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.