Let the club do the work

My abandonment of multiple swing thoughts is working well. Apart from being careful about my set up, I've managed to keep at bay things like slight concern about my backswing and nagging thoughts about my lack of rotation, I'm hitting the ball well enough.

However, there is one aspect of golf, perhaps in the course management area, that I'm aware is in need of attention. This is the absolute imperative of 'letting the club do the work'. For many years, perhaps throughout my golfing life, I've tried to hit the ball too hard, particularly with irons.

Recently, I've been much more aware that the good shots I hit with say a five, seven, nine iron or wedge are those where my swing has been smooth and unforced. So often when I've been trying to force a shot an extra ten yards or so, this has resulted in a mis-hit.

And, let's be honest, how often when we approach a green do we leave the ball twenty or thirty feet short - in other words, a full club short. Unless the green is lightening fast or sloping away from you or severely back to front, why not get the ball up to the hole. Better to be ten feet past than twenty feet short - in my view anyway.

The main thing is to avoid trying to force any shot, which actually includes driver all the way down. Let the club do the work it was designed to do and concentrate on finding the centre of the clubface.