Swing Timing

Swing Timing:  It seems like you hear a lot about the pro’s getting ‘ahead of themselves’ and the club getting ‘stuck behind them’ when announcers like Johnny Miller are talking during a telecast.  And the result is a ball being hit offline, usually with a push or snap-hook.

In truth, there are timing elements to everyone’s swing, and the interesting thing to me, is that most folks I play with don’t really have much of an idea as to what creates more ‘timing issues’ in their swing, and what could help create less ‘timing issues.’

So, to help with defining ‘swing timing issues,’ I would describe them as anything that makes it more difficult to get the clubhead to arrive at impact consistently square to the target, and traveling down the path toward the target. Here’s an example of a minor mis-hit, like most amateurs make:

It’s very clear that there are a number of ways to swing a golf club so that it shows up square to the target line, and traveling down the target line toward the target.  That’s why Arnold, and Lee Trevino, and Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger and Rory all look different playing incredibly great golf.  But there are some fundamentals that make the golf swing easier to repeat, that many folks I play with don’t seem to be aware of; and so they try to copy parts of swings that they see pros make, without understanding what they are looking at, or the particular skills and athletic abilities that pros have, much less the sheer amount of practice and playing that has gone into their careers.  I hear people say things every day like, ‘keep your left arm straight,’ ‘keep your head down,’ ‘bend over more,’ ‘stick your butt out more.’  In my opinion, these aren’t very helpful ideas for creating a more repeating golf swing.

Also, very few amateurs seem to know how to hit a half or three quarter swing, and it seems like you’ve asked them to do something crazy when you bring it up.  I’ll tell you honestly, that the pros that I’ve played with were adamant that if you couldn’t hit a half or three-quarter swing, you didn’t understand your own golf swing—another way to say it is, you have too many timing elements in your swing to repeat it consistently.

Is there any hope of taking some timing elements out of your swing?  I think so, definitely.  Just check out this video of Jimmy Ballard and the role of the left arm:

Golf Tip: Role of Left Arm in Swing; Jim Ballard,

and get to see your local swing guru for a lesson.  They can really help you find the ways to make your swing repeat more often, and you’ll have a lot more fun. As Nicklaus likes to say, ‘It’s not how good your good ones are, it’s how good your bad ones are!’