Decoding One’s True Golf Swing DNA: Part Six

A fairly close call was experienced last post, but gratefully it was essentially averted in learning that it is not as critical to regularly remove one’s clothing as it is to remove one’s clubs when trying to decipher one’s true swing DNA.  The core reason for this conclusion is that, unlike the constant switching of clubs in the normal course of playing golf, one’s apparel generally stays consistent for much longer periods, allowing one to functionally adjust through repetition and return one’s swing to a state of consistency.  However, just a single piece of apparel, and even one that might be gotten used to all day long, could still wreak havoc with one’s swing DNA under countless circumstances.  This different aspect must be noted here and addressed if and when necessary.

As an example, when I was younger and being a typical kid, all I wanted to do was play, and taking care of my equipment was usually an afterthought except for perhaps select baseball bats and gloves that I shared certain unforgettable experiences with.  I recall occasionally being a little late for practice and even games because I could not even find my spikes let alone take care of them the way I probably should have.  In a continuance of that way of thinking, I subsequently rarely if ever took care of my golf shoes during my early golfing years.  One result of this was that as they went through cycles of being worn, gotten wet, taken off, and drying out, I had several pairs that ultimately curled up pretty permanently like the feet of the Wicked Witch of the West.  They may have still been comfortable as far as I was concerned until they literally fell apart, but my lack of any attention toward those shoes forced me to stand back on my heels more than normal during address and swinging while wearing them.  When playing rounds on the course, I would not swing like I knew I was capable of, yet I would swing well off of driving range mats while wearing gym shoes.

So no matter how long one may try to get used to certain apparel conditions, even if the conditions are consistently maintained, substantial problems could still be encountered.  One must always be mindful of a virtually unlimited number of swing-DNA-altering elements that can be encountered when any and all apparel starts to be added to one’s “pure” swing DNA.  Perhaps one might consider designing an apparel “uniform” for the express purpose of being able to most accurately and consistently extract one’s truest golf swing DNA from a clothing perspective.  Theoretically, this is a fine idea.  If done well, results from such an endeavor could be so consistent and so close to results acquired from a theoretically totally naked state that for all intents and purposes it might be considered the equivalent.  Practically speaking, however, there would seem to be a limited benefit in securing one’s swing DNA in such a manner if one were to then wear different apparel than that exact uniform when actually playing.  With no mandate in the rules for wearing a specific golfing uniform, one’s apparel choices can vary dramatically.  Such choices can contribute significantly (albeit inadvertently) to altering one’s swing DNA from day to day, whether one is fully aware of it or not.  Thoroughly explaining various relationships between certain apparel conditions and potential resultant influences on one’s swing DNA (to perhaps help one decide to what extent he wants to consider such relationships in the course of acquiring one’s swing DNA) might be able to fill up a separate book.

And in logical consonance with a discussion that any given single piece of one’s apparel is potentially able to continually, adversely affect one’s swing DNA even after getting used to that apparel all day long, any given golf club can do the same thing.  No matter how many times it might be consecutively swung and gotten used to, the same, unvaried golf club can still interminably and substantially alter one’s golf swing DNA if its fit is sufficiently poor enough or other circumstances exist.  Collecting one’s DNA under such circumstances will most certainly be compromised to some degree and will certainly not amount to one’s true golf swing DNA.  So as can be seen, it is not solely a continuous switching of equipment on consecutive swings that can be responsible for imprecision, even drastic imprecision, with respect to the acquisition of one’s true swing DNA.

While significant, additional aspects of deciphering one’s base golf swing DNA follow immediately afterward, before proceeding further I want to briefly summarize what has been covered thus far.  It is of paramount importance to be able to remove any and all external influences from one’s swing performance if one is to ultimately learn to play his/her best golf.  This applies not only to discovering what one’s true swing DNA really looks and/or feels like, which is critical in and of itself, but it also subsequently extends to being able to fit one’s equipment in the most effective manner, another crucial facet.

It is most wise to remove any and all golf clubs and/or other devices from one’s swing in order to determine one’s true swing DNA, particularly since golf is played under unique circumstances where only a single stroke is commonly made with a given club before routinely switching to another club for the next stroke.  Finding one’s true swing DNA requires effectively learning to swing using only the limbs of one’s body, and this in turn is achieved by first learning to meld one’s hands together in order to efficiently mimic the existence of an actual golf club while swinging.  Be absolutely sure that you are able to understand the correct correlation between what is perhaps the most unusual gripping procedure among all activities (that which is applied in golf) and the fact that golf is also about the only activity where one’s equipment usually changes from swing to swing.