Tweaking we will go

Sometimes the best laid plans ... work out, at least in part. This is a brief follow up to the five easy pieces thingy.

I'm staying with the split-hand grip for putting and putting OK, though nothing special. I'm sticking with the 'natural' ball position; it's just the spot that feels right. I'm using the Ballard shoulder-chest connection method and breaking my wrists early, both of which are working OK, if not perfectly.

However, I can't get used to a (non putting) grip where my palms are not opposed. The strong left and weak right grip idea just doesn't feel good to me. So, for now I'm going to strengthen (rotate) both hands slightly, as I once did, and work on the controlled draw I had developed.

This grip is not necessarily to be recommended unless one uses plenty of body rotation. Too much arm action with this grip and the ball will hook and often snap hook. Very frustrating and destructive. So, I need to be really conscious of connection and body release, or pay a price.

The only other thing I have learnt during the past few rounds is that a short backswing and fairly forceful follow-through work well for me. I simply can't make a big turn these days. However, again I need to be mindful of actually completing my backswing, avoid hurrying or snatching, and try for a decent rhythm or tempo.

With these tweaks, I'm hoping for a good start as we go into the new year.

Five easy pieces - of the puzzle

The best news I've had lately is that split-hand putting works - for me, anyway. I've tried it all, but split-hand feels natural, almost total reliance on my decidedly dominant (right) lower hand. I imagine myself throwing a ball to the hole, rather than hitting it two-handed. For now, it's working well enough; my putts per round are starting to come down. Still not holing much, but I think that will come.

I've also convinced myself that for iron shots it's necessary to consciously break or cock my wrists quite early. This action accentuates the more upright swing plane and steeper descent into the ball that is giving me more action and more elevation, with fewer tops. While it's feeling good, I'll stick to it.

Not unrelated to this is my decision to opt for a constant ball position - directly under my shirt logo - or you could say about three inches behind my (left) front heel. This feels natural; suits my eye and it applies to all shots, including putting. The thing that changes is my rear foot position. The stance gets progressively wider stance) as the clubs get longer. Width of stance changes affect posture. There's a lot about this on the web and it supports constant ball position.

I'm also returning to my Jimmy Ballard connection commitment. I know that keeping the left upper arm close to my left pec works for me in terms of consistency, and I know it limits the length of my backswing, but with decent wrist cock and using the method I'll mention below, this is not a big issue.

Finally, I've decided that I need to go with a strong (rotated right) left hand grip and a weakish (thumb on top) right hand grip. I know there are hooking risks, but I'm losing too many shots to the right, hitting too many pushes, too many fades, so I need to try something new (for me). In the past, I've probably caused myself some problems by having both hands too strong, so this compromise will hopefully work out better. Again, there is discussion on the web about this.

That's my five easy fixes - or pieces of my puzzle - the next few weeks and months should be interesting.

Putting it mildly

The putting battle goes on. Despite all my attempts to de-pressurise, reduce expectations, simplify, or putt like I did as a kid, nothing has worked. I seem to be putting worse every week. And it's starting to affect my overall game, which hasn't been too bad. What to do.

Well, obviously, I have to try a new theory. I think it's theory number 176. In fact, it is a return to a theory I tried in a round about a year or so ago. But after missing two short putts early in that round I naturally abandoned the theory and went back to some other, equally unsuccessful, method.

But further research has led me back to this particular theory - split-hand putting.

I'm talking here about taking up the grip with split hands, the hands maybe 4 - 5 inches apart, top hand (left for me) barely on the grip and the lower (right) almost on the metal - with a short putter. A slightly longer than standard putter would be fine also, but no anchoring can occur of course. The hands are otherwise placed on the club in a conventional thumbs-down manner.

The reason I am going back to this method, apart from sheer desperation, is because I believe there is a great deal of logic behind it. If, for example, we want to throw a ball of paper (or anything really) into a wastepaper basket, we use only one hand (our dominant hand). We don't use two hands for this kind of exercise, even though there are times, such as when shooting a basketball or setting up to send down a bowl on the rink or alley, when we might use our non-dominant hand as a slight support or guide

We often hear about putting grips designed to mitigate the force or power of one or other hand - the claw, the pencil and the left hand low. The hands are sometimes said to be in opposition. I've tried them all, but have not felt comfortable with any of these grips or with the standard reverse overlap grip. Hence my further research.

Using the split-hand grip described above, the dominant hand is in complete control, the non-dominant, top, hand provides a tiny amount of stability to the grip end of the putter, optionally with the lead elbow tucked in close to the ribs. The action that results has sometimes been described as piston-like, but it can also be seen (and felt) to be like throwing something (eg. into a wastepaper basket). The basics of rhythm, stability, sweet-spot contact, all still apply of course.

