Old dog, new insights

I first picked up a golf club when I was two (got a photo to prove it) - I barely know which end to hold. Then I played golf off and on as a young man and sliced and duffed my way around the course.

Many years later I discovered the key to hitting the ball straight and hitting draws - shoulder alignment at set up - often neglected in golf instruction it seems to me. This helped a lot, my golf improved.

But since then and after thousands of hours reading golf books and articles and watching countless instructional videos I know I'm not going to learn much more about the golf swing or how to score well at golf, except for a few principles as follows that I'm working on right now.

1. Low point awareness and consistent repetition is critical, no matter what kind of swing you have. I can only achieve this by staying centred throughout my swing (no sway) something I've known but largely ignored for a long time. This is not Stack & Tilt weight loading, which seems too extreme to me, but all weight transfer in the backswing should come only from the weight of the swinging arms and club - not from any lateral leg, hip or any other body movement.

2. Completing your backswing (with a pause if necessary) and being sure to avoid rushing from the top is very important for a decent golf swing, regardless of the tempo of that swing. It is also important to trust that you have taken enough club to reach your target, that is, to swing within yourself. 'Let the club do the work' might be a cliche, but it is actually good advice.

3. Related to the above is the desirability to work on one's course management. There is apparently an 80/20 rule which states that unless you are 80 percent sure you can comfortably succeed in playing a shot, you should find another plan, for example, by taking a 3-wood off the tee or by laying up short of the water hazard or bunkers.

4. Also, regarding course management, good golfers make very few double bogeys or worse in a round. Average golfers typically make two or more, for a variety of reasons, but often because of poor decision making - see 3. above. Good golfers also know that the short game and recovery game are critical in this regard. It shouldn't be a new insight that if we are serious about improving at golf we should practice and overwhelmingly concentrate our practice on the short game.

5. Finally, old dogs need to stay calm (as a friend of mine always says) - it's only a game.