MGS and the Junior Golfer

MGS and the Junior Golfer

If you have a child/grandchild you’d like to casually introduce to golf without scaring them away for life, the ideal way to do it is introduce them to the Minimalist Golf Swing.

Why MGS? Even a 5 year old understands success and can tell that hitting worm-burners while the doting parents say ‘great shot’ and ‘fabulous swing’ is not golf!

MGS helps them get the ball into the air so easily, they’ll be golf-lovers for life. A good goal for very young beginner juniors is for the trajectory of their shots to be their own height (or more).

Here’s how you can simplify MGS for the junior golfer:

1. Simply start by having them place a hand on their trail-side waist for a few seconds. Tell them that that side is never to be higher than the lead side (left, for a right handed golfer), no matter what.

2. If they’re old enough to be able to read a watch/clock, tell them to swing 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock only. OR ‘sleeping-line’ to ‘sleeping-line’ (a term teachers use when teaching early writing patterns).

3. I draw a circle around their feet and call it the ‘magic circle’ and that the swing will only be good if they keep their feet in the magic circle forever! Translated to adult-speak, that means no lifting either foot off the ground.

4. Don’t fuss about set-up, grip and other such things, they need to see success NOW. Have them take a few practice swings, then go, don’t give them any more instruction, just let them do it! (see the picture and question below and send in your replies – hint: it’s NOT about set-up basics)

If they’re already golfers, getting them to MGS is a question of priority, one step at a time, so they see improvement at very session.

PS: Thought about adding still more useful information for junior golfers, but there is so much to say, where to begin (club selection, left-hand or right-hand etc. etc.)? So, it’s going to be a case of ‘ask and you shall receive’. There are so many visitors to this blog these days, but all they do is read and not interact.

So, do keep the posts coming, or email me with whatever name you’d like published and I can post your questions/comments!

The Pre-shot Routine

What is the pre-shot routine and why does it matter?

It is different things to different people, and can be used as both a physical check-list to make sure none of the important steps of the set-up are unintentionally omitted, and as a mental routine to get from the planning stage to the playing stage of the swing.

People have even researched the pre-shot routine, and much has been written about it. It is also said that each step of the routine should have a specific purpose and any extra idiosyncratic parts should be removed.

It is a very important part of the MGS (may be seen in the ‘MGS what it is’ section of this blog or in the ebook DIY (do-it-yourself) GOLF.

The MGS pre-shot routine ensures that the golfer’s distance from ball, height of hands, ball-position and width of stance never vary. Its more center-tending ball-position facilitates the ‘twist’ (which in turn facilitates an easier MGS backswing).

Many golfers incorporate the twist perfectly, but then, somehow, lose much of it just before starting the backswing. It is important to ‘stay in the twist’ at the time of the start of the backswing. It could be either looking at the target after twisting, making some waggle or just getting comfortable that gets a person un-tiwsted before takeaway.

If you have any photographs of how you look JUST BEFORE START OF BACKSWING, please send them so we can post them here for the benefit of all visitors to this blog. If you have any ‘extra’ bits to your pre-shot routine that what MGS suggests, tell us what they are and why you incorporate those extra ‘bits’.