Has a friend ever said that you make a funny face when you hit a golf ball?

Something about the way your lips or chin or eyebrows or neck or whatever twists up like you’re about to brain someone with an axe or pass a kidney stone.

Maybe your friend said you looked like a pit bull finding a cheeseburger, or a walrus in mating season. Whatever the analogy, the intent was to make you self-conscious. Don’t fall for this. It’s a tactic as mean-spirited as asking someone if they inhale or exhale in the downswing.

As these photos prove (and we’ve got thousands more, trust us), the best players and teachers in the world show some swingface now and then.

Though being relaxed and composed through impact is desirable, going after that little ball is just as important, if not more. You’ve got to let out some shaft. Because if you ever want to be really good, under-swinging is just as stunting as over-swinging.

The moment of release is the moment of truth, the moment of becoming your true self, and it’s no time to be polite.

Go get it.

 

[ABOVE] You know these stars, but maybe not these faces: from top left J.B. Holmes, Carl Pettersson, Rick Smith, Tiger Woods, Henrik Stenson, Bubba Watson, Suzann Pettersen, Justin Thomas, Colt Knost, Jim McLean, Patrick Reed, Brandt Snedeker, Matt Kuchar, Padraig Harrington, Jonas Blixt, Sei Young Kim.