# Golf Follow Through **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 17, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-follow-through/791498 "2017-07-17T16:25:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hondodoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bcef8e/32.png) [@hondodoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hondodoc)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-follow-through/791498/1 "2017-07-17T16:25:10Z")
I have never understood why the swing follow though is important. Nothing the player does after the ball leaves the club face has any effect on it. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-follow-through/791498/2 "2017-07-17T16:38:15Z")
You’re correct. Follow through is important to make sure your swing is smooth or consistent while the club and ball are in contact. You want to think past the contact to make sure of this. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-follow-through/791498/3 "2017-07-17T16:40:17Z")
Your follow through is a good visual indication that your swing, up to the point of contact, was good. If you have a bad swing it will be reflected in your follow through and easier to diagnose. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-follow-through/791498/4 "2017-07-17T16:45:26Z")
> [@hondodoc](#): > > I have never understood why the swing follow though is important. Nothing the player does after the ball leaves the club face has any effect on it. True, but the same things that make a good or poor strike on the ball can result in a likewise good or poor follow through. The way our minds and bodies work together, it’s generally more productive to devote one’s attention to the entire swing, including follow through, than to only think about it up to the moment of impact. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-follow-through/791498/5 "2017-07-17T17:05:22Z")
If someone has a crappy follow through, it is very often an signal of things going wrong leading up to the impact. Like if your swing ends with the club fully vertical behind you back (like parallel with your spine) odds are very good you have an outside in swing path leading to terrible slices. An appreviated follow through may mean deceleration before impact. The advice to concentrate on ones follow through should not be taken too literally, but is a tool to help people think about making a swing in which the ball simply gets in the way of a swing with good technique. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-follow-through/791498/6 "2017-07-17T18:18:29Z")
Moved to the Game Room. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-follow-through/791498/7 "2017-07-17T20:04:45Z")
It works in other sports as well, bowling (we were told to imagine shaking hands with the pins), tennis, baseball, just to name a few off the top of my head ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-follow-through/791498/8 "2017-07-17T21:15:38Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > It works in other sports as well, bowling… +1. In fact, I came in here specifically to mention bowling. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-follow-through/791498/9 "2017-07-17T21:27:03Z")
> [@hondodoc](#): > > Nothing the player does after the ball leaves the club face has any effect on it. Just hold on thar! Are you telling me all my body english, whining, praying, and cursing are having no effect on the ball after I hit it? :dubious:😕😉 ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-follow-through/791498/10 "2017-07-17T21:28:59Z")
Let’s put it this way. If your golf club is on-plane (in the right position) at the top of your backswing and on-plane at the end of your follow-through, then it’s pretty difficult for it to be anything other than on-plane when it makes contact with the golf ball. Otherwise, otherwise. Trust me, I have plenty of experience with the “otherwise” \ ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-follow-through/791498/11 "2017-07-17T21:30:31Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Just hold on thar! Are you telling me all my body english, whining, praying, and cursing are having no effect on the ball after I hit it? :dubious:😕😉 According to Lee Trevino “You can talk to a fade but a hook won’t listen.” ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-follow-through/791498/12 "2017-07-19T07:44:26Z")
> [@hondodoc](#): > > I have never understood why the swing follow though is important. Nothing the player does after the ball leaves the club face has any effect on it. True, but imagine if you tried to stop your club as soon after contact as possible. You’d be decelerating _before_ impact. You have to mentally force yourself to _accelerate_ or be consistent through impact in order to ensure you don’t \*decelerate \* before it.