It’s often said that you shouldn’t have any tension in your swing. This isn’t true. You need tension, the thing you dont need is strength. There’s a big difference between the two, and if you can’t distinguish between them, it may be stopping you from reaching your potential.
To get the feeling of both tension and strength, simply stand up and hang your arms at your side. To feel tension, extend your arms downward to the ground as far as they go. As you do this, you will feel tension in your arms because they are stretched to their longest point. Now to feel strength, make two fists and squeeze as hard as you can. These are two totally different feelings that have two totally different affects on your swing.
This feeling of strength is what most inexperienced players feel when they hit the ball and they mistake it for tension. They get this feeling because they’re trying to hit the ball so hard that their arm muscles lock up. This feeling of strength is deceiving though because it also gives the person the feeling of power. If this feeling of strength is removed, the inexperienced player then thinks that they are not...