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Written by Dr. Brian A. Magna, DPT, ATC
Over the last few decades, golfers of all ages throughout the world have been frustrated trying to discover ways to improve consistency and bring their scores down. Billions of dollars on lessons and equipment has been spent with the manufacturers and golf professionals being the only ones truly happy.
Developing consistency is the key to success in all areas of life...including careers, relationships, exercise and yes, the golf swing. During my many years of giving advice on fitness and biomechanical changes due to injuries, I have finally found a way for golfers to easily duplicate a “swing feel” leading to positive consistency results.
The Magna Method Golf Swing is a process, not a lesson or a tip you read in a golf magazine. It is becoming a student of golf movement through a systemized approach to consistency through efficient repetitive planes. You need to be patient (most golfers are not) enough to feel and see the end result.
During normal development of movement, an individual first learns to control the body, not the extremities. An infant begins movement after birth by staying in one place….exactly where the caregiver places her. They twist and turn the trunk with the extremities flailing in a non-predictable pattern of movement. Once the infant learns how to stabilize the trunk, it is only then that she reaches for objects with purpose and consistency. I am not talking about the typical core work that every personal trainer is mentioning these days. I am talking about control of movement. Every type of bodily movement stems from the trunk, so it makes biomechanical and developmental sense that consistency starts from the trunk. This is where we will begin.
When one first learns the golf game of game…you are instructed on a proper grip. What does that exactly mean? Most of the time, what we think it means is developing a hold on the club with proper tension and position to allow the club to swing through the path efficiently in order to hit the ball squarely towards your target. Isn’t that type of instruction starting from the most distal part of your extremity?... completely opposite of the normal developmental pattern of movement. The same can be true about the self-taught and instructor-taught golfer. The self-taught will predictability go to the driving range, pick up a driver and “swing away” with no comprehension of the study of movement. The instructor-taught golfer meets the golf professional, starts with the grip and usually a mid-iron. If you are going to start hitting balls, at least begin on the putting green. Start from the cup and work out to the driver. This philosophy is similar to natural movement development. It starts from a confident, success building position with a short-close-to-the- body-movement and builds upon moving the extremities further out with longer clubs and control (only when the body has mastered the control).
Let’s examine another pattern of movement most of us are familiar with. The spinning figure skater. Upon examination of the skater…one would notice that the arms are either away from the body or held across the chest while spinning. In order to gain speed and control during the spins, the skater will always move from the “extremity away” position to the “extremity close” position. This position will also allow the skater to transition to the next position with more confidence and balance as well. I’m sure you are asking what this has to do with the golf swing…which you should. In quick response, the closer your extremities are to your trunk, the quicker your speed, but with a greater ability to control the club. Here it is: the better control, the more replicable your swing will be. Take it to the next level as well. The more replicable your swing, the more consistency you have.
Understanding movement is one key to your success with golf. Buying into the concept and being able to put in the time to master consistency is another. In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, it is noted that studies of successful individuals at world-class levels in business, sports and the performing arts have put in a minimum of 10,000 hours of practice or practical experience ….with no exceptions to this rule. Haven’t professional golfers done this? Have you? Probably not! In fact, most recreational golfers barely have enough time to play…never-mind practice. Let’s look at hours here. If a golfer plays eighteen holes weekly (assume that the golfer lives above the Mason-Dixon Line and it takes five hours to complete the round) from April to October, that would equal 140 hours. If that golfer started playing golf at the age of 10, it would take 71 years to get to 10,000 hours. You may be a little frustrated by that point…..besides being 81 years old. I would also predict that your body may have broken down a bit by that time as well. Playing only nine holes would take you 142 years. Do you get the picture here? Why wouldn’t you want to discover a way to improve consistency, predictability and be able to duplicate a swing path more often. Even professional golfers have “bad looking” swings. They simply have put in the 10,000 hours to be able to duplicate their swing to perfection. There is no such thing as the perfect golf swing!
Golf teachers all over the world, for the most part have taught the golf swing from a left-hand dominant mentality (for right hand golfers). This means that the majority have instructed students (we will get into the student term later) to make the left hand the dominant hand (pulling through) and letting the right hand….”go along for the ride.” Go back to the earlier example of the figure skater. Does pulling through with the left hand coincide with that philosophy of control? Of course not! The arm which has the most control and power is the right, not the left. How can a golfer possibly have more control with the left arm as it moves away from the midline (where the control is) of the body. In fact...many instructors want you to “feel” the left arm and the “back of the left hand” pulling through the hitting zone. As a right-handed golfer, do you feel you would have more control and consistency throwing a ball underhand to a target with your right hand or your left hand while in a golf-setup position?
