The Path to a Repeatable Swing

Starting in January, I have been making posts about my Positive Golf Improvement Projects for 2008 for both the physical and mental aspects of my game. For the physical game, I have chosen to focus on "increasing the repeatability of my swing by more consistently accessing the feeling of my positive golf swing motion."

Ah yes, the repeatable swing. What a lot of people don't realize is that the successful path to a repeatable golf swing is not just filled with hitting buckets and buckets of balls while trying every mechanical swing tip in the book. It actually starts with letting go of some old beliefs and thoughts about the golf swing, as well as some negative habits and tendencies, all of which block the smooth, natural flow of what really helps lead to a repeatable swing. And what is that? Here are a couple of remarks from the great teacher Fred Shoemaker in his book Extraordinary Golf that will give you a clue: "The ability to experience - to be aware and to feel - is what creates trust"..."You can never really trust your swing if you can't feel it." In the same way that awareness and feeling are essential to building trust, they are also essential to developing a repeatable swing. How? By enabling you to tune in to the instincts, images, and motions that are natural and dependable and essentially "want" to repeat themselves.

A pure, unrestricted swinging motion wants to repeat time after time. You just need to "get out of the way" of this natural, repeating motion by letting go of ideas and actions (like fear, tension, and over-effort) that get in the way.

So, what are some restrictive, inhibiting things that I have practiced to "let go of" on my path to a repeatable swing? Here are a few:

- the misconception I needed to try to hit the ball hard to make it go farther
- self-doubt in my abilities
- fear I would hit another poor shot
- continuing judgement of every aspect of my swing
- pressure on myself to stay "up to date" on trying all of the latest swing tips

Letting go of these things helped to "free up" my mindset to the flow of awareness and feeling and allowed my mind to focus instead on repeatable swing ideas and actions, such as:

- the idea and motion of the "no effort" golf swing
- the feel of the timing and acceleration of the natural swing motion
- allowing the body to take maximum advantage of natural forces that create power and speed

Embracing this approach to developing a repeatable swing has been a powerful and positive experience for me that has led to much success. So much so that at The Heart of Golf we have published two e-books on the subject this year, Goodbye Hit, Hello Swing Parts I and II, with Part III being released in the next month. The path to a repeatable swing, like the path to all golf improvement, is one that I continue to tread, with new ideas, developments, and evolution happening all the time. I look forward to sharing the ideas and experiences that have helped me and welcome hearing about how these ideas have helped others to have more positive, repeatable golf swing experiences. Please share your comments here on the blog!

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
Co-Founder, TheHeartofGolf.com
http://www.TheHeartofGolf.com