Swing Thought

[lm0159]

More on the psychology of the game boys.

My game is really toiling currently, for one reason, I decided during the winter months to try to understand the science of the golf swing, and now I can't swing the f**ckingt thing because my head is spinning with so much theory from the second I choose the club, until I inevitably make a thomas hunt of the shot. Swing thoughts on a post card please - let's empty my head of bad thoughts, think happy a thought and fly Peter Pan...

[Not a hacker]

Here's a swing thought for you princess. Hit the fukking ball.

[Not a hacker]

But seriously. Think light grip, passive arms dropping from the top, and letting the head come up through impact to lead your body to a balanced finish with good weoght transfer. Ron Del Barrio teaches this passive swing, check him out on youtube.

[mongrel]

I have just started to play about weekly for the first time in over 20 years and its been tough getting to the point where I can eliminate doubles, triples and a snowman f*cking up rounds. So I've been working on stance, set-up, alignment and ball position to where I got it dialed in OK and only two basic positions: top of the backswing and the finish position. And most importantly, the tempo of getting from point A to point B. Then I've set about to gather 14 clubs that I can trust enough to pull the trigger with. I don't care about max distance but reliable distance and relative straight directions. For me, the longer clubs' shafts' release points are critical and I don't care who makes the shaft or how much it costs or what it weighs or its torque rating. Just that its release coincides with my most repeatable achievable swing.

Then there's the most important tool anyone trying to play his best golf must utilize to its maximum potential. That glob of goop that lies within the six inches from ear to ear. If I can discipline myself to just slow down enough and let that gray motherf*cker do its job, I can save 5-10 strokes a round and break the mighty 80 mark.

[lm0159]

But seriously. Think light grip, passive arms dropping from the top, and letting the head come up through impact to lead your body to a balanced finish with good weoght transfer. Ron Del Barrio teaches this passive swing, check him out on youtube.

I'll have a look for the chap in question. I have to say though that just hitting the fukker doesn't sound like bad advice either.

At my best, all I'm thinking is: feel like a 3/4 backswing, and unload with the hips - turn don't slide, and make sure the hands work hard enough to square the club head.

[lm0159]

I have just started to play about weekly for the first time in over 20 years and its been tough getting to the point where I can eliminate doubles, triples and a snowman f*cking up rounds. So I've been working on stance, set-up, alignment and ball position to where I got it dialed in OK and only two basic positions: top of the backswing and the finish position. And most importantly, the tempo of getting from point A to point B. Then I've set about to gather 14 clubs that I can trust enough to pull the trigger with. I don't care about max distance but reliable distance and relative straight directions. For me, the longer clubs' shafts' release points are critical and I don't care who makes the shaft or how much it costs or what it weighs or its torque rating. Just that its release coincides with my most repeatable achievable swing.

Then there's the most important tool anyone trying to play his best golf must utilize to its maximum potential. That glob of goop that lies within the six inches from ear to ear. If I can discipline myself to just slow down enough and let that gray motherf*cker do its job, I can save 5-10 strokes a round and break the mighty 80 mark.

Amen to that. I should make clear though that despite my current misgivings, I am a regular visitor to the 70s. I used to be an occassional visitor to sub 75, but now my better rounds are in between 78 and 84.

[Fluffy]

Last night I was on the drive range trying to fix my swing. The last 2 weeks I was hitting the ball straight to the target,Then the ball would draw away to the left,My driver was hooking on bad shots and drawing alot on normal shots.

So here was my changes,and in 90minutes it sorted out this issue.

Firstly I tried a little more to keep my spine angle straight(for a 6'6" 275pd guy thats difficult)
Aimed noticable left of target(150meter shot was aiming about 10meters left)
Aligned my clubface squarer to the target(This looked like it was pointing to the right but i trusted it)
Then I weakend my left hand to show only 1 knuckle,(turned it left)
Then I weakend my right hand grip (turning it left aswell over my other hand)
Felt uncomfortable at best but stuck to the changes.

My bad shots was a Slight fade/push or a 1 or 2 meter draw(this beats an inconsisten pull any day)
this felt very uncomfortable but when putting down the power on a 3iron - pw I was sticking it all the time close. my 56 needs work now.Going right,have to fall back to previous swings

[hubijerk]

when I'm having a poor ball striking day, there are a few thoughts/triggers I focus on... I find that it's not always what you concentrate on so much as that you are in fact concentrating on something... rather then mess with spine angles or stuff like that that your never going to fix on the course anyway, I prefer to think of things that can do no harm... I pick ONE of these at a time, but may use them all during a round..

1. Strong early wrist cock (accuracy and strong ball flight)
2. Keep the club head as low and as long as possible in the follow through (for good contact and extension)
3. Prior to starting my swing, mostly with the driver I'll bow my back knee inward just a bit, it braces my back leg and keeps me from getting stuck behind the ball which has me blocking shots to the right.// ( do not use if your prone to hitting pulls)
4. finally... Make a good full turn, then let it go...

and if none of that works I start drinking... cannonball it...

[lm0159]

1. Strong early wrist cock (accuracy and strong ball flight)

I'm intrigued: I have always set my wrists pretty late, can you elaborate?

[hubijerk]

I don't mean the first action I do is to cock my wrists... and in the grand scheme of things it's really not "early" but for me if I focus on getting my wrists fully cocked before my shoulder turn it helps prevent me from getting quick... I find that making sure there's a full wrist cock earlier my hands feel much more stable on the club and the downswing flows naturally... I have a tendency to quicken my tempo... sometimes, when it gets really quick I'll get into the turn and my wrists aren't fully cocked yet, this leads to a series of compensations but ultimately the top/transition doesn't feel solid and I start spraying... I have been known to drop a Titleist into a family BBQ on occasion when I get a really bad case of the squirts...

at any rate it's one of those thoughts that really can't do any harm, and may do a ton of good... I've had a million swing thoughts, I've just discarded all the ones that proved no benefit and kept the few that have merit... it works for me, but swing thoughts are like shoes, you should be able to try them on and then take them off if they don't fit...

[lm0159]

Here's a swing thought for you princess. Hit the fukking ball.

So I took myself off to the range tonight to fix this once and for all, my swing thought wasn't quite hit the fukker, but: get the clubhead square, and into the back of the fukker as hard as you can - I'm cured!

It's odd: I had an epiphany, I figured if someone handed me a tennis racquet, and threw a tennis ball at me, then without thinking, my hand-eye coordination is such that I'd be confident of creaming the ball out of the middle of the racquet straight back at whoever it was. Now I understand that a tennis racquet has a somewhat larger hitting area than a golf club, but still I haven't seen a tennis racquet in almost 20 years, and in tennis we're dealing with a moving target. Then taking into account that I play golf almost every night: forget all the sheet, and get the club head square and hard into the back of the ball - job done!