tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22210653827077324822024-03-13T08:55:14.653-07:00Left-Side GolfCommentary, features, and instruction by The Recreational Golfer™ specifically adapted for left-handed golfers.Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.comBlogger404125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-83382373767701222162019-01-06T18:53:00.002-08:002019-01-06T18:53:23.557-08:00New Blog SiteThis blog is no longer being maintained. Please see <a href="http://http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/">.</a>Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-39633373623296270622017-12-07T07:56:00.000-08:002017-12-07T07:56:40.971-08:00A Few Odds an EndsI was looking through a notebook I keep that contains notes from golf lessons I have taken. The last playing lesson I took emphasized the tee shot. My note says, "Tee shot is paramount to making par. Work on these." So work on your driver, but work on hitting it straight, not far. If you can hit your irons straight, but not your driver, get a lesson. You'll never figure it out yourself.<br />
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There are several other notes that pertain only to me, but another general note is, "Make your targets very precise from the tee and the fairway." Think not only of which direction you want the shot to go, but on what spot do you want the ball to land. And it's a spot, not an area.<br />
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You know the bottom of your swing needs to be ahead of the ball. How do you do that? I practice this indoors with a fairway wood. I set up and take note of the place where the leading edge of the sole is. Then I make a slow-motion swing and try to lightly tap the rug with the sole of the club ahead of that place when I swing through. Hint: if you're not getting your weight to the left in the forward swing, and early in the forward swing, you won't be able to get the club out there.<br />
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I've been playing around with a short stroke for short putts this past week. It started out as the old pop stroke, but I quickly found out that the rapid stroke and percussive hit the word "pop" suggests is the wrong way to go about it. I'm finding success with a rhythmic stroke that nudges the ball to the hole. That might be a better starting point for you if you want try this out. I should also mention my upper arms rest against my sides for security. The advantage of a short stroke (about six inches for a 10-foot putt) is that the clubface stays square throughout. I'm only using this stroke for short putts I think I can sink. For longer putts, I go back to my sweeping pendulum stroke and the <a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2017/11/triangulated-approach-putting-tap/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">TAP method</a>.<br />
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I read a tip in a current golf magazine that I thought might help. So I went out and tried it. The results were terrible. What I realized very quickly is that I was already doing what the tip suggested. In trying to follow the tip I did more of it and that was too much. Beware of tips you read in golf magazines.Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-63280711254402276662017-11-15T09:41:00.000-08:002017-11-15T09:41:30.533-08:00Triangulated Approach Putting (TAP)Often I will try something out for a few weeks and if it seems to be a good thing I will write a post about it. This one is different. I discovered it in 2015. I didn’t want to let you know about it until I was sure it was sound.<br />
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It is.<br />
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The method, which I call Triangulated Approach Putting (TAP) will revolutionize your approach putting.<br />
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The commonest reason you three-putt is that you leave your first putt too far from the hole. You get the distance wrong. TAP lets you leave that first putt right beside the hole. It is almost scary how good you will get.<br />
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TAP is based on this axiom: For any length of putt, if the length of the putting stroke is the sole distance generator, there is one, and only one, length of stroke that will send the ball that distance.<br />
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TAP shows you how to find the length of that stroke. I’ll explain the theory first and then get into the fine points.<br />
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In the diagram below, you see a line from the ball to the hole. That is the baseline of a triangle. The spot marked apex is where you stand to find the length of stroke. The line from the ball to the apex is the eyeline. The line from the apex to the hole, not being a factor, and is not labeled. Distances are exaggerated for clarity.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcMufX3vEmzjnkcZgQyBKQzSA4QHUkhhuSzBMQlVYGY3sshHh3nnQd1GVzjuAwdNiutgo3RzEHR8-idyXaT62EVDMuAiJdkKtp2FS1_Rt4G73C0ww9K6GUHKj2Zz1MXG6jhDtxT5ynZY4/s1600/TAP-diagram.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcMufX3vEmzjnkcZgQyBKQzSA4QHUkhhuSzBMQlVYGY3sshHh3nnQd1GVzjuAwdNiutgo3RzEHR8-idyXaT62EVDMuAiJdkKtp2FS1_Rt4G73C0ww9K6GUHKj2Zz1MXG6jhDtxT5ynZY4/s400/TAP-diagram.jpg" width="400" height="239" data-original-width="800" data-original-height="478" /></a></div><br />
The apex is located at a standard spot, half the length of the baseline and offset three paces to the left (to the right for left-handed golfers). These distances are adjustable.<br />
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Stand at the apex and swing your putter back and forth while looking at the ball. Make a stroke such that the clubhead intersects the eyeline (an imaginary line coming straight at you from the ball). That stroke will send the ball the exact distance from where it now lies, to the hole.<br />
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That’s the theory. Here’s the practice.<br />
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(1) The length of the swing must be the sole distance generator. You cannot add any “hit” with your hands. That would be introducing another variable, which we do not want to do.<br />
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(2) You must hit the ball on the same spot of the putter’s face every time. The sweet spot is best. Erratic contact in this regard plays havoc with how much energy is imparted to the ball, and thus how far it goes.<br />
