Finally-- A Repeatable Swing--Part I

A Long Time In Coming


I realize I haven't posted here since early October--but there is a very good reason for that. I promised I would not post anything here that I was not sure worked, worked well, and worked well consistently. I CAN FINALLY KEEP THAT PROMISE. The shortened swing I described in my last post was the first step in a fundamental shift away from the old grip it and rip it school. I have indeed regained the vast majority of my pre cardio melt-down swing, gained more accuracy than ever on a consistent basis, and will easily be a full 2 and a half to three clubs longer than I was just a couple of years ago. So what exactly is this new swing besides just another rehashing of the old "Shorten your backswing"----""9 o'clock to 3 o'clock"----"Make the back swing an 'L' and your follow through an "L"--string of cliches that everybody seems to be tossing about too liberally, or re-packaging and re-working in yet another attempt to sell another entrant into the seemingly endless stream of internet golf books.


The X and Y Axis---A 3D Approach

Why Feel and Ball Flight Aren't Always Enough

Well the one thing that kept me convinced that all those rotten compensations I was putting into my post cardio melt down swing were correct was the fact that the aforementioned cliches, and the vast majority of books and magazines present both them and the modifications thereof in a rather 2 dimensional fashion. "Make an L" is close to a great analogy, but without the proper 3D viewpoints that are often only available from live instruction (which I now strongly encourage as long as you get a good swing coach) it can be easily misconstrued, and has been by many golfers--including professionals.

   If you"... draw he club head straight back ..." as many of us were instructed to do in the old"Square to Square" instruction methodology,  and you are in the midst of learning to "...flatten your swing..." and "...widen your swing arc..." you are going to enter the impact zone from so far from the outside that you simply won't be able understand exactly how far off plane you get from the very start of your swing. By the time you are at that "9 o'clock 'L' position..." you will be so far outside the plane, that your only hope of hitting it straight will be to come over the top and start unconsciously closing the face of the club before impact. I know these things empirically, and now that I've corrected it, and am aware of what I was doing, I am actually shocked at the amount of golfers I see on the range who are unwittingly making these same exact compensations to varying degrees.
 My swing never stood a chance of squaring the face at impact as it was actually starting off plane from the very beginning by going "Straight Back". As I was rocking my shoulders to accomplish this, I was fairly sure I wasn't swaying, and the old "Square toSquare Methodology" a methodology that was once adopted as the official methodology of The USGA Professionals assured me that I was starting my swing correctly. I had actually learned to subconsciously close the face at impact and get a ball that started straight, and had a strong draw to it. I was absolutely certain, from the shape of my shots alone, that I was perfecting my old swing. Unfortunately, the more and more I started to "...widen my swing arc..."---the more and more I started to get mystery slices that were actually the effect of a strong--but still glancing blow. In order to compensate, I flattened out my swing a bit with a slightly wider stance and an even further reach back. Soon, when I wasn't slicing, I was hitting snap hooks from hell. Sound familiar?---Time to read on then.

 Rationale


   There's a dirty little secret regarding those "Swing Tips"most Golf Mags don't tell you, and one you need to remind yourself of every time you think of incorporating another one of those "Magic Tips." It's simple, actually. Any move in your golf swing has a direct effect on one of two things. Whatever movement or movement change they have you doing  backwards and/or forwards, no matter what the promise, it can only make your swing arc narrower or wider--"The X Axis", or Flatter or Steeper--"The Y Axis." This is important to note for several reasons. If you're currently getting the ball flight of a Pitching Wedge from your 6 Iron--that is-- higher and softer than what you need and desire---then you are obviously too steep. Now the phrase "...too steep..." may dredge up pictures of fat shots, and lost distance, ,and before you know it--your entire system of band aid type quick fixes has kicked in. Pretty soon you're ....."looking more at the front of the ball",  or "...setting the ball back a little further in your stance in order to insure clean contact" or any of a hundred or so such quick tips we've all heard and read  literally thousand of times.------Just remember this---"Too Steep = Too Much Emphasis On The Y Axis."So before you add yet another one of those "magical quick fixes" to your swing---you must realistically ask yourself ..."does this tip/advice have an effect on my "Y Axis-- and --is it flattening or steepening of my swing?......or is it having more of an effect on my X Axis --and if so--is it widening or narrowing my swing arc. " This is important, because if you are already "too steep" the last thing you need to do is start putting the ball further back in your stance and continue to compound the problem. Doing so might turn you're 6 Iron, which already looks like a Pitching Wedge shot into one that looks like a Sand Wedge shot. --As you can see--this can become an unending cycle that goes from bad--to worse--to bad again, and the cycle of tips just keeps you going round and round in circles.

