When You Slow Down a Bad Swing, You Get A Slow, Bad Swing
By Dr. T. J. Tomasi, Keiser University College of Golf Senior Faculty and Director of Research
You hear it all the time: “Swing easy like the pros.” Of course, they do look like they are swinging slowly, but they’re not, and neither should you.
Besides being bad advice, there’s another reason underachieving swings are so slow: It’s a subconscious way to minimize error. The harder you swing with bad mechanics, the farther offline the ball flies, and it doesn’t take too many visits to the bushes before you realize that the ball doesn’t fly offline as much when you swing easier. The problem is that when you slow down a bad swing, the result is a slow, bad swing.
I’ve recorded the downswings of amateur players using video with a counter and matched them with tour players. I stop both swings at the top, put them on a split screen, and then advance both swings click by click with the elapsed time in a digital display. The pro beats the amateur to the ball every time — by a wide margin.
So, if you need to swing faster, keep this in mind: There’s a big difference between hurrying and being fast. Chances are you can take your time and still have a fast, powerful swing as long as you give the clubhead time to change directions during the transition at the top of your swing. Once this slotting occurs, you can put the pedal to the metal.
Fred Couples’ swing looks slow and smooth, but it’s fast and smooth. Even though he has a bad back, he’ll cover the distance to the ball from the top in 0.32 seconds.
Even though this amateur player is physically fit and very strong, his swing will be much slower than Couples’. He’ll cover the distance to the ball in about 0.5 seconds.
If you’d like to study with Dr. Tomasi and other PGA Master Professionals, contact The College of Golf today.
