Man this is such a hard game on your psyche. I have been slowly making progress day after day, week after week. I have come back to the game after years away and have been building what I never had, a good swing. The kind of progress I make looks something like this. I went from making no good swings at all to making a decent number of good shots each session. That does not mean I would go one hundred swings without once getting the club head square to the ball. However if I did, it was for all the wrong reasons.
My “good shots” have gotten consistently better week after week. Until, one day last week I can honestly say I was making good shots consistently with irons from the 8 down to the 5 and even hit the 4 decently. Good shots were straighter and longer than had been the case at any time during the last few months or at any time in my entire like. In fact I can honestly say I was in some cases hitting the ball as good as I am ever going to hit it. I had good results with about 80% of my swings.
Now here is the interesting thing. Everything does not go haywire when I hit a bad shot. Now I am down to a critical element of my swing breaking down. All this time I had settled for a fairly conservative set up at address so that I could deal with the fact that I had to work on every other aspect of my swing. I knew I was compromising but I just don’t think you can work on everything all at the same time. However I find that in order to hit the ball as far and straight as I can hit it consistently, I have to set up at address right on the brink of being out of balance. If I set up too close to the ball, I do not seem to get enough momentum going through the hips and I can make a decent swing and achieve a decent result, but not better than that. My distance suffers a good deal as does my accuracy. If I set up too far away from the ball I get out of balance and I get stuck behind. I cannot get my hips through at all and I hit it fat and ugly. The shot is all arms and that is no shot at all. If my set up is what it needs to be, I get my hips through with maximum momentum and I hit it long and straight as long as I get my hands ahead. If I don’t I still hit the ball pretty good but my trajectory is totally dependent on how much I have gotten my hands out ahead.
So I think I have to take my own medicine now. I have said for a long time that I think you want to take lessens when you have made a good deal of progress and you have hit a plateau and I think that is where I am. While it has taken me a long time to get a good feel for every other aspect of my swing, I am having real difficulty getting the feel for when I am exactly where I need to be at address. I am currently as likely to set up too close as too far away as on the nose. So I think it is time to get somebody helping me that knows what he is doing as I am really concerned that I am going to screw up all the progress I have made up to this point trying to figure this out. I already feel myself trying to compensate for my bad positioning during the swing itself and I can just imagine how much trouble I can get myself into doing that. When I am not trying to compensate for bad positioning, everything seems to slow down for me. I find myself at the top of my backswing feeling composed and ready to uncoil on the ball. I find that if I want to focus on one particular dimple on the ball I am quite capable of doing that. I know then that I am going to cream the thing. The ball seems to be exactly where it should be in relation to me and the club. If I am not where I want to be at the top I would do just as well to drop the darned club as my swing is going to be a disappointment. I realize that when I am confronted by having the ball above or below my feet or one foot above or below the other, I am going to have to make adjustments for that. However I think you have to have a consistent swing on level ground before you start worrying about a side hill lie. So, it’s on to lessons for me.
I am sure I am going to find out there is much more wrong with my swing. That’s OK too. Its’ time. Just thought I would share my experience up to this point as so many of us seem to be on a similar path with our golf swings. Please do feel free to offer advice or critisim as I try to use everything to improve. This site has been very helpful to me and I do not think I would have made it even this far were it not for reading posts from people doing something like what I am doing.
My “good shots” have gotten consistently better week after week. Until, one day last week I can honestly say I was making good shots consistently with irons from the 8 down to the 5 and even hit the 4 decently. Good shots were straighter and longer than had been the case at any time during the last few months or at any time in my entire like. In fact I can honestly say I was in some cases hitting the ball as good as I am ever going to hit it. I had good results with about 80% of my swings.
Now here is the interesting thing. Everything does not go haywire when I hit a bad shot. Now I am down to a critical element of my swing breaking down. All this time I had settled for a fairly conservative set up at address so that I could deal with the fact that I had to work on every other aspect of my swing. I knew I was compromising but I just don’t think you can work on everything all at the same time. However I find that in order to hit the ball as far and straight as I can hit it consistently, I have to set up at address right on the brink of being out of balance. If I set up too close to the ball, I do not seem to get enough momentum going through the hips and I can make a decent swing and achieve a decent result, but not better than that. My distance suffers a good deal as does my accuracy. If I set up too far away from the ball I get out of balance and I get stuck behind. I cannot get my hips through at all and I hit it fat and ugly. The shot is all arms and that is no shot at all. If my set up is what it needs to be, I get my hips through with maximum momentum and I hit it long and straight as long as I get my hands ahead. If I don’t I still hit the ball pretty good but my trajectory is totally dependent on how much I have gotten my hands out ahead.
So I think I have to take my own medicine now. I have said for a long time that I think you want to take lessens when you have made a good deal of progress and you have hit a plateau and I think that is where I am. While it has taken me a long time to get a good feel for every other aspect of my swing, I am having real difficulty getting the feel for when I am exactly where I need to be at address. I am currently as likely to set up too close as too far away as on the nose. So I think it is time to get somebody helping me that knows what he is doing as I am really concerned that I am going to screw up all the progress I have made up to this point trying to figure this out. I already feel myself trying to compensate for my bad positioning during the swing itself and I can just imagine how much trouble I can get myself into doing that. When I am not trying to compensate for bad positioning, everything seems to slow down for me. I find myself at the top of my backswing feeling composed and ready to uncoil on the ball. I find that if I want to focus on one particular dimple on the ball I am quite capable of doing that. I know then that I am going to cream the thing. The ball seems to be exactly where it should be in relation to me and the club. If I am not where I want to be at the top I would do just as well to drop the darned club as my swing is going to be a disappointment. I realize that when I am confronted by having the ball above or below my feet or one foot above or below the other, I am going to have to make adjustments for that. However I think you have to have a consistent swing on level ground before you start worrying about a side hill lie. So, it’s on to lessons for me.
I am sure I am going to find out there is much more wrong with my swing. That’s OK too. Its’ time. Just thought I would share my experience up to this point as so many of us seem to be on a similar path with our golf swings. Please do feel free to offer advice or critisim as I try to use everything to improve. This site has been very helpful to me and I do not think I would have made it even this far were it not for reading posts from people doing something like what I am doing.
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I had an instructor before and thought my golf was ok but I was looking for something else in an instructor and then I found my current one. He's been working with me from the ground up, so its like we're starting all over again.