Relating Golf Club Specification Variances to Swing Difficulty
Do you ever feel intimidated or down about your golf swing because so many players are readily able to distinguish between as little as two grams (about one fourteenth of an ounce) of change in golf club headweight? Perhaps you have seen component catalogs where, with all else being equal, the difference in weight between golf shaft models varies by approximately the weight of a dime. Are you able to notice a variance in grip size that differs in diameter by just one sixty-forth of an inch? These statements are a bit oversimplified, but a large percentage of golfers can indeed tell the difference between such amounts when attending to their swings. Wow! That certainly indicates how difficult it is to swing a golf club well and portrays formidability, does it not? Well, think again. Clearly, these facts can make the manufacturing (and fitting) of golf clubs more of a challenge than with many other types of equipment. But with respect to one’s golf swing, it actually proves exactly the opposite. Before continuing here, I point out that terms like “easy” and “difficult” can be viewed from different perspectives, as I did in my earlier post regarding physical versus mental golf swing considerations. The frame of reference in this particular article is not whether one is able to hit a golf ball 300 yards, but rather it focuses on the ability to repeat the golf swing one currently has with as little deviation as possible, in other words the consistency of one’s swing. Anyone possessing a repeating swing, who is able to drive a golf ball 200 yards or even somewhat less from average length men’s tees, is capable of achieving scores in the 70’s often enough to make the game gratifying, with maybe an occasional chance at par or better.
I have detailed in past postings the fact that a golf ball, unlike most other sports, is not moving at all while swinging at it. Nor is anyone chasing after you or trying to totally prevent you from performing the movement you are attempting to execute. As a result of these less challenging aspects of a golf swing, its motion is more readily memorizable through both physical muscle feel and mental awareness. This is so much the case that after a reasonable amount of time practicing the movement, one may accurately predict his/her entire golf swing based on the position(s) and/or motion(s) encountered in the course of setting up for the shot. This is an extremely important point to comprehend at this time, as when I start to discuss golf equipment in more detail in a little while, it will be noted that multiple golf club specifications are in fact rooted within one’s pre-swing.
The abilities of players to distinguish between such minute changes in their golf clubs is strong evidence that points out how simple it is to perform a golf swing time after time after time with precision, not hard to understand given the lack of other demands faced when performing the motion. Swing circumstances are responsible for making it much easier for golfers to note differences away from what their memorized norm is. So for those of you who swing one club, then another with just a very slight difference in it, and a deviation in performance is observed, this is not an indication that your swing needs to be better from a consistency standpoint. Quite the contrary, it is an indication that your swing already has the repeatability to achieve the above-mentioned scores. Now putting golf clubs in one’s hands to aid in accomplishing the goal is a different animal altogether. Until next time.