| Not enough can be said about the importance of remaining relaxed when swinging the golf club. Relaxing allows your body to make an athletically controlled, body-friendly movement.
However, don't just take my word for it, here's some scientific proof. The muscles in the body maintain your coordination by working with opposing muscles. When one muscle flexes, its opposite relaxes. It is easy to self-test this reasoning. Stand with your arms by your side. Let them relax and just hang there. Now, pull your hands up to your shoulders quickly, like a bicep curl. Then once more relax them down to your side. This time make your arms ridged like boards and attempt to curl them. It is easy to see that it is impossible because your triceps and biceps muscles are both flexing against each other. From this exercise we can conclude that if the entire golf swing was to be done stiffly we would barley be able to hit the ball.
Start this relaxation with your grip pressure. This is absolutely key as a relaxed grip allows the muscles in the arms to relax more and so on throughout the body. The body, with its many muscles and joints, is an excellent teacher of the golf swing if you just relax and let it show you the most natural way to swing a golf club.
From the first time beginner to the expert professional, we will be able to improve on our ball striking, accuracy, and distance if we just learn to relax as we swing the club. You will know you are doing it right when you feel the weight of the club head sweep back and through like the pendulum in a grandfather clock.
FACT OF THE WEEK
Sam Snead learned to play golf barefoot while growing up in the mountains of Virginia. So it only seemed natural for him to play a practice round shoeless before the 1942 Masters, much to the shock of Augusta National members and officials.
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