Easy, just pretend the ball isn’t there

The first time I saw Tiger Woods unleash his golf swing was while watching coverage of the 1997 US Masters, which he won – the first of so far 14 major titles.

I was amazed. I was in awe of his ability to whip the club around his torso in a blink of an eye … as if the ball was not even there. And then I thought to myself: “Why hasn’t any golf pro, or golfing mate, taught me this yet?”

Of course, I was referring to making a golf swing and treating the ball as if it wasn’t there. I thought this was a great golf swing secret that only I knew.

Indeed, I thought I was on my way to becoming a golf swing guru. Of course, this concept is quite a well-known theme among many teaching pros.

Among them is Dr Jim Suttie, the 2000 PGA National Teacher of the Year, who analysed this phenomenon in an article in the Naples News.

The "hit" impulse

He calls it the “hit” impulse and highlights it as the reason a perfect practice golf swing is rarely replicated when a ball has to be hit.

“The hit impulse can be described as the golfer's desire to hit at an object instead of simply swinging through an area,” he says.

Dr Suttie says that good golfers would make “incidental” contact with the ball, which means the ball just happens to make contact with the golf club’s sweet spot as you make your golf swing.

He doesn’t offer any physical remedies to fix the “hit” impulse. However, he does emphasise a psychological approach, telling the tale of a great Canadian pro Moe Norman, who, when asked what he focused on when making a golf swing, replied as follows.

If the ball fits

“Don’t know, don’t know, just trying to fit my two-inch ball on that 50-yard fairway. I think my ball will fit on that fairway.”

Now, if only we could all think like Moe ... and swing like Tiger did in 1997.

Picture: Tiger Woods at the 97 Masters (augusta.com)

New app to measure golf swing speed

How fast is your golf swing? If you have an iPhone, this is your chance to find out.

Marvel Apps, from Huntington Woods, Michigan, has unveiled its iSwingSpeed1.0 for iOS, which, when used on your iPhone, can measure the speed of your golf swing either in mph or km/h.

In the previous blog post, we mentioned how guru golf swing coach Butch Harmon said the pros swing a club at more than 110 mph, going all the way up to 200 mph.

According to their press release, Marvel said the user operates the app by placing their iPhone flat on the ground, approximately 27 inches behind the ball in the swing path of the club. This is about six phone lengths away.

The machine's built-in mic measures the speed of the swing to an accuracy of plus or minus four mph up to 140 mph. There is no need to set anything, the speed is displayed automatically after every swing.

The app uses proprietary algorithm to function and registers the two loudest sounds of a golf swing - as the club passes over the iPhone mic and when it strikes the ball - to calculate speed.

It works indoors or outdoors, though accuracy is reduced on windy days.

Main features of the app are:
* Very simple to set up
* Large, easy-to-read speed numbers
* Improves golf game by providing instant feedback
* Accurate to +/-4MPH under ideal conditions
* Operates automatically, no reset required
* Swing speed can assist golfers in shot and club selection
* Determine optimum swing speed for best distance
* iSwingSpeed v2.0 for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPad available December 2010

Barnes hits 17 greens in KL first round

Ricky Barnes was the next best thing in world golf less than a decade ago. He had a powerful swing, helped the US to the Eisenhower Trophy in 2002 and had the body of a prize fighter.

But the very reason he was hailed as a future star - his power-packed swing - engineered a downfall that left him in the Nationwide Tour for five years.



Now, the 2002 US Amateur National champion is ready to come back and he proved this by taking the first-round lead at the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic at the Mines Resort in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Barnes has tasted glory in Malaysia before. It was where he led the US to that Eisenhower triumph. And to show that he is taking more control of his swing, he recorded 17 greens in regulation as he shot eight-under-par 63 to lead by one over Ryan Moore.

Earlier this year, Barnes spoke to golf.com about how he has tried to tone down his "athletic" golf swing so he is able to give himself a chance at the green on his second shot.

"I've been trying to make sure that my lower body is moving with my upper body. By getting my upper and lower body more synchronized, it's helpd my iron play and drives, which has taken a lost of stress off my short game," he was quoted as saying.

He also talked about strengthening his lower body during workouts.

"I'm mostly trying to strengthen my legs," he told golf.com in an April interview. "(My legs) are a lot skinner proportionately to my upper body. I'm trying to get a good base under myself.

"I have a lot of lower body action, so if I'm able to maintain the strength in that prt of my body with upper body, then everything is going to match up in the swing. If the ratio is 70/30, then I'm going to have a tough time timing my downswing."

South African Ernie Els was four strokes behind on 67 in the first-ever PGA Tour-sanctioned event in Southeast Asia along with four others, including England's Luke Donald, while another Ryder Cup player, Rickie Fowler was a farther stroke adrift.