I have been playing golf for over 30 years. I have been teaching golf for the last 15 years. I have studied all the great golf swings and all the great teachers. There is so much information out there and we all have access to it in this age of information. So how do we make sense of it all? All you need to do is ask yourself this one question. Is this information, this technique, this tip, or this swing thought going to help me improve my impact? All great golf swings don’t look alike. All great players don’t look alike. But all great impact positions look alike! You can just hear the wonderful smashing sound of a solid golf shot. As an instructor, I don’t even have to see it. I can hear what Bobby Jones called a “true blow”.
In this video, I have explained how to achieve the desired impact position. You will know you have struck a solid iron shot when your divot is a few inches past the ball, the divot is wide and fairly shallow (Byron Nelson once described the divot as looking like a dollar bill), and the divot goes slightly left of target line for a right-handed golfer. As golfers, we have all had that wonderful feeling of hitting a great golf shot. Some golfers, especially the ones we see on TV on Sunday afternoon, tend to repeat that great impact more often.
John Jacobs, a famous English golf instructor, stated that the sole purpose of the golf swing was to achieve a correct, repetitive impact. He went on to say that the method of achieving this was not important as long as it is repetitive. Jim Furyk has a unique swing but he achieves a correct, repetitive impact. Adam Scott may have a more conventional swing but also has a correct, repetitive impact. If you could remove Jim and Adam’s body from the picture and just see the golf club at impact, the picture would look the same. When I take a golf lesson, I always ask the instructor how the information I am receiving will help my impact and the ability to repeat it. Make this the litmus test for any information that comes your way and you will have more fun hitting “true blows”. -jz
