Good news, bad news

The good news is simply that all of the swing theory ideas I've written about and promoted are essentially correct. There are a large number of skills or techniques that are characteristic of the swings of good golfers, just like there are plenty that belong to the hacker.

In identifying these specific qualities, these descriptions of elements of the golf swing, I have generally ignored or at least minimised one important fact - the golf swing exists as a totality - it's more than the sum of it's parts.

This crucial fact means that the elements I speak about (eg. in the most recent straight lead arm blog) cannot assume any importance on their own because they are only part of the total picture. In this way, one fault in one area (such as a bent lead arm) can often be compensated for by a 'fault' in another area (perhaps a pronounced dip in the swing arc). I'm thinking Lee Westwood here.

Golf teachers sometimes talk about their pupils have compensating faults in their swing. Sometimes teachers try to fix both faults; sometimes they leave them alone - depending on whether the compensation in place has a cost, eg. power loss.

The trouble is, many self-taught golfers find one fault at a time in their swing and set out to fix it without realising that they have not identified the compensating fault. The result is often bad. No matter what they then try, things get worse and more complicated.

I suspect that for most of my golf journey I have been falling into this trap: find a fault - fix it; find the next fault - fix it; and so on. Most of the fault fixing makes sense in isolation, but the whole of the swing is constantly being manipulated and ultimately compromised.

Recently, I had a friend say 'why are you trying to change you basic swing; there's nothing wrong with it'. This got me thinking. But maybe thinking a bit more clearly. 

Anyway, I have thunk. I have stopped looking for individual faults in my swing (there are a few) and tried to 'own my swing'. I know this is a cliche. Unfortunately, it is also very true. Your swing is your swing. You can learn to hit certain shots - draws, fades, stingers, spinners, whatever, but these are mostly achieved through the set up, alignment, grip, ball position and other methods that are NOT related to your natural swing.

So, the good news is I'm learning to live with my swing - in its totality - and generally happy with the results. The bad news is that although I'm wiser, I'm also quite a bit older. C'est la vie.

Straight to the point

I can't believe how often I ignore the important things about the golf swing. Last time I carried on about rhythm and the importance of a smooth and unhurried backswing, but missed one of the most important factors in creating a consistent golf swing, the swing arc.

There is no future for the golfer who cannot create and maintain a consistent swing arc. Topped shots, fat shots and poor contact in general are closely related to having an inconsistent swing arc - where we are referring to the outer path of the clubhead.

There are of course other ways in which a swing can be compromised - for example, the rhythm being off in some way, typically through hurrying or trying to hit too hard. But one of the main reasons for poor contact is because the swing arc changes from shot to shot. The margin for error is, after all, very small.

I have realised that it is really important for me to create and maintain a straight lead (left) arm throughout my golf swing. It is not something that I've focused on in recent years - probably because I've been tinkering with all sorts of ideas about elbow or wrist position or some other (mainly) backswing thought.

My obsession with connection, upper arm to chest, was another area of focus that, although important in some ways, does not directly address the crucial swing arc factor for consistent ball striking. I've also been distracted by numerous other ideas about weight shift, heel lifting, ball position, etc. etc.

While straight lead arm is a longstanding golf concept, it has been dismissed by some as a myth. Numerous examples of top players who bend their lead arm are cited as the reason it is unnecessary to keep the arm straight. But these same players, with rare exceptions, manage to straighten that lead arm at impact - where it really does matter for nearly all golfers.

The reality is the average player does not have the ability to consistently (and consistently is the key word) achieve at impact a straight lead arm, and a fully extended swing arc. It's hard to do. Not that keeping the lead arm straight is easy; but it is better to try than to ignore the importance of it.

It should be noted that a straight lead arm does not mean rigid. Straight should probably be thought of as extended and definitely not locked. There is a difference; errors of over-rigidity can creep in if we are not careful. There are also other traps for the unwary, for example, failure to extend (lift the chest) on the backswing, without which it is difficult to stay fairly centred and correctly rotated.

Enough detail for now. I just know that I strike the ball much better when I focus on keeping my lead arm straight. I am more consistent in making ball contact and I believe I also benefit from maintaining as wide a swing arc as I can - so that my distances are, if anything, enhanced.

I hope I got straight to the point because straight is the point of this post. Well, it makes sense to me.

No Brainer - again

Previously, I spoke about split grip putting and said I could not decide on whether it is a good idea or not. My conclusion now is that splitting the hands in a less extreme way (an inch or so) is sufficient to ensure that the dominant hand has control and the less dominant (top) hand acts as support only.

I think now that trying to reduce the dominance of the right hand (for right handers) does not make much sense. We use our dominant right hand (right handers) for all sorts of actions, throwing, writing, cutting, brushing our teeth, etc, etc, - why would we not use it to control our putting stroke.

Anyway, putting grips and techniques are horses for courses, and there are special cases such as golfers who have mental issues - the yips - not to be too cruel. I think it's probably most important that we have rhythm in the stroke and can feel for the pace of the putt, combined with solid contact, to putt well.

Speaking of rhythm, this applies to the full stoke, especially the longer clubs. An absolute killer is the hurried stroke, where anxiety over the strike affects our balance and timing. I'm not in favour of a pause at the top of the backswing, but a slow or unhurried backswing can be a great idea for some golfers.

But my backswing has been a real problem in recent times. Therefore, I'm so happy now to have finally realised that with a decent set up, all I need to do is take the club back as far as I can while staying in balance and forget about my arm or elbow position or the direction the clubhead takes. 

This recent realisation (I'm a slow learner) has freed me up to concentrate on the strike and the follow through. I can't stress too much how important this discovery has been for me. Given that my backswing is shortish, I'm not a long hitter, but I'm not really short either. And I don't miss many fairways.

