I went through this about a year ago and it's a complete mental issue. You have to train your brain differently in order to create the change, you have to train your brain to not care what contact is like or where the ball is, or how far the ball goes; train your brain to not care that other people think you are the worst golfer to grace that driving range 'ever'. Make the practice swing with the ball in the way - it doesn't matter if you shank, top, fat or hit the ball with the back of the club-face..."MAKE THE PRACTICE SWING AT ALL COSTS!". Spend 10 range sessions doing exactly that and only after that can you switch back to "mildly" caring about contact.

You said the key words at 8:06. You said, "... it comes down to your intention ... " and that's absolutely correct. Most everyone is trying to swing in the direction they want the ball to go and that simply is not how a golf club works. The golf club is two levers (the shaft and clubhead) and those levers redirect energy which sends the ball 90º left of the direction of force. In your practice swing you're looking in the direction you're swinging but in your real swing you're looking at the ball while still attempting to swing toward the target. This is why most people tend to look up while swinging - they look in the direction they're attempting to swing. This is why great ball strikers keep their head down - because they're looking in the direction they're swinging - and it's not toward the target. Also, in your practice swing you're loading up the weight of the club by keeping it outside or above the swing plane then allowing it to drop below and then onto the delivery plane which creates more speed through torque. The key is you have to be relaxed to do this and most people in a real golf swing are very tense. Also, people relate time with speed - thinking the faster they perform the action the faster the club will be moving, whereas in your practice swing you couldn't care less how long it takes to perform. It's funny that people move very naturally in practice and they don't even realize it. You're trying to recreate your practice swing but you're having a hard time because you're trying to figure out what your body does naturally, without thinking, but you're thinking about it. It's like trying to figure out what you're thinking about when you're not thinking. Butch Harmon used to say, "You have to hit the ball as if you're on a beach hitting into the ocean. You can't miss!" I made a video asking, "If you didn't hit the ball in a direction, what direction would it go?" My point was you don't have to steer the ball to go that way if it's going to go that way anyway. Finally, the idea of the "swing plane" might be one of the worst things a golfer can learn. In your practice swing you couldn't care less about the swing plane but when you strike a ball it's there in the back of your mind controlling what you do. If you were asked to crush an aluminum can with your club, the idea of swing plane would never enter your mind. If the can smashed crookedly you'd simply approach it from a slightly different angle until you got it to crush straight but still you'd never think of a "swing plane," you'd just think about angle of approach and golf is no different. Also, you'd be swinging toward the can because you'd never expect the can to go flying 300 yards away. I realized this when I saw a guy with a horrible swing perform a beautiful and perfect swing when he was angry and decided to destroy a plastic cup. Sorry, I got a bit long winded here. I was just writing a script about this very thing about an hour ago.

@golfolie64

8 ай бұрын

I miss your vidéos..where were you ?

@adamseidel9780

8 ай бұрын

It’s clearly intention. In Brandon’s case, it’s also the challenge of making swing changes. He’s able to take the risk of trying his new moves he’s working on that he doesn’t have total muscle memory with yet whereas in his real swing he knows he has to actually hit the ball and tries to let his body do what it wants which reverts back to the old swing.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Love the can analogy! Thx!

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Spot on

Hi Brendan, another fantastic video. I do think it that your eyes are looking at completely different places in your practice swing than you real. Thanks for these great videos.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Very true!

I was at the driving range about 20 years ago and out of the blue there was no difference between my practice swing and my real swing it was unbelievable. I was hitting the ball solid almost every shot. I went home that night thinking I was going to be scratch soon, I was a 9 handicap at the time. Needless to say the next day it was gone and never returned.

@danarcotta1283

8 ай бұрын

I just had the same experience. I mixed it up with several different clubs and targets and I couldn't miss. I played 2 days later and wasn't hitting many crispy irons🤔

@lencavallaro6781

8 ай бұрын

Sounds like my warm up followed by my round yesterday

@mooner5249

8 ай бұрын

I’m so relieved that I’m not the only who goes through this…..I can fade, draw etc do anything I want on the range before a round then struggle to break 100

Great video, Brendon. I'm glad you finally got around to publishing this. Martin Hall said that the clubface is about 20 to 30 degrees open in a practice swing. Also, practice swings have a different low point than a strike swing because in a practice swing, one is not concerned with where the club is bottoming out. Finally, in some cases, your practice swing is actually slower than your strike swing. Here is what one of the local pros told me about me trying to hit my ball with my practice swing: Which swing, the practice or the real swing, is giving you the best results?

