Yesterday evening, after being demolished by my former ATM machine and buddy Marius from Sumi-G and also by my pal Arnie, I decided I need to work on my swing. You can’t bring your B or C game into this group like I have been lately or you’ll be shelling out dollars like you’re at a strip club in Vegas and you’ve had way too many drinks.
I’ve been pulling the hell out of my irons, major. For instance I pulled a sand wedge 30 yards left with a draw yesterday. When I set up over the ball my blade looks closed. Two pals have told me my shoulders and upper body are rotating left of the target at impact, where my hands and swing plane follow. So I have a closed blade and a hard left swing plane. That results in left left left.
My buddy Dave helped me out on the range yesterday as I plowed through 110 range balls. If you know me, you know I don’t hit a lot of range balls because it kills my golfer’s elbow and my bad back. Today I have a knot in my back but I hope/think it was worth the work yesterday.
The first adjustment I made was trying to assure that when I’m addressing the ball that the blade is square and not closed. That small adjustment helped to make the pulls I did create from bad upper body turns be less magnified. Dave helped me with some drills to get those shoulders more parallel to the target line at impact rather than way left of target. I was working on the shoulders, and swinging inside out and right of the target. Everything was solid, as it has been, but at least the direction was under control. I was hitting towering shots with a draw, in the proper direction.
Another interesting thing which Dave pointed out, mindblowingly, is my alignment. My natural shot is a pull and I’m always set up right of target. When I pull it just right it goes at the target. When I practice on the range and set up a club to align my feet I’ve always pointed that club at the target. That has been wrong ever since I picked up a golf club. That line should be parallel left of the target, and the line my ball is on should be AT the target. I’ve been aligning myself up right of target forever, during practice.
The adjustment for that is to make sure the line my feet are on is left of target, while the line the ball and club face are on is at the target. That is a tough adjustment for me because it doesn’t look or feel right after many years of doing it wrong.
I need to continue working and getting comfortable with these adjustments. It is hard to unlearn bad habits. I’ll be out of town for a few days at a family reunion, but when I get back I’ll be hitting the irons again. And working more on this. My shots are solid contact but terribly inaccurate. As good as my putting is, I could shoot low scores except for the fact that my greens in regulation are very mediocre.
More to come.
HOGWire – Golf Industry News
You know that sounds pretty close to the exact opposite of what I am doing…gonna try some of these tips only mirrored of course and see. Thanks
That is what I do when I am at my best, and worst, I line up to the right of the target and pull hook to the target. when I try to line up left I hit some ugly slices. I quit trying to fix it I just make sure I line up right on the golf course. If I could putt like you do I could break 70 from time to time.
That used to be my exact problem!
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