Stepping Back

I apologize for being remiss on my golf updates.

Make no mistake, I've been working my tail off. Hitting the range at least 3 times per week.

Allow me to run down the process of a huge insight I just had:

Consistency is my problem. Not from round-to-round, but from shot to shot! I can hit one perfectly and the next one might shank. Or, I'll shank one, drop another ball and stiff it. This doesn't happen too often, but enough to ruin my scores.

So my game just comes and goes, despite the 20 years experience I have playing.

One thing I discovered from pounding all these balls recently is that my left hand was not firm enough. It was not in control as it should be. So I've tinkered with lengthening my left thumb and pressing down on it, with keeping the relationship between my left forearm and the shaft constant, and a few other *feel* strategies to get some more left hand dominance. You see, at the top of my swing I've never felt solid. I've never felt like I was in a position where I could effortlessly and confidently start my downswing. How could I achieve consistency if every swing felt different, right?

One thing I tried to achieve that solid feeling at the top was that Dave Pelz theory of trying to get my forearm precisely at either 7:30, 9:00, or 10:30 on each backswing. This works....but only to an extent.

When I was up in Maine and my driver deserted me....the trick that got me back in play was shortening my backswing.

Then, a few weeks ago, I shot a good round and drove the ball spectacularly by doing the precise opposite - I tried to take as big a swing, i.e. shoulder turn, as possible. I was seeing the clubhead over my left eye a la John Daly!

But then that stopped working.

This is what totally sucks about golf. All that effort, sweat, frustration, and false eureka moments and yet I have only marginally improved over all. Tantalizingly, I do get a smidge better every year.

However, I want to take a leap with my game. After all, there are scores of players better than me who haven't put in a quarter of the effort I have.

A couple of weeks ago I found some guy online who's selling a book/video titled The Efficent Golfer. You can go to his site and get a sample chapter emailed to you if interested.

Anyways, I found that because I was googling "how to properly videotape your swing" or something.

I still don't KNOW. But I think I just need a tripod set up to the correct height and I have to figure out how to put my digital camera on *shutter speed* (or *sport speed*).

Nonetheless, last week I plopped down my old camera on a bench behind the range and taped myself with the wedge and with the driver.

What I saw on the playback is what I've seen for years. A swing that gets outside and steep right away on the backswing. That's a flaw that I've only half-heartedly tried to correct. For some reason, I guess I didn't see it as that fatal.

But after seeing this off-plane action of mine for the umpteenth time, I started to watch the pros closely on this. Not a one of them took the club back like I did. Even Jim Furyk who someone told me takes the club back *steep* was flatter than me. Literally, my first move has been away from the ball, away from my body, and straight up. And I simply could not stop!

For a week I tried, and tried and tried. Why the heck couldn't I keep the club on the swing plane - EVEN FOR THE FIRST 10 INCHES BACK!!!???

I started to get really upset. I must be a complete Moron to not be able to correct the basic geometry of my swing.

Then I figured it out completely this past Sunday.

I had to stand further away from the ball. And not just a half an inch or a full inch.

No I was standing 2 whole inches too close to the ball.

It took more than a few duffs to get going. After all, my body has spent 20 years grooving a *crowded* swing. My hands couldn't possibly trust that they could deliver the club on the ball. But, eventually, they did.

My entire body felt different. I felt a power, a flex, in my legs never before experienced. With this new stance I could also really use my shoulders more predominantly.

Everything makes sense now. I was woefully inconsistent because my paths were off-plane.

My left arm/hand couldn't dominate the swing because of the outside path; the *pick-up* by the right arm/hand kept interfering with proper hand pressure. With my new, further-away-stance, the club naturally went straight-to-inside on the way back AND I could feel a controlling, powerful sensation in my left hand - the same one I was trying to manufacture before. Only this one came effortlessly.

Also, I realized that what worked about both *shortening* and *lengthening* my driver backswings was that both moves sort of got my left arm a bit more extended, and my swing a tad less steep - even it the paths were still slightly off-plane. So what excites me is that all of this makes sense now. I'm pretty optimistic that my improved stance is really going to elevate my game.

Next up, is ball position within the swing.

I admit it. If you ask me where in my stance I play each club....I really don't know. After 20 years I should really have this down to a science now.

Another insight I've made recently is that I don't set up my pitch shots with my hands far enough ahead of the ball.******

Also, I've distanced myself some more from the ball on the short game and when putting!

2.5 weeks until my annual Naples golf trip, my last hurrah for the season. I expect to have my best year down there yet. No excuses.