Every golfer of every level has a golf swing thought!
“Don’t think” is a swing thought
The problem is most golfers’ heads are filled with awful thoughts!
“Don’t hit it in the water.”
“Keep your head down.”
How about “Don’t shank it!
Talk about a set up for failure!
In our experience, the most effective swing thoughts have very little to do with the mechanics of the swing.
However, they encourage good mechanics.
What do I mean by that?
Instead of “keep your head down”, the great Nick Faldo said he tried to “watch it”.
He was a “witness to the strike”.
This allowed him to stay focused on the shot at hand – the distance, the trajectory, the conditions – while this simple thought kept him balanced, centered and on the plane.
Below are more golf swing thoughts that we hope will help
A Bird In The Hand Is Like a Bird On The Score Card!
Sam Snead once explained proper grip pressure as feeling like you have a bird in your hands. You want to hold it light enough to not hurt it, but tight enough to not let it fly away.
He understood that tension kills a golf swing. And, just thinking about light grip pressure is not good enough. You CAN hold it too lightly.
The bird analogy offers a great frame of reference that everyone can immediately relate to. If ever golfer thought “bird in the hands” before every shot, the average score would go down in golf!
Drive a Nail In The Back Of The Ball
The simple image of a nail sticking out of the back of a golf ball, preferably from the bottom right quadrant to the top left quadrant, is such a great picture for golf.
The idea is to think about driving the nail through the ball. This encourages an inside hit, helping fight the dreaded over the top move that kills so many golf swings.
Slow At The Top Of The Swing
Some people like to think of a pause at the top of the swing but that doesn’t always work. The reason is that you can pause, then
snatch the club, tightening up and causing an over the top move. SLOW is a better though.
Or, SLOW TRANSITION. You want your downswing to start slow and gather speed.
Don’t worry; you can actually swing faster at the moment of truth this way.
Try swing the club back and forth feeling a nice slow transition.
Swing a little faster every time for about 10 swings.
You’ll be amazed at how much clubhead speed you can create!