More on the first amigo

My first amigo is a smooth golf swing. Of course, 'smooth' is a somewhat general or non-specific term, which can be interpreted slightly differently by different golfers. It is, however, a term that is closely related to rhythm, which in turn is related to tempo, which is also related to timing.

By smooth I am referring to a golf swing, and I include all types of swing and all types of golf clubs, that is unhurried, non-jerky (if there is such a word) and which appears effortless.

This is the typical appearance of many a professional's golf swing. This effortless smoothness is, somewhat ironically for many observers, also closely linked to the creation of considerable power and the huge distances achieved by many good golfers.

It should be noted that this smooth rhythm can be achieved with various swing speeds and very different tempos. Ernie Els can be smooth yet incredibly powerful with a swing that appears slow; Alviro Quiros can be smooth and powerful with a swing that is so fast that it is almost quicker than the eye can follow. Both players hit the ball a long way - plenty far enough for anyone's distance needs.

Timing is another of the terms that can be associated with the concept of smooth. A smooth swing will, almost as a matter of course, result in good timing, provided the sequencing of the swing is correct.

Now here is another important term: sequence or sequencing. This refers to the order in which the body parts move or come into play during the golf swing to achieve the maximum desired acceleration of the club head at the desired time in the down swing - ie. at impact or just after impact.

This sequencing has been discussed previously; starting the down swing from the ground up via the knees, hips, shoulders, arms and finally hands and club head, so I won't dwell on it. But sequencing is a major element of a smooth looking golf swing, a swing that looks good - and is good.

Ultimately, smooth is what I want my golf swing to feel like - and feel is the crucial elements of any golf swing (check out Percy Boomer's seminal book 'On Learning Golf' for more on this).

I want to feel smoothness in my golf swing, an unhurried, controlled application of power. And I want to make sure I don't over-swing or try to hit too hard, because I want to give myself the best chance to hit the ball solidly and on a good swing plane.

An important final word on smoothness: it applies (as mentioned above) to all clubs from driver to putter. All the clubs in the bag should be swung at the same tempo, whatever tempo is applicable to and comfortable for the individual golfer. Check out a YouTube of Ernie doing just this; it is fascinating and illuminating.

So, while it's tempting to swing hard with a driver, to force one's mid irons and jab at putts and bunker shots, I believe maintaining a smooth and constant tempo with all of these clubs and shots will pay solid dividends in the long run. If you don't believe me, just ask my amigo.

The three amigos

My previous post was about release and before that I had spoken about having a flat left wrist and about not trying to hit too hard. I'm about to try to put those three elements of the golf swing together to form a system or way of tackling the golf swing.

I should mention that I have also given quite a lot of attention to weight placement and balance, but I am more than ever inclined to believe that weight transfer and balance are bi-products of not trying to swing too hard.

What this means is that by taking the time to swing smoothly, the quite natural movements that are involved in any reasonably athletic throwing action take care of the weight transfer and the balance needed for a successful throw or swing.

When throwing or skipping a stone, for example, there is no thinking about where to place the weight, and there is no concern about balance; the whole action just happens. The weight goes back a little as the arm extends backwards and then reverses as the arm fires forward with the release. A smooth, coordinated throw will generally produce the best results, just as a smooth and coordinated swing with a golf club will produce the best results.

The flat front (left for righties) wrist is a more technical issue, because it is something that does require some preparation and a greater awareness of ones actions. The flat front wrist is achieved by taking a neutral grip (explained in many other golf instruction sources), rather than a more radical strong or (an uncommon) weak grip.

This wrist position is only important because it is something that guarantees that the clubface is not open during or at the top of the backswing. A square to slightly closed clubface during the backswing gives the average player a much better chance of having a square to slightly closed clubface at impact. In contrast, an open clubface during the backswing requires a golfer to rotate the arms with perfect timing to achieve the essential square to slightly closed clubface at impact.

I can't go into the crucial swing-plane to clubface relationship that is part of the now well-known ball flight laws, but suffice to say, the average player does not want to open the clubface during the backswing if s/he wants to hit a straight ball. Maintaining a flat front wrist is the key.

Having said that, it is actually important that the arms to roll over in the follow through. This is the release - or the most common type of release. It is not something that many average players will ever have thought about, but it is something that is a big issue for players of quality.

