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Tension? We Don't Need No Stinking Tension...

© Bill Howard

I promise that at the completion of this column I'll have vented all of my rage against tension in golf swings. At least for a while.

Golf pros are among the primary culprits when it comes to placing blame for all the tension going around. "Keep your left arm stiff", and, "tuck your right elbow in" are very suspect pieces of advice. You've seen the kind of set up this thinking produces. The golfer looks like a failed Erector Set project. All tilts and angles and elbows. Left arm ramrod straight, right elbow jammed grotesquely close to the rib cage. Common sense tells you that whatever coordination this player has will struggle to surface from under all that awkwardness.

If your arms are rigid when you set up to the golf ball, they and your body will have a tendency to work separately. If your body and arms work in unison, you have a chance. A divided house cannot stand, or hit golf balls consistently. Remeber that a straight arm and a stiff arm are two entirely different things.

A single overriding question defines the quality of a golfer's address position. Does he or she look like an athlete? If not, it's likely due to tension. Next time you watch golf on TV, look closely at those you consider upper echelon players. Do they look uncomfortable at set up? Are they relaxed? See any bizarre angles? Or, are you looking at an athlete ready to perform?

I want to state for the record that I neither condone nor encourage the irresponsible consumption of alcohol. That said, I learned a valuable lesson on tension as a result of conspicuous Corona consumption on the links. When the appropriate (or inappropriate, depending on your perspective) level of inebriation was achieved, I noticed that my arms were an afterthought. I could barely feel them, they were sort of null and void. I'd always strike the ball beautifully. The trade off is that you can't putt to save your life if you're drinking. The distance math gets a little hard as well. I realized that my arms, and their application of my mental effort to micro-manage my golf swing, were getting in the way. I'll save you the hangover. Give up controlling the club with your arms. Let the laws of physics do the grunt work.

When asked what he did when he wanted to hit the golf ball farther, Sam Snead said he let his arms feel "oily". Notice use of the word "let". Not "made", or "forced", but passively "let". How about you? Do your arms fall into the oily category?