Is Your Practice Swing Better Than Your Real Swing?

'Why is my practice swing often better than my real swing?'

When I understood the answer to this question it made a big difference to my golf swing. How many golfers do you see on the tee making a nice free practice swing and then duff or slice the ball with their real swing? It happens doesn't it, it happens a lot. Well, I came to realise that when I understood the journey that the golf club needs to take around your body then I also realised where so many amateur golfers were going wrong with the difference between their practice swing and their real swing.

You see when you understand that the golf swing is about technique not aggression then your body starts to work differently.

When you make your practice swing you remain relaxed and free moving. When you make your real swing you immediately start to tense the big muscles in your body particularly your back and shoulders. Your brain starts telling you body 'look guys if we want to hit this ball a mile then we need to put loads of effort it' - WRONG!

Next time you swing - remember to keep your back and shoulder muscles relaxed so that your real swing is as good and as free as your practice swing.

Remember the proper and most efficient golf swing is all about technique not aggression.

The answer to this question lies in the way we think the golf swing works - we need to convince ourselves that the Pro Golfers swing works - Power without effort - and we too will follow their lead.

A good exercise to demonstrate that loose muscles work better than tense muscles is to try running down your garden with loose muscles then tense your muscles and try again - the difference is dramatic isn't it and the golf swing is no different, we need to keep our muscles relaxed for them to work effectively.

Tensing prior to moving doesn't help - you need to relax to let your muscles work properly at the right point in your swing.

One of the main problems that generates this tensing motion is caused by the way many amateur golfers practice. How many golfers have you seen at the golf range who go straight for their driver and start trying to knock the ball out of the range? Many I would guess. These golfers are simply trying too hard. Golfers should concentrate on accuracy on the range not distance i.e. how close can I hit it to a line from me to the target?

One way of practising that takes out the need to try and knock the skin off the ball is to use plastic balls, you know the ones you can by from the golf shop. Once you start hitting these balls you quickly realise you can't hit these balls 300 yards so don't try to. It results in you concentrating far better on technique. They also have the added benefit that you only need about 30 yards of space to practice in.