I Found It (Again)!

Yes, I had an epiphany about my golf swing! Yes, I was at the range, and thinking hard about what the pro told me two weeks earlier about my swing. For a change, I didn't just bang through the bucket o'balls waiting for something to happen to improve the results. Read on at your own risk - what worked for me may royally screw you up...

I've always maintained that, no matter the sport, be it baseball, throwing darts, shooting pool, the basics rule. I gave lots of thought to my pro's guidance, and the guidance I've absorbed over the years that fits my game (and not all of it does...) I decided Sunday to apply my range time to grooving these lessons, and to avoid the trap of focusing on the instant gratification of desired ball-flight. We all know that it's possible to get reasonable ball-flight results from the crappiest swing - we've all done it at one time or another - but I'm after real improvement. Instead, I was looking for "swing" results. An odd thing happened - the better my swing, the better the resulting ball-flight. Hey.... That's how it's supposed to work!

So here's what I found worked for me: The pro said I was getting my hips out in front of my arms and standing up through impact. This pushed the club outside the swing plane causing pulls, pull hooks, and sometimes a frightening shank. It took some doing to un-groove this tendency, I'm sure because my middle-aged body finds it easier to NOT maintain spine angle through the swing... ("BAD body... BAD!")

Here's my little range secret - works only at ranges with some windows near each booth - I look at my own reflection at various stages of the swing. Let me tell you, these "mirrors" don't lie! The pro was right - I was flipping the club inside too soon on the back swing! My shoulders were tensed way up almost around my head! I was out over my toes!

Ben Hogan says in his famous "Five Lessons" to stay grounded - my interpretation of this is to keep your center of gravity as low as you can, which you can't do all tensed up shoulder high and out over your toes! The key move: at the top of the backswing, I wanted to feel almost as though I was sitting on my right hip.

The downswing began to feel nearly automatic - it was over in a wink. The sound of impact began to sound authoritative! The fall was flying straight!

Getting a little to bound up in the various positions, I tried to make the whole thing happen in a smooth rythmic back and forth. Good things continued to happen!

Today the real results: Only my second outing of the season, and at an unfamiliar course, I'm back in the 80's again. I parred 9 holes, bogeyed 4 more - the rest were a total mess, my having fallen victim to "range mat" syndrome. Plainly put, my short pitches were struck with a fatness rarely seen even on reality television. Sure, I'm "solid gold" off the astro-turf mat at my favority ball-beating-boutique, but (it turns out) fairways don't work like astro-turf. They don't forgive you when you let your club arc bottom out 6 inches behind the ball... Range mats will ruin your game (but that rant will be a separate blog entry...)

So, fellow floggers, I believe I am on my way to a career season here. My goals include breaking 40 on any front or back nine (my personal best is 41) and I'm looking to break 85. I'm working hard to get my unofficial 18 handicap to an offical 15 (or lower.) These goals suddenly feel within reach.

Stay tuned!

GF