On course

During my most recent round, I used the straight lead (left for me) arm on all full shots and for chip shots for that matter. It worked extremely well. I hit the ball more consistently and with no appreciable loss of power or distance.

Having said that, it is not a panacea; it is still necessary to align correctly, swing smoothly (I marginally slowed my backswing) and avoid rushing into the downswing, swaying and so forth. The bad shots I hit were when I hurried swings or flipped my hands; the good shots were when I retained the straight (not stiff) lead arm throughout the backswing and contact zone.

I believe the straight left arm does a number of things, some that are incidental to the concept, but valuable nonetheless.

One is that the straight lead arm tends to encourage the connection that I've written about previously. Keeping the arm straight tends to keep it closer to one's chest; whereas a bent arm is more likely to stray quite a way from the chest, with the consequent loss of connection and inconsistent use of the upper body. I won't go into connection again here.

Keeping a straight lead arm, even just thinking about keeping the lead arm straight, also helps a golfer to retain the lag that is so important in generating club head speed. Trying to retain lag in other ways is, as I mentioned in a recent post, dangerous for the average player. The straight lead arm encourages a late release and the retention of lag, mainly by minimising the desire to flip the hands, having tried (usually unsuccessfully) to hold them back in the downswing.

Finally, I've also been thinking about how the straight lead arm might actually help encourage a golfer transfer their weight to the front foot, an essential in all good golf swings. I think by focusing on the lead arm creates a feeling that the backswing is shortening and perhaps reducing the power available (the first feeling is real, the second idea is a fallacy) the golfer is more likely to use their body, particularly their lower body, to generate power. This is exactly what is required - more lower body action in sequence with the upper body. I've yet to develop this part of the theory.

That's enough on straight lead arm, my other concern lately has been putting and, in a way, I've adopted the same kind of approach to putting, particularly short putting.

Firstly, what I've done is go back to a conventional grip, well, reasonably conventional. I've adopted a Vardon grip for putting. A Vardon grip, used by many golfers to weaken the input of their stronger bottom (right for righties) hand in the golf swing, places the little finger on top of the index finger of the other hand (or in the groove next to it). I'm not convinced that weakening the input of the stronger hand is necessary for most golfers, but allowing for the fact that many golfers pull-slice, there could be something in it, although the causes of pull-slices are perhaps more related to alignment and swing plane than grip.

My adoption of the Vardon grip for putting is for the same reason as above - to weaken the strong hand - and reduce the frequency of the pulled putt. It also feels quite natural; far more natural to me than the lead hand low idea. Anyway, this grip felt quite good, and it encouraged me to use the rocking of my shoulders more on longer putts, not a bad thing.

On shorter putts, I've also adopted the Vardon grip, but I'm also gripping down on the club 2 to 3 inches until my arms are much straighter than before - hence my reference to the straight lead arm above. This lower gripping gives me not only the benefits of straighter arms, but also a feeling of more club head control. Again, it is no panacea, but I think it is helping.

Finally, on putting, I've resolved to accept (like the great Walter Hagen) that I will hit some bad, in this case, putts each round. I am allowing myself 2 missed short putts and 2 bad long putts (whatever bad means on the day). I think this makes sense because although golf is far from a game of perfect, I feel I am on course for a slight improvement over the coming weeks.

Change of mind

I've done some practice with left hand low putting. I can only say - it's not for me. I've spent too many years in the backyard as a kid and later in life putting with a conventional grip and putting stroke, and putted fairly well, to change too radically.

I have decided for now to try out a couple of minor changes and live with the odd missed short putt. If I develop full-blown yips, I'll think again.

The changes to my grip and stroke are simple really. I will grip down for short putts, maybe two or three inches, so that my arms are stretched out a little more and I feel closer to the ball, hopefully with a feeling that I have a little more control.

After that, I'll try the well-regarded and proven method of holding the follow through, rather than jerking the club back after the stroke.

Finally, I'm also considering taking a Vardon-like overlap grip to take a little bit of right-hand hit out of the stroke. I use a ten finger grip for my other golf shots because I don't believe the average golfer should be limiting the power of their dominant hand. Unlike professionals and low amateurs, the last thing social golfers need to do is guard against hooks - 90 percent fade or slice.

A word on the straight left arm (for righties), the lead arm, in the full golf swing. It occurs to me that concentrating on keeping the lead arm straight, not rigid, helps the golfer maintain the lag in their swing without trying to do an fancy club manipulation.

Lag is great because it increases potential power (whip effect, etc.), but it is a dangerous customer in the wrong hands, leading to late hits, pushes, pull-slices and all sorts of issues. Concentrating on keeping the lead arm straight minimises the urge to flip the wrists and throw away the lag, while maximising the chances of keeping a consistent swing arc and making good club face contact.

That's enough - I might change my mind again.

Connecting the dots

Last blog, I talked about connection and related ideas. Unfortunately, although I've found the idea or theory to be worthwhile, for me at least it doesn't provide a specific enough implementation strategy. I can think about connection, but that doesn't really help me with my ball striking - in the way I had hoped it would.

What I have discovered instead is a way in which I can probably achieve most of the goals or principles of connection, but with a more specific swing thought and plan of action.

It's simple really, and it is just keeping the left arm straight (for right-handers). This simple technique seems to help preserve the arm triangle, create width, maintain the swing plane and arc, prevent over-swinging and all the good things that are promoted in concepts like connection.

