While there are myriad books, articles and other instructional materials covering the "how" of the golf swing, there is much less information regarding the "why." If you're a more curious student of the game, you may want to understand the physics, biomechanics or motor-skill information behind the corrections you're given. Understanding the science of learning and executing the golf swing will not only solve your curiosity, but improve your ability to use lesson information.
Motor Learning
Practice your golf swing in a way that promotes learning, retention and recall of golf skills. Swinging the same club over and over helps promote short-term learning of a skill, but not retention and recall. The next time you visit the driving range to work on a new skill, use three different practice techniques for long-term benefit. After you get into a groove with your new skill, switch clubs every six to eight strokes. Once you are able to repeat your new skill with different clubs, change clubs and lies every swing to help re-create the course environment and imprint the motor memory that will help you play as well as you practice.
Biomechanics
Learn to open your hips as your initial move on the forward swing to get more power. According to biomechanist Dr. Ben Kibler of the Lexington Clinic Sports Medicine Center, there are two basics ways to hit a golf ball, baseball or tennis ball: the push-through method and the pull-through method. If you jacknife out of your shot, with your weight going backward, you are using the pull-through method, which is less efficient and generates less power. If you open your hips before your arms come forward, you will drive your shoulders and arms forward, creating the more natural and powerful push-through method that accelerates your club faster.
Physics
Use the big parts of your body to hit the ball farther. To do this, you need to create force. Force equals mass multiplied by acceleration. To create more acceleration, you need to create more power. According to German tennis researchers, a world-class tennis shot requires about 4,000 watts of power. The larger the body part used during a swing, the more power it contributes to the swing--this means you should use your arms and hands for control, not power.
Start your backswing by bending your front knee and pushing downward while you use your torso to push your shoulder and arms backward. Using the push-through method, start your forward swing with your hips, pushing up on your front leg as you transfer your weight from your back foot to your front foot. This up-and-down leg movement helps create reactive power. Relax your arms and your grip during the swing to let them go along for the ride created by your big body parts--the legs and hips.
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