Don't Put On The Brakes

I don't give him much advice at all, but when I do he will try it once then say no, it doesn't feel right then revert to old ways! I am just quietly do my own Surge swing  and getting better.
His personel best is 83, I am not being a smart arse or anything but I would be disapointed with this best score after the amount of years he has been playing. I am not knocking the score at all as apparently only 10% of golfers consistently break 100 on a average, but if this was my peak I would be.

A consistent single figure handicap is my goal. Maybe it is to much who knows? We all need to set goals don't we! 

Steve, funny how that is that some people you would expect to nail it at low number can't. All about the release, I suppose. I tried it at 1 yesterday on a whim & didn't come close. I'm a very comfortable 3 because to me it's pretty effortless. I can click it on 2 but I have to muscle it more or that's the way it feels to me and I'm trying not to get into muscle mode.Now if with continued practice I make up there with the consistency like at the 3 setting then that is all well  and good. It's really helping me now that I also make sure to set up like my driver too. Working on eliminating that 13 degree open I had at my fitting with Doc by trying a couple of things to get that release where it needs to be.

Hey Surge,

That is so true. The times I still occasionally get pain in my back are when I try to stop the swing early for some reason.

Charlie,

I've used the baseball swing to warm up the past couple of time I played since the course does not have a driving range.  Even though it's rotational it does help my feeling of the "swoosh" being farther toward the front and it does help me with weight shift to the left side.

I took it a step further yesterday in the backyard and did the same baseball swing with a short stride.  I watched Paddy Harrington hit his driver on the Golf Channel with a running start which gave me the idea to stride.  I noted two things: 1. I really felt the load in my right side and 2. Clubhead speed was definitely faster.  I did this from a preloaded heavy right baseball stance.

OK, I'm obviously not going to take a stride in my swing to the first tee...lol.  So, I tried it using my normal driver stance without the stride and could really feel the difference.  I played a fair amount of baseball growing up so the feeling was natural and something I did NOT have to OVERTHINK.

My guess is all of my dot connecting has made this swing much more complicated than it really is.  More practice if the rain stops and I'll take it to the course and find out.

Lynn42

Played 9 yesterday afternoon. Pretty hot in Tempe. The paper said 111, but the outside thermometer read 116.

Hit almost every green and tried a 44 1/2 inch driver that really felt that I could swing it faster. Hard to tell how much distance difference between it and my gamer as the grounds staff has been doing extra watering to try to get the bermuda growing. Had a lot of mud balls :(

Sitting heavy left (left hander) I am having a real problem  with tight lies in making good contact. I either skull, are hit the shots fat are if contact is made the shots are very low. I have always been a sweeper of the ball. If the ball is up, I make fair contact.
Help would be appreciated.

Charles

Thanks Robert

It felt a little like the desert here in Cincinnati today 87 degrees and felt like 100 and no breeze. There is usually a breeze at my home course but not today I was soaked by the time I got home. I hit my irons nicely the whole round I had a couple that I pulled about 10 left of the green but was able to get them up and down.

I agree with you and Flag.  I'm having trouble with my lower back right now.  I'm playing golf today and going to try my best to follow through.  It's hard to break old habits.

CT

T Medley.

The trappers that hit it really far do hit it with a sweeping and/or slightly upswing. The forward hand is usually a lot stronger than what Don advocates and that is what often causes problems with the wedge game.

Check and see if your bump is too aggressive. The brief description leads me to think that the head is moving, forward and possibly up and down.

Nice score today, Roger. Once I get the new clubs and practice with them on the range, I plan to spend some quality time on the practice green as well and knock some rust off that side of my game as well. Continued success on lower scores,my friend.

I have bulky shoulder and arm muscles. I find that I have to really concentrate on relaxing them and staying loose but in control to get to a t finish. I guess it's like having the parking brake dragging when I don't.

Surge,
Thanks for another good tip. I find that is a weak part of my Surge swing not a full finish at times and to focused on the take away position. Causing me to get too mechanical at times and then start over-thinking the swing. Then here come the tops and chunks.

Steve and Roger, good rounds guys. Roger sounds like he's getting consistent and Steve as you said you played well but not at the right time. It's raining here in Las Vegas. Still think I'll make my nine holes tomorrow morning unless it is really bad. I lived on the north coast of Oregon for three years and rain does not deter me unless there's lightning. We always need rain here in the desert so it's good.

Campyn, talk to your Dr. about an anti-inflamatory drug called Indecin. I had severe bursitis flareups for 20 years in my hips. I finally changed Dr.'s, and she gave me the new prerscription. I've been pain free for 3 years. I'm 65 and can now walk my hilly local course, that was unthinkable for years. The best part is I now only have to take it a few days every 3 or 4 months when I start to get a little tenderness.

Now, If I could just master this vertical 3/4 swing thing!!.

There are plenty of golfers who would be happy to shoot in the 80s every weekend, or however often they get around to playing. That's not a bad thing at all. On the other side, your goal of maintaining a single-digit handicap is worthy and attainable. Keep at it.

Also, your father-in-law may be more amenable to taking advice when you start beating him regularly. ;-)

Lyn42--being a dots learner and having too many swing thoughts are not necessarily related. They are probably separate phenomena. About dots learners--there are different kinds of dots learners. One type is called the process oriented learner. He doesn't plan his learning in great detail; he uses repetition to learn to connect the dots, over and over and over, and then he overlays a holistic swing over the dots to connect them in a fluid motion. The other dots learner plans his learning and converts a movement into a sequene of dots and practices them in an orderly manner, deliberatley, step by step, until he has the dots memorized. Then he overlays the with a fluid, holistic swing. Of course, these are generalizations, idealizations. Things don't happen this cleanly. A dots learner may jump back and forth. In a carefully conducted study of dots versus holictic learners who were asked to trace a star by looking at its relfection through two mirrors, the dots learners did worse than the holistic learners on the first try, but by the third try, the dots learners were superior, but only by a small margin. So, there is hope for dots learners. Furthermore, the research on ingraining a movement suggests that before it can be ingrained, the dots must be incorporated into the mental scheme, either first as with true dots learners or second if they are holistic learners. I guess I could have shortened this, but then it might have been more difficult to interpret.

I read a tutorial on swing thoughts--it said to work on them one at a time, not several at a time; isloate them. I don't know if there would be a problem trying to master one swing thought if the others aren't functioning properly, but it is an example of "one step at a time." Good luck.

Surge,

I could be the poster boy for your tip today.  For me the issue is trying to eliminate the "hit" reflex and just follow through to a full T finish.  I'm sure this issue also has a lot to do with my lack of distance.  My stubborn Irish side is slowly, but surely coming around and your daily reminders really help.

Thank you.

Lynn42

Comment removed by poster. The light went on.

In addition to what SGW says below, check two things about your preloading heavy left: Make sure your left foot is flared about 30* or maybe a little more; and make sure that you're not letting your weight get OUTSIDE the left foot when you take the club back.

Hey Booger, get your sticks yet? Is it Christmas come early yet?

I don't think Surge was saying that the only reason not to get to a full T-finish was because you were trying to protect a sore back. He was just making the point that if your reason for not getting to a T-finish is because you don't want to hurt your back then you're being foolish as it's more likely to hurt your back to jerk to a sudden stop. You actually don't jerk to a sudden stop, you appear to use your legs to block yourself from getting thrown forward, which given your injury is a natural response and doesn't appear to negatively affect your contact with the ball. Or maybe it does. Without that injury maybe you'd be hitting your driver 400 yards rather than "only" 300. ;-)