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Guess What I Found

© Bill Howard

After staring at my computer monitor for quite some time, I finally decided on how to open this weeks article: with this. The article, by Karrie Webb, clearly and simply describes the proper weight shift during the golf swing.

The photographs that illustrate the text show Webb at the top of her backswing. At this point in her swing she looks eerily like Curtis Strange in his heyday. Burn this picture of Webb into your mind. Were it within my power to wave a magic wand and give every struggling golfer on the planet a good backswing, this is precisely what it would look like.

I have to admit that I wouldn't have found this gem were it not for a suggestion to focus on women's golf. And I almost didn't bother looking.

Any time the subject of "women's golf instruction" comes up I get worried. Implicit in the distinction is the assumption that men and women are required to do different things physically in order to hit the ball properly. This is not true. A good golf swing is a good golf swing regardless of the chromosomal disposition of its owner. A golf ball basking in the warm sun on a closely mown fairway knows only physics. Gender is irrelevant. Any human body faces the same requirements.

There is a difference in how women are taught. Twenty years of teaching has shown me that women are more prone to be victimized by two frightfully bad pieces of advice.

When women first begin playing, they naturally look to more experienced golfer for advice. Unfortunately, every time you hit a bad shot those experienced players tell you that "you didn't keep your head down". Not only is this dead wrong, but if you hear it over and over again you'll begin to subdue your body in an effort to keep you head down. You'll never hit the golf ball consistently without moving your body and shifting your balance. A stationary body is without rhythm and coordination, the two primary golf swing ingredients.

The next objection I'd like to make is to the idea that a golfer, male or female, can lengthen his or her swing arc by straightening the left arm (my apologies to lefties, it's the right arm for you guys). A longer swing arc is ordinarily sought in order to increase distance. A grand idea, but one impossible to achieve with a rigid arm. Rigid arms, be