-----More on this later in Part II-In the meantime, please read this link which I have posted elsewhere.

http://www.shopping.com/guides/berniez40/Developing_A_Repeatable_Swing_Part_II_Turning_With_The_6_Iron/856788

A Little Coaching Goes A Long Way

Harvey Pennick said it best when he said, "If I give you golf advice that equates to, 'Take an aspirin.', for G*d's sake, don't take the whole bottle." My current swing coach had a hard time getting that through a rather thick- sculled person such as myself, but once he was successful, he didn't stop. The race to lower my handicap before the season comes to its final close is on. Josh had a hard time at first because every part of my swing was a massive over-compensation in a rather misguided attempt to regain the distance I had lost since the heart attack and the subsequent spinal collapse due to a rather nasty reaction to Crestor. I wanted that distance back in the worst way, and I was truly over exaggerating every distance trick in the book in order to try and get there as quickly as possible. That is all behind me now, and I have actually regained a large chunk of that lost distance, and without the aforementioned caricature of a Long Driver's Swing . Better still---I haven't been this accurate since the bygone days when clubs sported  weaker lofts and shorter overall lengths. I promised not to post anything till I was sure it worked, worked well, and worked consistently. Here's part one. --a shorter swing.

SHORTEN THAT SWING!

      Now a lot of us have heard this advice. Funnier still, there's tons of gurus out there hawking a shorter swing as if it's a totally new concept. They go by many different names such as, "The Perfect Swing." "The Perfect Connection.", etc..It's not new, it's just not been in style since the days of Grip it and Rip It came into vogue.The  first thing Josh did was shorten my rather massive shoulder turn. It's nice to be that flexible, especially  after what I've been through. The trouble was, there is no need to go past parallel, and that is especially true when you've lost swing speed. A longer back swing can actually cost you several MPH on your down swing. It has a lot to do with the simple dynamics of having more ground to cover and more area in which to come off plane. Due to the fact that I had developed a swing that is much more upright than my former swing, this past parallel move was actually costing me 5 MPH worth of speed and 20 Yards worth of distance. The good news was that I had regained my flexibility. The bad news is that I was overusing it, not monitoring that use carefully, and sabotaging my own golf game. The prescription.

     We shortened my back swing by 35%. That would translate to 20-25% for most of you, as my swing was beginning to make John Daly's back swing look like short of parallel. That shortened back swing actually proved to me that gaining swing-speed is often counter intuitive. The hard part for most of us is realizing that a 90* shoulder turn is nowhere near as large as it sounds. Remember, full circle is 360*. A 90* shoulder turn is only a 1/4 turn. If you are actually getting a successful engagement of the initial weight shift back on your right side, that 1/4 turn is in and of itself, more than enough. If you can keep your eye on the ball while rotating your shoulders, and keeping the shaft lined up with your forearms then you have accomplished more than most golfers will accomplish in a lifetime of swings. The problem is, so few of us realize that it really is that easy. Instinct tells us to whip that club back as far as possible. But, in actuality, if we turn the club back and keep the lower body steady, the 90* turn builds up plenty of tension, and the shorter downswing allows us to accelerate all the way through the ball with much greater ease.


Does It Really Work?

As someone who sported a much longer back swing, and swore by it up until now, I must say that it works beyond most people's wildest dreams.  I know most people think about gaining distance with a new driver swing,and equate that longer back swing with longer distance. If you have a shorter distance to cover, however, you have less room in which to decelerate, and more of us decelerate with most of our clubs, than accelerate through the impact point.  Since MPH = Distance, the ability to accelerate all the way past impact has helped me personally regain 20 of the 35 yards I lost, and I am just beginning the program. By the end of next season, I will be longer than ever. The shorter back swing also grants me consistency which I haven't seen in years. I'm hitting 66% of fairways now, vs 55%. Let's see now, longer...straighter.....hmmmm. Sounds like it works to me. But don't just take my word for it.

Boo Weekley, one of my distance idols on tour, had the following to say in a Golf Digest article last year," I have a much shorter back swing than people think. I make sure to keep my chin up so that I can have a wide swing arc, but the moment my left shoulder touches my chin, I'm swinging. To me, it's as simple as turn and fire." That certainly gives this swing style a resounding endorsement in the distance department, but is Boo really that accurate?--I'd venture to say that he's more accurate than either you or I, but just in case that doesn't give this swing enough credence in your book as to accuracy and consistency--consider the following.

Steve Stricker, Mr. Comeback kid himself, is a practitioner of this swing. His swing is also rated by several of the top 100 USGA Teaching Pros as--"The Swing That The Average Joe Needs To Copy." That's because it is simple to repeat, and it is consistent under fire. Oh yeah, it wins on tour too. If you need to see a good sequence of this swing go out and buy a September "Golf" Magazine. I don't usually tout any of the magazines, as they are often chock full of conflicting information, ideas, and conclusions, but Stricker's Swing isn't some 1/2 baked THEORY from yet another teacher that never made the tour. It's something you need to see and to try.It works for him, and it even works for a 15 Capper such as myself. I played to a plus 12 yesterday, so if that type of instantaneous improvement appeals to you, you need to give it a whirl.

The theory is also working for my other clubs as well, but we'll dissect them individually as the season goes on and my handicap continues to drop. I am very excited to be writing again, and even more excited to be offering advice that I KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE WORKS. I recently tested these theories in a local tournament, and guys that used to smoke me are inviting me to join their Flites for scrambles in order to add "CONSISTENCY" to their Flite's performance. That is the type of belief that I and others have in this shortened swing, and its real potential is just beginning to show itself. Easy distance, take dead aim accuracy, and built in consistency. This is, at least for myself and a few of the tour players, the swing of the future.