Putt for dough

Played in the rain on Saturday and hit the ball quite well. I modified my set up with driver to play the ball off the front heel, rather than about 4 inches behind it. I didn't push a single ball.

This set up change felt awkward at first because I was being careful not to open my shoulders as many slicers do when they have the ball well up on the front foot when driving. This meant that my driver hovered 6 inches or so behind the ball, which takes some getting used to - the fear of missing the ball.

This new ball position also gained me some height and carry and generally resulted in a gentle draw. So, it is something with which I intend to persist.

Fairway woods present a bit of a problem, mainly because I am using the Clampett 'Aim-point' concept, which means I am trying to alter my aim (where I look) during a shot. It's hard to explain briefly, but for driver the aim-point is at or even behind the ball, especially with the ball well forward. For irons the aim-point is ahead of the ball several inches, and this works well in that it encourages a low swing point ahead of the ball and good solid ball-first contact. With fairway woods, however, I haven't quite worked out were to set my aim-point, though I am leaning towards (no pun) a point slightly forward of the ball position - it being better to slightly hit down on fairway woods than hit up on them, and hit them thin, etc.

Anyway, I hit my irons fairly well last round, especially in the conditions. I'm concentrating on starting with a little more weight on my front foot to encourage me hit down and through the ball. Weight transfer back and forward still needs to happen, but playing all iron shots off the front foot is absolutely critical and power through weight transfer and rotation is less important.

But now the problem of putting looms large - again. Aside from the greens being difficult (ultra slow) I was torn between different methods on Saturday. Subsequent research and thought, however, leads me to believe that I should stick to a putting stroke that links the arm swing with body turn. That is, a stroke that not only minimises wrist use, but also links the arms to the core and relies primarily on a rocking of the shoulders.

Let's face it, although I hole the occasional decent putt, and only (!) 3-putt six times in a round, I've got to try to stick to a method that will give me more consistency. I think a body controlled putting stroke (as against arms or hands controlled stroke) will give me that greater consistency.

So, I will drive for show (i.e. to hit fairways), hit slightly down on my irons and fairway woods (for solid contact and distance control), and putt for dough (i.e. for decent scores).

When push comes to shove

It's an old saying, but appropriate to my current driver form. I'm hitting the ball reasonably, but pushing most of my drives to the right, far enough to find the trees on most occasions.

This has necessitated some research in two main areas: release, hip movement and ball position.

The first, release, is a tricky area, because once you start messing with your wrists, eg. rolling them over or whatever, dangerous hooks and pull shots come into the picture. It's not to say there shouldn't be some release, but I'm inclined to think this should be fairly natural. For example, some people are more wristy and tend to play a draw; some players tend to hold on, stiff wristed, and play a fade. The bottom line is, however, it can be risky to go with something that's not natural.

I am fundamentally a holder oner, that is, I'm not very wristy and find that if I try to release aggressively I'm prone to snap hooks - very nasty results may be observed. I'm also trying to work on lag and on keeping my lead wrist flat at impact. This is tending to make my release a little late if I don't time things well, and this is probably contributing to the push shots or blocks.

Another factor contributing to pushes is too much hip sway on the downswing. I need to turn a little more or at least make sure I'm not lunging forward into impact. I have been working on sequencing, pushing off with the back foot to start the downswing, but perhaps I need to stay a bit more stable and turn more - once the club is in the delivery slot of course.

I'm fairly sure I also need to look at ball position. That is, I need to work out where my club (and I'm talking driver at present) is down the line rather than too much inside-out, as is my current tendency. I can actually feel that my club face is too open quite often when hitting driver.  I might well be playing the ball too far back with driver, even though I see a lot of players who look to me to be playing the ball too far forward in their stance when using driver. I don't think too far forward is a problem if the swing path is good (inside-out-in), but for many players that's not the case - the over the top move that used to plague me is very common.

All in all I think I have a plan - hopefully a simple one - so that push will not come to shove.

A few thoughts

Not much to add to my lengthy previous post, apart from a few thoughts on some problems that have emerged.

A week or so ago, I decided to play a fade, on the assumption that this was my natural shot shape. However, it seems my natural shot shape with fairway woods is a draw, a fade with my irons and who knows with my driver. This has caused me some consternation.

The solution, I think, for this week anyway, is to see if I can develop my draw or straight shot (either is good) with the driver and same with my irons. I seem to have developed a reasonable in-out-in swing path, but I am inconsistent with my release and therefore club face.

To remedy the release and club face issue, I will try to concentrate on the aim point concept of Bobby Clampett. I think this is an excellent way of encouraging a full and free release, with less chance of the dreaded flipping wrists. I'm not sure this will work, but it's worth a try.

In summary, I'm going to try to keep my basic swing and swing path, but play for a slight draw, with a release concentrating on aiming the hands 30cm in front of the ball, and swing to a full finish.

I think this qualifies for having only a few thoughts - which in golf, is not a bad thing.