The release is, in fact, something that happens after the ball is struck, but it is something that is in preparation, as it were, in the final stages of the downswing. That is, the player must be accelerating into impact, by extending and straightening both arms towards the target. This is the crucial impact zone. Not much can be manipulated in the tiny fraction of a second before impact, but the golfer must have premeditated their intention to achieve this acceleration for it to occur.

This is a difficult thing to describe, particularly as the release move is so much in this out of control stage of the golf swing. However, it is a crucial third element of an efficient and powerful golf swing and I intend to further investigate it.

So, those are my three amigos: swing smoothly, maintain a flat front wrist and release through the ball. An update will follow soon.

Please release me

I continue to be fairly frustrated with the many and varied aspects of the golf swing. However, having mastered some of these aspects or fundamentals, as I've often called them, I now embark on what I sincerely hope is the final frontier - release.

I will define release here as the action of the club head through the ball, not the release of lag in the downswing; that is another matter.

I've been studying the many theories and descriptions of the release of the club head, including the two main types of release - hand roll release and body turn release - my terms, simplified from some usages in some texts.

Speaking about the hand roll release first, my tendency, like many faders and occasional slicers, is to hold my release, that is, not allow my right hand (right-handed golfer) to cross-over my left hand, at and just after impact. This is usually described as a 'hold off' and is used by good golfers to hit deliberate fades or slices.

Unfortunately, this hold off move comes naturally and often unintentionally to many average golfers trying to keep the club face square at impact.

The spin from an open face (open relative to the club head path or plane) will be slice spin. The ball will curve to the right (right handed golfer). This is usually not what is intended.

Now, the other type of release, which is practised by fewer good golfers who are in the public eye (though perhaps more of them in recent years than in the past) is the body turn release. Zac Johnson is a classic example.

This release involves keeping the club face relatively closed throughout the backswing and downswing, generally utilising a stronger than normal grip, and rotating the body rapidly through the ball. The hands are passive and not rolled over in the hitting zone.

The aim with this type of release is to minimise the need to time the hand action, since the club face stays squarer to the plane throughout the swing. The release is achieved by the somewhat more active and more rapid body rotation.

The potential difficulty with this body turn release is the need to make an athletic body motion, which might be difficult for some older players or golfers with less flexibility, because balance, amongst other things, can be compromised.

The bottom line is, however, that some form of release is needed for relatively straight golf shots.

If the hand roll release is adopted, timing the actual release is the challenge. Unplanned variations in its timing will result in a wide range of shot shapes.

If the body turn release is adopted, the player needs to commit to an athletic lower body turn. Not enough turn and horrible pull-hooks will result.

Investigating the timing of the hand roll release will be the aim of my next experimental round of golf. I've tried the body turn release with a little bit of success, but I'm not totally convinced that it's for me at my stage of golfing life.

And by the way, all of my rounds of golf are experimental, if nothing else. It's half - no - most of the fun!

Flat earth versus flat wrist

For a long time there was no reason to doubt that the earth was flat, after all, that's what it looked like. Maybe there was a slight curve, which explained why those sails appeared gradually over the horizon. And besides, if the earth was round, some people would fall off - stands to reason.

Of course, science came along and complicated things - atmosphere, gravity, planetary orbits, solar systems, galaxies, universes, big-bangs and black holes - and not the holes with the glad wrap over them that I see every Saturday morning.

It's the same with golf. We have complicated the dickens out of the game. And I have been as complicit as anyone with my theories and systems. It's time to simplify things.

One of the simplest concepts in golf, and one of the easiest to understand, is that the clubface determines where the ball will start and, to a large degree, continue through the air. Control of the clubface is paramount.

Now, how that clubface control is obtained can vary a great deal - look at the many and varied swings of the good golfers out there. The bottom line is find out how to control the clubface, with consistency, and while hitting proper, full golf shots, on full length golf courses.

I believe I have found a way for me to gain that control, and I'm working on it every chance I get. For me, as a right hander, the secret is in the left wrist.

If I can keep my left wrist flat during the backswing and at the top of the backswing, mirroring the alignment of the clubface and actually keeping the clubface pointing at the plane line, I can feel secure in knowing where the clubface is pointing. This allows me to concentrate on actually playing the shot I want to play without fear of extreme side spin or major pushes and pulls.

