The year of golfing dangerously

One year ago I wrote about connection, especially Jimmy Ballard's conception of connection, and within a few weeks totally forgot about it. Ironically, I also wrote about lead hand low putting and then rejected it.

In both cases, I was probably wrong. I suspect my best and most consistent golf will be played when connected (I won't go into the details of connection now) and also my most consistent short range putting will probably occur when I putt lead hand low. For longer putts, say from off the fringe, I'll still use a conventional grip for feel rather than accuracy.

But on the connection front, I really need to commit to this method or feeling or whatever you want to call it. I think for me it is the answer, but the next few weeks will tell the story.

Anyway, I can't believe I've let a year go by trying all sorts of other ideas, but I guess that explains why the blog title: 'the effortless golfer' is so beautifully ironic.

A bad trot

I'm now well into a string of very ordinary rounds of golf. In part, this is a function of putting myself under too much pressure and trying too many new things, but it's also related to not having enough fun and not really enjoying the game.

I know that I don't have perfect technique or exceptional physical ability, but I have been able to play some decent golf in recent times, so there really is no excuse for not playing at least some reasonable golf somewhere near my handicap.

My approach in the coming games must be to get back to where I was a month or so ago. Basically this involves keeping the ball in play, not missing shots badly and playing sensible short game golf. It's almost boring golf, but it can also be very satisfying - provided one doesn't overreach, try too hard and expect too much.

I've just watched a couple of Bradley Hughes videos. He seems to be an excellent teacher. And the video I like best was the one where he explains that golf is not about hitting the ball, but rather it is about swinging through the ball. Nothing new in this, but it's a valuable concept.

Hughes uses the analogy of the karate expert trying to break a pile of five bricks. The idea is to break the bottom brick, not the top one. So the hit has to be through all the bricks right down to the bottom brick - no stopping. It's worth thinking about in relation to the golf swing. I experienced the stopping and the poor result just yesterday in my most recent poor round.

I'm hoping that an idea as simple as swinging through the ball might just get me out of my bad trot. That would be fun.

Addendum:

Last round I briefly tried the Moe Norman method (high hands, single plane, etc) with disastrous results. I couldn't get the club back at all or make decent contact. The alleged benefits of virtually replicating set up position with impact position were, for me, completely negated by the awkwardness of the whole exercise. Not that I'm abandoning connected arms and single plane theory because I think they make sense, I just need to find some rhythm. Speaking of which, I found it very helpful in my last round to think of swinging at only 50% on all shots, except chips. The reality is that thinking 50% probably equates to 70% plus in actual swing speed, but the greater sense of rhythm and better clubface contact mean that very little distance is lost and accuracy improves quite a bit. It's an interesting tactic and something I might well start my next round with, together with the Hughes et al swinging through the ball concept.

Back to rhythm and trust

In December, I wrote about rhythm and said that it would be a focus for the next few rounds. Clearly, I forgot my own advice.

Recently, technical thoughts, mostly to do with arm and chest connection and downswing sequencing ideas, the ones I've been espousing lately, have been intruding on my game. I need to address this quickly.

As far as I'm aware, my set up, my shoulder alignment in particular, is OK. Assuming I don't start hitting from the top, as per 90 percent of golfers, I should be able to hit a reasonably straight ball. Why then am I so preoccupied with these mechanical thoughts about backswing and downswing? Why can't I trust my swing?

This is the 64 thousand dollar question. And the answer has to be suck it and see. That is, give over thinking about my swing, concentrate on rhythm and let the results tell me what to do differently, if anything.

So easy. Nup, so hard, for someone steeping in the mechanics of the golf swing.

Anyway, I can't play any worse that I have the last couple of weeks - er, that remains to be seen. But I do know that I need to find some rhythm and some trust.

Addendum to golf disaster relief posting

I need to add something to my point about starting the downswing with knees, hips, torso and shoulders at the same time. When Scott gave this tip, saying this what he tried to do, he did add the rider that 'at least that's what it feels like'.

This is very important because there is a big difference between what you feel you are doing and what you actually do.

In this case I think what actually happens when you try to start the downswing as described by Adam is that the lower body moves a split second before anything else. Of course, if you are set up badly, and I mean with very open shoulders, an over the top cut swing might very well result.

I think the 'start everything together' is a very consistent way to start the downswing. I had to add this to make the argument stronger.

Golf disaster relief

After a particularly disastrous last round, in all areas of my game, I've been forced to ruminate on what went wrong. Here's what I believe I should have done or been doing and what others would benefit from incorporating in their golf game:

1. Have a plan, perhaps a 'realistic' score to aim for, and maybe a plan B in case disaster strikes early. We need to have something to focus on, but without adding too much performance pressure.

2. Take extra pains with set up, that is, make sure you set up square and parallel to the target line. The key, especially for slicers, is to square or even slightly close the shoulders to that line - rarely done by the average golfer, who insanely continues to believe s/he can straighten out her/his shots without doing this.

3. Keep the lead upper arm connected to the chest until the follow through and use body turn to power the swing - while keeping the arms powerless. I'm voting this the 'secret of good golf', but it's not the whole story of course.

4. Start the downswing with the knees, hips, torso and shoulders all together. At least this should be the feeling one has. This is a (quite rare) tip from a fairly good ball striker (Adam Scott) - don't know why I keep forgetting it! If one maintains the 'connection' mentioned in 3. above, the dreaded 'over the top' move is not an issue at all; ones swing will resemble the very repeatable (Jim Hardy) one-plane swing.

5. Minimise sway and dipping, but with all shots other than driver find a way to get onto the front foot at impact.

6. Stay positive, and this includes the principle of acceleration, as opposed to the fatal sin of deceleration, in all short game areas, including putting. My 39 putts last round make me realise that for an allegedly one time good putter I need to take a good hard look at myself.

Anyway, golf disaster relief; simple as that.