Reiterating a realisation

I had a mixed day on Saturday. My score was ordinary, mainly because I limped the last ten holes after wrenching my knee badly getting out of a bunker (that I should never have been in). But I was fortunate enough to hit a few good shots late in the round - and by good I mean 'real' golf shots.

'Real' golf shots are the ones that result from a full swing from point A (a completed backswing) to point B (a balanced finish) of the swing - and I'm referring to full shots here. I call them real because too often I hit shots with a poor, incomplete backswing or an unbalanced, jerky, sawn off follow through, which I don't regard as real golf shots.

Real golf shots have an appropriate trajectory, speed and spin for the club in question. They are not necessarily straight at the target or even hit the correct distance, because lots of judgement and other factors come into play, but they will still have been hit with authority and balance, and they will feel good.

The challenge for many average players is to increase their quota of these real golf shots. The better player will often be able to count on one hand (or maybe two hands) the number of shots they DIDN'T hit with this real authority. The average player might go an entire round without hitting ANY real golf shots. I've done this myself many times.

To my knowledge the only way to increase this quota of real or authentic golf shots is to develop a real golf swing - one that is basically technically correct, and which incorporates a decent backswing and follow through.

By technically correct I don't mean pretty necessarily, but a swing that looks balanced and relatively effortless - because the correct swing dynamics will have been in place. See my earlier blogs for discussion of the key aspects of the good golf swing.

My emphasis on a real golf swing having a completed backswing and follow through is because this is what you feel and can observe when you hit a good shot. You feel like you have committed to the shot, stayed down and through the hitting area, and finished with your weight on the front foot. It will also be a swing that will have felt relatively effortless, yet the ball flight and distance will be far better than usual.

On Saturday, I played poorly until a superior player in my group commented (slightly illegally) on my failure to stay down on my shots. For some reason, the comment struck a chord and I started to think about completing my backswing and follow through and making sure I hit down and through the ball (nothing else). This was when my few real golf shots happened.

Anyway, I'm more and more convinced of the dangers of hitting at the ball - and more and more convinced of the need to think of the golf swing as a dynamic whole - a complete action A to B - with a commitment to that process above all.

I would like to think I can increase my quota of real golf swings and real golf shots. I think this is what golf is really all about.