To understand my approach to ball striking, I want you to think about some great players.  Picture swings of some of the game’s all time best, picture swings of some great tour professionals that come to your mind.  Picture swings of some great players you know or play with personally.  Now ask yourself this question.  Do they look the same?  The answer is no.

My definition of a great golf swing is a swing that hits good shots with high consistency, and a swing that does so under pressure.  Many people lose sight of this concept, especially with the technical direction the game has gone. The best players are the best not because their swings are all technically perfect, but instead, for their ability to repeat motions time and time again.  The swings of the best players in the history of the game are all unique in their own ways. These players did not spend their careers trying to swing in a technically perfect manner.  Instead, they developed a complete understanding of what they could repeat, an understanding of their own ball flight tendencies, and an understanding of what works for them.

This is why I want you to understand your own swing’s tendencies and effects upon ball flight.   You do not have to swing the club like a perfect book-drawn model in order to play good golf.  Accept some of the uniqueness in your swing that makes it yours, and always remember that some uniqueness is great to have.

When I analyze a golf swing, I begin by analyzing the ball flight and the caliber of contact at impact. I then work backwards into causation by analyzing the club, the arms, and the body during swings.  In order to understand their swing, a player must understand ball flight and the movement of the club during the downswing and through the impact area.  I do not teach nor believe in a certain technique method that will help all players.  Instead, I draw on the collective knowledge base I developed from years in my field.  My goal is to use this knowledge to improve a student’s ball flight, contact with the ball at impact, and improve power creation and distance.

My goal with ball striking is to make all three areas more consistent and repeatable.  I commonly use some teaching tools to help students gain an understanding of their swing tendencies.  I give a brief overview of these tools under the tab “Communication and Learning Styles”. The key to improving ball striking is to understand why specific good and bad shots happen and to learn how to overcome and minimize the bad shots.