Easiest Swing
Time to challenge the modern basics
Golf tuition has become big business, with tons of articles written, video clips on various social media platforms readily available. There are various forms of technology aimed to get data on your swing that can be analysed in minute detail.
The majority of modern swing techniques require golfers to be young, extremely athletic, gym users such are the physical demands/punishment being asked of the players.
The actual swing is broken down into minute detail, where the players has to achieve certain positions. You see players contorting their bodies in vain attempts to achieve the supposed ideals.
It is no wonder that golfers start their rounds racked with tension and fear, finishing their rounds tired and have all sorts of aches and pains? Is it no wonder so many top golfers have their careers curtailed due to injuries? How many more majors could Tiger have won had it not been for his constant battle with serious injuries?
A golf swing is not meant to be something that causes harm to the body, it is a tension free movement of the body that swings a club and contacts the ball effortlessly.
It's time for golfers to look at the alternative way to play - it's time for your Easiest Swing.
Easiest Swing
Brian Sparks, founder of the Easiest Swing, 17/6/1951 - 4/02/2022, turned pro at East Berks GC in 1966 and played the tour from 69-72 before moving to The Downshire. He then worked as Head Pro at Barton on Sea, Staverton Park, Stoneham before moving to France in 1987 to become Head coach at Sully sur Loire, Chateau des Sept Tours, Sable Solesmes. After that he became General Manager at Les Bordes and The Lambourne Club before returning to England in 2006 to coach at Manston Golf Centre. Brian stayed there for 5 years before moving to Canterbury GC as the final home for his wonderful coaching.
By challenging ingrained beliefs and liberating golfers from unnecessary restrictions. Brian Sparks was able to make golfers believe in their own capabilities again and find an easier and more enjoyable way to play the game.
The 3 Deadly Don'ts
There are three indoctrinated misconceptions that hinder golfers from achieving a tension free swing and are the direct cause of many faults and problems that golfers experience.
Tension is the root of all evil when it comes to a golf swing, it steals your feel and your potential.
Keep The Head Down, Head Still
This is one of the most common faults and yet you hear so many golfers advising each other to "keep your head down", "keep your eye firmly on the ball", "you lifted your head", you even see pros holding the head of their pupils to stop movement.
The action of keeping the head as still as possible puts incredible strain on the neck, which can often lead to disc issues while restrict free movement.
Keep The Lead Arm
Straight
Golfers have been told that to hit the ball further, they need to create as wide an arc as possible. Also, they have been told to hit it straighter, the club must be swung back and through impact on as straight a line as possible.
Both actions create damaging tension in the arm, shoulder, neck and upper back.
Keep The Lead Heel Planted
It is wrongly believed that the power of a golf swing is the result of creating a coiled action in the backswing, i.e. turning the upper torso against a resisting lower half of the body, where the feet remained planted firmly on the ground and the hips rotation is heavily restricted.
The stress and strain put on the lower body are immense, with the lower back taking the brunt of the forces, resulting to major lower back injuries.
the big six
Through endless hours of studying/ teaching golfers, Brian realised that good swings had six basic similarities/ basics. In order to help golfers put these basics into a golf swing, while teaching in France, Brian came up with simple move called "La danse du golf", shown below.
Doing this simple for five minutes daily will help to embed the feel of movement needed in a tension free swing and is the foundation of your authentic swing
Turning
As the golfer stands to the side of the ball and target line, the golfer can not swing straight up and down a straight line, so the swing needs to be a relaxed, rotational, tension free movement of the torso around the spine. Allow the lead heel to lift and the hips to turn along with the rest of the torso. back and turn back to the finish free of restrictions.
Weight shift
When trying to throw a stone, you shift your weight, first away from the target then back towards it. The same applies to a golf swing, as the body rotates back, with the swing of the golf club, the weight shifts to the trail heel, then shifts to the heel of the lead foot as the body rotates to finish. Allowing the head to move will ease the ability to shift the weight both on the back and through swing.
