Region3
Ryder Cup Winner
WARNING - Boring 'blog-like' post coming up.
I have these moments - when you suddenly realise what's wrong with your swing - fairly regularly. Probably not unique in that.
It's also probably not unique that the good effects from it last anywhere from a few holes to a few rounds, before the wheels fall off and you start searching again for 'the secret'.
Well, I had another one last night.
For months I've been over analysing, looking for the reason why my shots (specifically direction) are erratic.
It's very frustrating that I hit the ball better 3 years ago when I played off 10/11. My short game has improved no end, but my ball striking has gone backwards.
As above, I've tried a few different things with varying degrees of success, but ultimately not found out why. Now I think I have, although it could be another false dawn.
The reason I don't think it will be, is that this time I have physical evidence rather than just a feeling in the swing which may or may not be real.
I used to suffer from wearing holes in my gloves, which was caused by holding the grip so far up that the end was digging into my palm. My current glove has started to develop the same wear patch so even though I hadn't noticed myself doing it, I thought I'd slipped back into bad habits.
At the range last night though, I wondered if it were being caused by the grip moving in my hand, so I had a few practice swings and played a few shots just concentrating on what my left hand was doing. It was loosening it's grip on the club at the top of my backswing so that the club was just cradled in the fingers - not touching the palm at all!! How dare it!
No wonder I've not been able to hit the ball with any consistency. I must be regripping closed sometimes, square sometimes, and open others. Like a lucky dip but with horrible prizes.
Anyway, tightened the grip with my left hand and just concentrated on keeping it connected through the swing. It felt like the club was way open at the top and that I would slice the bejeezus out of everything, but shot after shot went dead straight.
I even tried closing the face a little and the ball went right to left. That might not sound unusual, but in the past I could close the face loads without the ball drawing - presumably because of this 'regripping' at the top and subconsciously squaring it back up.
That's it. Time will tell if it's another case of golfing hypochondria or not, but I now have a fresh optimism that I might start hitting more than 3 or 4 fairways per round, I wonder how long it will last?
All this happened last night at the range, and this morning I've been googling about it in case it had happened to others, and found quite a few coaches/instructors saying it's one of the most common faults that we have no idea we're doing.
So if you're struggling with inconsistent contact and direction, try swinging with a tee peg held inbetween the grip and the fleshy part of your palm underneath the left thumb, and see if it stays there.
I have these moments - when you suddenly realise what's wrong with your swing - fairly regularly. Probably not unique in that.
It's also probably not unique that the good effects from it last anywhere from a few holes to a few rounds, before the wheels fall off and you start searching again for 'the secret'.
Well, I had another one last night.
For months I've been over analysing, looking for the reason why my shots (specifically direction) are erratic.
It's very frustrating that I hit the ball better 3 years ago when I played off 10/11. My short game has improved no end, but my ball striking has gone backwards.
As above, I've tried a few different things with varying degrees of success, but ultimately not found out why. Now I think I have, although it could be another false dawn.
The reason I don't think it will be, is that this time I have physical evidence rather than just a feeling in the swing which may or may not be real.
I used to suffer from wearing holes in my gloves, which was caused by holding the grip so far up that the end was digging into my palm. My current glove has started to develop the same wear patch so even though I hadn't noticed myself doing it, I thought I'd slipped back into bad habits.
At the range last night though, I wondered if it were being caused by the grip moving in my hand, so I had a few practice swings and played a few shots just concentrating on what my left hand was doing. It was loosening it's grip on the club at the top of my backswing so that the club was just cradled in the fingers - not touching the palm at all!! How dare it!
No wonder I've not been able to hit the ball with any consistency. I must be regripping closed sometimes, square sometimes, and open others. Like a lucky dip but with horrible prizes.
Anyway, tightened the grip with my left hand and just concentrated on keeping it connected through the swing. It felt like the club was way open at the top and that I would slice the bejeezus out of everything, but shot after shot went dead straight.
I even tried closing the face a little and the ball went right to left. That might not sound unusual, but in the past I could close the face loads without the ball drawing - presumably because of this 'regripping' at the top and subconsciously squaring it back up.
That's it. Time will tell if it's another case of golfing hypochondria or not, but I now have a fresh optimism that I might start hitting more than 3 or 4 fairways per round, I wonder how long it will last?
All this happened last night at the range, and this morning I've been googling about it in case it had happened to others, and found quite a few coaches/instructors saying it's one of the most common faults that we have no idea we're doing.
So if you're struggling with inconsistent contact and direction, try swinging with a tee peg held inbetween the grip and the fleshy part of your palm underneath the left thumb, and see if it stays there.