Joseph Pilates…the founder of Pilates noted that “movement is control”. If we don’t have control over our movements we cannot move with precision through the extremities. Movement during the golf swing doesn’t have to be pretty, but it does need precision. In order to obtain precision, one needs to understand movement and want to be a student of movement principles. Once you understand that consistent movement leads to success, not how far you hit the ball (it does help and feel good though!) you will appreciate the professional golfer from a different perspective. You must become a student of movement to be a better golfer.
In order to employ physical potential, you must maximize movement and understand speed. Is speed simply the ability to move something through space from one point to another at a certain comparable velocity? If that is so, then we will only be left just doing things quickly and comparing the results to other individuals just to note who is faster. Don’t we often continually ask questions such as: what is your swing speed or how hard does that pitcher throw? Is speed the most important factor to generate force? Can a golfer swing as hard as they can for success in golf? Can a pitcher simply just throw as hard as he can for the entire game and be effective?
Of course not. Then why do so many golf teachers own speed sticks and why do you see major league baseball scouts at high school and college games with radar guns. Have you noticed that major league ballparks now have pitch speed indicators on the scoreboards? Did you also know most home runs are hit off fastballs not slower pitches such as curveballs or change-ups. When a batter’s body is off-stride and off-balance while batting his chances of getting a hit are significantly diminished. When a golfer’s body is out of sync while swinging…chances of hitting a golf ball successfully are diminished as well. So why do golfers continuously try to swing harder and increase speed through the zone to improve scores? It is due to the fact that is impressive to the ego and everyone in your foursome to be the long driver. But remember...long drives don’t mean lower scores just like pitching a baseball 95-100 miles per hour doesn’t mean 20 win seasons. Nolan Ryan, the great Hall-of-Fame pitcher threw consistently in the high 90’s and had a 324-292 win-loss record during 27 seasons and won 20 games only twice. He does happen to be the all-time strikeout leader though at 5714 and is in Cooperstown.
Let us go back to movement. A typical way people try to hit a ball harder is to snap their wrists at the bottom of their swing. Although this may feel like you are getting more power out of your swing, this action actually slows the club head down, according to Theodore Jorensen, a golf expert who has published works on the physics of golf. The Magna Method golf swing is a way to decrease the snap while improving control and power for consistency and consequently lower scores. At one time in my career, I worked as an athletic trainer with the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team. The head coach of that team, Geno Auriemma once told me that he attempts to get his players to understand speed and movement with body control. In other words….he gets them to dribble and move without the ball as fast as they can but in control of their movement. There is a point where too much speed gets you out of control, therefore the “point of control” is different for each individual. By getting each player to understand speed and individual control, it allows the team to maximize speed as a whole and decrease turnovers which means more possessions and ultimately more points and more wins. The same is true in golf during the swing. Swinging too hard, leaves you out of control with no idea where the ball may go and more lost balls. A controlled duplicable swing with just the right amount of speed, combined with strength for stability leaves you the best opportunity for repetitive success.
A frequent question I often get is how do I improve my flexibility to get more of a turn (backswing)? It is an interesting question since according to principles, when something is more flexible it has less stability. And with less stability comes movement with less predictable results. The golfer who successfully increases flexibility also successfully decreases control unless strength is adapted beginning with the trunk first as noted with the Pilates principles. Dancers and gymnasts are the prime examples we can examine. These athletes are either: flexible and not strong, not flexible and strong or flexible and strong. The flexible and not strong may allow for beautiful movement with an inability to hold positions as well force musculoskeletal tissues to be overused inappropriately leading to injury. The not flexible yet strong individual may demonstrate the power needed to hold positions, yet not demonstrate the end range movement desired for proper style and presentation. They will also tend to become injured over time due to trying to force movements past their potential. The flexible and strong athlete has all the tools to maximize their potential both with stability and presentation at the comfortable end ranges of movement. They have a much better feel how their body responds and what it is able to withstand. They injure themselves less frequently and tend to move the extremities once proximal stability has been established first.