One caveat is that one's grip must be neutral in order to use the flat wrist theory. A strong grip can work, and does, but the wrist will be bent slightly backward (supinated) at the top if the clubface is to be considered square. A weak grip, not recommended for most full shots, means the wrist must be bent inward, or pronated, at the top for the clubface to be square to the plane.

I know this sounds complicated, but having a neutral grip (look it up if necessary) will remove some of the complexity, remove some of the felt need to manipulate the club or clubface. The square clubface, or the confidence that one has a square clubface, also removes the need to think too much about swing in to out or transfer the weight or whatever. The backswing feels compact and the golf swing seems easier in general.

Perhaps this is just another theory, but I don't think this is another flat earth theory. I just need to do a few more experiments and make a few more observations. I'm quite confident that I won't fall off the edge of the earth.

Addendum to weight on front foot

I talked to a real golfer the other day; someone who has been to the mountain; that is, someone who has played championship, A-grade, competitive golf off a scratch handicap.

I wanted to ask about the front foot theory; the one about playing all shots with the weight on the front foot. He was not convinced that this is a fundamental aim and here's why:

With full shots, driver, fairway wood, mid to long irons, etc. the momentum of the downswing with a degree of body rotation will produce a lot of forward momentum that will automatically transfer weight to the front side (foot). That is, there is not necessarily any conscious attempt to put the weight on the front foot at impact.

If this is true, weight on the front foot is not really a fundamental, but more a consequence of a good swing dynamics. Back to the drawing board? Not quite, because there are plenty of short, half, green side, etc. shots in golf where there is not much dynamic body movement; not enough to achieve the important weight transfer.

For these 'smaller' shots it is important to set up with the weight forward and keep it there during the shot. Any fall back of quit on the shot will usually be anything from disappointing to disastrous.

But there is one other thing to say that is only slightly related to this, but which might just represent a fundamental for the average golfer to consider.

The flat front wrist (left for right-handers) is talked about quite a bit in relation to the impact position. The flat front wrist is present in all good golf swings (with some good golfers actually bowing, pronating, the front wrist). My recent research tells me that keeping the front wrist flat - throughout the swing - is very important in keeping the club face square to the plane and in an ideal position when impact is reached.

Keeping the front wrist flat (or nearly so) throughout the swing is much easier (though not easy) than going from a bent (supinated) to a flat wrist during the downswing. Keeping that wrist flat actually restricts the backswing slightly and helps keep the trailing elbow close to the rear hip - where it should be on the downswing.

I've spoken about this flat wrist theory before, but I'm no re-investigating it. I'll report back in due course.

PS. I hope I got my pronated and supinated terms correct. If I got them a-about, I'll correct that next time.

Tangled web

After another poor round on Saturday, I've looked again at my three fundamentals of the golf swing and tried to work out what's missing.

And, as always, the temptation for me is to look for another method or system or set of principles that will work for me. But after seven years in this endeavour, I must now almost concede that it isn't going to happen.

While I like some of the methods, or parts of some of the methods I have tried, and I have reduced my handicap by four or five shots during this time, I'm still not playing with anything like the consistency I believe I should be able to achieve.

Therefore, I've decided I need to play my own game, find my own method, accept that I have some limitations and be happy to play to the strengths I do have. Essentially, this means I need to keep the ball in play and use my better than average short game to put up a good score.

This means, of course, that I need to revisit my previously stated fundamentals of the golf swing and see if they are still relevant.

1. Play shots off the front foot: a sound principle that is accepted by virtually everyone and is supported by all the visual and scientific evidence. There is really no other way even with shots from near the green, except perhaps that there is a slight margin of error for a teed ball or a putt. I think playing almost all types of shot off the front foot is a fundamental.

2. Don't sway: there is room for argument here, since some lateral movement can actually be accommodated by the more skilled golfer who has good timing and balance. Perhaps the first fundamental is more important than this one and perhaps if the first fundamental is observed, this one becomes redundant. I'd still say to less experienced golfers 'don't sway off the ball', but if they do and can get back to their front foot, all may not be lost. Is it a fundamental - maybe not?

