Continuous Swing Practice

When we started our golf schools we learned very quickly that letting people hit hundreds of balls a day was quite often not the best way to have them improve. We found that most of the time our efforts to improve the pupils' swings were helped by taking the ball out of the equation. We started using a lot more swing drills and hitting fewer balls.

Different people need different drills but the standout best drill for everybody is the one we call continuous swinging.

Buy a swingweight this is a donut shaped weight coated in plastic which you slide over the grip and let hang down on the neck of the club, preferably a wood but any club will do. It simply adds weight as an exercise aid.

For the first part of this drill you should treat it as an aerobic exercise with a weighted object. There is no ball there so it is not a golf swing!

1. Stand with the space between your heels slightly wider than your shoulders. Grip the club as normal and have the club-head about 300mm (1 foot) above the ground.
2. Swing the club to the top of your back-swing and stop. At this balance point you should have all your weight on your back foot and be able to stand there with no discomfort, the club is supported by the thumb of your top hand, your bottom hand is relaxed and doing nothing. Probably, your leading arm will be more comfortable with the weight if it is bent slightly.
3. Swing through to the top of your follow through and stop. Your position here should be a mirror reverse of your back-swing balance point. Weight totally on your front foot, body facing the target, arms relaxed and the thumb of your top hand supporting the weight of the club. Your hands should not go any higher than your ears.
4. From here swing continuously from balance point to balance point, in balance and in rhythm, like a big pendulum. The club-head should be passing about 300mm (1 foot) above the ground at the bottom of the swing. This will flatten your swing slightly for the purpose of encouraging your arms to fold around your body rather than lift.

The important things are:

> Fully rotate the body back and through. Do not watch the ball. There is no ball! This is an aerobic exercise! Its purpose is to exaggerate the body's rotation on the back-swing in particular.

> Do not lift your arms! Simply allow your arms to fold around your body as the club-head swings up. Your hands should not go any higher than your ears and the weight of the club should be supported totally by the thumb of your top hand.

> You should be in balance and in rhythm while doing the exercise for up to 5 minutes. If you lose balance, stop and start again.

This exercise teaches your body the correct sequence of movements for the golf swing without any conscious thought process. When you can do this exercise for a few minutes without stopping, in rhythm and in balance while you are thinking of something else or while listening to the TV or radio or while talking to some one, your swing is functioning perfectly.

The only change when you want to hit a ball is watch the ball. This will restrict the body rotation on the back-swing a little compared to the exercise.

I guarantee that if you do this exercise three times a week your game will improve on a continuous basis!