Hitting The Ball...60
It's Impossible To Apply a "Hit" With The Hands
Ben Hogan and Tommy Armour are both quoted as saying they wished they had three right hands. The implication is that the right hand applies a “hit" to the ball. While this notion is common among many golfers, it falls into the category of “feel is not real.”
The forward swing takes less than a second. The moment the club touches the ball and bounces off the clubface is a matter of microseconds. During that extraordinarily brief period, the club shaft bends forward from a rearward bend (clubface delofted) to a forward bend (clubface lofted). This forward bend (deflection) of the shaft is in response to the speed achieved through the acceleration of the club head, which is too rapid to be affected by the hands attempting a “hitting” action. Contrarily, any attempt to apply hand pressure results in muscle tension and a slowing of the swing.
Ensuring that our intention should be to swing the club to the target versus swinging it to the ball is the best way to maximize our swing speed, which also maximizes the force available to be delivered by the clubhead.
Bottom Line: We want to “swing fast” instead of “hit hard”.
Each Thursday we’ll bring you a helpful insight.
Swing to the Target,
Ed
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