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

He’s right. Just a little awareness of the face and you can correct that tho. The face being open and sensing that cause the flip release to 95 percent of golfers

So I've written a number of long, detailed online posts detailing this phenomenon specifically. And I tend to agree with you more than what I hear from most coaches. I think they brush it off because it is such a hard fix. They'd rather fix on more tangible fundamentals than something that seem illusory and takes a long time to fix. And some people may never actually bridge that gap. But its absolutely necessary in order to progress. From my experience this comes down to 2 things, the "hit" impulse and timing. When you place a ball in front of you, from the very start of your swing your body is more tense because it is bracing for the eventually hit or more specifically a mishit. You can swing freely and properly in a practice swing because there is no penalty for being off by even a couple centimeters, but if you miss the center of the face even slightly with a ball, your hands and body feel it. Timing is critically important because if you change your sequence in the downswing even the smallest amount, from top to impact happens so fast there is no time for recovery. I bet if you synced up your practice swing and real swing the real swing is fractionally faster every time. I've been working on this problem for awhile and found a few ways to fix it on the range but haven't been able to carry it over to the course yet.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

I am still convinced the magic is within us and the air swing matters.

Great question! I think that the focus of a practice swing is on the feel of the club head/momentum and what effect that has on the body's balance as you swing. With a ball in the way your body is adding in the effect that contact with the ball will have on this system which has to change the equation. This begs the question are they actually 2 different tasks...

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Absolutely

I’ve pinpointed that my practice swing vs my real swing simply comes down to a difference in setup. I think you’re doing the same thing. I stand a little taller, with the invisible ball closer to me on my practice swing. I’ll then stand slightly too far away from the ball on my real swing. If you’re “reaching” for the ball too much at setup, it’s impossible to keep the hip line back. You would literally hit a toe shank. Set up slightly closer to the ball, and things become much easier. Milo even mentioned this at the beginning. I think he nailed it!

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Yeah ball position is a big difference

Noticed on the good swing trail foot stays flat/down longer until the club pulls you up. Someone gave me that tip years ago, still working on it lol . Nice swing :)

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Absolutely

Brendon, another thing I notice in your practice swing is you allow your head to freely rotate/swivel to target (similar to Duval, Annika and Stenson). I also do this in my practice swings (unintentionally) but not in my real swings, where I continue to look at the ball until after impact. I wonder how this affects the swing/rotation/pivot?

@arjanpetersen

8 ай бұрын

I do both in my practice swing and real swing. I’ve always turned my head. Two things: 1. I have trained myself to keep looking to the ball … I tend to have more shaft lean. Because I stay behind the ball better. Hands go in front. 2. When you turn your head …. You need to make sure that you don’t turn and move your head lateral to the target. Technically it shouldn’t differ too much. Tons of pros doing this, and they turn great.

Brendon, you are your own best coach! Go with what is correct for your body, and keep up the great work!

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

I think so. Thx!

Worth more research in my estimation. Look at the tilts too as it’s more difficult to identify in this dimension.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Yeah, will test on swing cat and gears

10:27 in the swing you can definitely see difference in setup. Lower to the ground.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Yeah

If i had to guess, your tension level on the real swings are much higher, as evidenced by the grunt you make in your real vs prax swing

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Much higher

I noticed at 2:55 you are not trying to keep your eyes on the ball. Do you think that is what is stalling the shoulder turn back and then the downswing reroute?

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Probably a big part of it. I’m right eye dominate

I even had coaches and many playing partners say to me that I have the best practice swing in golf😂...nothing like my real swing LOL...GREAT VIDEO!

