Making your golf swing dance

I enjoyed this article so decided to add an audio podcast to it. Thanks to Holdini for the inspiration

Too many of us treat our golf swings like they’re going to break. We tread carefully. We’re precise. And we take our time to be sure we don’t do anything wrong. But this is not how you get yourself a free flowing and powerful golf swing. Nope. If you want to succeed you’ve gotta dance.

Dancing and golf aren’t generally seen to be the same. But this is the exact mindset you need if you want to break free. When you’re on the dance floor you’re moving to the music, you’re in rhythm and you’re not trying to control every part of your body. If you’re at a party and had a few drinks, the more you move and let go the better you do. But golfers don’t get it.

Maybe it’s the (lack of) alcohol, but overly artificial swings seem to be the norm. When was the last time you stepped up to the golf ball and truly danced? Add a waggle a forward press or some other move to get you started and you may be surprised at how well your swing flows.

I remember a time when I was coaching a guy at the local driving range. He brought his young daughter along and she was hitting some balls in the bay next to him. The Old Man was hopeless – far too serious and thought his golf swing was the most important thing to him. He wanted to know about each millimeter of his swing and why certain shots happened. He didn’t get it and the lesson was going nowhere. In a flash of inspiration I called his daughter over and asked what her favourite song was. It was some Top 40 thing that was poplar at the time and I asked her to hit some golf balls to the beat of the song.

She loved it. She waltzed in (or strolled, skipped) to the ball. She was moving rhythmically and thumped the ball while she was singing away. She danced. And it was the best lesson I could of given her dad. She hit shot after shot while “dancing” away. There was no thought of grip, stance or “what am I doing wrong?”. She was playing the game and it was brilliant. I think the old boy finally worked out what I was on about.

Here’s a comment I have only just received from Holdini:

I dont know what you think of my take on your coaching Cameron but I now play my shot from the moment I walk to the ball. I feel as if I am in constant motion and am dynamic. Previously I would be static over the ball and prone to thinking too much. Now I breeze up to it, give it a waggle and just go for it. Is this my interpretation of your “dance”.

My thoughts: Holdini, you get it. I love the term “breeze”. It’s the perfect word for the walk to the ball. Keep doing this and you’ll do just fine and your game will continue to get better and better. Dancing allows your swing to go where it wants. You’ll have more awareness and with this comes greater joy and performance.

He finished off with this remark:

Keep up the good work Cameron. You do change peoples lives for the bettter.

Me: Thank you.