Greetings Golfers,

Yesterday, a former baseball player complained to me about how his baseball swing screwed up his golf swing. A few hours later, a former tennis player complained to me about how her tennis strokes screwed up her golf swing.

Actually, all 3 swings/strokes have the same fundamentals.

The biggest problem that people have with all 3 swings is that they over use their shoulders. The shoulder move feels strong – bit it’s too much of a hit and not enough of a swing. And that is a big problem.

The shoulder move in tennis is a chop and not a stroke. A good tennis stroke is a topspin shot – the player starts the stroke from knee height and swings up on the ball while rotating the wrists.

Same with the golf swing. The bad swing is an over-the-top chop at the ball – a shoulder swing. The good golf swing is from in-to-out … and feels like a topspin tennis stroke with the hands rotating the club which produces hook spin.

The bad baseball swing is a shoulder move that pulls the ball left and hits down on the ball and produces pop-ups. The good baseball swing moves up and the hands rotate through the swing.

In all 3 sports, the good swing is from low-to-high, the legs shift the weight to the front foot while the hips turn, and the upper body stays back.

Ted Williams did it correctly … Ben Hogan studied and learned a lot from Ted’s baseball swing. Bjorn Borg’s topspin tennis stroke is a helpful image too.

A good swing is a good swing – whether it’s golf, baseball, or tennis.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com