I'd suggest that attack angle and face direction together are why the practice swing doesn't match your irl swing. And I'm not sure it's something that you can adjust. IMO the subconscious part of the brain is much smarter than the conscious. It will override anything stupid that we try to do that's not functional. For me, anything I try to do in the downswing doesn't work on the course, and i've tried some crazy stuff haha. It'll change my swing but none of it's functional. The only things that have worked are changing the dynamic parts of the backswing/transition (ignoring plane and the arms/hands/clubface). To me it looks like your aoa with the driver practice swing is very steep. Have you checked it on simulator? Also as a counter argument, baseball player's irl swing can also be different from practice swings and they swing a round barrel.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

I agree The AOA of the practice swing is steep and open faced. I noticed that and adjusted my ball position much more forward so that I had more time to close the face and can hit level to slightly up on the ball. Trying my practice swing as my real swing wasn’t working until I changed that ball position, (and tried to hit it in the toe.)

Great video thanks, imo another way to look at it is having your chin out of the way during real swing like practice swing, i need to revisit that feel thanks

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Great tip!

That last ball was pounded. The words that jumped out at me were “intent”, and “effort”. Namaste.

Ya. It’s your head rotation. Rotating your head early.. as you do in practice swing makes everything else work better.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

👀

Irons - coaches that teach hitting down on the ball, hands go inside you have to swing Over the top to swing down. Coach's-- that teach sweeping the ball the shoulder will swing Under , clubbed will just collect the ball. 0:28

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Colllect the ball the a great concept

It’s your neck tilt. In practice swing your eye line and neck tilt open you up and make you squat. Real swing your fighting ball bound like all of us

A major difference is that during a regular swing , the orientation of the clubface is a major if not the most important consideration . During a practice swing most the clubface is not a major consideration In order to get benefit from practice swings , the golfer must monitor the orientation of the clubface , preferable at first parallel , last parallel and at impact

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Face causes the flip. True

Any difference in club head speed between the two swings?

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Close. A little faster about 2 mph in the real swing.

On your real swing, it looks like you keep your focus on the ball and in your practice swing you're not focusing where the ball would normally be allowing for your shoulders to turn more (rather than getting the completion of the turn with the arms?). It just seems with the ball present, your head is locked and prevents you from turning at a certain point. Like the vid

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Yeah for sure

When I was poor I used to go to a driving range late at night when it was closed. The parking lot lights barely lit the beginning flight of the ball. Countless balls I hit this way. My "practice swing" is identical to my ball swing. I'm positive that period of time is why. Not sure why but positive.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

People in Scandinavia did the same thing until trackman was invented. They used to only practice into nets

The most obvious thing I see is that you are looking at the ball at impact in the actual swing. Whereas, with the practice swing, your head rotates towards the target long before your club reaches the impact position.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Head goes early

The ball is the difference. Your club head is taking a short cut to the ball instead of swinging around the arc. Think of a race car at the starting line and it goes around turn 1 and then turn 2 and is speeding down the back stretch. It’s going as fast as it can. When the ball is there you swing like a car that starts in the same place as the first car but then it cuts across the infield to get to the back stretch. It will get there quicker but it won’t be going as fast and on the line of the track.

@ironsideeve2955

8 ай бұрын

Pretty much this

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

I have to read this a couple times. U are onto it but I need to know more what u mean

@vernonskelton5702

8 ай бұрын

I got this idea from Overhand golf . He gave you a comment on this video a couple weeks ago. He comes from a different prospective on the swing from the norm. I enjoy trying to incorporate some of his ideas into my swing. I enjoy your channel. I’m always tinkering with my swing and I find Overhand golf and yours content most interesting on KZread.

The biggest difference is that in your practice swing you clear your head extremely early. You are not even close to looking down at the ball - but are you looking in the direction you want to hit the ball. It's Duval, Stenson, Sorenstam x 3 🙂 It frees up your swing. Dont know if you can hit the ball when looking out at the range?

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Yeah true

HI, IS THE Swing looper app available on Android please????

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

No

The Swing Loop is something I would get, but not yet offered for Android. Any idea when that will happen?

