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.