Winter of discontent

It has been a wet and muddy winter here in downtown Melbourne. We have had preferred lies on our course, which is great, but it gets really tiresome to have to clean your ball after every shot.

Excuses out of the way, I have to admit to a downturn in my scoring ability and shotmaking over the past few months. As usual, I have been trying to find that extra 10 percent in my game and, as a result, have lost 20 percent. I haven't abandoned my hard-won insights into swing sequencing, effortless arms and so forth, but I have complicated things with some new thoughts about weight transfer, elbow use, lag and impact positions.

The new thoughts came from the realisation that there is a common factor in all good ball striking, particularly with the clubs other than driver and other woods off the tee, and that is the impact position or location of the bottom of the swing arc. This bottom of the arc starts at the ball - not before it - and results in a divot in front of the ball position. This means that the ball is struck first and the ground second. It sounds too simple, but it is verifiable via ALL video of ALL pro golfers' swings.

The question that arises is: how do I achieve this type of ball contact? This is where I started to complicate things by looking at hand position, weight transfer, foot movement, loading, lagging, etc. etc. I was not happy just coiling from the top and uncoiling from the bottom, which had been my mantra. I wanted to add in all of these other (perfectly correct and reasonable) elements, but in the process I have now lost some of the freedom and consistency I had built up.

Anyway, having realised that I have been complicating things, I think it is time to settle on a few keys that I can call on in my full swing, which I will list below. Before that, however, I should make it clear that when it comes to scoring well (as low as possible) it is essential to realise that the short game is the crucial area of concentration. No point in hitting the ball far and straight if you can't chip and putt well - no point at all!

That said, my swing keys or areas of focus are as follows:

1. Balance - roll the feet and don't sway or move your head excessively.
2. Swing plane - use the trailing elbow correctly - ie.  it should face up at set up so it stays close on the downswing, keeping the club on plane. Ideally, lag is maintained by not releasing the trailing wrist too early.
3. Coil from the top and uncoil from the bottom - bearing in mind that the weight must shift almost entirely to the front foot at impact (though not quite so much with tee shots).

This is enough (maybe even too much) to think about. But with time I hope to be able to achieve these elements of my full swing - and have more time to work on my short game.

September 2012