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Prob never sorry

Never seen a pro making a full practice swing and my game got better when I stopped doing them. Small things for feel is not the same.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Thx F

My speed decreases drastically from no ball to a real swing. I move it 120+ with no ball then I hit shots and it drops to 102-105. It’s so frustrating

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Maddening

It's all about your head and where your attention is. Keep your attention on the clubhead throughout the whole swing and never on the ball.

Your practice swing is more on plane and your real swing is steep. Look at your arm plane and compare, your practice swing has your left arm and the club more in line with your shoulder plane which is where you want to be, your actual swing has your left arm lifting and the club steep as in they are above the arm plane, which you sense and have to tilt and extend to try to shallow. Your arms also stay in front of your torso on your practice swing, whereas on your actual swing they pull across the torso and then get stuck in transition. You really need to do some swings with a head cover under your right arm pit and having someone place an alignment rod along your shoulder turn so that you can get in position in the backswing. The left arm is above and the club steep.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

K

This was obvious to me when I noticed my practice divot to my ball hitting divot.

Is it not a simple case of the precision required in hitting a golf ball causes a tension / steer-y golf swing? Imagine a tap dancer freely flowing across a dance floor. Now ask him to go step on a specific pin point mark on the floor. Maybe a silly analogy but you get my point.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Gotcha

Haven’t finished the video yet, but I think it might have even been you- there’s a device that pops a ball up, or not, to hit in an effort to try to get a person to hit a ball with their practice swing. Thoughts on that?

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

The reflex arc. I talked to the inventor but never got to use it.

I hit pga positions on my practice swing, real swing not so much!

Close your eyes

I think it’s because the club gets square way in front of ball. So when ball is there you’d shank it if you swung like that. That’s how it is for me at least.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

You are onto something! Can you elaborate on how I should change that in the real? Ball position? Distance from ball?

Try to swing like Matthew Wolff as an over-correction!

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Yep

Looks like your posture is different in your practice swing maybe that's why it's better?

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Yeah much taller in the prax

you are doing the malaska move on your practice swing and not on your real swing. maybe that's the key to porting your practice swing over

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

I AM too shallow on the real swing, tru

Brandon your going back to what Mike Malaska taught you vertical to up to back to vertical then shallow then vertical the L to L swing . I think the reason hockey players are good golfers because it’s in the slap shot vertical to shallow to vertical . I went back to Mike’s way but to me the key is the shallowing from vertical to up to back to vertical then the shallowing take a hockey stick and practice the slap shot then go hit golf balls …

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Mike and I would have a good talk about this

I do notice on your practice swing, you are already turning your head out of way so you are looking forward vs real swing looking at the ball. Wonder if you do like milo and start looking down the range before you actually hit the ball or keep your chin with your lead shoulder as you rotate through the downswing. Don't know if you will hit the ball better or worse but might see a better match to your practice swing.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

I need to do a whole video on that Duval style move

I like the idea of thinking about the circles made in the swing. But this search for the secret of the swing is folly, I’d say. There is no single “secret” other than “have a good knowledge of the swing mechanics and carefully practice good swing mechanics, because if you practice bad swing mechanics you just make yourself good at making bad swings.” So the real question is “what are the good swing mechanics?” I have my own recipe and it would surely work for anyone that would apply the techniques. But it’s not as easy as just thinking about such swing mechanics and they automatically happen. No! You got to practice, by hitting balls. Most people won’t practice! But if you are a golf fanatic and would be willing to practice there are people who might teach you the “good swing mechanics,” but I don’t know who they are. I see “pros” teaching on the range and I don’t know if they can really teach someone the swing mechanics to get someone down to “scratch golf.” To me it’s all about “good swing mechanics” and proper execution of the “good swing mechanics.” And a practice swing SHOULD BE a perfectly executed swing, just as should be the actual swing. Finally I would say I’m a “hands n’ arms” guy, as I naturally can control my legs and hips pretty good but my hands, arms, and shoulders, that’s what I need to watch in my swing to be in control. To me, all this “ turning and rotating” emphasis seems odd. Like I say, I could show a willing person how to play “scratch golf,” but my approach would be remarkably different from what I’ve seen from most of the teachers on KZread. And if the chipping and putting and bunker play isn’t also well developed then it’s pretty tough to get to the “scratch” level. And one more thing, Nicklaus pointed-out that he always gave 100% effort to every swing, in play or practice. I’d imagine his practice swings were made with focus and purpose, not just “getting loose.”

