Carolina Golfer

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After years of watching YT videos, reading threads and taking lessons. Today, I took my driver and just went with what I have and just swung the club. It was decent, not great and predictable. Anyone just swing and gave up on the hip bumps, elbow to the hip, cover the ball etc? It's funny my advice to my son who plays once every few years is to "let the club head swing" maybe I need to take my own advice.
 
In a round today one of the guys was hitting his driver very nice. Only had a few bad driver hits the whole round. I asked him what happened and he basically said he decided to just swing the club and hit the ball and forget thinking about all the crap and it worked. Too much knowledge about all the swing mechanics can actually cause problems and clutter the mind.
 
Closest I can get to it is ‘head down, swing hard’ which I revert to on occasion when things get funky.
 
Hands & Brains works just fine sometimes. It's a fine line between the right mindset before and during a swing, and just getting in your own way. I try to spend way more time thinking about how to play the hole/shot than anything to do with swinging the club.
 
When I just swing with my driver, the result is a high, push/fade.
 
All the time.

Swing thoughts and practice at the range only.

When I get to the course, think about the shot I want to hit, and athletic ability and reaction take over.

Think about the shot you want to hit, not how to hit it.
 
The less I think while I’m standing over the ball, the better off I am.
 
Yup. Just swing smooth, swing "easy". Far better feeling than being a mechanical robot.
 
when things go south, I'll do a "swing for the seats" A natural swing with a deep back swing, a good body rotation, and a flatter swing. Picture a base ball swing.. Make it feel natural.

I'll slowly transition that to a golf swing. It seems to restore a more fluid swing.
 
Funny.....sadly I tend to play golf swing and rarely ever go out and just swing. Not that I'd recommend my approach, but it seems to have worked well enough for me.

Recently I stood on the tee (been struggling with the driver) and decided to just look at where I wanted the ball to go and swing. The two times I did it, were actually very good shots. So I suppose I need to start doing this myself.

Play with your eyes.......as they say.
 
When my driver starts to go awry, I will sometimes think "aim and swing".
It helps clear my head and get out of my own way.
 
This works for me with Driver. I just think pick a line and just swing right down that line with no other thoughts. Especially on a wide open fairway.
 
Yep - only ever make sure my alignment is right and then just swing. If you are having a bunch of swing thoughts on the course, you're going to have a bad time.
 
I had a "dark period" of about 4 years where I couldn't break 80 (this as a player with a sub-7 handicap for 43 years). Anyway, I spent more time practicing, grinding on the range, swinging indoors, poring over golf magazines and tips - I was a mess.

After one particularly frustrating range session, I saw a coyote loping around about 200 yards away but staying on the range the whole time. Now, I shouldn't have done this, and I'm ashamed to say I did, but I started hitting golf balls at him. All of a sudden, I had complete control of my golf ball and was making perfect solid contact.

All swing thoughts were gone; I was just trying to do one thing: hit the coyote (thank goodness I didn't). In doing that, I realized that I was able to hit a fade so much more reliably than a draw and I immediately got back down to shooting in the 70's after that, predominately playing a fade. Even now, I make sure that I pick a specific target (still working on doing that EVERY time), and I focus on only 1 swing thought so my mind isn't cluttered. So far so good!
 
I had a "dark period" of about 4 years where I couldn't break 80 (this as a player with a sub-7 handicap for 43 years). Anyway, I spent more time practicing, grinding on the range, swinging indoors, poring over golf magazines and tips - I was a mess.

After one particularly frustrating range session, I saw a coyote loping around about 200 yards away but staying on the range the whole time. Now, I shouldn't have done this, and I'm ashamed to say I did, but I started hitting golf balls at him. All of a sudden, I had complete control of my golf ball and was making perfect solid contact.

All swing thoughts were gone; I was just trying to do one thing: hit the coyote (thank goodness I didn't). In doing that, I realized that I was able to hit a fade so much more reliably than a draw and I immediately got back down to shooting in the 70's after that, predominately playing a fade. Even now, I make sure that I pick a specific target (still working on doing that EVERY time), and I focus on only 1 swing thought so my mind isn't cluttered. So far so good!

Good to hear Pattyboy21. I think this would work well with chipping, too. Pick a target to land the ball etc. Sand play and irons will be more challenging. But, worth a shot.

I think it would lower expectations too, not a bad thing.
 
My swing instructor of many years was pretty old school. His biggest deal was to just swing the club head, and let ball just get in the way.

We discussed other aspects of the swing, but just swinging the club head was his main thing.
 
