To progress at a pace that will make you happy, you need …
This ‘Frustration’ is the absolute ‘Number One Achilles Heel’ in golf’s shrinking participation. We are in an ‘Attrition Cycle’ that can be turned around, if we take appropriate actions.
Did you know that a proper swing takes no more energy that a poor swing? Might as well make a good one … if you have the ‘Desire’ followed by and ‘Honest, Open Minded’ methodology?
In the golf swing and game itself, it is the ‘Little Things That Matter’. (the minutia)
We need that ‘Desire, Honesty and an Open Mind’.
We need to embrace ‘Knowledge’, to convert it into ‘Experience’ and then to nourish the ‘Pay-Back’ that we deserve to enjoy!
Most of us know the difference and feeling of throwing ‘Overhand and Underhand’. The ‘Overhand Pitch’ is very similar to casting a lure out into a river. You rather throw the ‘Bait or Lure Mass’ up, out and across to the target spot. (see ‘The 12 Inch Landing Circle’) Works well in steelhead fishing, especially in brushy tight quarters.
Let’s think about tennis for a moment. Fewer people learn how to fish ‘Underhanded Forehand and Backhand’. This little ‘Tossing Action is immensely useful standing on the confining or restrictive riverbank. Little underhanded flip handed deliveries are really a sign of a seasoned steelhead or salmon fisherman. Really important in working your bait around obstructions.
Relate this ‘Hand Path’ to your golf strikes. If you have seen Jim Furyk’s unique golf swing, it is an ‘Outside & Up’ … Back & Up Swing Path. (see ‘Inside Out Path’) It starts ‘Above or Over Plane and then ‘Loops’ at the top to a ‘Below or Under Plane’.
See if we can keep this focus tight and pure? Let’s ‘Keep This (IT) Stupid Simple’? YES?
For arguments sake, let us consider that we have a #9 Iron in hand. We will base our consideration on our most favoured #PW, the center of our scoring bag. (48 degrees of Loft). This club offers us a ‘Factory Loft of 44 Degrees’. The #8 Iron is 40 degrees. The key to ‘Pandora’s Box is to learn to make the same swing with each of these three clubs. It is very prudent to keep in mind that all our ‘Club Full Swings’ for most golf clubs are basically the same.
The first action we can and should take to reduce our ‘#9 Iron’s Net Delivered Loft’ is to change clubs … pull another club from your bag! (see ‘Ball Flight Shape, Trajectory and Parabola’) #9 Iron in hand, want ‘Less Delivered Loft’, pull your #8 Iron. Want ‘More Delivered Loft’, pull your #PW. Exactly the same ‘Delivered Energy’ results in more or less ‘Height’ and more of less ‘Distance’.
Just a thought that might stimulate either perspective movement or a direction change in your golf activities and overall well-being.
"Food Does Not Taste As Good As ‘Fitness Feels."
Here endeth the lesson?
Why are my ‘Perfect Practice Swings’, on the driving range or in preparation of making the real strikes, so hard to reproduce? Seemingly impossible to make happen out on course?
The answer is really quite simple! We lack sufficient understanding of our true mechanics. (Mastering Golf Basics - MGB) We are enveloped in ‘FEAR’ and thus, soon thereafter in ‘TENSION’.
When we are too tense, (see ‘Grip Pressure’) our muscles cannot perform properly. For example, our Hands, Wrists and Forearms cannot ‘Release Through the Impact & Separation Zone’.
How can we determine that this is a very real problem? We totally understand what the ‘Pre-Shot Routine’ is and why. Our professional version is magical, if we apply it! (see ‘The 5 Set-Ups’ and ‘The 5 Essential Elements’. They make up absolute ‘Consistency’.)
Most of us know the difference and feeling of throwing ‘Overhand and Underhand’. The ‘Overhand Pitch’ is very similar to casting a lure out into a river. You rather throw the ‘Bait or Lure Mass’ up, out and across to the target spot. (see ‘The 12 Inch Landing Circle’) Works well in steelhead fishing, especially in brushy tight quarters.
Let’s think about tennis for a moment. Fewer people learn how to fish ‘Underhanded Forehand and Backhand’. This little ‘Tossing Action is immensely useful standing on the confining or restrictive riverbank. Little underhanded flip handed deliveries are really a sign of a seasoned steelhead or salmon fisherman. Really important in working your bait around obstructions.
Relate this ‘Hand Path’ to your golf strikes. If you have seen Jim Furyk’s unique golf swing, it is an ‘Outside & Up’ … Back & Up Swing Path. (see ‘Inside Out Path’) It starts ‘Above or Over Plane and then ‘Loops’ at the top to a ‘Below or Under Plane’. This is an ‘Underhanded Delivery’. It might feel slightly ‘Laid Off or Shallowing Out’ from Top Of Back Swing. (TOB) …
If we take the ‘Bends’ out of our ‘Lever Assemblies’, especially at our ‘Impact Fix’, we establish and master the ‘Distance From Of Swing or Spinal Core’.
When we embrace ‘Centrifugal or Centripetal Force’, we naturally get to a ‘Lever Extension Condition’ through the ‘Impact & Separation Zone’. The Target Lever is ‘Set-Up’ and relatively retains its straightness from ‘Sweeping Take-Away’ through ‘Delivery & Release’. The Brace Lever’s job is to ‘Bend & Straighten’. That is the secret to our accomplishing ‘Clubhead Speed’ as well as ‘Path and Plane’.
If one ‘Sets-Up’ with the ball at the ‘Extension Point’, (arms longish, with the ball slightly out on the end of the score lines, out on the toe of the clubhead) then we already know where we need to return to through the ‘Impact & Separation Zone’.
That will not make you a smiley faced golfer!
It seems to help universally if one views or strives to make a ‘Divot In Front Of The Ball Location’.
Another way of considering this ‘Hanging Back’ is paying attention to your ‘Weight Distribution’. The ‘Hang Back’ chronically keep weight on your ‘Brace or Back Foot’. This affects the ‘Slope of your Shoulders’. Your Brace Shoulder will be too low too long. If this is the case, feel that your Shoulder Axis gets and remains ‘Level Earlier and Longer’.
Never feel like you are swinging ‘Uphill At’ or ‘Lifting The Golf Ball. The Golf strike is a ‘Down & Through Activity’. Strive to ‘Pinch The Ball Off The Grass’ and not to lift it up into that nice satisfying trajectory. The ‘Clubhead Loft’ produces the ‘Up’ by swinging down. (see ‘Angle Of Attack’ - AoA)
You well know that we Set-Up athletically with adequate or balanced ‘Dual Knee Flex’.
If we lose or release our ‘Target Knee Flex’ prematurely (before getting ‘Through Impact & Separation Zone’ (into Swing Sequence #8a and 9 … Chase & Follow) what happened tour ‘Pivot Post’ or ‘Spinal Core’?
It straightens and our ‘Heads Move Back’ aft or away from the target. That actually causes an endless ‘Ball Location Battle’ … always moving around. Now try to make solid contact?
