Simplicity itself

I've been playing a little better lately, though not with much satisfaction. The main reason for playing better has mainly been down to my resolve to keep it simple (stupid). The main reason for my lack of satisfaction has been my ability to finish off my rounds and score as well as I should.

By playing better I mean I'm hitting the ball better - driving a bit more consistently and playing some decent fairway woods and iron approaches, including pitches and chips. However, the putting demons are still lurking and at times I have been missing short putts that I shouldn't miss.

I'm driving better because I've done away with the strong grip I was employing, moving to a neutral, almost weak, grip. This has meant fewer hooks, particularly snap hooks, although it has encouraged a few fades that I could have done without.

I've also stopped worrying about my backswing positions, except to try to keep the club in front of myself a little more, which probably means picking it up a little. But mainly I've been trying to focus on tempo and follow through, with some success. The bad shots have tended to come from pull shots (from over the top swings) for which there really is no excuse, in my view.

My plan to help with this tendency is to try to mimic my 1 o'clock (neutral) left hand grip with a swing follow through that is directed at 1 o'clock (where 12 o'clock is the target line). It's a simple concept, sometimes used to help slicers (which I'm not) but which could help in simplifying the whole swing dynamic. I'm not sure it's a good idea, but we shall see.

I'm also going to go with an Adam Scott swing thought, i.e. start down with the upper and lower body at the same time. He acknowledges that a good swing doesn't really happen like this, and that the lower body probably starts first, but this swing thought might actually help one avoid an over active lower body (hip) rotation that can lead to push shots and other poorly timed shots.

As for putting, I heard something on the TV this morning that might help me with the dreaded three putts and missed opportunities that have been troubling me recently. The commentator suggeste the way to minimise the stress of difficult short putts (the dreaded four footers) is to concentrate on hitting the ball on a good line and forget about the result. This sounds reasonably easy, but of course it isn't. However, there is a lot to be said for just trying to put a good stroke on the ball. What could be simpler?