We all want that perfect swing. That swing that allows the ball to glide beautifully onto the fairway. The one that get the perfect sound of a club meeting a ball. A sweet ping with a swing that is fluid. However, many find difficulty in achieving the perfect swing.

There are various ways your swing could be off, but it usually comes down to an issue in your form. A lot of these issues can be self-corrected. But first, you must identify your problem to gain the increase in power.

What Could Be the Problem?

There are a few main issues in a swing: hinge points, over-rotation, and hips not turning. There are always many various issues that could be occurring within your swing, but these are the main points. Essentially, it’s the arms, the waist, or the hips.

While these breakdowns are oversimplifications, the mechanics of a golf swing break down to the parts of the body that are distributing the energy into the ball. To gain any further speed, distance, or ensure correct aim the swing must be in its best form.

Arm Trouble

One of the benefits of golf is that your arms do not need to have a vast amount of strength to generate power. The power and distances, comes from rotating your body. However, how your position your arms can affect the power you receive in return. The true power comes from your downswing.

When looking at your swing, see if your arms have two many hinge points. As you pull the club back, you must only have one hinge point. That is in the elbows. While your elbows should not be overly bent, your wrist should maintain an upright position. By overbending at either of these points, your swing will be weaker, as it will have to correct itself on the way down. Thus, loosing the stored power you had intended to build up.

Waist Turns

Your arms are not the only area where your swing could be weaker. Over-rotation is a common swing problem. This happens when your hips and waist turn too much. Instead of leaving your feet planted, these swings will turn the entire body. This can be in the form of simply turning or even raising out of the more stable traditional form. All of these negate how far back you have brought the club. It is also a more obvious issue that can be easily corrected as it does not match the standard forms of other players.

Hip Check

The hips are, perhaps, one of the most important elements of a golfer’s swing. The hips are the base of a swing. It is the point from which everything pivots off of. If your hips are not stable, then the tendency for over-rotating increases.

If your hips are too ridged, then you increase the change of creating multiple hinge-points to compensate. Rigidity of the hips is just as incorrect of a form as over-rotation. Both will create a wide range of difficulties for building up and transferring speed or power to your downswing.

Correct Form

The correct golf form is a happy medium between all three of these points. In various other sports, form can be adjusted to fit the player. Golf is not the same. The form used, turn to follow through, has been perfected over the decades to generate the best outcome. For the right form, you need stability, the right amount of flexibility, a gentle rotation, and the arms must be at a proper degree. In reality, you are turning yourself into a coil that will release a high-speed impact on the ball: by way of your golf club. A golf swing should not be overly comfortable. You are attempting to twist your upper body while maintaining light hip rotation that faces the ball. If at any point your body adjusts to a more comfortable position, you are losing power. The loss of power in a swing is what ends up creating many off balls. When a player is experiencing hit after hit going into the wrong area, chances are it’s in their swing. Players that come up short, players that have a wide variation in how their balls perform, they all have their swing to blame.

Final Notes

While a proper swing may not be the most comfortable, a swing should be a fluid motion. If at any point the motion seems choppy or out of alignment, it’s always best to stop and think about how you are swinging.

Throughout the article, there has been a mention of power. How power is not needed but it is desired. Golf is a unique entity. Power is important but speed is king. When a golfer refers to power, they are really intending for speed. Speed is the true goal when maintaining a proper swing. It’s how players of different heights and strengths can achieve similar distance in their strokes. That is why the forms are vital. By having these fundamental mechanics working correctly, and applying speed instead of force, your swing will see improvement. It doesn’t mean you can have zero force. It means that there is a balance to the swing.

A common occurrence is to use the full force of your upper body strength to dig the club into the ball. That is how you create divots. Force, in its normal sense, isn’t required when performing a golf swing. Instead, force is used to stabilize your arms. It is used to add an extra impact for your point of connection. You are a pivot point for the club to connect to the ball. If that pivot point is not strong enough, fast enough, or stable enough, then it will not work.

There is a bright spot. Golf is not like other sports. Many a player has grown frustrated by the fact that they are unable to grow into their particular sport. They cannot get any faster. No matter the mechanics. They cannot grow another inch taller. But golf rewards players who strive for perfection.

Those who practice the fundamentals. The more you practice, the more naturally your body will go into the swing. It’s something that veteran players sometimes neglect to tell the struggling novice. Your practice, your desire for form, and your follow through will be rewarded. It takes time but that first perfect moment of hitting the green, makes it worth it.