Suckered again

After talking about cause and effect and the futility of following technical tips on swing positions in the golf swing, I fell into my own trap the other day - again!

I watched a video or two about elbow position (the very thing I'd mentioned) and then tried out the idea in my next round. For a few holes, my swing seemed to be fine. I was making good contact, hitting a nice draw, thinking 'this is the answer'.

A bit further into the round I started to mishit shots, drives were going right, I couldn't hit a fairway wood to save my life, I had no timing with my irons. Why?

I persisted for a few more holes - worse! Then I decided to go back to my simple plan of set up square, keep balanced and concentrate on good rhythm. My swing came back and I finished the round off satisfactorily.

I can only conclude that focusing on the elbow tip initially hadn't actually changed anything in my natural swing in the early holes I played. The tip hadn't actually worked. But as the round went on and I started to actually implement the tip, which involved a slightly awkward, contrived position of the trailing elbow, I lost my rhythm and timing, and even my swing path.

This was yet another example of being suckered into thinking that a manufactured swing position or action is the answer to better ball striking. It ain't.