Swinging vs Hitting — The Beginner’s Secret to Better Shots

A friendly, slightly funny, occasionally too-honest guide to finally understanding what every golf coach has been screaming into the wind.

If you’ve been around golf for longer than six minutes, you’ve probably heard someone say:

“Don’t hit the ball… just swing the club.”

Which, on the surface, sounds ridiculous.

What do you mean don’t hit the ball?
The entire point of golf is to hit the ball! There’s a ball. There’s a stick. We’re here to smack the little thing toward a hole far, far away. That’s the sport.

But here’s the twist — golf isn’t about hitting the ball. It’s about swinging the club so well that the ball just gets in the way and goes flying effortlessly for reasons that feel like witchcraft.

Beginner golfers hate this explanation.
Advanced golfers pretend to understand it.
Pros actually get it… and they never shut up about it.

So today we’re breaking down — in the most human, light-hearted, slightly sarcastic way — why learning to swing the club is a thousand times better than trying to hit the ball.

Let’s tee up.

The Problem With “Hitting” the Ball

When you try to hit the ball, something terrible happens.

You start doing literally everything wrong.

You tighten your arms.
You lock your wrists.
Your shoulders freeze.
Your legs panic.
Your brain screams something unhelpful like “NOW!”
Your body responds by launching into a violent, jerky, last-second attack on the poor ball.

This is called being human.

Your instincts want to whack the ball.
Golf wants you to do the exact opposite.

Golf is basically a long-term relationship with counterintuitive physics.

If you try to hit, the swing becomes:

  • stiff

  • rushed

  • tense

  • off-plane

  • off-balance

  • inconsistent

  • and occasionally catastrophic

Your ball flight will reveal the damage immediately:

  • slices that peel off into the next postcode

  • pulls that nearly injure wildlife

  • worm-burners that dig trenches

  • “I swear I’m better than this” moments

  • and contact so bad the ball doesn’t move enough to justify bending down to pick up your tee

Meanwhile, the golfer who focuses on swinging looks like they’re barely doing anything… and yet the ball rockets off the club like it’s escaping custody.

Unfair? Yes.

Physics? Also yes.

The Swing: A Smooth, Natural Motion (Not a Punch)

A golf swing is closer to a pendulum than a punch.

It’s rhythmic, flowing, circular, and — when done well — incredibly efficient. You’re not using strength to move the ball. You’re using leveraging, timing, and momentum.

Think of it like this:

  • A punch uses force.

  • A swing uses motion.

  • A hit is a moment.

  • A swing is a movement.

Golf rewards the movement, not the moment.

When you swing the club instead of hitting the ball, the ball becomes… irrelevant.
It’s just something in the way of the club’s path.

You don’t focus on the ball; you focus on creating a motion that delivers the clubhead to the correct place without force.

It feels weird at first.

Like trying not to think about the ball.
Like trying to relax while someone films you.
Like trying to drive past a doughnut shop.

But when it clicks?
Oh, you feel it.

It’s pure, clean, magical, addictive.
You chase that feeling for the rest of your golfing life.

Reason #1: Swinging Creates Effortless Power

When you swing instead of hit, the club generates its own speed.

Let’s talk physics for a second. (Don’t worry — fun physics.)

A golf club is basically a long stick with a heavy metal face at the end.
If you let it swing freely, that weight increases the speed naturally.
You don’t need to force anything.

The fastest part of the club is the clubhead.
Not your hands.
Not your arms.
Definitely not your shoulders.

When you try to hit the ball:

  • you activate your arms

  • your hands fire too early

  • your shoulders jump

  • everything happens at the wrong time

But when you swing:

  • your body stays relaxed

  • the club accelerates naturally

  • your timing improves

  • your contact improves

  • your ball flight becomes consistent

  • and the ball finally listens to you

Effortless power is one of golf’s best feelings.

It’s like discovering your toddler can suddenly carry the grocery bags.
It’s thrilling and confusing at the same time.

Reason #2: Swinging Removes Tension (and Tension Kills Good Shots)

Tension is the enemy of the golf swing.

And what causes tension?

Trying to hit something.

The second you think “I must hit this ball hard,” your body clenches like you’re bracing for a wasp attack.

Your arms stiffen.
Your grip gets white-knuckled.
Your neck disappears into your shoulders.
Your backswing shortens to four centimeters.
And your downswing looks like you’re trying to chop wood with a toothbrush.

A swinging motion, on the other hand, demands relaxation.

If you’re tense, the club can’t swing.
It can only stab.

And stabbing is not a golf skill.
(Though it does describe many golfers’ emotional state after a bad round.)

A good swing feels loose, soft, and free-flowing.
If you can hear your shirt sleeves swishing, you’re doing it right.

If you can hear your muscles screaming?
Start again.

Reason #3: Swinging Helps You Repeat the Motion

Golf is a game of repetition.

You don’t need one good swing.
You need the same swing over and over and over.

Trying to hit the ball creates inconsistency:

  • one swing is fast

  • one swing is slow

  • one has a giant yank at the top

  • one has an early throw

  • one has no follow-through

  • one has so much force it looks like you’re trying to hug a tornado

But a swing is repeatable.

  • It’s rhythm.
  • Tempo.
  • Flow.
  • Timing.
  • Sequence.

It’s a choreography your body learns.

Once you focus on swinging — not hitting — your swing becomes something you can actually repeat. Not perfectly, of course (this is golf, not a Disney movie), but consistently enough to improve.

And consistency is the real secret weapon of golf.