I've been using this tactic lately with the 3W and Driver, just pretending I'm swinging a practice swing and forgetting about "hitting" the ball. Seems to be working.
 
After years of watching YT videos, reading threads and taking lessons. Today, I took my driver and just went with what I have and just swung the club. It was decent, not great and predictable. Anyone just swing and gave up on the hip bumps, elbow to the hip, cover the ball etc? It's funny my advice to my son who plays once every few years is to "let the club head swing" maybe I need to take my own advice.
Id say thats probably sound advice. Sometimes your brain can get in the way of good golf swing.
 
Somewhat akin to riding a bike, right?

We don't *think* "Ok, balance, lean left a little, push right foot down on pedal, there's a tree, I should probably turn now," we just... do it.

Of course, we have to develop the competence before we can call upon it, whether it's riding a bike, hitting driver, playing a musical instrument, whatever.

When my oldest child was learning massage therapy, they had an instructor who referred to what I think is a really useful framework for proper technique that I think applies well beyond massage therapy:

competence.jpg

Learning to ride a bike goes through all four stages and ends up at Unconscious Competence.

Some real world examples for me with my golf game:

  • Unconscious Incompetence - controlling spin... I'm not proficient and haven't studied it
  • Conscious Incompetence - flop shots - I understand the concept but can't apply it reliably
  • Conscious Competence - at this point I can work my irons and fairway woods left or right SOMEWHAT reliably, but I really have to think about it, and it's not consistent
  • Unconscious Competence - chipping and putting... I don't have to think about the mechanics anymore and just focus on choosing a shot or a spot and executing rather than any specific technical swing thoughts
 
Id say thats probably sound advice. Sometimes your brain can get in the way of good golf swing.
kind a like running up/down stairs. You can do it automatic mode, but don't start thinking about it. Probably be a few stutter steps.
However, running and walking are done every day. New moves have to be learned to be automatic for a golf swing.
 
kind a like running up/down stairs. You can do it automatic mode, but don't start thinking about it. Probably be a few stutter steps.
However, running and walking are done every day. New moves have to be learned to be automatic for a golf swing.
Its been said that trying to think your way to a better golf swing is like trying to walk by thinking about everything your body is doing as you walk. It would drive you crazy.
Its like the line in the movie, "The Legend Of Bagger Vance", where the main character says something about the secret to golf being learning how to stop thinking without falling asleep. For me, its kind of like that. The fewer thoughts, the better.
 
Its been said that trying to think your way to a better golf swing is like trying to walk by thinking about everything your body is doing as you walk. It would drive you crazy.
Its like the line in the movie, "The Legend Of Bagger Vance", where the main character says something about the secret to golf being learning how to stop thinking without falling asleep. For me, its kind of like that. The fewer thoughts, the better.
agree, but the moves that you don't think about have to be learned. And learned pretty well to be able to do them without thinking.
 
Was playing a foursome yesterday and this thread popped into to mind while on one of the tee boxes. While one of the guys was tee'ing off a conversation came up about errant shots and all the swing thoughts that go through our minds when we get ready to hit the ball.

He is a lefty, in his early sixties, and during the conversation his words quickly came out stating that he kept way too much BS anylytical crap in his head and he knew it hurt his game and has for years now. He has always had to play his curve because he never could correct it. He is about an 18 cap and I think he could easily get down to around 12-14 or lower if he could clean some of those swing thoughts out and change his focus some.

He is extremely analytical and knows every nuance of his golf swing. I think it drives him crazy at times and he would love to just get up to the tee box and hit the ball without thinking so much. Yesterday, I was hitting well off the tee box. He was using a driver and I was using a 4 wood and several times I out drove him (not by a lot) and the rest of the time I was within a small distance of his drive and believe me he notices stuff like that especially since he swings quite a bit faster than I do.

A few weeks ago something clicked in his swing and he has started hitting some of the best shots in the last few weeks that he has in many, many years and he is not totally sure what changed. Now he wants to flush a lot of the "swing thoughts" crap out of his mind and simply get up and hit the golf ball. He can hit draws now and he is a happy camper. I think he has "less" thinking and more simply hitting now, but just my opinion.

I gave him kudos yesterday for his great shots and told him it was like I was playing with a different golfer as his swing had changed almost like a 360 degree turnaround. It was refreshing to see and he went on to victory yesterday in our foursome (only got me by one point though). Yes, we all have to have a certain amount of swing thinking going on, but about what and how much could be the question. :cool:
 
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