Practicing a “swing” vs. practicing results…

[Bigvivec]

So I went to the driving range today and there was a kid a little down the grass tees getting a lesson today…his swing was as pretty as just about any that I have seen in person, but he couldn’t make clean contact and was sending the ball all over the place…his mechanics were pretty to watch though, but then his instructor stepped in, and though he didn’t have the flexibility of the 15 year old he was teaching, he kept things more compact and was super solid at impact, taking a solid forward divot and catching it crisp, and doing a nice job of distance control as he demonstrated to the kid with what appeared to be a 7 iron a half swing knockdown with big backspin, a three quarter length shot that landed between the first and the third, then a full backswing bomb that went around 175…he then backed off and hit to what appeared to be his playing distance for that club, about 15-20 yds short of his big bomb and dropped 5 in a row on that spot…his swing was not “pretty”, but it was controlled and powerful in the right places, keeping the load on the club stored deep into the downswing…got me thinking about practicing a “swing” vs. practicing shots and results, and it was painfully clear that the most important part of the swing was the address and impact position, which the instructor was great at…

It was nice having some good swings to watch while I practiced, and felt that I was the better for it…

[jwaldrop]

Big, I agree with the inspiration of watching a good swing on the range...kind of just gets you going, and helps with your own tempo, especially. I used to practice near my club pro when he was working on his game. Really helped my tempo and setup.

As far as practicing the swing or the result, I kind of think that practicing the swing has to happen first at least to some degree for the consistency to then count on the swing and focus on the distance. Not sure that made any sense, lol!

Anyway, I like to spend a little time making sure the swing is on plane, and then I get really target oriented. Sometimes when I play, I get away from really focusing on the target and the score shows it. When I focus on the target, the body will usually make the right length swing.

[alangbaker]

I think you should pretty much always be practicing swing. Results should come from executing the correct swing aligned in the correct direction.

What you should be doing for results is learning. "Okay. That's how far my stock 7-iron goes", "This is how far it goes if I hit a knockdown", etc.