Swing Analysis

The first thing a golf instructor tells you is that golf is not just about the swing, that 2/3 of the game is about chipping and especially putting. Many golf players reject putting altogether because it appears to be a boring, almost a "too simple" exercise resembling croquet.

The golf instructors therefore indulge their students in the art of the swing. Forget the strategy play that I often refer to on the blog, the constant question of "what do I play next and how?"

The inevitable swing, the "serve" of the golf player, is a question of technique. Haven't you heard Tiger Woods declare, ten years through his career that he is reforming his swing, changing it? Isn't the swing mastered and then conserved? Why is it that every time I think I got it right, there is a "now if you...."?

The person whose swing I know best is my son's. He is my favorite golf partner. I am not a connoisseur enough to judge his swing. I am certain that he receives as many corrections from his teacher as I do from mine. I can sometimes tell that he unfortunately looses his balance. But my son's swing is a relaxed one. When I receive recommendations from the professional, I understand him because my son has integrated them before me and I have seen him apply them.

Ideally, the swing must be practiced in front of a mirror, like a yoga position. There is, for that purpose, an exterior huge mirror, near the swing analysis room.  Unlike Narcissus, I always look away from the reflection as both yoga and golf instructors recommend we stare at "that person who looks so much like you".

The swing analysis room is an experience in itself. My children run out of it with the image print of their swing and they show it off to their friends. I have been in the room, have taken a swing into the net and my photo has been juxtaposed, to no other than....Tiger's.

It is a shame I was too busy watching Tiger's strategy and results to notice the technique of his swing when I followed him on the Majlis course this February.