[KirillAristov]

I struggle back and forth with this, especially on the greens. I sometimes get so focused on putting mechanics that I lose the feel for the green and end up waay short or long - but I'm sure the stroke looks great, lol. There are times that I will not even take any practice strokes and just step up and putt because it forces me to focus solely on feel for the distance and mechanics be damned.

[Stovegeothnon]

how many times have you faced a difficult shot, (over water etc) and your nerves get you focusing too much on one swing thought. And you completly forget something else. My buddy, who is definitly a on course mechanic, would always walk up to the ball with a mantra, then hit a bad shot and say "dang I forgot to keep my head down." I always tried to tell him, you fill your head with so many thoughts, you're bound to forget somehting.

You know what this thread needs? a you tube clip from TIN CUP, the part where costner is giving russo a golf lesson.
Where he goes " well there is another school of thought about the swing....."
Russo "Yeah whats that?"
Costner "Just grip it and rip it!"

Edit: @Gray Golf just looked up that Art of the possible book. Looks really good as well.

[Aswdwdfg]

This might sound weird but I think Mechanics is for the Driving range and Feel is for the course.

I'm definitely a feel player and if I try and take the mechanics out onto the golf course, I play like a mid-handicap. The range is where I work on my mechanics, but once I'm on the course I'll try at most to have only one swing though... if any

Get yourself the book " Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect" by Dr. Bob Rotella. Excellant reading on the mental side of the game.

I didn't really improve as a golfer until I read his book... after that my handicap tumbled and my game totally changed.

[EzequielTMann]

I'm definitely a feel player and if I try and take the mechanics out onto the golf course, I play like a mid-handicap. The range is where I work on my mechanics, but once I'm on the course I'll try at most to have only one swing though... if any



I didn't really improve as a golfer until I read his book... after that my handicap tumbled and my game totally changed.

Ice -- Good for you man! I highly endorse books to help improve feel, focus, etc.

[bjacogaerllyo]

Working on the golf swing is mechanics.When you start trusting your mechanics then feel will take over. Must trust mechanics to achieve feel.

[Aswdwdfg]

Working on the golf swing is mechanics.When you start trusting your mechanics then feel will take over. Must trust mechanics to achieve feel.

I believe good sir, you have discovered the secret to golf... so much easier said than done.

[craditc]

I know for me I need a combo of the two. I am not athletic so I need the technical side of things to learn a proper swing, but then I switched to feel once I got the basics of the swing down. When everything is falling apart I revert back to the mechanical side of things but otherwise I can usually feel what I am doing wrong or right and go from there.

GolferGal and I roll the same way! 75% feel/25% mechanics

I'm not athletic at all so needed the mechanics but I also have the issue of getting to hung up on the mechanical (engineer in me). For example, in April this year, I spent three weeks dissecting my swing down to micromovements and working on tiny parts of my swing to make it perfect and I LOST my swing! I mean seriously lost my swing. 1000 swing thoughts in my head lost my swing, whiffing balls on rubber tees at the driving range lost my swing.

My coach made me stop working on my swing and had me start "feeling" my swing. Two weeks of literally doing nothing but standing around shifting my weight back and forth to feel the swing and my swing came back.

When I start doing stupid things on the course (i.e. my current power move of a hook), I go back to basics: Set up, grip, swing on same plane, etc.

[Tnzxovoz]

The swing isn't about feel or mechanics...it's about prayer. :-)

[soitlyobserty]

Mechanics will make you good. Consistent, dependable, repeatable.

Feel will make you great...but when it leaves you (and it will, eventually) mechanics will be waiting to keep you in the match.

What I think is even more interesting is teaching styles. I've seen folks respond drastically different depending on "feel" teachers vs. "mechanics" teachers...but that's another thread

[trubreTab]

for me...
mechanics are important for the long shots
and feel is important for the short ones
luck is important when neither are there