Reason #4: The Ball Doesn’t Need Your Help

This one feels like an insult the first time you hear it, but here it goes:

The ball doesn’t need your help.
It just needs you to get out of the way.

The design of the club moves the ball.

Your job is to deliver the club to the correct spot.
Not to push the ball, lift the ball, steer the ball, or punish the ball.

The ball is innocent, honestly.

When you try to help the ball in any way, you ruin the mechanics that actually make it fly:

  • you flip your wrists

  • you scoop the ball

  • you stand up early

  • you add tension

  • you kill the angle

  • you reduce loft

  • or you add too much loft

  • and you shank, chunk, top, or slice your way into emotional instability

But when you swing?

The club delivers the ball perfectly.
With the correct loft.
With the correct energy.
With the correct direction.

No help needed.

Just trust the club.
(It knows more about golf than you do.)

Reason #5: Swinging Encourages Balance and Rotation

A powerful, controlled golf shot comes from:

  • rotating your body

  • shifting your weight

  • staying in balance

Trying to hit the ball destroys all three.

You lunge.
You fall forward.
You fall backward.
You fall sideways.
You fall everywhere except gracefully.

Many golfers finish their swing looking like they’re trying to recover from slipping on ice.

Swinging, however, creates natural balance.

Because you’re not attacking, you’re moving.
Because you’re not jerking, you’re rotating.
Because you’re not forcing, you’re flowing.

A good swing doesn’t feel like strength.
It feels like motion.

You turn back…
You turn through…
You allow the club to follow…
And you strike the ball beautifully without even thinking about it.

Balanced swings look great.
Hitting-looking swings look like you’re trying to win an argument with the turf.

Reason #6: Swinging Is Mentally Happier

Golf is psychological warfare — mostly with yourself.

Trying to “hit” the ball puts pressure on one moment:
the hit.

And that creates fear.

Fear of:

  • topping the ball

  • chunking the ball

  • missing the ball

  • sending the ball into orbit

  • sending the ball into your playing partner

  • sending the ball into a parallel universe

Fear shrinks the swing.

Fear tightens the grip.

Fear ruins timing.

Swinging, on the other hand, shifts your attention away from the ball and into something bigger:

the motion
the rhythm
the feeling
the flow

It’s meditative.
It’s calming.
It’s athletic.
It’s enjoyable.
It’s actually golf.

When you’re focused on the swing, the ball becomes less scary.
It’s just there.

Like a mailbox on your morning walk.
You don’t need to punch it.
You just pass by.

Reason #7: Every Good Player Swings — None of Them “Hit”

Watch slow-motion videos of any top golfer in the world:

Tiger Woods
Nelly Korda
Rory McIlroy
Scottie Scheffler
Lydia Ko
Brooks Koepka
Your local scratch golfer who practices too much

They are not hitting the ball.

They are swinging the club.

The ball only matters for one glorious millisecond — and even then, they’re not thinking about it.

Pros describe impact as:

  • a blur

  • a feeling

  • an accident of a good swing

  • something they don’t control directly

  • something that happens automatically

  • something they barely notice

You want that.

You don’t want to be the golfer who swings like they’re chopping onions.
You want fluid movement, not flailing panic.

Swing like the good players.
Don’t “hit.”

Reason #8: Swinging Makes the Game More Fun

Let’s be honest:

Trying to “hit” the ball is exhausting.
It’s frustrating.
It’s stressful.
It’s inconsistent.
It’s not enjoyable.

But swinging?

Swinging feels good.

A well-executed swing is:

  • smooth

  • athletic

  • expressive

  • satisfying

  • addictive

  • repeatable

  • elegant

  • powerful

  • relaxing

Great swings make golf fun.

Bad hits make you question all your life choices.

Swinging is also how you get those moments where you hit a shot so good you look around to see if anyone saw it.

(Pro tip: if no one saw it, you are legally allowed to mention it seven times during the round.)

So How Do You Swing and Not Hit?

Here’s the magic formula — simple to say, hard to master:

  1. Focus on swinging to a destination, not hitting a ball.
    Imagine the ball isn’t even the target.
    Swing through it, not at it.

  2. Keep your arms and hands soft.
    Soft hands equal fluid motion.
    Hard hands equal trauma.

  3. Turn your body, don’t jab with your arms.
    The body powers the swing.
    The arms deliver the club.
    No punching allowed.

  4. Listen for the clubhead swish.
    If you can hear it, you’re swinging.
    If you can’t, you’re probably hitting.

  5. Feel the weight of the club.
    Let gravity help you.
    The clubhead is heavier than your thoughts.

  6. Let contact happen instead of forcing it.
    Trust the design of the club.
    It will do the job.

  7. Finish your swing.
    Hitting stops.
    Swinging continues.

The Punchline

Golf becomes easier the moment you stop trying to hit the ball.

It becomes fluid.
It becomes natural.
It becomes athletic.
It becomes fun.

And ironically — beautifully, hilariously — when you stop trying to hit the ball…

You hit the ball better than ever.

Because you’re not actually hitting it.
You’re swinging.
And the ball is just… in the way.

Golf is weird like that.

The Final Word

You should swing a golf club — not hit the ball — because the swing is what produces power, accuracy, consistency, balance, timing, confidence, enjoyment, and every single great shot you’ve ever seen on TV.

Trying to hit the ball turns golf into chaos.
Swinging the club turns golf into golf.

So next time you stand over the ball, don’t ask:

“How do I hit this?”

Ask:

“How do I swing this?”

Then do exactly that… and enjoy the quiet, beautiful moment when the ball flies like it actually likes you.

Because it does.
Finally.