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(3) The speed of your putting stroke must be constant. Otherwise, you will unknowingly be imparting more or less energy to the ball, again affecting the distance it travels.<br />
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(4) The location of the apex is not fixed.<br />
(a) If greens are slower or you are putting uphill, the apex must be more than halfway to the hole--point (A).<br />
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(b) If greens are faster or you are putting downhill, the apex must be less than halfway to the hole--point (B).<br />
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(c) Your putter can make a difference. If you are consistently leaving putts too long or too short, stand more or less than three paces from the baseline--closer to make putts go farther, or at more remove to make them travel shorter.<br />
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(5) An essential point is remembering the length of the stroke. After all, you have to walk over to the ball to hit the putt, and in that time you might forget. While at the apex, make several strokes that intersect the eyeline and pay attention to how that stroke feels to your body. There might be a slight stretching somewhere in your back, or your arms might brush against you in a certain way. When you get to the ball, recreate that sensation.<br />
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(6) Hit the ball with trust. TAP works if you let it.<br />
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Regarding the adjustments in (4), the more you practice TAP, the more accurate your adjustments will become.<br />
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Use TAP when distance is more important than line. How far from the hole that switch gets made is up to you, but ten feet is not too close.<br />
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I have tried this method on different practice greens, on different courses, and after I have adjusted to the conditions it always works.<br />
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You could take out all my posts from 2009 to date and nothing would be missing because you can read all of it somewhere else. I have just been adding emphasis or perhaps clarity.<br />
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But TAP is new. There is nothing remotely like it to be seen anywhere else. If you want to save strokes on the green starting almost overnight, here’s how. No kidding.Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-34955089628625924712017-10-08T12:18:00.001-07:002017-10-08T12:18:12.281-07:00Unwind Through the BallThe less you try to HIT the golf ball and the more you SWING THROUGH it, the better shots you are going to get. I keep looking for a way to explain that to myself, and this week’s version is, “unwind through the ball.”<br />
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That means, in the backswing wind up, and in the forward swing unwind in the same way, all the way through the ball. Not TO the ball, but through it. Big difference.<br />
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It’s like you turn yourself into a giant spring. You wind up the spring on the back swing and you unwind on the forward swing. The unwinding is performed in the same manner as the winding. It is not ease back, then fire through. <br />
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I think the reason this is so hard to do is that we want to HIT the ball along way. So it’s really hard for us to swing easy back and easy through. But that’s exactly what I think you have to do.<br />
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That will also make it easier to hold onto the angle between your forearm and the club shaft and not let it go too early. That way, the club builds up acceleration without you even feeling it. You LET the club do the work instead of MAKING it do the work. <br />
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Before you swing, remind yourself to wind up gently and unwind gently through the ball. Regardless of what you really look like when you swing, picture in your mind how smooth and graceful you must look.<br />
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Practice swinging like this in your living room or in your backyard. Than the next time you play, take a practice swing in slow motion that winds up and unwinds through the mall. Then step up to the ball and do the same swing, just a little faster. I think you’ll like what happens.<br />
Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-39400135911469877132017-08-29T14:02:00.000-07:002017-08-29T14:02:10.448-07:00Your Golf Has to TravelA few days ago I got a wake-up call. I was doing business at an end of town I don’t spend a lot of time in, but which has a driving range nearby. So I took along a putter and a ball to get a little practice in before I went back home. <br />
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I get all of my putting practice on the green at the range where I normally go to. If you saw me putt on this green, you would say that I'm a very good putter. I make putts from all over the place, and I go around the putting clock and never three-putt.<br />
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Well.<br />
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On this new green, I couldn’t do a thing right. I was three-putting from twenty-five feet about half the time, it was hit-and-miss with four-footers, and my distance control was just nowhere.<br />
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I realized that I putted so well on my usual green not because of things that I thought made me a good putter. They didn’t have anything to do with it. <br />
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I had merely unconsciously memorized the green. That’s it. So when I went to this new green, I didn’t have the skills to handle the differences in green speed and contour.<br />
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I play the same courses, and I putt very well on them, because I have memorized their greens. It all adds up to having become lazy.<br />
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An under-appreciated aspect of the way Tour pros play the game is that their golf travels. They play different courses every week, that require different shots, that provide different responses to the shot, and you know what? They don’t care! The adapt after a practice round or two and it’s off to the birdie-fest.<br />
