The golf swing has been a confusing motion to describe because most golf instruction to this point has been based on what is seen. But the bigger question is “What do golfers do to produce what we see?”
And if our goal is to produce a look without considering the driving forces that create the visual representation, we can fall victim to misinformation.
There are a few common, practical examples. One is the idea of the straight lead arm. When we watch the tour players, their lead arm appears straight at the top of their swing. But the way the professional achieves the position is through, in large part, the ability to rotate the ribcage. So what you see – the lead arm straight – has more to do with the professional’s ability to rotate than any deliberate effort on their part to lock their arm into a fixed position.
Another example: The belief that the head must stay still during the swing. Once again, the accomplished player’s head appears still due to the way his or her body moves during the swing, tilting and extending their upper body during the backswing while pushing with their feet side to side during the downswing. The best players, even when focusing on keeping a steady head (Jack Nicklaus comes to mind), is in the context of creating sound athletic motion.
Lastly, an established swing thought is to stay down through impact. Professionals are pushing into the ground with a tremendous amount of force – 1.5 times body weight for the longest hitters – producing a vertical reaction force that travels through the body and out to the clubhead. So, in essence, pros are pushing themselves upward and backward during the impact interval. The downward appearance happens due to rotations in other directions caused by the upward push through the lead leg.
The moral of the story is we need to keep an open mind about what the golf swing is. Too often we attempt to describe the motion on a surface level and understandably so, since we trust what we see. But invisible forces drive and therefore create the motion we see, requiring the help of teaching professionals who acknowledge there’s more happening in the golf swing than meets the eye.
Joe Rocha is the PGA Professional at Golf Country in Middleton. He is the New England PGA’s Teacher of the Year for 2025. Joe can be reached at jrochagolf@gmail.com
