The perfect golf swing- by Rahul Bajaj

A few months ago I gave up playing full time professional golf and got in to teaching golf to juniors, amateurs or anyone who felt I could help their golf game.

Over my career in competitive golf which spanned about 13 years, the one thing I realized was that golf like any other sport is a game and everyone has their own way of playing it. Some people rely on their short games to make a great score and some others who rely on their hitting prowess to do the same. Essentially, each one is getting the ball in the hole in the least number of shots, and that’s all that counts. The age old saying holds true here, “ A scorecard bears no pictures.”.

I see tons of people getting carried away by the information overload on the internet, trying to make their golf swings look perfect. Just because some guy spoke about it doesn’t mean the same holds for your golf swing, or your body or for your needs. I as a coach would be fooling myself to think that my student who is a professional golfer and you who is a club golfer with a job to run your house should swing the same way. The pro’s job, mind you is to play golf and his needs vs a guy who plays for some beers over the weekend are totally different. Moreover, his time and effort involved are way more than the average club golfer. To add to this, should a 6 year old kid and the 16 year old aspiring professional be working on the same thing? I don’t think so. There are a variety of reasons, firstly we need a natural instinct in sports and we will kill that if we get too technical too early in the day, also a child’s golf swing will change from time to time as he himself is growing on literally a monthly basis, unlike an adult.

Think about it, if there were one perfect golf swing, wouldn’t the swings of the top 50 golfers in the world look the same? Choi Hosung, Matt Kucchar, Jim Furyk, Thaworn Wiratchant, Matthew Wolf and Jeev Milka Singh, all of these have highly idiosyncratic golf swings, so which one is correct and which one is wrong? Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, the big hitters of this century, both have a bowed wrist on top of the backswing. A bowed wrist on top is incorrect, try telling them that! There are a 100 ways to swing a golf club, and if you were to get on you tube its nothing but everyone’s interpretation of Ben Hogan’s golf swing. I mean how can one golf swing have a 100 interpretations.

The last few months of teaching have been nothing short of interesting. Players come to me trying to do a variety of things they pick up from YouTube or Instagram, or just some move they are trying to do because someone else is doing it. Golf, like any other sport is highly individualistic and immense focus on technique only tightens the muscles and the brain. The result of a choked brain and tight muscles is nothing but bad shots and no feel whatsoever. Feel, is a very important word in golf. Feel is best in natural and very very hard to develop in a highly technical golf swing.

Next time you get on the driving range or the course why don’t you try just giving your mind a break and just enjoy hitting the ball from point A to point B. See if it makes you enjoy the game more, see if it gives your swing the freedom that any sport deserves. When you run, do you think about how your foot falls on the ground or you just run from one place to another and back, trying to beat your own time or distance the previous day. Try and beat the score you shot the last time you played. There is no perfect golf swing only a repeatable one.  

Free yourselves and enjoy the game!

Written by- Rahul Bajaj, Asian Games Medalist and Professional Golfer and Coach. 

He can be contacted via 9999687988 and rahulbajajgolf@gmail.com, Instagram @rahulbajajgolf