It's important to note, however, that when we throw the aforementioned ball of paper (or whatever) we generally take very little time to assess the distance and direction and also the force that we need to use. We might hesitate a moment, rehearse the arm action, while our brain does its calculations. But it is not a complex equation, we just sight the target, get ready, and throw. From ten feet we probably succeed 6 or 7 times (often more) out of ten tries. Interestingly, PGA tour players make just over 60 percent of putts from that range.

The important thing in putting is to allow our brain to calculate the distance, and relate this to the break and other factors, and then go. Too much delay, too much thinking, too much stress on success, will generally be counterproductive - in putting as in throwing!

That's it. There's nothing more to it. It's simple - putting it mildly. What could go wrong?

Encouragement award

Back on the course recently and I've discovered a couple of benefits from the research I've been doing, especially my rereading of Bobby Jones' great thoughts on the golf swing.

First and foremost, Jones emphasised the necessity of finding one's own swing, having first acquired a decent grip and set up. I have also benefited from freeing up my backswing, allowing my lead arm (left for me) to bend a little and letting my left heel lift a touch. Overall, my swing is feeling quite free, less strained, which I hope will help reduce wear and tear.

The other recent change has been my concentration on hitting down and through the ball (other than with driver). I haven't changed anything else (ball position, weight distribution, etc.), but I believe I'm hitting fewer of the thin shots that plagued me for a few months.

This greater freedom and new swing focus has not, so far, come with any loss of control or accuracy, which was a potential concern, or so I thought. In fact, I don't know if I can drive the ball or hit fairway woods any better than at present - but there are plenty of other areas needing improvement.

These other areas are short game related. The idea of using the trailing (right) knee when pitching and chipping is problematic, simply because it is one of those conscious actions that don't help unless they are developed in practice so as to become unconscious. I tried using more knee action - it did not help!

Putting is one area in which I feel very happy with a new concept. Basically, I am back to using my lower (right) hand to power my stroke. The 'don't use your wrist' invocation just doesn't work for me. Putting, especially lag putting, is about feel, and I get most feel, distance control in particular, from my dominant right hand. Short putting is also fine with a dominant right hand - provided I stabilise the putter shaft with my left arm and hand. There's more to say about this, but that's for another time.

In the meantime, my recent game and score qualifies me, I believe, for the encouragement award.

Effortlessly back in the blogosphere

Since Tiger can make a comeback, so can I, but only in the golfing theory zone.

A couple of new thoughts from the past year are worth recording, as follows:

Bobby Jones was one of the old school greats. His swing was a thing of natural beauty, but he had a brilliant golfing mind, as evidenced by his famous book 'Bobby Jones On Golf'. There is a lot in the book to take in, so just to mention one or two ideas that I've either taken directly from the book or re-interpreted.

It's important to set up correctly, with square to closed shoulders and with your feet narrow enough to permit a full turn, but wide enough to provide balance. However, as he says, there are many ways to swing a golf club effectively, so each golfer must experiment to find which method suits her/him best.

Swing without undue tension. Let the leading arm bend a little, let your heels come off the ground, use your knees. Swing freely and hit hard with the lower hand (though not from the top), bearing in mind that you have to swing within your capabilities.

I've also looked at my currently atrocious short game and come up with a couple of ideas.

Pitching is extremely important to players like me who regularly fail to reach long par 4s in regulation or otherwise miss lots of greens. The only thing I would emphasise (based on a study of a couple of Brett Rumford videos) is the use of the knees, the back knee in particular. Kicking this knee in the direction of the shot helps to generate the acceleration (commitment) that is so essential in these shots. There's are other important keys, but that one seems most relevant for me at the moment.

Chipping is another area I've been struggling with and, again, I'm going to go with Brett's idea of playing chips with a putting grip, which actually only means I will hold my 6, 8, wedge, etc. more in my palms, rather than my fingers. This creates a more upright plane, a more putt-like stroke, which hopefully will add some consistency.

My putting has gone from bad to worse in recent months. Lots of trial and mostly error. I've now decided to revert to my backyard ten-finger grip (and forget about fancy grips) and concentrate on keeping the putter blade (gone back to a blade) as square as possible. With short putts my backswing will be very short and hopefully very square. With longer putts, reading the green and getting the pace right are the main objectives, so there are different issues there.

Bunker play has not been a major issue in recent times, but I do need to remind myself to use lots of bottom hand. Otherwise, I'm fairly confident I know how to set up, play short and longer shots, etc.
 
That's it for now. First game in a while tomorrow. Keep expectations low! Tiger did.

PS. any resemblance between my golf game and Tiger's is purely coincidental.