How sweet it is

I'm surprised how well my new 'KISS' swing thought strategy is working.

'Keep your height' is such a simple thought that I figured it would not be enough to get me hitting the ball solidly. But except for one distracted iron shot in my last round, it has been a great help. My irons are crisper, my fairway woods are more solid and consistent and my drives, well, that's always a fraught area.

In fact, I am driving the ball fairly well, just not with the near 100% consistency that I had for a time a while ago. I am, however, now addressing the ball on the tee correctly. That is, I'm standing an inch or so further away from the ball so that the ball, when it is teed up, is actually aligned to the centre of the club face, not the heel.

Apart from this, I have finally got myself gripping the club a little less firmly and I believe regained some feel as a result - and probably some club head speed.

Furthermore, I've adopted a simple Vardon overlap when putting, with a traditional thumbs straight down the shaft (weak) grip. I'm also trying to channel the Jason Day smoothness in my putting stroke - and it is working quite well. I'm a reasonably good green reader and a fairly creative putter and chipper, so I have hopes of improvement in my scoring.

It's nice to be making some progress at last - you could even say 'how sweet it is'.