Golf Swing Myths:
- Move off the ball
- Resist with the lower body
- Keep your head down
- Swing slowly
- Roll your wrist through the shot
- Keep your feet and legs quiet
- Keep your left heel down
- Pull down from the top
- All you need is a pitching wedge for the short game
- You can’t swing faster
As a Junior golfer growing up in the 90s, many of us waited for the latest major golf magazine to arrive in the mail or tuned into the newly created golf channel to pick up some swing tips.
Years later, many of these swing tips qualify for swing myths that not only do not help, but actually might make you worse!
This isn’t to blame anyone because it was the best knowledge at the time, but moving forward, understanding these swing myths is important to ensure you aren’t chasing the wrong swing tip or swing approach in this awesome game called golf.
Below, we dive into the biggest swings myths and give you who we believe are the best instructors to follow. Technology tools like trackman, high speed camera and other advances have helped make it more clear on what is actually taking place in the golf swing.
Top 10 Golf Swing Myths
Update: We find that many golfers are confused with their overall approach due to many of these golf swing myths floating around and passed on from golfer to golfer or in major publications.
Myth #1: Move off the ball
You might have heard “shift your weight” or “move off the ball”. The traditional golf instructor had the golfer moving his head almost back to the right knee. The thought was to get a big turn, so you can move into and through the shot. Another comon phrase was “load up on your back leg”
Reality: Stay more centered
If you study the best swings of all time, the majority keep their head fairly centered and straight their right leg at the top of the backswing, which allows the golfer to get a full turn.
Head movement in golf swing (Complete overview)
Myth #2: Resist with the lower body
For years I tried to keep my hips from turning and to create the “x” factor by turning my shoulders. We watched Jim Mclean teach the “x” factor and how this was going to help us produce more distance.
Reality: Turn those hips
Watch the hip turn that Jack Nicklaus and John Daily get in their swing. The newer wave of golfers on the PGA Tour make a complete turn with their shoulders and their hips, which helps generate the most power. You see the right leg straight, the hips turn and the golfer create plenty of club head speed. Plus it is a safer movement and keeps the golfer more injury free.
How the hips work in the golf swing!
Myth #3: Keep your head down
I can visually see the high handicap golfer keep their head down well past the time the club has exited the hitting zone and the body should have been going with it, including the head.
Reality: The head moves up and down
The head actually can move up and down and follows your shoulders as your exit the impact time in your golf swing. Keeping the head down can actually help stall your body, leading to a flipping of the wrist.
Myth #4: Swing slowly
You may have learned “low and slow” in the backswing. This actually robs you of distance by creating a poor tempo and not generating the speed that you can.
Reality: 3:1 Tempo
Fortunately people like John Novosel and his son studied film to see that the best golfers have a 3:1 ratio in their swing. This could be 27:9, 24:8, 21:7 and even as fast as 18:6. This is the number of frames per second in the backswing compared to the downswing. Many amateur golfers today are measured with a backswing in the 30s range. Speed up that golf backswing and gain 10-20 yards in one practice session.
Learn more about Tour Tempo! It can c!hange your game
Myth #5: Roll your wrist through the shot
The teaching was to have your toe faced up when the club reached the first part in the backswing where it was parallel to the ground. From there on the down swing, you turn the toe of the club through the shot and roll the wrist for a draw shot in golf. This destroy club face stability and relies heavily on the timing of a golf swing.
Reality: Stabilize the clubface
The club face can stay more square to the arch and the movement of the body squares up the face. Or you can get a slapping like motion with your rear arm to help keep the face square through the hitting zone and be less dependent on timing.
Understanding the Ball Flight Laws can change your game!
Myth #6: Keep your feet and legs quiet
The thought was you were going to create stability and accuracy through keep those legs and feet quiet. Have you ever seen Jack Nicklause or Ben Hogan? They are driving with their legs.
Reality: Be athletic
The best golfers move their legs and driver with their legs and feet through the swing. Today’s modern golfer will actually turn their feet to increase swing speed while maintaining the club face stability from the rotation in the golf swing.
Myth #7: Keep your left heel down
For years, as part of the keep your hips quiet movement, the golfer started to keep their front foot planted. The great golfers of the past, lifted that heel and then plant it again in the dowsing swing.
Reality: Use it for extra speed
Lifting that front heel actually helps the golfer produce more speed through getting a bigger turn in the backswing and through the ball. Brandel Chamblee wrote a book about what the great do in their swings and felt that his career was altered by being taught the front heel down, hip restriction golf swing sometime after he had started college golf in hopes of finding great consistency.
Myth #8: Pull down from the top
Not the most devastating golf myth, but the current teaching is to allow the arms to almost go weightless or stay at the top for a brief moment as the golfer starts the downswing. THe downside of pulling too hard from the top is that the golf can become too steep.
Reality: Leave the arms up
Let the arms stay back for a split second as you squat, turn and then explode through the ball.
George Gankas can help with this!
