Who creates proper techniques in sports, and what makes it “right?”

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I’ve played quite a few sports growing up, and am recently trying to learn golf. There’s quite a bit of technique involved in a golf swing and then I got thinking “how do we know this is the right/most efficient way to swing?”. Same thing for a hockey slapshot, diving, etc. Who comes up with the “proper” technique and why is it standardized? Does it come the best performers, and then everyone mimics (like the famous high jump technique)?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

I’ve been playing golf for a loooong time and have studied swing mechanics for a little less than that. Golf is funny in that there isn’t really a “right” way to swing, at least in terms of mechanics. Look at the pros, all of them swing it differently. If you take a snapshot of two swings and put them side by side they’d probably look wildly different. So it’s less about finding and objectively “right” swing and more about finding a swing repeatable swing that will send the ball where you want.

You can study the techniques of professional players to see how they achieve certain results (ex long hitters using the ground to generate power) and try to work that into your swing, but that doesn’t mean it’s objectively “right” it’s just proven to work at the highest levels of competition. And whether it works for you is a completely different story, too.

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