I received this email from Phil. He lives in the UK and has had a nice transformation with his golf game and he has potentially ended 12 years of frustration.
He also highlights one of the worst myths in golf. Here’s his email:
“Hi Cameron, I would just like to inform you of my dramatic change in my game – basically overnight – and need to share my story with you.
As an 11 handicap I was wondering why my friend was booming his drives past me by 30 yards. So after careful thought I realised that it’s speed that counts and not power – so the faster I can swing the club the further the ball will go, right?
So with my theory I looked up how fast the pro golfers are swinging. Wow up to 125mph (sidenote: 125mph is really fast and most pros don’t get near this)
I thought that is bloody quick. Now I’ve always had the impression that the power comes from the body and that’s how everyone is taught but it dawned on me that surely it’s impossible to swing your body that fast to enable the arms to whip into the ball…
I thought to myself that I could probably swing the club faster by just swinging my arms…but everybody, absolutely everybody, says that’s wrong.
So I decided to prove my theory once and for all. Went to the range for the test. I just concentrated on my arm swing as fast as I could and completely ignored any body thoughts…
To my utter surprise, once I got used to the different sensation, I noticed that I seemed to hit the ball further with more accuracy. You know whats next lol…
…off to the course with yet another idea, yet again. I bet this won’t work. I’ve been here before etc …
To my utter surprise I went round my course 10 over, am usually about 12 or 13 over and very rarely hit my handicap…
… fluke?
My next round with my new arm swing only I was 4 over for 18. And unbelievably, for 9 holes I was one under the card, something I’d never done before.
To be honest, I panicked a bit because this was new ground to me but happy to finish only 4 over.
My next round I was 8 over. Still very happy but once again I got nervous and threw in 3 double bogeys midway.
My last round was 8 over again, this time I played the wrong ball up the last – so should have been 6 over!
Anyway, your golf swing ideas work! Everyone else is teaching golf the wrong way around – big muscle theory is too hard and doesn’t work that well.
After 12 years of golfing I’ve feel I’ve finally got it. You are dead right and thanks for all your info. My handicap is now down to 8!, Phil”
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It still amazes me how many golfers fumble about trying to use their body, when the arms and hands are so much easier.
You can prove this to yourself by grabbing a club right now and swinging the club (no ball needed) with a focus on moving your arms…
… it’s easier, more powerful and there’s less stress and strain too. At least, this is my experience and something my clients have been telling me for 20+ years.
Here’s the thing.
Big muscle theory is one of the most destructive myths in golf. If you believe that most of the power comes from your torso then you’re over complicating the game.
And it’s quite likely that with this wrong focus, you are trying to force your body to do things it just can’t do. And like Phil, it can be a bit of a frustrating nightmare trying to work out HOW to swing better.
If you want to simplify your golf swing then stop worry about big muscle theory, body pivot and even swing plane theory.
You are much better to do this instead.
Good golfing,
Cameron