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Better not perfect, yeah

I want to see a swing where you feel like your arms stay completely straight with no active wrists. This would be a feeling only.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Will do thanks Craig

You’re not looking at the hypothetical ball in the practice swing. Your head pivots way earlier. Try a foam ball and practice swing and see if it gets in the way

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

I will. Foam ball swing looks better than real swing but worse than air swing. It is like a middle zone

I never have this problem because I never take practice swings.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Problem solved🚒

In the first 10 seconds, you'd miss the golf ball in your practice swing... Right over the top of it. I'd wager you need to learn to get to the ball with trail wrist supination, lead wrist ulnar release.

Great video... i think your real swing is the conscious mind and the subconscious mind is the practice swing... subconscious knows better.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Well said!

Examine the frames just post-impact at 01:28, your prax-swing is a rehearsal of a rotational technique - whereas your ball-swing shows the normal roll-release that you've always had. So you're comparing 'apples and pears' really.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

I’ll look. Thanks

Bring Malaska back and have him put his take on it...

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Will do

It literally looks like your practice swing your obviously all the stuff that Master Milo says but he forgets one thing that I think is very big…. Your head swivels out of the shot like David Duvall or etc…. Your eyes control so much in your golf swing if you pay attention to Dana or Scott Cowx or even if you look at Milo’s swing… your body follows your eyes and neck tilts I think you need to setup taller and just keep turning your eyes out of the shot it’ll for sure take care of the slide but you do the opposite which is your head cocks the other way which stalls everything out… you’ll hit it like shit for a little bit but then you’ll actually see change… Sean Foley is also a big proponent on your eyes leading your body and so is elite golf schools… when I start over drawing it I always start turning my eyes out of the shot fatter to take some path out and stop the flip over draws… and why don’t you ever film from face on your so obsessed with the dtl that most of the time everything cleans up when you make your face on cleaner… and a big factor is after looking closer you start every practice swing with the club off the ground either make your real swing doing the same thing or figure out how to ground the club and still make the same swing… it’s easier to get it up on plane cuz your hovering it and the club has less weight

If I had to grunt every time I swung, I would stop swinging that way.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

K

9 iron ? You stand closer to the ball with your driver. it appears your hands are so far away then they get farther no connection on the backswing it’s even more on your PS.Results your shoulders at the top are flat resulting in that stand up look. Try lower hands and tack it back with a turn while keeping your shoulders on their plane and club outside your hands. That said , I wouldn’t worry your own athletic ability and hand eye coordination creates good speed and shots. Scar tissue never really leaves a golfer, unfortunately.

You’re also not looking at your ball in your practice swing. During your practice swing in the video when your swing is halfway down you’re looking down the fairway, just an observation.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Duval and Stenson need to be my models

You have zero consequences on a practice swing. You have had more lessons than anyone on the entree net. Maybe you should get off the range and take away where the ball goes. Hit an impact bag. Hit wiffle balls into a net. You should take 2months away from the range/trackman. Get into the basement…you could start a meth lab down there too. Multitask homey…you are way over stimulated….squirrel!!!! You’re trying to get 170 ball speed and change your motion at the same time…you’re overloading your brain cell. Reduce stimulant

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

K

You really, really need to do a few episodes with Andy Plummer, Michael Manavian, and Ayumi Hori. Stop with these hacks and learn real mechanics.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

Andy would be awesome

Ok… elephant in the room… you are hovering the club ( both driver and iron) way way above the ground in your practice swing. You then loop the practice swing 6” inside the ball line. All of this has no consequence of outcome and therein lies the problem. Sorry Brendon but starting your swing from 6” above the ball and swishing through 6” inside the ball is a practice move that bears no relation to your strike swing, you are way off the mark here.

@BEBETTERGOLF

8 ай бұрын

I have to redo it