Golfing Relativity

Hello and Welcome to Chris Truter Golf, dedicated to improving your Golf game, via the scientific art of making the natural instinctive. Sound complicated? It isn’t.

Golf is, in its essence a simple and natural game. The problem is that it is not instinctive except for the very good players.

You know the feeling of hitting a perfect shot (I hope not too few and far between), and having that sensation of perfect balance and harmony. The way you hardly feel the ball on the clubhead and it flies off, long and unerring in its target seeking trajectory. Well, that’s exactly the reason why Golf is a natural game. Because it feels so gooooood. So why can’t we find that balance every time?

The problem is that the swing is not instinctively correct. Most players will try to use their hands to hit the ball. That is the most instinctive action. But what happens as a result? If the hands and wrists are releasing too quickly through impact the clubhead will be moving from descending to ascending too quickly; and the clubface will be moving from open to closed too quickly. The result? Who knows, the ball could go anywhere. With decent hand-eye coordination you probably can reach an 18 handicap, but not much more. With good hand-eye coordination you might reach even lower, but will never reach your full potential.

So what do we need to hit the ball well?

The idea is to integrate the Theory of Golfing Relativity into your swing.

Golfing Relativity

There are 3 moving parts in golf swing, Body, Arms and Wrists. Quite simply, unless these three elements move in harmony, relative to each other, the ball cannot be struck with any degree of consistency. Supple players may well point the shaft at the target at the top of the backswing, and wrap the club around their heads on the follow through; but are you that supple? It is immaterial the amount of body turn you have, or the height of your arms, or the degree of wrist hinge you apply. What is vital is that the body turn, the arm swing and the wrist hinge are relative to each other. So, a half body turn must be accompanied by a half arm swing and half the wrist hinge. With this relativity you can achieve the repeating swing all golfers dream of, and then let loose your creativity on how to maneuver your ball around the Golf course.

One of my favourite ways to describe the Golfing learning process is through the image of an actor. An actor strikes us as being a creative person, blessed with the ability to move a watcher to laughter, or tears. But imagine if the actor could not remember his words. What use then the creative ability? For improvisation, yes, but not for consistency.

So it is with the Golf Swing. First comes the theory, the pure Science of the Swing, and then comes the Art, the feel, the balance and solid ball striking that allows us to maximize our potential.

The Science

Axis, Arc, Plane and Hinges.

Axis:

The angle of the spine.

Arc:

The length of the arms and the club.

Plane:

The circle defined by the movement of the Arc around the Axis, or, the arms and club around the body.

Hinges:

Power. The ankles, the knees, the hips, the arms, the wrists and the head.

The Art—Bend and Extend

The bending and extending of the Right Arm and the rotation of the Chin. These are the two key moves that allow the swing to become more instinctive, more natural, more repeating...

Both The Science and The Art will be more fully explained in later articles....