Let's get this straight

I'm very happy with my new knee bend at set up. There is no doubt that it is helping me to activate my lower half, sequence my swing better and make consistent contact with the ball.

However, there is still something troubling me: inconsistent backswing moves (and thoughts) that are upsetting my timing and leading to tops and toe contact, just like before.

It seems that I need to retain a simple backswing thought or method, less restrictive and mechanical than previously, but something that will work with my new set up to put my swing together. It's hard to put into words.

So I have decided to use the 'straight lead arm' as my key backswing thought. This is different from what I refer to as 'contact theory' because it is going to be less rigid and mechanical; my arm will not be pinned to my chest.

I plan to extend my lead arm as far as I can comfortably and turn as far as I can comfortably, and use the end-point of that extension as the trigger for my downswing.

If I can continue to hit fairways and greens (or get close to greens) all I need to do then is sort out my putting in order to have some decent scores. In a recent round, I missed all 14 putts from 4 to 12 feet in a display that charted new depths for my lowly standards.

Let's get this straight, lead arm first and then for goodness sake MAKE SOME PUTTS!

Knees down or premature evaluation

It's well accepted that the golf swing should have a sequence that starts with the lower body (basically legs and knees) moves through the core (hips and pelvis) and finally to the shoulders and arms. Great!

However, it's another thing to actually achieve that sequence consistently - especially for the weekend warrior.

Watching some PGA players the other day I noticed the considerable amount of knee bend most, nearly all, of the players had at set up. I also noticed how they use their lower bodies to power their swings - bearing in mind that even in slow motion this is hard to see because the downswing happens in a fraction of a second.

Anyway, armed with this information, I went to the course and tried to incorporate more knee bend in my set up, hoping this might be the key to activating my lower body and thereby improving the sequencing of my swing.

It might be too soon to say that this is the solution I need for my recent poor ball striking - more proof is needed - but my ball striking improved considerably. If it is the important key that I'm looking for, it will definitely be Knees Down Mother Brown.

The body swing and all that

I have revisited the Paul Wilson body swing (as it has evolved from earlier versions) and I think I now have a better idea of why I have had so much difficulty incorporating his ideas (for example around powerless arms) in my swing.

I've played a lot of sports including tennis, squash, cricket and even softball where arm strength, and in particular the involvement of my dominant right arm, has been paramount. In tennis, I could no more hit a two-handed backhand than fly to Mars. The reason is, of course, that a two-handed backhand not only involves the non dominant arm, but requires a lot of body turn.

Golf, for almost everyone, is a two handed (armed) game. So it's all very well for golf teachers to say 'feel like you are throwing or skipping a stone when you swing', but that is a one-handed movement. The non-dominant hand/arm is merely used for balance. It is very difficult for many less flexible golfers, like me, to place the left hand on the club (that is, use the left arm) without compromising this free movement or action.

The occasional top golfer has dealt with this issue in an interesting way by standing on the other side of the ball, that is, left-hand dominant players playing golf right handed. This might work for some, but there is still a flexibility problem (arms almost working against each other) nor does it deal with the fact that the backswing is on one axis and the downswing is on a different axis (an issue that I feel was not dealt with satisfactorily in the original swing machine golf concept).

Potential solutions to this problem have included the stack and tilt method, where the player basically attempts to turn around a single axis (without going into details). This has had a mixed reception - there are issues. And in the past some golf pros have similarly tried to convince their students to concentrate on their leading side and ignore their stronger, more dominant, trailing arm and hand. But the problems of dominance and lack of flexibility do not go away.

What to do? As I write this I really don't know. My hunch is that I will have to give in to the dominance of my right hand and arm (right-hander) and find a way to accommodate my left arm. It might be that I need to increase my hip turn, particularly on the downswing, so that I clear my hips, effectively playing the shot like a forehand in tennis. A body swing? I really don't know. My next game should be interesting.