Good news, bad news

The good news is simply that all of the swing theory ideas I've written about and promoted are essentially correct. There are a large number of skills or techniques that are characteristic of the swings of good golfers, just like there are plenty that belong to the hacker.

In identifying these specific qualities, these descriptions of elements of the golf swing, I have generally ignored or at least minimised one important fact - the golf swing exists as a totality - it's more than the sum of it's parts.

This crucial fact means that the elements I speak about (eg. in the most recent straight lead arm blog) cannot assume any importance on their own because they are only part of the total picture. In this way, one fault in one area (such as a bent lead arm) can often be compensated for by a 'fault' in another area (perhaps a pronounced dip in the swing arc). I'm thinking Lee Westwood here.

Golf teachers sometimes talk about their pupils have compensating faults in their swing. Sometimes teachers try to fix both faults; sometimes they leave them alone - depending on whether the compensation in place has a cost, eg. power loss.

The trouble is, many self-taught golfers find one fault at a time in their swing and set out to fix it without realising that they have not identified the compensating fault. The result is often bad. No matter what they then try, things get worse and more complicated.

I suspect that for most of my golf journey I have been falling into this trap: find a fault - fix it; find the next fault - fix it; and so on. Most of the fault fixing makes sense in isolation, but the whole of the swing is constantly being manipulated and ultimately compromised.

Recently, I had a friend say 'why are you trying to change your swing; there's nothing wrong with it'. This got me thinking. But maybe thinking a bit more clearly. 

Anyway, I have thunk. I have stopped looking for individual faults in my swing (there are a few) and tried to 'own my swing'. I know this is a cliche. Unfortunately, it is also very true. Your swing is your swing. You can learn to hit certain shots - draws, fades, stingers, spinners, whatever, but these are mostly achieved through the set up, alignment, grip, ball position and other methods that are NOT related to your natural swing.

So, the good news is I'm learning to live with my swing - in its totality - and generally happy with the results. The bad news is that although I'm wiser, I'm also quite a bit older. C'est la vie.