Golf Swing Models

Over the last 25 years or so, there has been a lot of focus on whether one swing model may work better than others. This is due to the emergence of top instructors such as Jimmy Ballard and David Leadbetter in the 1980's, Butch Harmon and Hank Haney in the 1990's, and now such instructors as Sean Foley, Jim Hardy, and Brian Mogg, among others, in more recent years.

These instructors above became popular due to the success of some of their PGA Tour students. Jimmy Ballard worked with Curtis Strange. Leadbetter notably helped Nick Faldo become a dominant player. Butch Harmon worked with Greg Norman in the 1990's and Tiger Woods soon after. Hank Haney gained fame as Mark O'Meara's instructor, than worked with Tiger for six years. Now, the torch has been passed on to these younger instructors.

Throughout this period, we have seen a variety of swing models espoused by these instructors. Jimmy Ballard was noted for emphasizing a bit of a sway in the golf swing to help increase power. Haney brought a new emphasis on the swing plane by taking Ben Hogan's thoughts a little bit further. Harmon is noted for mainly working with a player's strengths and eliminating his weaknesses. Since then, we have also heard of Stack and Tilt, One Plane vs. Two Plane, Natural Golf, Peak Performance, etc.

The question is, are any of these swing models superior to the rest? Unfortunately, I don't believe there is any one particular model that can work for everyone. The reason is simple...every golfer is different! We come in all different shapes and sizes, athletic backgrounds, physical abilities, etc.

The key then is to find a swing that can work for you personally. With that in mind, I believe it is not a good thing for an instructor to simply focus on one particular swing model and try to fit it to all of his students. I believe it is necessary to develop a strong foundation of fundamentals, but ultimately, the instructor must also work with the physical abilities of his students.

Here at Olney Golf Park in Maryland, I have the good fortune to work with PGA instructor and former tour player Jim Estes. Jim is a co-founder of the Salute the Military Golf Foundation. As such, he teaches many military veterans, many whom have physical disabilities due to their service to our country.

Working with these golfers and other folks I have taught previously has helped me immensely in realizing that to be the best instructor possible, it is necessary to identify a golfers strengths and weaknesses, help them learn the fundamentals of the swing, and to improve their body so that they can more easily improve on these fundamentals.

The bottom line is the golfer wants to be in the best position possible at impact, according to their own abilities. As their physical abilities improve, so will their ability to get into this position. No one particular golf swing model will get a golfer in this position any better than the others.

With all this in mind, golfers should strive to find an instructor who has a good grasp of how the body works, how to improve the body to make it work better, and who has a tremendous grasp of the fundamentals of a good golf swing.

Scott Cole
www.scottcolegolf.com
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com