The Art of the Tweak

I'm not sure how to spell tweak, but I'm also not sure if it's the right term for what I am now planning: another grip change.

With my putting, I've realised that it actually doesn't matter how I hold the club, there is a way to yip any putt with any grip - pencil, lead hand low, claw - there are no guarantees. The key for me with my recent putting improvement has been to simply putt with the shoulders and consciously keep the hands passive. This simply involves me concentrating hard on moving the big muscles in my shoulders. It helps, but there are still no guarantees. You can't make 'em all.

Otherwise, for full shots I have been struggling with my old hooking habits. While I like the feeling of more potential power and therefore distance with a stronger (rotated right) grip, the results are mixed. When I get a bit tired or pressured, I have a tendency to fail to turn hard enough so that the arms take over and the dreaded snap hook comes into play.

I like to play a draw and I loathe big fades, but when it comes to playing consistent golf, I think I have to face the reality that a slight fade and slight loss of distance as a result is the way to go. I have no doubt that big, strong and young hitters can play a power fade and lose next to no distance. I can't do that and I need distance off the tee to reach the long holes in regulation, so it's a dilemma.

Anyway, I am going to experiment again with a neutral grip, not weak, not strong but Goldilocks neutral. I figure that since I have a reasonable swing plane and reasonable sequencing in my swing that I can come close to hitting straight balls which, after all, is not a bad thing.

One of the things I've learnt over the past twenty years or so is that making good contact with the ball (i.e. centre clubface contact) is the only really good recipe for reasonable consistency and maximisation of distance. Swinging at a manageable speed is an important factor in this. A three-quarter-speed swing and centre clubface contact is likely to go as far or further than any full out swing. Less sidespin means more distance, but also greater accuracy. Hitting fairways and avoiding greenside bunkers goes a long way to better scoring.

I'm not a big driving range advocate. I think about my game a fair bit and monitor my progress on the course, and that's more fun as far as I'm concerned. I've probably explored more theories and tweaked my swing more times than most people have had hot dinners, but I can live with the ups and downs. From my observation of social golfers who play with the same grip, swing, etc. every round, they have just as many ups and downs. Meanwhile, I'm having fun with the art of the tweak.

Grip it and top it

A strange experience recently when I decided to mess with my grip - and go back to hitting draws.

For some months, I have been deliberately hitting fades and, mainly for that reason, losing distance. And by losing some distance, maybe up to 30 yards with driver, I was making it much more difficult to reach the longer holes or even position myself with the shorter par 4s or par 5s.

Now this wouldn't have been a big problem if my short game had been in good shape - but it wasn't.

Anyway, I decided the other day that I needed to strengthen my grip and start hitting draws, basically with every club, and only excepting on holes that require a fade. I know there are alternative ways to hit a draw but, personally, I find that pre-setting my grip strong and just aligning right (right-hander) works quite well. The swing doesn't change otherwise.

There is a change in the 'feeling' of the swing however. It feels more powerful and, at the same time, it feels like there is no need to force the swing. The flight path change and spin created produce extra distance with no extra effort.

But I did more than change my grip, I also increased my turn on the backswing. This did require some extra effort, though I achieved this by freeing up my front foot to lift slightly at the top of the backswing. This is a work in progress, so I did not achieve total consistency with this, but the results were very good.

The grip change together with the extra turn (and lengthening of the swing) allowed me to find the 30 yards off the tee that I had lost. It also allowed my to find quite a bit of distance with my fairway woods. The only problem came with short irons where I seemed to have upset my usual weight transfer method, failing to get back to my front foot, and hitting some thin iron shots as a result.

There are dangers in hitting a draw: the extra curve that you don't want (the snap-hook risk) and even the extra run that can mean your ball runs into trouble. But I think the benefits outweigh the dangers and I'm going to continue on this path for a while. I just hope I can grip it and rip it and avoid the dreaded tops.

There are many ways

My most recent rounds of golf have re-confirmed that there are many ways to wreck ones score. Driving well, but hitting poor fairway shots or approaches will do it. Playing well tee to green and then putting badly, as I am inclined to do, is another formula for disastrous scoring. The possibilities are endless.

The solution is, of course, to develop a great golf swing, learn about course management, club selection, green reading and then find a way to get the ball into the hole. A number of people on the planet have learned these skills - these are the low marker amateurs and the professional golfers. Nearly all of them will have devoted a large chunk of their lives to this end. That's fine for them, but what about the mid-week or weekend warrior?

The reality is: it is unlikely that we once or twice weekly golfers can ever develop a truly reliable, consistent, low scoring game, even if we start young, let alone if we start in middle age. We have to concentrate on the things we can have some control over and that don't require great athletic skill, plus physical fitness and flexibility, to succeed.

In this category, I would include as number one, course management: what shot to hit, where to hit it, how hard to hit it and so forth. Alignment and set up are part of this, but also the need to realise that it does not make sense to try to hit the ball as hard as you can. In fact, trying to hit the ball too hard is, I believe, one of the major reasons most weekend players (including me) come unstuck.

Number two is, I think, temperament, or the ability to manage ones emotions, for example after a bad shot or a missed putt. Staying the present by forgetting the past, and not anticipating or worrying about the future shot or hole, is very important for good golf.

Finally, knowing your own game and playing to you strengths, closely related to course management, is I believe an excellent strategy for playing more consistent golf. I used to have a good short game, but by focusing too much on my full swing, I lost some of that ability. And it is the short game that you need for good scoring - especially because you lose distance as you age.

I'm not saying one shouldn't work on developing a good swing, with good rhythm and even proper techniques. But this will not get the job done. There are many ways to play more successful and enjoyable golf, but if scoring is a high priority for us, we should think seriously about the three areas mentioned above because these are well within our control.