Out of the Bunker: Focus on one direction

A golfer at the end of her golf swing.
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If you are like the majority of golfers, you have a number of swing thoughts running through your head while attempting to hit your shot.

Perhaps you are focusing on a slower backswing, or you may be focusing on keeping your head down while striking the ball.

Obviously, there are a variety of thoughts that we have all focused on at one time, or another. Though there is nothing wrong with having swing thoughts, I would suggest you focus on only one direction of your swing at a time.

Studies have shown that the ideal ratio of backswing time vs. downswing time is 3:1.

For example, more accomplished players average .75 seconds on their backswing, and .25 seconds on their downswing. Add those numbers up and you equal 1 second.

That’s not a lot of time to focus on thoughts in both directions of your swing.

My suggestion is to determine what you perceive to be your greatest weakness in the swing.

If your weakness is the rhythm of your backswing, then you should only focus on your backswing.

On the other hand, if your weakness is not completely finishing your follow through, then you should focus on only your forward swing.

I see players all too often who get caught up in having swing thoughts for both directions of their swing.

This is a recipe for disaster.

Rather than being able to fully commit to improving one-half of your swing, you end up making a less committed swing by focusing on both directions of your swing.

The next time you go to practice, make a commitment to yourself to only focus on one direction of your swing that day.

Perhaps one day you focus on your backswing, and the next time out you focus on your forward swing.

This all depends on what you perceive to be your weakness.

By eliminating the idea of focusing on both directions at the same time, your practices will become much more focused and your golf swing will improve.

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