they are all derivatives of Ben Hogan’s swing.

On the downswing, you can notice Ben’s head has “dipped” 2-3 inches compared to position at address and top of his swing. This proves that the “dip” is actually a necessary natural action to a golfer’s swing provided the golfer doesn’t dip too much. Look at every top player in the world, they “dip” their head a little because it’s human nature.

Do note the fact that Ben’s lower body has aggressivly cleared to his left side while his spine tilt is actually a little straighter, meaning his upper body “moves” toward the target.

This move is inevitable to Ben’s swing in order to hit the ball square, you need to feel like you are on “top” of the ball on the way down in order to extend your arms correctly through impact.

After impact, notice how straight both of Ben’s arms are and the club dissecting between the two arms. This is something Ben is really good at.

At finish, notice how straight Ben’s lower body is and his upper body is pretty straight too. What impresses is how much his whole body is stretched on his finish while he remains in perfect balance with no sign of extra force exertion.

Bloody Ben Hogan, he’s the greatest golfer with the greatest swing ever. Even Tiger has great swing but won’t come close anywhere near Ben Hogan in my opinion.

Now, this is way back in the 50-60s when they had no cameras or any type of visual feedback for the pro golfers. How amazing is his swing when you think of that?

Very amazing indeed that Tiger’s still trying to copy Ben’s moves.

Even after 50 years, every tour pro including Tiger is trying to copy Ben Hogan’s moves, not Jack Nicklauses, not Arnold Palmer, but Ben and only Ben Hogan.  That my friend, IS amazing.

Here’s Ben Hogan’s Iron Knockdown Swing in action:

(Mind you, Ben Hogan was the first master of these knockdown shots, not Tiger. Tiger only copied his moves.)

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Justin Leonard

After impact positions of various different pro tour players will look very similar.  On this post, I will simply let you guess what they did right by looking at them.

The answer (or the secret) is in the pictures.  It’s been there for last 100 years or so.

Mickey Wright

Ben Hogan

Adam Baddeley

Phil Mickelson

Sergio Garcia

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