3. Don't try to hit too hard: this is another fundamental that is probably most relevant to the less experienced or less skilful player. In some ways, this principle can be misinterpreted to encourage steering the ball and it could lead to deceleration, both extremely harmful to a golf swing. In fact, deceleration is the bane of many average players, especially on approach, pitch and chip shots. It is almost always a fatal error. On the other hand, if one is trying to hit the ball too hard, it can lead to lack of balance, swaying and failure to get onto the front foot. Hence the close relationship of this fundamental to the first two fundamentals. Again, is it a fundamental - perhaps not?

The upshot of this is that I will stay with fundamental number one, but keep the other two in the back of my mind. As has been said, 'never have more than one swing thought in your mind when playing a shot'. Saying to yourself make sure you get onto the front foot is not a bad one to use.

But that's not the end of the story. I have just read something on an interesting blog that I had never seriously considered before. That I haven't done so is slightly shocking to me.

This relates to alignment, something that I've always accepted is important, but never fully understood. I do get the railway line analogy and the use of alignment sticks and all of that discussion, but I hadn't considered one other related issue.

When one sets up to the ball, many average players will align themselves to their target (and not all will do even this). They will then swing to that target, failing to realise that their unconscious mind is telling them they are actually aligned right of the target (right handers) and that it will attempt to correct this by swinging across the ball. The unconscious mind is very strong and usually succeeds in this attempt, with the result that many average golfers struggle to hit straight shots because of an open club face and a tendency to impart slice spin on the ball.

This is not the easiest thing to describe or to actually visualise. However, it is a factor in all golf swings. It is the reason that good golfers use alignment sticks when practising, align the club face first when setting up, and often pick an intermediate target to help in their alignment. They know that they must swing on the actual target line, which I understand and believe will feel like swinging out to one o'clock (for right handers). I'm not sure, but I suspect that knowing the real reason we must swing 'in to out' might actually help us achieve this commonly accepted feature of good ball striking.

I'm going to tentatively list this alignment principle as my new second fundamental. I'll try it out next time on the course, with a new awareness of its importance. And we will see how it goes.

Rebel with a cause

It's raining and cold today, so I am thinking rather than playing golf. This is a dangerous practice, as many golfers know. The great Peter Thomson used to sit down and think about his game after a round, rather than go out and beat hundreds of balls on the driving range, but somehow I suspect he was thinking about different things from those I think about.

I did spend some of this research time looking into the thoughts (well, the expressed thoughts) of one Monte Scheinblum, long driving champion and rebel golf teacher. Maybe rebel is too strong a word, but I think his ideas (and he relishes the fact) go against a great deal of current conventional golf teaching.

Fortunately, Monte is fun to read, while being extremely thought provoking in his blog and Youtube contributions. One of his main golf tenets he 'debunks' is the 'hold the lag' stratagem. He advocates throwing away the lag or, put another way, releasing right from the top of the downswing. Heresy, I hear you cry. But when he explains what he means, it makes a whole lot of sense.

He talks about natural versus unnatural or forced lag (or words to that effect) and explains why trying to hold the lag, often by pulling on the club handle, causes a myriad of problems: open faces, slices and pushes, far beyond the ability of most golfers to make sufficient compensations. He explains what goes wrong, in reasonably technical terms, while acknowledging that there are some top players who can get away with almost anything in there set-ups and swings. He stresses that much of his advice is mainly relevant to the average player, particularly players, like me, struggling for consistency.

One of the really good things he does is to reassure us that, provided some backswing rules are followed (no over-swinging with the arms) and provided some body positions are maintained during the swing (backward spine tilt), this natural lag will occur. He even allows us to hit hard with the trailing hand and almost defies us to release too early, provided those other (fairly simple) rules or principles are followed.

For me, one of the other good things about Monte's ideas is that they really don't conflict with my hard won principles of no sway, weight on the front foot at impact and don't swing too hard (provided in the last of these that swinging too hard is linked to over-swinging the arms). His ideas are also at least partially in line with many of the very good principles of teachers like Ross Duplessis and Shawn Clement, though there would be points of disagreement, I'm sure.

Anyway, there's a lot to like in Monte's ideas; they take some pressure off the golfer trying like crazy to create lag, restrict the hip turn, get forward lean in the golf club at impact, etc., etc. They are well worth a look. He is definitely a rebel with a cause.