We were out early one morning doing our three-mile walk on the golf course when we were surprised by two foursomes of golfers. It so happens that we were walking toward them, so each time they were ready to address and hit the ball, we took cover behind a tree. We would have been much safer if we were standing by the pin on the green, but that would have been rude.
As we observed each golfer, something very obvious came to light. It hit us both at the same time. There was a dramatic difference between the warm-up swing and the actual swing when hitting the ball. The warm-up swing was smooth and effortless, and the hitting swing was anything but.
The sun was in our eyes, so when they hit the ball we could not see it as it approached. As we waited for the second foursome to hit their tee shot, we were standing off the fairway behind a tree, near where they all wanted to place their shot. The third one to hit was different than the others. His practice swing was identical to his hitting swing. When we heard that “click” as the club made contact with the ball, we both knew that the ball would be hitting the ground not far from us and it did. It was in a perfect position to play the next shot to the green.
As the last person hit, it was obvious that the ball was not going to be anywhere close to the one before. Because again, the warm-up swing was smooth and the actual hitting swing was stiff and choppy. We quickly resumed our walk and passed the foursome.
As we began to talk about what we had just witnessed, we realized that we see the same in shooters. We then remembered a book that both of us have read and learned a lot from: “Extraordinary Golf: The Art of the Possible,” by Fred Shoemaker. In this book, Fred goes through an exercise that he calls his “club throwing” exercise, where he actually has students throw the club toward the pin using a golf swing. He videotapes them looking at them across from where the ball would be so they can see their full swing. After the club throwing exercise, he has them hit a ball from the same stance. The difference in the swings is amazing. We had just witnessed that to a tee.
We would like to share with you Fred’s comment about what made the difference between the two swings:
“In looking at the videos, the only consistent visible difference is where the people’s eyes look before they start the swing. In the regular swing, their eyes are on the golf ball, as if to say,’ I’m going to hit that.’ In the club-throwing swing, their eyes look forward, as if to say, ‘I’m going to throw it out there.’ On the video this looks like a small matter, but it makes all the difference in the world. The club-throwing swing is superior to the regular swing primarily because of this one thing: the target was changed from the golf ball to the hole.”
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