Rhythm
People have their own natural rhythm, which can be seen when they walk, move and talk. The swing has to follow that same rhythm, without any sudden rushing, jerking in the tension free movement that allows the weight of the clubhead to swing in the most natural way possible.
Balance
Golfers need to stay in balance in order that they make true contact with the ball. If they are falling all over the place, normally due to excessive effort and force trying to hit the ball, they will not be able to return the club to the ball effectively. Allowing the clubhead to swing with an easy rhythm, the body can finish the swing in a full relaxed position
Coordination
Good coordination ensures that the body parts move in the correct sequence within the overall movement and be coordinated with the swing of the clubhead. Tension within any part of the movement will impede coordination. Tension is often the result of the three don'ts that restrict the body's free movement and it also the result of too much physical effort in the swing.
Souplesse
Souplesse is French word that does not have a simple translation in English. The definition is:
flexibility, suppleness, versatility, smoothness, pliability, litheness, nimbleness, springiness, limberness.
It is the glue that ties a golf swing together tension free.
My back story
I started playing golf in the 70's at South Herts Golf Club in Totteridge, North London where the head professional was Dai Rees, a winner of many prestigious tournaments and Ryder Cup captain. As with players of that era, he had a full, relaxed swing and played his shots with a lot of feel and freedom. I was very fortunate as a junior to caddy regularly for him and although he never gave me an actual lesson, he often watched me play and practice. He was generous with his observations and advice, encouraging my free turning relaxed swing of the club, and with this swing I started to play golf to a very good standard, naturally, without technical thoughts. The idea of turning professional became very appealing; the people I started to play with changed and with that came the relentless advice on changes "I needed to make" to my swing to improve and become a successful tour player.
Alas, the folly of youth took hold, and I listened, I changed & I practiced. I listened more, I changed more & I practiced more. Soon I was down a deep rabbit hole, studying numerous books/ methods on how to swing a golf club - Ben Hogan's 5 Lessons, Square to Square, Lee Trevino's Swing My Way, Jack Nicklaus' Golf My Way, The Golf Machine, Bernard Cooke's Golf: A Practical Guide, early David Leadbetter (pre Faldo). I lost my natural, relaxed, authentic swing and with it my golf game and my enjoyment. Golf became hard work, a grind, painful. I was brainwashed into attempting to model my swing on what was seen as the modern, athletic way, i.e. left heel planted on the ground on the backswing, turning the shoulders to 90+' bracing the weight into the right thigh at the same resisting with the hips and pushing my hands as far from my body with a straight left arm at the top of the swing creating a wide coiled backswing, full of tension. The downswing was started by driving the legs while with my back to the target pulling down with my arms, my head had to stay rigidly in place, the front shoulder would drive under the chin with the aim of swinging the club straight down the line through impact. My right heel would remain on the ground with a rotation onto the inside edge while my arms swung through past shoulder height before letting my head turn towards the target. My hands would finish high with my body in a reversed C position. My mind would be absolutely jammed solid with swing thoughts - how I managed to take the club back, I do not know!
Amazingly, I managed when I got things "right", to hit a very long, high and straight golf ball, but more often than not I would be unhappy with the quality of strike and look to fix the fault. The physical demands, the stress and strain I put my body under as a result of swinging this way eventually took it's toll. I was playing in a tournament in France, waiting on tee of a long par 3 over a lake and it was my turn to play, I bent over to tee my ball up and wham I could not move, my back was in agony. Somehow I managed to chip my way for the rest of the round. This was the start of many years of back pain that forced me to stop playing golf professionally, and forcing an extended break away from playing. From a MRI I had done later, it was discovered that I had two bulging discs in my lower back and two bulging discs in my neck, which were as a direct result of the "swing techniques" I used as a young aspiring professional.
Roll on some years later, and by employing the teachings of Brian Sparks and the Easiest Swing, I have been able to play golf again, but for the first time in over 40 years, pain free! It takes time to unpick and unlearn the errors of the past, but the rewards and results are fantastic, giving me the opportunity to play golf again like I did all those years ago, with feel, freedom and utter enjoyment.