Since the start of the game of golf someone has said keep your eye on the ball. You also heard look at the back of the ball. These tips may be OK for traditional golf swing but is bad information when it comes to natural Golf swing. The traditional golf swing is a descending striking swing from inside the target line. The natural Golf (single plain) swing is a sweeping descending swing from down the line. The line we are referring to is not the target line but the swing plane line. Let's explain what we are talking about when we say swing plane line. The best definition of a swing plane is a circular motion always in line with itself. The best example of this is the pendulum. In a true pendulum the shaft of the pendulum is always in line with itself. When the shaft of the true pendulum is a 180 degrees out from its bottom, it is still in line with itself. Each club in our bag has a different lie angle, loft angel, length and flex of the shaft. With a different lie angle the club must be tilted on an axis to accommodate that lie angle. This is what is referred to as shaft plane. In the Natural golf swing the shaft plane and the swing plane are one in the same. What has this to do with your optics you may ask? Well, you must first know the main difference between the traditional swing and the natural Golf single plane swing.
Your eyes are the most dominant sense you have in your body. 80 to 85% of all the knowledge you have acquired in your life has come from your eyes. This is why your optics is so important in your golf swing. Your hand and eye coordination has always worked on a horizontal plane to each other. This is one reason your final look at your target should be on a horizontal plane.
In the traditional swing we are taught that the outside of our feet at address is roughly that of our shoulders with our lead foot flared approximately 20 to 25 degrees toward the target. The sole of the club should be flat to ground square to the line at address. The arms or hanging straight under the shoulders and the grip of the club is in the fingers of hands. This creates an angle between the arms and the shaft. This angle is what causes all the problems in the traditional swing. When you swing a club around your body the club head grows in inertia weight. The faster you swing the club the heaver the club becomes... At a hundred M.P.H. the club head grows from one and one-half pounds of dead weight to 65 lb of the inertia weight. This 65 lb. of inertia weight will have arms straighten themselves out at the heaviest point of the golf swing (the bottom). As the arms straighten out at the bottom of the swing the outside radiuses of the golf swing in its forward motion grows approximately 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 inches. With this growth of the outside radius at the bottom of the swing the traditional golfer must initiate the downswing with the drive of the legs towards the target which in turn rotates the pelvis toward the target, or what is referred to as clearing the hips. This clearing the hips relieves pressure in the upper body so the golfer can rotate around the spinal column and raise his lead shoulder away from the target line just enough to accommodate the growth in the outside radius at the bottom of the swing. The traditional golf swing radius looks like the letter “U”. This makes the traditional swing a dissenting striking swing. With this type swing the golfer can look at the back of the ball and make solid contact because the club is on a dissenting path. In contrast to the traditional swing the Natural Golf (single plane) swing is a sweeping swing slightly dissent through impact. Let's explain, at address the arms plain and club shaft plain is inline with them (single plain). When the shaft plain is the same as your swing plain the outside radius at the bottom of the swing cannot grow. If the radius cannot grow then the golfer does not need to raise his lead shoulder away from the target line that moment of impact. If the golfer needs not raise the shoulder then he need not rotate around their spinal column so they need not clear their hips and they need not drive with their legs. All of these movements are not necessary to consistently hit a golf ball. This is the biggest difference between the two swings and why the natural golf swing is easier to learn and keep. The ark of the natural swing looks like an inverted “C” or like you are standing in a bowl swinging around the bottom of that Bowl. This means the angle of approach of the club head is more sweeping than the traditional descending swing. Which leads us back to the optic’s of the golfer. If the golfer looks at the top of the ball and try’s to hit the bottom of the ball, there will be a one and three-quarters inch depth perception flaw in their set up. If the golfer looks at the back of the ball there will be a one inch depth perception flaw in their set up. The essence of hitting a golf ball is to have the blade flat to the ground square to the line moving down that line with enough club head speed to project the ball to its target. If the club is a flat to the ground and the ball is flat to ground, then the club will contact the ball at about the fourth line up from the bottom on the face of a club. If the golfer looks at the top of the ball and swings to the bottom of the ball they will have a tendency to blade or top the ball. Try to play darts looking at a spot 2” left of center and hit center or horse shoes looking at a spot 2 ft. right of the stake and hit the stake, “almost imposable”. But in GOLF (the hardest game in the world) we keep looking at something we are not swinging at, all the time wondering why we can’t hit what we are not looking at??? To produce a solid impact of the ball the golfer must return the club under the ball at moment of impact. So doesn’t it make sense to look at what you are swinging at? With the humans hand and eye coordination as it is this is almost impossible to do while looking at the top or the back of the golf ball trying to hit the bottom. We must try to look under the ball, not at it. Here is a good drill to accomplish solid contact. First place a tee in the ground at grass level. Make a full swing and clip the tee out of the ground. Focus only on the tee and only hit the tee out of the ground. Swing until you only to hit to the tee. Next place another tee in the ground about one-half inch to trail side of the first tee, place a ball on the forward tee. Swing and look at the trail tee, not at the ball. This would get your focus under the ball not at it. The golfer should never try to hit a ball but only to make a good swing. To many times we try to hit a golf ball instead of making a good swing. Try not to be hit oriented or ball fixated instead try to be swing oriented. Make the swing and the hit will happen. Because the golfers you play with will not let you put a tee in the ground while you are playing (they are funny that way), try to pick out a spot under the ball (behind the ball) on the ground as close to the ball as you can see and that becomes your tee. A light spot, dark spot. Blade of grass, grand of sand anything, this becomes your focal Pont, not the ball. Moe says he never looked to the ball he always looks under it.
Your optics is also very important in your set up. When you obtain the correct set up position your head will be approximately 4 in. behind your ball position, in other words your head will be somewhere over your trail knee. In this position your lead shoulder is about one to 2 in. forward of your ball at address. This puts the bottom of the swing about 1 to 2” forward of the ball. Remember we as Natural Golfers swing around our lead shoulder not around our eyes. Your shoulders and your spinal column or connected by ball at will not move end are out their relationship to each other. Your shoulders can move up and down and back and forth but they can not move in and out from your spine. With this being so, if you allow your head to move forward on your forward swing then your lead shoulder must move with it. This will have you swinging on a dissenting plain with a hutted club face because the bottom of the swing will move forward with your head. Your optics by has always been but the center of your world, your hand and eye coordination put your eyes in the center of your world. Your eyes are not the center of your Natural Golf single plane swing. They are only a focal point that keeps the center of your swing, your lead shoulder, in position. This eye position will also help you to look under the ball through out your swing. A good drill to achieve this is to spray pant a line about 3 ft. long on the ground and another one about 4 inches to the rear of the first line. Place your ball on the 1st line and keep your eyes over the 2nd line as you hit balls off the 1st. line. This will train you to keep your head back over your trail knee the way you were thought. So as you may see your optics are very important to your golf swing. So next time you play golf remember your optics and the role they played in hitting the golf ball so you can enjoy this great game of NATURAL GOLF.