The main caveat I would mention relates to over-stressing or tensing of the arm, which will defeat the whole purpose of the exercise. Too much tension will reduce the backswing too much, limit wrist-cock and generally limit the freedom of the swing. By straight arm, I mean as straight as possible, without tensing or straining.

One thing to note is that players with less shoulder and torso flexibility will struggle to achieve a full backswing while maintaining a straight left arm, unlike the Rory's of this world. However, a straight left arm and a reasonable amount of body rotation will still generate a good amount of power, because the wider arc, better built up of torque, better potential for accurate club head contact will compensate for the shorter backswing.

As I said in relation to connection, the straight left arm is also a work in progress.

Another work in progress is my putting. It has been terrible. As a consequence, I am going to go to left hand low, probably for all but the long putts (6 or 7 metres plus).

The evidence suggests that I am developing the yips, despite adopting an improved (weak) left hand grip, I am still missing putts to the left (mainly). I think I need to take my right hand out of any direction control. I've tried fancy claw and pen grips, but now it's time for the Inbee Park solution - not that she would have had the yips, but was probably taught to putt that way, as many younger players are likely to be taught.

Putting is so critical to scoring that until I can connect the dots with it, my handicap is going to languish in the mid teens.

Connection

I've been down a number of golf swing theory paths before, some might actually say up many garden paths, and this includes the idea of 'connection'.

This concept was, I believe, first given air-time by one Jimmy Ballard, PGA rebel and bad boy from way back. Jimmy would not teach from the PGA textbook and made a few enemies. But Jimmy also had a number of successful pros who were adherents to and admirers of his connection theories.

Connection, as I understand it, relates to the link between the arms and the upper torso. It involves linking the upper arms and shoulders and using the core and upper body to power the swing, while the arm, wrists and hands react or cooperate rather than leading in the hitting of a golf ball.

This is a very simplistic description of the theory; there is much more to it, including the way the left elbow must point down, retention of the arm and shoulder line triangle, etc. etc. For me, however, it is essentially about keeping a tight or close relationship between the upper arms and the chest.

I tried to think about this arm / body relationship in my last game. I found, somewhat to my surprise, that when I tried to keep the connection (according to my understanding of it) I hit my irons much more consistently, straighter and with relative ease. I did not notice any major improvement otherwise, but then again it is early days.

In my next game, I will again try to follow Jimmy's directives, checking beforehand on what he actually says to do. One thing I need to be convinced about is that this connection does not create a more rigid, less fluent and less powerful swing. I think at times I felt the need to keep my left arm straight and too rigid, which is not what he advocates, I know.

The funny thing about this is that one of my 'anti-theory' colleagues mentioned connection to me during a recent game; it made me think about it and revisit the concept - fortunately, I think. At the same time, I recently saw an article by Adam Scott when he spoke about his (very few) swing thoughts, one of which was to start his downswing with his arms and body at the same time - kind of connection theory perhaps?

Anyway, that's it for connection theory for now - I hope I can connect the dots.

A long and winding road

Golf is a lifetime challenge - no-one is ever completely in control of or completely happy with their game. Even the very best have bad days and sometimes bad years.

I probably should be satisfied that I am now playing at a level that is perhaps 25 percent better than ten years ago, despite my ageing hips, back, shoulders, etc., but I'm actually still searching for that next step up.

Recently, since I started my search for the gentle draw, I've been modifying a few aspects of my game to accommodate the new swing path and feeling. One of these has been lowering my tee height for drives. But I think it's time now to go back to 'normal'.

By normal I mean teeing the ball reasonably high, not excessively so, but high enough to encourage a slightly upward swing path for driver. There is conclusive evidence that a lower spin rate and higher launch angle are important factors in maximising ball carry with a driver and thus achieving more distance. I have definitely been losing distance teeing the ball down, so, now that I'm more comfortable with my new draw swing path, it's time to revert to a higher tee.

Fairway woods and irons are, of course, another story. I'm not hitting either particularly well, partly I suspect because the neutral grip I'm supposed to be adopting sometimes gets a bit strong and the pull shots start to come into play. It will bet important for me to make sure I stick to a one o'clock (neutral) left thumb position, which will work well with a good in-out-in swing path. I should add that pulled pitch shots have also been a slight problem lately because of an overly strong grip.

I'm also working at swinging at about 70 percent effort with all clubs, an effort level I think many people should go to in order to maximise centre club-face contact. Centre club-face contact is critical in maximising distance, but is perhaps even more important in terms of accuracy, since toe contact accentuates draws (often into hooks) and heel contact accentuates fades and slices. Better players can probably get away with 90 percent plus, but the average player swings too hard, with too little effect.

The final area I'm working on is putting. Now I've tried just about every putting grip and method (hand position, etc.) known to man (or woman) and realised that very few of them feel comfortable or, for that matter, make any difference. In the end, I've settled for using a very weak left hand (top) grip, which feels Ok and takes some left wrist movement out of the stroke.

With this grip and slightly more emphasis on rocking the shoulders, rather than wrist twitching, I've gained some confidence with short putts, which was the main problem area. I'm also trying to tell myself that 'you can't make 'em all' - even the top pros only make 97% inside five feet!

My next game is a practice game, hopefully one of consolidation of some of the above. I'd really like to stop focusing so much on mechanics and give more attention to scoring well over the coming months. Not that I'll ever stop thinking about the golf swing, but it would be great to leave swing changes alone for a while on this long and winding road.