On Golf Swing Aids

I cannot say that I am commonly a fan of golf swinging aids.  I admit I really do not know much of what is out there for the purpose, as I pay virtually no attention to such things.  My reasons for such an attitude will become clearer in a moment.  As someone who is in the profession, I would think if anything were around that worked to any useful degree to help players develop their golf swings, I would be aware of it.  But I see nothing.  Like so much of my approach, a good deal of my experience comes from my earlier years playing baseball.  The motion of swinging a baseball bat does generally contain some typical fundamentals that evolve in the course of developing the talent.  Heeding those basic elements can be useful.  By itself though, the swing is truly quite worthless without other essential needs like good hand-eye coordination, quickness, strength, bat fitting, game strategy, and more.  Other than swinging a weighted bat or its equivalent to warm up, something that may also promote some improved strength and flexibility, I can recall using no worthwhile “swing aids” in baseball back when I played.  I certainly remember using the batting tee I mentioned in earlier posts during workout drills, and it is possible I could have forgotten an implement or two that we practiced with.  I predominantly found such contraptions to be unproductive, so I seriously question the effectiveness of most gadgets used to help one develop gained skills.  While some of the talents required in order to be a good hitter in baseball are different, and quite bluntly not necessary in order to hit a golf ball well, there are nonetheless some good parallels to be drawn.

I am not saying that there are absolutely no devices out there which may partially contribute to one’s swing development, but I caution you, the overall development of one’s golf game can actually be significantly delayed or worse by the use of such “swing aids.”  Depicting one example, I have seen many, many players whose swings were just fine and that I would not touch, only to watch them struggle incessantly just to contact the ball because they simply did not possess acceptable body-eye coordination.  Swing aids that do not comprise hitting a golf ball (or equivalent) that is sitting an unconnected distance away from a golfer are of course completely irrelevant toward learning that mandatory task.  On the other hand, there have been those whose swings I would depict in endearing terms as that which only a mother could love, yet I have observed some of these people as being second to none in their ball striking ability.  I would be hard pressed to modify the swings of these players either unless specifically summoned to do so.  There is no exclusive connection between swinging a certain way and playing golf well.  Now for those who are having a difficult time with my statement that a golf swing is one of the simpler motions to execute relative to other athletic activities, here is an alternative assertion based on the observations just mentioned.  The motion of a golf swing may be considered to be an incredibly difficult movement to master if one desires, as long as it is simultaneously realized that it is hardly the all-encompassing factor toward playing golf successfully, so there is really no need to master the movement.  More on this next time.