Swinging the Golf Club

All of that being said, golf is not high jumping; an average person should be able to average 80 around a par 72 golf course with little trouble and a sound swing. Before you write me and tell me that you know people with good swings who cannot break 80, I will tell you that there is more to golf than a good swing. Most talented players, who cannot score, do not score well because they do not know how to play golf. In case you were not listening; swinging the club is not playing golf, it is an element of golf. So what is the first fundamental of the golf swing? The first fundamental of the golf swing is to understand how to use the golfing tool. Remember the golf range, and the folks scooping their way to bad golf? These people scoop, because the golf club looks like it is made for scooping. In reality, the club does resemble a big spoon. The club has loft designed into the head to lift the ball in the air, right? So the beginner thinks that he needs to get under the ball. In reality however, the golf club is a little more dynamic than it looks. In fact the golf club is quite an ingenious design of physics. The club is designed so that the user can use it by applying only one force; tangential force! I know you all have heard that the golf swing is all about centrifugal force and on and on, blah, blah, blah. Well I am not a physicist, but I did take physics in school and I know that centrifugal force is an imaginary force. What? Yes, you heard me, there is no such force of physics. Look it up, centrifugal force is an idea, a concept to explain appearances, not a real force! So since we have cleared that up, we can dismiss the idea of applying a non-existent force to the golf ball. I only mention this because the idea of centrifugal force actually puts the picture in our mind of a club flying around in a circle and merely picking the golf ball up at the bottom and lifting it on its way. If this is your picture of the golf swing, I recommend that you rethink the golf swing. The club head does not trace a circle; in fact the head does not really trace any geometrical shape, but if pressed I would say it traces somewhat of an ellipse. Now please, do not think that I am arguing circles or squashed circles to be a smarty pants. These concepts are very important to visual learners. Some people can do anything they can visualize; these people must be made aware that the golf club does not swing in a circle, constantly being pulled outward. First and most important, this is not what is happening, and second it is not the picture you want in your mind. Remember, if centrifugal force were a true force, and you really swung the club centrifugally, then if the club head flew off during your swing (based on centrifugal force) it would fly directly away from you. For example if it flew off right at impact it would fly right into the ground. Now anyone who has ever had a club head fly off at impact knows that it does no such thing, it in fact flies out in front of you, down the target line. Why does it do this? It does this because the force you are applying to the golf ball is tangential force, not centrifugal force. Simply put an object traveling in an arc will leave the arc on a line tangent to the arc. This means that tangential force will move the ball or the club head if it flies off, directly down your line of play. So it has taken me a while to get there, but what this means to you is that you only have to apply tangential force to the ball, meaning hit it flush in the back and the ball will travel forward. Your job is to apply this forward momentum to the ball. The clubs job is to apply trajectory and spin to the ball.