If you ask golfers what they wish for their golf game this season, a good portion will answer they just want consistency

Consistency can mean so many things, lets explore what kinds of consistency is worthwhile aiming for and which aren’t?

Consistency in the golf swing

Is it the truth that the best players move more consistently than poorer players?

Lets have a look at a putting study

In this study, players were recorded by 3D motion capture, similar to the fantastic Bull3D system I have, and players body and club movements were recorded

What was the findings through the Cohort?

Consistency of movements did not correlate with performance

Another famous picture illustrates another important aspect in which the photo shows a Metal worker hammering an object and the dotted line shows the variation in the movement of the hammer when it is far away from its desired impact. What actually happens is that there is variation in movements of the body and the direction the hammer travels on but this variation gets very small when it approaches impact.

Consider the following photo that shows the pelvis movement as well as shaft movement of a full shot, pitch and and chip, with huge variation is the amount of shaft lean and body position at impact however, the accuracy of the club face at impact is very impressive

To quote Michael Hebron, golfers should not aim for consistent swings, but for Flexible portable swings

Look at this head position prior to impact on these 3 shots from Tiger Woods

Notice how the direction the head points, as well as the height and speed of movement is different on each shot

How this can all help

Step 1. Decide how you want to the ball to fly.  High, Low, curving straight?

Step 2.  Get clear on the club position, including the shaft and understand how these affect impact.  For example when the shaft leans forward the ball flight is lower

Step 3.  Connect this to the club movement through the ball

Step 4.  Stand and swing in a way that is appropriate to the shot at hand