20. One of the problems of swing analysis is not only fragmenting the technique into many bits and pieces but also losing sight of its purpose

One of the problems of swing analysis is not only fragmenting the technique into many bits and pieces but also losing sight of its purpose. It's like studying an object with an electron microscope; you get in to its structure so closely that you can't make out what it is you are looking at. It is what some people call getting caught up in the thick of thin things whereby we miss out on the bigger picture.

This week, I want to give you an image that relates to the bigger picture. Set yourself up to the ball and imagine that your head is poked through the hub of a 12ft diameter cart wheel that is sat on your ball and angled so that it rests on your shoulders. This should give you three focal points wrapped up in one image.

The first is the body can now be seen as a pivotal point that rotates about itself as the clubhead (second) is swung on a defined arc, this is a point often missed by over analysis of the human involvement (remember that the whole purpose of the action is to swing the clubhead) and thirdly, the defined image of the arc leads to a completion of swing or follow through. Run this sequence through your minds eye and think in terms of the ball just happening to be in the way.

It is a point well worth remembering that if you are after a swing thought, make it a thought that embraces the whole thing. A good swing has a feeling of wholeness, not several separate pieces that are all too often out of sync.

I will leave you with the following quote by a deceased notable whose name escapes me at the moment, with my own addition added on. "You can search the heavens with a telescope and not find god, peer into the human brain with a microscope and not find the soul and analyze the pages of the instructional golf book and not find the swing".