Iron Swing - How Much Effort?

[razaar]

I am a real fan of Bobby Jones's writing about the golf swing. He may have been the only golf journalist to be among the best players of his generation in the history of the game. His publication "Bobby Jones on Golf" is his personal selection of his published articles about playing the game during those years when his game was at its peak. This period includes the four years when he was making instructural motion pictures and writing twice weekly instruction articles in the newspaper - estimated over half a million words on how to play golf".
This gem is included in the Chapter on Maintaining the "Feel.
"Golf is a difficult game to play consistently well because the correct swing is not a thing the human body can accomplish entirely naturally. To hit the ball correctly, the golfer has always to be under restraint. I have always, in my own mind, likened this restraint to that under which a trotting or pacing horse must labor in a race when he must hold to an artificial gait although every urge must be for him to run like blazes."
That pretty much sums it up for me.

 

[WeAreAllUnique]

I am a real fan of Bobby Jones's writing about the golf swing. He may have been the only golf journalist to be among the best players of his generation in the history of the game. His publication "Bobby Jones on Golf" is his personal selection of his published articles about playing the game during those years when his game was at its peak. This period includes the four years when he was making instructural motion pictures and writing twice weekly instruction articles in the newspaper - estimated over half a million words on how to play golf".
This gem is included in the Chapter on Maintaining the "Feel.
"Golf is a difficult game to play consistently well because the correct swing is not a thing the human body can accomplish entirely naturally. To hit the ball correctly, the golfer has always to be under restraint. I have always, in my own mind, likened this restraint to that under which a trotting or pacing horse must labor in a race when he must hold to an artificial gait although every urge must be for him to run like blazes."
That pretty much sums it up for me.

The problem I have with that is that from time to time, generational greats like Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Tiger Woods, etc. Come out with books or theories regarding the golf swing. They aren't all the same. And they can only speak to their approach to golf. But for every golfer who believes in impeccable mechanics, there is a Bubba Watson or a John Daly who grips it and rips it. I think that we should all accept that there isn't one way to do this. This game is an extension of us as people. Then that would mean that there is no way that we can all follow the same blueprint. My swing has to be different, because I'm different. My swing has to resonate with me and me only.

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[razaar]

The problem I have with that is that from time to time, generational greats like Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Tiger Woods, etc. Come out with books or theories regarding the golf swing. They aren't all the same. And they can only speak to their approach to golf. But for every golfer who believes in impeccable mechanics, there is a Bubba Watson or a John Daly who grips it and rips it. I think that we should all accept that there isn't one way to do this. This game is an extension of us as people. Then that would mean that there is no way that we can all follow the same blueprint. My swing has to be different, because I'm different. My swing has to resonate with me and me only.

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So you are saying they swing without maintaining form?

 

[WeAreAllUnique]

So you are saying they swing without maintaining form?

Not saying that at all. Im saying that the form they may use can be drastically different. So if that's the case, why couldn't someone be successful at swinging in a fashion that is comfortable for them and not follow popular convention?

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[razaar]

Not saying that at all. Im saying that the form they may use can be drastically different. So if that's the case, why couldn't someone be successful at swinging in a fashion that is comfortable for them and not follow popular convention?

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They can but it doesn't safe guard them from losing their swing as it doesn't safe guard the player with a conventional swing. It is just the nature of the game.
Jones's point is that when the swing becomes a gallop then form goes out the door. A trot and pace is a two beat diagonal and lateral action respectively. Where a gallop is a fast four beat or five beat action.

 

[BigMac]

I think for higher handicap players, they do equate harder with faster. But “harder” as a thought comes along with effort and tension. Tense muscles = slower swing speed.

So I focus on relaxing prior to swinging. It feels slower and less of an effort, but the ball usually goes much farther.

I don’t know who came up with the phrase, but I hear Martin Chuck say it a lot: “We want effortless power, not powerless effort.”

^ That definitely resonates with me. When I try to swing harder/faster, I tense up big time - and the result is usually predictably bad. I hit the ball better (and usually farther) when I focus on relaxing and taking a nice, easy, controlled swing.

 

[WeAreAllUnique]

They can but it doesn't safe guard them from losing their swing as it doesn't safe guard the player with a conventional swing. It is just the nature of the game.
Jones's point is that when the swing becomes a gallop then form goes out the door. A trot and pace is a two beat diagonal and lateral action respectively. Where a gallop is a fast four beat or five beat action.

I can see that.

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