What a great line to remember! Jim McLean preaches this at the Doral Golf School and summarized it in his recent Golf Link Blog. Knowing that tension kills the golf swing is a great starting point but you need a plan to overcome tension for more consistent golf. You need to expect that tension will creep into your game when you really want to make a shot. Recognizing tension is only half the battle. The other half is to learn the ways to overcome tension on every shot.
Have you ever heard the saying that bad shots come in groups of three. A fourth bad shot is actually the beginning of the next group of three. Funny but it is so true that your body just gets tighter after a bad shot and we ALL tend to tighten up and swing harder to compensate for the last poor shot.
Recognize when you are up-tight and get over it. Take your medicine. Hit to a safe location with a swing that you know you can make or take an unplayable penalty stroke. Reset your body and your brain. Accept the fact that you have lost a stroke. Don’t try to recover with a miracle monster swing or impossible shot. No matter how bad you are playing, it is always possible to get worse.
A great scene from Caddyshack or is this what you look and feel like after your last bad shot.
GET THE TENSION OUT!
1/ RIGHT MINDSET: Admit to yourself that you can tense up before every golf shot. You may want to use the mantra “calm and relaxed” as a mental starting point when you setup to the ball. Recognizing that you are squeezing your club too tightly should be a mental trigger that you are uptight, so back away and shake it off.
2/ LIGHT GRIP: Whatever you do, start your setup with a light grip on your club. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is very tight, you need to be at 5 or below. Jim McLean said “grip pressure goes into the wrists, and when the wrists are tight you take a lot of speed out of your golf swing. Mobility in the wrists and soft arms will relax your shoulders.” So let your shoulders drop and relax during your setup.
There should not be any stain in the muscles in your arms when you keep BOTH arms straight in your takeaway for drives or when you rotate your shoulders during the putting or chipping stroke. Try holding your arms straight without tensing your muscles right now. Practicing with GOLFSTR+ with a light grip will help you learn to control your swing without rigid arms.
3/ MOTION BEFORE YOU SWING: Standing over your ball just builds tension. Jim McLean suggests trying any of the following: “waggle the golf club, look at your target or get some nice rhythm and balance into your body before you start your swing”.
Getting your mind, grip and body relaxed before you swing are absolutely crucial to hitting great golf shots. GOLFSTR+ will help you learn the correct motion for every swing in your game but you need to swing without tension. Check out all of the Swing Tips in Your Swing Support Center on www.golfstr.com.