Okay…enough description and information…what is this Magna Method Golf Swing? Have you ever hit your golf ball under a branch and needed to flatten your swing and push the ball out through a number of other trees to the fairway? Of course you have. Usually you shorten your swing for control and predictability while visualizing the ball being punched out between two trees and landing on a particular section of the fairway. More often than not, the ball goes in the correct direction we desired due to control and less movement. The Magna Method Golf Swing is nothing more than a right handed underhand toss or push of the right palm ( left if left-handed) from the right buttocks to one-foot past the lead leg. Your weight is distributed on the inside of each foot and the backswing gets loaded only to “pressure” in the right hip. Add in a little pressure to compress each thumb pad together with an overlap grip and you have the pattern. The control is obvious once you experience it and the results are consistent and surprising (but not to me!).
Once I give the student the movement pattern…all the comments pop out: “how do I generate speed? I need a big turn. This won’t work! This is just a fad. I need to be able to release the club. This won’t work with the driver. There is no way this will be successful…and on and on and on. I really feel that every golfer truly believes they know what to do. They can figure it out on their own. Sure they can! Go ahead...continue to receive dozens of verbal and tactile cues at the same time to confuse your wiring system (your brain) and play inconsistent golf.
I know this sounds too good to be true. It is if you don’t become a student of this movement pattern. What will likely happen is you will have some skepticism but still try it. The skepticism will cause your brain to not perform it effectively and you become frustrated. That will most likely cause you to give up the method basically before you started. Is that scenario a way to become a student of movement? Remember…when someone tries to implement a new technique they always get worse before getting better. During those worse times, frustration sets in and the athlete refers back to familiar mental and physical patterns of movement because it “feels comfortable”. The golfer will then go to every other golfer they know and say the new technique they tried doesn’t work. That is why The Magna Method Golf Swing is a method not a technique.
At this moment….put this article down (remember where you are putting it) and go practice The Magna Method Golf Swing. Remember that it will take you at least 10,000 hours of swinging to master consistency. Now here is a bit of advice to get to 10,000. Mental imagery counts in sports and life. If you close your eyes and swing the club “in your head” with the correct noted positions…..you will have good carryover to your actual game. There have been many examples documented over the years of golfers playing perfect imaginary rounds in their head and experiencing no loss of results….even after years of not playing. I would like you to actually swing and mentally swing 10,000 times before picking up this article again (not 10,000 hours).
WELCOME BACK!! I hope you have mastered The Magna Method Golf Swing enough to feel comfortable and that you have enjoyed some positive results with consistency in your game. I also hope that others have noticed a difference in your game as well. Consistency in your swing combined with the ability to repeat a “feel” should at the very least drop 5-10 strokes off your score.
Here comes the next part of the equation. The most common question I get is: “I have experienced good results with my putter and my irons, but how do I transform The Magna Method Golf Swing to my driver?
We have all been instructed to think of the driver swing as a sweeping motion while playing the ball off the front foot. I agree with this technique just due to the nature of the club. However: since the driver is a long club in size, we need to go back to the human developmental theory we spoke about early in this article. How can one possibly swing a long club quicker with more consistency and reliability with a lever arm that is further from the stable core or trunk? Golf pros are trying to teach increased speed with a longer swing arc…combined with attempting to improve turning of the hips and stability of the legs. Combine this with multiple other swing instructions to the grip and forearm as well as self-doubt and the entire process makes me laugh. How many physical, verbal and mental cues can one person tolerate at one time? It reminds me of Jim Carey playing god in “Bruce Almighty” when he suddenly hears all the people in the word praying to him at once. It drove him absolutely crazy.
The bottom line is: we need to shorten the driver backswing, not lengthen it ...to be effective. I know this sounds different….and it is. As a physical therapist, I can tell you with accuracy that most individuals lose shoulder and spine range of motion over time. It is this gradual loss over time which reduces consistency as well. There is a swing for everyone according to body type…this is true, but the swing is a short one with the most speed one inch prior to impact.
The driver is no different than the other clubs except for length and weight. Think under a tree (shorten your swing) and think bocce ball toss with the back hand. Release the back forearm after impact and have a straight back elbow when the club is parallel to the ground. What happens with your swing after that doesn’t matter?
Lastly, the best thing about the game of golf is not the score. It is and always will be the time spent with friends and your peaceful and relaxing time outdoors. Remembering this will also lower your score while mastering The Magna Method Golf Swing. I hope you enjoyed this useful and practical information which if practiced…will change your game.
Please make comments or ask questions about The Magna Method Golf Swing by contacting Brian Magna via e-mail at: brian@magnapt.com
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