Myth #9: All you need is a pitching wedge for the short game
There were golf instructors that tried to always teach using less loft or playing the bump and run.
Reality: Use the Lob Wedge
If you want to get a high level of playing golf, learn to use a lob wedge. W ith fast, firm, undulated greens being common in the game today, the ability to lift a lofted chip that can stop using some height is essential. A golfer like Phil Mickelson will use a lob wedge on just about every chip shot around the green and can change the loft through ball positioning and hand positioning.
Myth #10: You can’t swing faster
For years, people just marvelled at those that could swing with high end speed. Bryson DeChambeua has blow this myth out of the water as have people who have trained with overspeed training like SuperSpeed golf.
Reality: You can increase your swing speed 5-8% really quick
I believe many used to believe, well this is just how fast I can swing.
Recent training tools have started to change many minds. We have seen many of the professional golfers get longer and longer with their tee shots as a result of additional swing speed. You will find many touring pros using the SuperSpeed System, which I highly recommend.
As soon as the golfer starts to try to get more power by swinging harder on the course, they will often lose consistency.. Instead the golfer should train for additional distance and speed in specific training sessions.
Let’s face it, we all want to hit the ball further! The good news…there is a way to increase your driver distance that doesn’t include spending $500 on a new driver.
You can train for speed and get some amazing results with SuperSpeed Golf. It worked for me and I believe it can work for many (especially if you make a commitment and actually use it)
SuperSpeed Golf is one option to increase your swing speed through a science based overspeed training approach. In simple terms, you train by swinging a lighter club (20%) faster than you swing your driver. Over time, by training at a higher speed, your mind and body feel safe to swing that fast with your normal driver, resulting in an increase in driver swing speed.
The SuperSpeed System provides 3 different weighted sticks and takes the golfer through a training protocol every other day for about 15 minutes. The golfer can expect to see a 5-8% increase in swing speed, resulting in 20-30 yards for most golfers. The great news is that the 5-8% can be expected as early as the first training session. The additional speed will become more permanent after about 30-60 days of training.
My own experience has been an increase of 7-10 miles per hour on average from between 98-101 all the way up to 106-109. My goal is to hit the PGA Tour average of 113 mph in the coming months. I will continue to train every other day and watch in amazement as I am hitting drivers longer now than ever before!
Phil Mickelson has been known to increase his swing speed in the past year or so and is close to 120 miles per hour in his swing speed. There are potential results for golfers of all ability levels and age!
Check the current price on SuperSpeed Golf System, here!
| Original Swing Speed | After 4-6 Weeks | New Carry Distance | Total Distance |
| 95 | 102 | 245 | 265 |
| 100 | 108 | 259 | 279 |
| 105 | 113 | 271 | 291 |
| 110 | 118 | 283 | 303 |
My Secret To Golf Improvement
Let’s face it, in order to get really good at golf, we must practice frequently. About three years ago, I made the leap and invested in a golf simulator build for my garage. I went with a SkyTrak Launch Monitor and the TGC software and can now play over 100,000 courses including Augusta, Pebble Beach, Bethpage Black, Whistling Straits. St. Andrews and many other of the top 100 courses in the world.
This golf simulator setup, which is more affordable that you might imagine, has been a game changer. I can now play golf everyday of the year regardless of rain, snow, cold weather or time of day. I can practice or play rounds of golf. I can stand in the 11th fairway at Augusta and with the auto-rewind feature I am able to practice my approach shots from various differences.
The combination of a Launch Monitor and SuperSpeed golf is impressive and a game changer!
It is worth checking out through Rain or Shine Golf as they offer some incredible packages along with financing offers that are difficult to beat.
Some direct links to Rain or Shine Golf for pricing and financing:
Take Action – What You Can Do Today to Get Better
What does this mean for you? I believe in the following recipe to get better:
1 – Improve your motion in the golf swing by identifying a golf instructor. Here are some options:
Here is a list of golf instructors that we have reviewed:
2 – Train to swing faster and improve your swing speed. Here are some options:
Looking to gain more Speed and Distance in your swing. Two Options:
3 – Understand course strategy and work to break through your next barrier. Here is a series on breaking through:
We have provided guides on how to break 100, 90, 80 and 70. Check out more below, if interested.
4 – Practice Frequently
Did you know that I build a golf simulator in my garage and have played over 500 rounds of golf on my SkyTrak system? It has been a game changer and one worth checking out. Here are some of my other posts on golf simulators frequently asked questions:
- Is a Golf Simulator Worth It?
- How to Build a Golf Simulator?
- What is the Best Golf Simulator?
- Golf Simulator Accessories?
- How to Build a Golf Simulator for under $7000
- Top 11 Reasons to Buy a SkyTrak
- How to Build a Golf Simulator for Under $1000
- Why Build A Golf Simulator?
- What Space is Needed?
- Can A Golf Simulator Improve My Game?
- How Much Does A Golf Simulator Cost?
- Don’t Forget to Check out our 15 best golf swings of all time.