3 Common Basic Truths In Golf
Man are macho animals. We often over-estimate ourselves. We think that we are strong when we are weak. We act like very commanding but are downright insecure. The guy with the loudest voice is often a coward that is why barking dogs seldom bite. A wise man speaks little and listens much. The guy who speaks loudly likes to listen to his own voice for assurance and is Narcissus who looked into his own reflection in the water and fell in love.
It is very often that we hear some people dishing out instructions and saintly advice to fellow golfers on the golf course or at the club house. More often than not, what I overheard are all wrong teachings. To the beginners, novices or even some better players, getting the wrong advice is equivalent to receiving and accepting wrong indoctrination ingrained into you and this like some other kind of wrong indoctrinations can be suicidal.
I have to begin by telling you that quite often in life, what we feel is not relevant to what is actually going on. People can carry on a conversation and you may think they are gossiping about you. Everyone can get angry but to be able to be angry at the right time, at the right place, with the right people, for the right reason and for a right cause - ah, that takes on a totally different dimension. Successful people can still feel they are failures or not achieving much while some fools who are serial failures think that they are God's gifts to the world.
Meantime, in the world of golf, let me share with you these common myths, basic truths and very important information to arm yourselves with so as not to be wrongly indoctrinated. You see the Americans spent millions to invent a pen that could be used to write in space. The Russians just use a pencil. Simple yet profound.
First Myth v Truth - Club Weight
You will need heavier clubs or club head to hit your ball further - this is plainly wrong advice. Today's golf clubs are all getting lighter. They are using new materials for club heads, shafts and even grips to make an overall club weight lighter. There is now a race going on in this direction. Why? Simply because the lighter the club the faster your swing speed becomes. At your normal swing speed - using heavy clubs slow down your swing speed while lighter ones increase it. If you use heavier club than is necessary, it is like driving a 3 litre car size with a one litre car engine to drive. Will you be slower or faster? Wear a parachute at the back and run. Will you run slower due to the resistance or faster? Wear weights around your ankle and then kick a soccer ball. Will it kick further with or without the weights? There are only 3 things that really determine the distance of your shots - trajectory, type and length of shafts and swing speed.
Trajectory
Take a rock or a ball and throw it, one hurled with maximum trajectory and one minimum. The one that takes the low flight will drop sooner because it has not reach the apex of the trajectory while the othere that soars high and reach the apex and come down will go further. Trajectory is directly related to your launch angle and every golfer has their own and a different launch angle. Do not follow the wrong idea and get yourself a 9.5 degrees driver when you should get a 10.5 degrees. In fact most people actually need more than 10.5 degrees. "But some pros use a 8.5 and they hit so long"? Well, that is why you have a day job and not a pro but a pro-blem. The pros have a very fast swing speed from 115 mph to 130 mph. Most social golfers have swing speed of only 80-90 mph. Better ones are from 95 -105mph. Tiger Woods used to play witha 8.5 but today he has been using a 10.5 and his balls landing on the fairways and various beds has increased to more than 70% hits compared to 50+ to 60+%. The correct launch angle will help you to propel your shots at the correct trajectory to the apex before coming down for max distance.
Length of Shafts
Very tall people or those with super long arms can throw a ball further. Watch what Yao Ming can do with a basket ball. Therefore, the longer a club is the further you can hit it but only if you could hit it pure on the sweetspot everytime because as it gets longer, the difficulty level increases proportionately. To get distance, you will inevitably sacrifice accuracy and vice versa. You can't have your cake and eat it. Manufacturers knows how to sell you a long game. What they did to today's clubs is that they elongate the shafts by up to half or a full inch and then they decrease the loft of the club head by up to one degree and because with advance technology, they could thin the club face and lighten it and use the weight saved to put it behind the club to add forgivenes and bingo, there you have it - more distance.
Swing Speed
Swing speed is the speed of your club head at impact. Some folks hit long because of their techniques which are honed over time or they have a naturally high swing speed. It is never how hard you hit it but how fast you swing it without losing balance. The swing speed will create a ball speed from impact and the ball speed determines the distance the ball will travel. Nothing else you can do about it. Just simple as that.
Second Myth v Truth - Stronger Shafts
Have you ever been caned? You see I learned about golf when I was a kid and from being caned I have tasted both the regular and stiff shafts of canes in various sizes. Thicker and heavier canes while looking solid actually hurts less than a lighter and thinner one. Unless you are a very strong hitter or have a very high swing speed please do not use steel shafts. Steel shafts are obviously heavier and stiffer and in the old days all golfers used steel shaft as graphites have not been introduced. Today, they could even make steel shaft weighs just 90 g but they are still heavier than the heaviest graphites with the lighter ones at 50-60g. When you have to throw something heavier it slows you down and you get less distance.
Pros prefer steel shafts because they could already hit them long due to thier high swing speed and they will always prefer accuracy over distance and steel shaft with less flex will provide them control and accuracy. Graphites with some flex will give us more distance and could match our swing speed better. It will also help prevent some injuries or reduce pains to your elbow joints inthe years to come as they dampen vibrations better than steel. If you are not up to it, use stiffer shafts at your own peril.
Third Myth v Truth - Hitting Hard v Swinging Faster
We often look at a distance target and then we inevitably reach out for the longest club and wallop the ball almost swinging ourselves out of our shoes because what the eyes sees, they tell the brain and the brain conspire with your mind and your hands and yes you screwed that shot into trouble. Some folks have an easy looking swing while other appears to hit it a bit harder but it is all about the tempo of your swing. Like getting a rhythm or regulating a right timing of a pendulum. With practise and experience over time, you improve your technique and hope to regulate it. If you can hone your skills to regulate it on demand like a tap, then life is beautiful.
Golf as in life, play as it lies!
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