20 May, 2008
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By PGA professional Paul Wilby
Richard Finch's Irish Open win will always be remembered for his unscheduled dip in the river on the final hole, but PGA professional Paul Wilby, Director of Golf at Ipswich's Fynn Valley Golf Club saw the key to Finch's win was in his swing. While others were losing theirs - a common fault among amateurs - the Englishman never did.
Ignoring what happened down the final hole, the real focus was on his swing. He has a short compact back swing, which is a very good. It is also an example of what is a good thing to do when under pressure - keep it short.
Most amateurs, especially when under pressure, start to swing too far back and the problem with this is a lack of control, which can result in the ball being hit into all sorts of positions which are unrecoverable from.
Finch just kept it the same and in the case of amateurs a short back swing is a good thing to try and work on. The belief is that a huge swing will carry the ball miles, well it's more likely that the ball won't go the distance at all because so much can go wrong the longer your back swing.
The thought is it gives it more power, well it doesn't! The important element is making a good shoulder turn and the less you move your arms the better, which is why a short back swing works. The shorter swing is all about accuracy because without it you don't have a lot at all.
In terms of where the swing should be going, imagine there's a clock face and swing back to 11 o'clock. That's a great place to go. Don't go any shorter because then there's a danger of hurrying through at impact - it's a question of not taking it to too extremes. But most amateurs go the opposite way and can see the club out of the corner of their eye - which is a case of swinging too far.
The ideal solution is to go and get a lesson from your PGA professional, ideally on video. Unless you see your swing there's no real correlation between what it looks like and how it actually feels - they are worlds apart. Watching people's faces when they actually see their swing tells you everything.
That reaction is the key to making changes and establishing the right swing - especially for those pressure shots. It's what we call 'seeing is believing'.
Paul Wilby is Director of Golf at Fynn Valley Golf Club - call 01473 785267 or go to fynn-valley.co.uk