The one thing all golf teachers can agree on is that impact is the only “position” that matters in a golf swing.

There is also agreement that in the impact zone we should look like the world class athletes in the pictures above.

The impact zone includes the “moment of truth” when the ball is on the club face

– for about one two thousandths of a second, and 

– for about one half inch [while the ball compresses into the face].

What ideally happens for the rest of the other full one second of the golf swing is up for debate with over 10,000 books and untold millions of hours of golf training videos.

We’ll define the impact zone as the several inches before and after impact.

Recently I learned how to put videos of my practice sessions on my Youtube channel as “Unlisted” [not for public consumption] and use the “greater than” and “less than” arrows on my keyboard to pound through [microsecond by microsecond] to see what I’m actually doing.

If you’ve been reading my blog articles you’ll know that I don’t think the mainstream golf instruction industry [which is based upon telling folks to do what we see the tour players do] doesn’t take into consideration that this is like expecting a Saint Bernard to be as nimble as a housecat.

In “Wax On Wax” Off mode I [like you] can statically mimic how these world class players look at impact, but my efforts over the last couple of weeks bore no fruit based on “stills” taken from my actual full shot videos;

> I didn’t look anywhere near like the tour players pictured above at the “moment of truth”.

Nonetheless, I hit a “good ball” and my kinematic sequence report has a clean bill of health [per my 3-part Kinematic Sequence blog series].

I was able to make progress toward approximating the ideal impact position for an actual short pitch shot of about 25 yards.

> So, is drilling in ideal impact on short pitches the answer to achieving ideal impact on full shots? 

> Or, is ideal impact just inherently nearly impossible for mere mortals like me and you to achieve on full shots?

> Can we expect to do what DJ and Tiger and Rory etal do any more than we can expect to be able to play basketball like a Michael Jordan or a Larry Bird?

I don’t know the answers to the above questions, but I will take you on my journey toward achieving ideal impact over the coming weeks [or months?].

> My coming blog and video series is, “What It Really Takes To Transform A Golf Swing – Chronicles Of A 60-Year Old’s Quest For Ideal Impact.”

A 1,000-mile journey starts with a single step.

My first step is to master my stance.

How exciting, right?!

Well, exciting or not, mastering the basic fundamentals is the only way to have a chance to master the complex dynamic movements that lead to the ideal “moment of truth” we all seek.

Perhaps the first step isn’t a physical one, but instead a mental one along the lines of;

> “believing is seeing”, yes, that’s worded correctly, 

  • I need to believe that I can achieve my goal and see myself doing so in my head before I can do it with my hands and body.

How long will it take to achieve my goal?  

> This isn’t an appropriate question because my focus is on the journey in the present tense, and not when in the future it ends;

  • and it is time right now for me to master my stance.

 

Yours in better ball striking through achieving ideal impact,

 

Ted Williams, Certified Instructor – Croker Golf System

 

Feel free to write me with any comments or questions; TWilliams@MyGolfingStore.com