If anything, my biggest problem at the moment is chipping and pitching. Many of the lies on our course are very tight and it takes confidence (that I don't have) to play these shots well. It's something to work on. After all, the short game is the scoring game; now that's the real no brainer.

Split decision

I'm still considering the unorthodox split grip putting style I wrote about last time. There's no doubt it has its merits - one's dominant right hand being in control, with a very low grip on the putter, also for control - but I now suspect that it's possible this is overkill.

There are many strange and wonderful grips adopted by golfers with the putter. Some of them are designed to take the dominant hand out of the stroke, often because of the yips or a less radical version of that affliction. But I'm not sure that the grip has anything to do with the yips and the like - surely it's psychological, not physical.

The experiment will continue for now, alternating with a more conventional (less-split) grip, if I can call it that. We shall see. At the moment it's a split decision.

Postscript: next time, I'm going to talk about the full swing and some recent revelations around simplicity and rhythm.

Going low

When I refer to going low, I'm not talking about going low on the scorecard, that's not happening. What I'm referring to is my new, experimental, right hand low putting method - otherwise known as a split grip putting method.

I recently re-read a book from the early 1970s by a Paul Trevillion about his split-grip putting method. He claimed, and I don't think it was ever disproved, that he was the best putter in the world. He challenged all sorts of people to contests and many people must have believed his claim, because very few, if any, took up his challenges.

In brief, his method was not just a split-grip (hands apart on the putter) but with his right hand (he was right-handed) placed a long way down the putter, even as much as a foot from the putter blade for shorter putts; less so for longer putts.

Trevillion claimed that the introduction of the other hand in more conventional grips caused confusion, and cited examples of where the the hands don't work well together (eg. handwriting or drawing a straight line). I'm not sure about the (neuro) science, but the added stability you can feel in the putter head from a lower grip does seem to add support to the claim.

I have tried this method (the less extreme version) and my first impression is that it has merit. Anyway, I'm giving it a trial. I can't putt any worse than I have been. Who knows, I might just end up going low.

Golf is cruel

Golf is a tough sport to master - in fact, you never can. The golfing gods make sure you stay in the land of what could have been.

On that theme, I recently watched a pro golfer play a tournament round in which I don't believe he mishit a single shot from tee to green, not one! Of course, he putted like a drunk, so it was just another golfing tragedy.

But putting, the great leveller and sometimes redeemer, is not what I want to focus on. What was absolutely mesmerising was the beautiful full swing that pro displayed, and specifically his rhythm.

Every shot from driver to wedge had the same rhythm (or tempo if you like). At no stage, not once, even with the frustrations he was experiencing on the greens, did his rhythm change.

In golf there are many situations where your rhythm can be compromised: the impulse to gain a few yards off the tee; the desire to reach a green by adding a few yards to your approach shot; the in-between club scenario; the tricky shot over a bunker. There are surely many others.

It seems to me that good ball striking must be significantly improved by maintaining a consistent rhythm through each club and in each situation. An effective golf swing is after all heavily reliant on timing, which is basically the sequencing that golf teachers often reference.

The challenge then is to find and focus on maintaining one's optimum rhythm. We probably all have a default rhythm or tempo. It will vary from individual to individual. But in golf the length of the club, the shot required, etc. should not determine the rhythm. As they say, 'let the club do the work'.

Speaking of golfing cliches, some of which are actually home-truths that make sense, there is another one that I should mention: 'watch the ball'.

Lately, I've been aware of more consistent ball striking because I've been trying to watch the ball longer when hitting the ball. In reality, it's probably not the 'watching' so much as the 'not changing posture' that is helping. But if the watching is encouraging me to stay in posture, or staying down if you will, who am I to argue with the old cliche.

Finally, a mention of my achilles heel. I've come to the conclusion that I am actually a pretty good putter - or good enough. No grip, technique, concept is 'correct'. Putting I believe is in part imagination, part hand-eye co-ordination, and part luck. You could say that putting is another area of golf where the golfing gods are in charge. Sometimes the golfing gods are kind; often they are cruel. 

Steady as she goes

I've carried on about connection (left shoulder unit / upper chest - right handers) previously. Of course, I have gone away from that concept and tried numerous other ideas, with very limited success.

So,  I'm back with connection ... and liking it. The thing is it has to be combined with a couple of other swing thoughts or concepts, neither of which I hadn't fully engaged with in the past.

Connection is simple, it can be developed by using the towel or head-cover in the armpit or simply by feeling the connection. The difficulty is getting used to the backswing shortening effect. You have to accept that the shorter backswing will be compensated for to some extent by a greater use of the bigger muscles of the core.

A shorter backswing can also become or at least feel too quick. This means it is important to take a slight pause at the top of the backswing. But this is not a Matsuyama pause, it is much less pronounced; it is really no more than making sure the transition from backswing to downswing is quiet and deliberate and in no way rushed.

There is one other aspect of connection: it means that a draw becomes one's dominant shot shape. This is fine for most players and situations, but there is always a slight risk of draws becoming hooks. As Lee Trevino said, I'm paraphrasing only: you can talk to a fade, but a hook doesn't listen.

Anyway, once these issues have been acknowledged and incorporated, connection becomes a very comfortable, and I must say reliable, way to play golf.

Now, the putting game. At last I have found a way to grip the putter that feels right. Simply, left hand rotated left (super weak) so that the face cannot close easily, combined with a right-hand palm grip matching the clubface. For me there is complete separation of the hands, with the (low) right hand in charge of the stroke.

All this has made be more confident of keeping the putter face square and has also allowed me to more effectively, and more consistently, feel the distance required. Some of my confidence has returned - which is so important for good putting.

All I have to do now is keep it steady as she goes.