Most golfers spend their time chasing the final product of the golf swing: ball flight, compression, launch windows, and shot shape.
But every great swing you admire is built on something far more basic.
Base speed from the inside.
Without it, the rest of the “good stuff” in golf simply isn’t available. The candy store stays closed.
Why Tour Ball Flights Are Misleading
When you watch elite players like Shane Lowry, you often see:
- Steeper delivery
- Slightly outside paths
- Controlled fades into pins
It’s tempting to copy what you see.
The problem is that what you’re watching is the finished product, not the foundation it’s built on.
Those players are layering performance behaviors—rotation, compression, shot shaping—on top of a huge base of inside speed.
Without that base, copying the look leads to weak strikes, loss of distance, and frustration.
Base Power Comes First
Every major golf instruction book ever written points to the same starting point:
Power comes from the inside.
Base power is not about shaping shots, compressing the ball, or controlling trajectories.
It’s about making the club work for you with as little effort as possible.
When you strip the swing down to its core—no compression tricks, no rotation emphasis, no face control—you should still be able to create speed from the inside.
That’s real base power.
A Simple Way to Test Your Base Power
You don’t need technology to find out where your power comes from.
One of the simplest tests is to:
- Put your feet together
- Limit body motion
- Hit shots honestly toward the target
This immediately exposes your power source.
If you can still create speed from the inside, your base is solid.
If you can’t, most of your swing issues trace back to this fundamental problem.
This is why many junior golfers—without any technical knowledge—often swing from the inside naturally, while adults struggle. They haven’t learned to interfere with their base motion yet.
Why Speed from the Outside Shuts Everything Down
Golfers who generate speed from the outside face two major limitations:
- Reduced clubhead speed
- A clubface that never fully releases
To compensate, they start manipulating positions, adding steepeners, and forcing mechanics.
That’s when over-the-top patterns, weak fades, and loss of distance appear.
Ironically, many players believe they need more control—when what they really need is more base power.
When the Candy Store Opens
When you develop speed from the inside:
- Rotation becomes available
- Shot shaping becomes natural
- Follow-through intentions start to matter
- Control becomes easier, not harder
Power from the inside doesn’t create accuracy and performance just by itself. But it for sure makes it possible.
At that point, you can start layering performance behaviors on top of a swing that already works.
The Common Thread Through History
If you study great ball strikers across eras—from Ben Hogan to modern players like Scottie Scheffler—you’ll notice a consistent theme:
Aggressive, synchronized rotation through the ball.
But that rotation only works because the base power is already coming from the inside.
Rotation is an enhancer, not a replacement.
Be Honest About Your Foundation
If your speed is coming from the outside, no amount of technical tweaking will fix it long-term.
The solution isn’t more tips.
It’s addressing the foundation.
When you get base power from the inside, the gates open:
- More speed
- Better control
- Sustainable development
That’s when golf starts becoming simpler instead of more complicated.
Check out the Forgotten Master Moves homepage here.
In the FMM Academy I teach differnt patterns and it’s all about fit – has it’s overview page here.