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Swing Aesthetics: How Much Does It Matter?

UglySwing

UglySwing

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When I initially started golfing all I cared about was being able to hit the ball in the general direction of where I wanted it to go.

Now, I find myself just as concerned with how my swing looks.
I see some guys with beautiful strokes, and can't help but think to myself 'I want to be able to swing like that'?

Are simple results enough for you, or do you guys care about how your swing looks as well?
 
Don't care how it looks. Everybody swings differently. Only care about the results.
 
I think when done correctly the swing pretty much has to look good.
 
All things being equal, sure I'd rather the swing looks good. But, if making the swing look good comes at the expense of making the ball fly well, that would be a deal breaker for me.
 
I have a nice looking swing, but I would take an ugly swing if it made me a scratch golfer.
 
My swing looks like a folding lawn chair (thanks PNW guys!), or like an octopus falling out of a tree BUT I regularly score better than guys with much nicer looking swings.
I am of the opinion that the look of a swing does not matter, but if it looks weird you are just making it harder on yourself because you are getting some fundamentals wrong.
 
Aesthetics matter to me. I'm superficial. I want good results, but I also want people to say my swing looks good.

Part of me likes to think, the better looking the swing the better the results, at least generally speaking. There are not too man golfers with a beautiful swing and bad ability.
 
Den60 said:
I think when done correctly the swing pretty much has to look good.
Click to expand...

But there really is no correct or text book swing. There just cant be because we are all so very different in our physical makeup and build. We all move and bend and twist and balance and even walk differently. Our arms are different lengths, joints in slightly different places, parts of our body are different proportions and naturally lay still and also move in different ways. And is all why different things work or don't work for different people. But is also why there really is no correct looking swing imo. The only correct looking anything that has to matter and needs to matter is the flight of the ball going where we want it to.

So for the question of the topic. No, I could care less what I look like as long as its what works for me. That being said I don't really have any sort of crazy looking swing anyway. But if I did its only the results that would ever matter to me and is why I play the game. Or at least is what my goal is while having enjoyment playing.
 
Generally speaking, I don't think having a "good looking" swing is the end-all-be-all. If someone has a funny looking swing, but scores, then that's what matters.
 
All I care is that, fundamentally speaking, I want my swing to have as few "moving" parts as it takes to most effortlessly create power and precisions in the most repeatable possibly way. That's it.
 
I just want the ball to get in the hole in as few strokes as possible. Swing could look ugly as sin, but you never see a swing on a scorecard.
 
"Spivey, you have such a beautiful swing, I have no idea why you can't hit the ball out of your own shadow."
Yeah, that's what I don't ever want to hear.


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My swing does not look conventional as I bend my left arm at the top. I gave up trying to fix it 15 years ago. The best swing is one that's repeatable, as a wise man once said.

When playing with new low single digit handicapers I think my bent left arm works to my favor in that guys are more likely to press thinking my bent left arm is a liability. I know 2 of the guys in my foursome yesterday were of that mindset. It wasn't until I had hit 13 of the first 14 GIR that they started to believe that my swing might just hold up.

I kill to have Moe Norman's unconventional swing.
 
rollin said:
But there really is no correct or text book swing. There just cant be because we are all so very different in our physical makeup and build. We all move and bend and twist and balance and even walk differently. Our arms are different lengths, joints in slightly different places, parts of our body are different proportions and naturally lay still and also move in different ways. And is all why different things work or don't work for different people. But is also why there really is no correct looking swing imo. The only correct looking anything that has to matter and needs to matter is the flight of the ball going where we want it to.

So for the question of the topic. No, I could care less what I look like as long as its what works for me. That being said I don't really have any sort of crazy looking swing anyway. But if I did its only the results that would ever matter to me and is why I play the game. Or at least is what my goal is while having enjoyment playing.
Click to expand...
6" before and after the ball are all that matter.
 
My swing does not look conventional as I bend my left arm at the top. I gave up trying to fix it 15 years ago. The best swing is one that's repeatable, as a wise man once said
Click to expand...

I'd add in that the best swings are also the least timing based (i.e. If you take a couple weeks or more off from playing, you're not going to struggle like crazy to find your swing.

I kill to have Moe Norman's unconventional swing.
Click to expand...

Myself as well.
While I admire beautiful swings, scoring is what matters the most.

However, up until the last few months, I really had felt like I had become a slave to the range.

There were so many moving parts, and so much timing in my swing, that I felt absolutely committed to having to go to the range all the time to keep my game improving (or staying the same).

But even with Mo, while unconventional, he still had a really smooth swing.

What I consider ugly, is a guy who swings out of his pants every time. Their swings are almost violent in appearance.
 
Doesn't matter to me. And it's a good thing it never mattered to Palmer, Furyk, even Spieth. Swing your swing.
 
I do care about how my swing looks. I hate seeing the broken lawn chair motion that is my swing, I wish it were fluid and traditional and beautiful. I have learned to care more about what the ball does after I hit it.
 
I would be lying if I said I didn't care how my swing looks. IMO though if I'm hitting the angles/spots I am trying to and with good tempo, my swing will look good.
 
Philly Golf Guy said:
Doesn't matter to me. And it's a good thing it never mattered to Palmer, Furyk, even Spieth. Swing your swing.
Click to expand...

See maybe I just have a different definition of whether a swing looks good or not. I think Furyk has a great looking swing. Tempo and control are two of the biggest things for me in determining if your swing looks good or not.
 
UglySwing said:
I'd add in that the best swings are also the least timing based (i.e. If you take a couple weeks or more off from playing, you're not going to struggle like crazy to find your swing.



Myself as well.
While I admire beautiful swings, scoring is what matters the most.

However, up until the last few months, I really had felt like I had become a slave to the range.

There were so many moving parts, and so much timing in my swing, that I felt absolutely committed to having to go to the range all the time to keep my game improving (or staying the same).

But even with Mo, while unconventional, he still had a really smooth swing.

What I consider ugly, is a guy who swings out of his pants every time. Their swings are almost violent in appearance.
Click to expand...


"The Plane Truth" by Jim Hardy helped me understand what set up adjustments to make for my swing that has always been a one plane swing. I had some of the set up positions of a two plane golfer and as soon as I made those adjustments my misses became better. Now if I could just improve my putting a little bit. I had 35 putts yesterday hitting 15 GIR. Made nothing over 6 feet the entire day.
 
I don't really like the way my swing looks, but it gets the job done, so I don't try to mess with it too much.
 
I've been told by professionals that I have a very nice looking swing. Now if I could only get the ball to go where I want it.
 
wel...bottom line here..........we cant all be good looking you know. I mean what can I say:egyptian:

Oh that's right, .....sorry....I forgot we were talking about our swings.
 
cbaker2882 said:
See maybe I just have a different definition of whether a swing looks good or not. I think Furyk has a great looking swing. Tempo and control are two of the biggest things for me in determining if your swing looks good or not.
Click to expand...

It's basically semantics, but Furyk's swing is definitely different. Whether it's aesthetically pleasing is in the eye of the beholder, but the point for me is I don't care what my swing looks like and there are several successful tour players that took the same approach throughout their career.
 
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