This is my second singing and golf analogy. The first was comparing how each have about a dozen moving parts that must first be unlearned, then relearned, then mastered.
In this analogy, I address the “less is more” aspect of both singing and golf. When we are learning how to sing as beginners, we often sing way too hard and force too much air past the vocal folds. We want so badly to make that big belty sound and we think that this is how you do it.
In golf, a beginner tends to swing way too hard. We think this is how you hit the ball the farther. However, when we dial down on the effort and learn proper technique, we are shocked to find that the ball travels farther with an easy swing than by swinging as hard as we can.
This applies to singing, too. Yes, we do compress a lot of air and there is some effort there, but the effort is natural and contained and not excessive. Less is more. Once we develop a higher degree of mastery over the vocal instrument we can begin to lean a little harder into the sound, but never so much that we blast and force. Less is more!