5. Increase the length of your flat spot: This is the golf swing secret that you’re unlikely to hear anywhere else. Scientific research has shown that the better the player the longer his flat spot.

What is the Flat Spot Principle (FSP)? It’s the length your clubface and clubhead travel along the target line through impact. The longer the FSP the further and straighter you’ll hit the ball. The FSP is the secret to hitting longer and straighter shots consistently towards the target. It’s also the reason why good players make the game look so easy.

The Flat Spot Principle in action – notice how square the clubface is after impact.

How do you learn the FSP? This is where traditional instruction has failed you. First thing – I’m pretty certain you’re not being taught the FSP. It’s not understood by the majority of the golf instruction world. The second point is even if it was understood, traditional methods on learning it will not work. Why?

Because the clubhead is traveling so fast you can’t feel what you’re doing. You have no awareness of what the clubface and clubhead are doing in this critical part of the swing. Traditional instruction works primarily by getting you to consciously become aware of what you’re doing right and wrong. From here you’re expected to make swings thinking about that part of your swing. But this is not possible when it comes to the FSP because the club is moving so quickly. It’s beyond the ability of any human.

And here’s the key point. The FSP isn’t concerned with how pretty your golf swing is – it has nothing to do with it. If you get the FSP right, it doesn’t matter what your golf swing looks like. You can have an ugly swing and still hit the ball consistently well time after time. So spending hours working on your backswing plane, address position and grip will probably have little impact on you achieving the FSP.

The FSP is the reason guys like Jim Furyk have “ugly” golf swings but still compete with the best players in the world.

But it gets better

The flat spot is the secret to improved timing. You know how really good players make the game look easy? Well the FSP is the reason. By having the clubhead and clubface working together, it gives you more “time” to make the swing. It’s another mechanical advantage that makes the game significantly easy. The FSP gives you the inner confidence you can hit the ball hard and it will still find the target.

The Flat Spot Principle

Next: More on the FSP