The Perfect Swing and A Perfect Swing

There is a difference. The Perfect Swing is the most efficient one that we can imagine. All of the angles are correct at address and at every stage of the swing. Tiger's swing was the essence of that concept while he was working with Hank. I'll go into those ideas in just a bit. I will say that in all probability none of us will achieve the perfection that was his. I can dream however :-)

A Perfect Swing is an individual matter. It occurs when a golfer makes the best pass at a golf shot that he can given his present knowledge and ability. A Perfect Swing is never compared to what someone else either can or cannot do. I play golf from time to time with a Long Drive participant. He routinely hits his driver 350 to 400 yards. In my wildest dreams I don't imagine hitting the ball that far but when I pick a spot off the tee and imagine my shot flying to that spot and subsequently hitting the ball there then I have made A Perfect Swing. A Perfect Swing is not limited to swings. It includes chips, pitches, sand shots and putts. A Perfect Swing requires you to imagine a shot that is within the scope of your present ability and then execute that shot.

The Perfect Swing however is what we aspire to. The Perfect Swing doesn't care if we are out of shape or not flexible enough or that our balance is weak or that we have a faulty emotional makeup. It just sits there waiting for us to pay the price which we may not be able to do to acquire it's perfection. It is the ideal that we strive to gather.

My goal as your instructor is to teach this "Perfect Swing". I believe that unless you know where you are going you will do nothing but go around in circles. We all see people like this at every driving range that we go to. People hitting ball after ball with little or no thought given to what they are trying to do. As an instructor I also recognize that humans have limitations. Sometimes a compromise will need to be made but I never want to make a compromise until you know what the ideal is and how this compromise will effect your over all results.

This blog has been sitting here for a couple of weeks while I tried to find words that conveyed the truths that I know. I think I'm ready to try to use "imperfect language" to describe perfect relationships.

The Perfect Swing is one where the swing adheres to the principles of physics and geometry as we now understand them. An understanding of Newton's Laws of Motion and angular momentum are requirements. Please don't misunderstand me. You can play very good golf without this knowledge. Look at John Daly, Bubba Watson and JB Holmes all who in my opinion have flawed swings but for me the knowledge of the ideal is very important. I can't help but wonder how much better they would have been or would be if their swings lacked these very evident flaws. For myself every shot I have ever missed has been because I was not aligned with these principles. Quite honestly I didn't begin to understand these concepts until I began to teach. I thank all of you for this increase in my own knowledge. I'm going to in the next few blogs lay out these principles. Take care.