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You improve and become a Golfer by having skills that hold up under any condition. Looks like I have some work to do. How about you?<br />
Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-31661324911650042972017-08-24T21:00:00.000-07:002017-08-24T21:00:17.870-07:00The Handle Moves in Harmony With the Clubhead - Video TipHere is an alternate way of looking at the handle leading the clubhead. <br />
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I hope it helps.<br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SyEEVZJHmnY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-50218736031711441712017-08-22T21:00:00.000-07:002017-08-22T21:00:19.347-07:00Golf's Most Important Two InchesNote: I got a bit behind on keeping this blog up to date. Expect a now post every few days. Sorry!<br />
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You're never going to hear the end of this from me. It's the most important swing fundamental there is. Your hands have to lead the clubhead. <br />
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A few weeks ago, I changed it to, the handle moves in harmony with the clubhead. Too wordy.<br />
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How about the handle leads the clubhead?<br />
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Whatever you call it, you see it demonstrated here by our new U.S. Open champion, Brooks Koepka. His hands got to the ball before the clubhead did. Not by much, only about two inches. But that's all it needs to be.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbchkeHUSTX-FjcqUXB0W5T2qWpVVsgL_ciUhVPVp-qc2dMddXI224B1mtWbATrcJxRiz9SHIzXQA_A6KW779lQK760ky0A2ERUrxtgmzwhH5JqOLJQ2U9Ow2CbF2Thg5_e1j7BnTLjS0/s1600/Koepka+left.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbchkeHUSTX-FjcqUXB0W5T2qWpVVsgL_ciUhVPVp-qc2dMddXI224B1mtWbATrcJxRiz9SHIzXQA_A6KW779lQK760ky0A2ERUrxtgmzwhH5JqOLJQ2U9Ow2CbF2Thg5_e1j7BnTLjS0/s320/Koepka+left.png" width="247" height="320" data-original-width="334" data-original-height="433" /></a></div><br />
If you're not used to swinging through this position, it feels like your hands are two feet ahead of the clubhead, but they're not. They're ahead by just a little bit. But it's the most important little bit in golf.Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-44459631993744874972017-05-14T21:00:00.000-07:002017-05-14T21:00:10.209-07:00External Focus in GolfI read a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=Cid6BuYAAAAJ&citation_for_view=Cid6BuYAAAAJ:2osOgNQ5qMEC">fascinating research paper</a> a few weeks ago about external vs. internal focus in learning motor skills, especially related to golf. It goes right to the core of what you need to think you’re doing when you are taught something, learning it by yourself, or even practicing something you already know how to do.<br />
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The difference between internal and external focus is simple. Internal focus involves instructions for moving body parts--what you need to do. External focus, in golf, revolves around what the club needs to do. Then you do what ever you have to to get that result. (The ghost of Ernest Jones is nodding his head.)<br />
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Subjects who had never hit a golf ball before were taught grip, stance, and posture for a pitch shot. Then the subjects were split into two groups. <br />
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The internal focus group (IFG) was taught how their arms move, bend, and straighten at various points in the swing. The external focus group (EFG) was taught how the club swings like a pendulum. When swinging the club they were to “focus on the weight of the clubhead, the straight-line direction of the clubhead path, and the acceleration of the clubhead moving toward the bottom of the arc.” <br />
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After practicing what they were taught, all subjects hit blocks of ten golf balls each to a target 50 feet away. Outcomes were measured by how close the ball landed to the center of the target. <br />
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The results were that the (EGF) performed significantly better than (IFG). As the trials proceeded, both groups improved, but the IFG never caught up to the EFG. The EFG recorded good scores more frequently, and lower scores less frequently, than the IFG. <br />
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What does this mean for you? Everything. It means you’ll learn faster when you practice like this--working on what the club is supposed to do, not what you’re supposed to do. It means when you play, if there is a swing thought in your head (which I don’t recommend at all), it needs to be about <a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/05/how-the-golf-swing-really-works/">what the club</a> is doing and not about you.<br />
Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-73961439830369995382017-04-30T21:00:00.000-07:002017-04-30T21:00:08.164-07:00Dawdling on the Putting GreenI have to be honest with you. If you have a 20-foot putt, your chances of sinking it are really small. Tiny. PGA pros sink about one out of ten of them. Your results might be half that.<br />
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What you should be thinking about is how to get down in two putts from twenty feet (or more), because amateurs are more likely to take three putts from longer distances than one.<br />
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So first, stop spending so much time reading the green and getting what you think is the exact line to the hole, which, unless you are very good at reading greens, it isn’t. <br />
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Just get a general idea of whether it breaks right or left, and especially of what it does around the hole. You can get all that standing beside your ball and taking a brief look.<br />
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Regarding distance, if you practice approach putting every time you go to the range, you will have a good sense of how to cover the distance as soon as you see what it is.<br />
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All that shouldn’t take very long at all, maybe fifteen seconds. Then step up to the ball, line up the putter, and go.<br />
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No time to worry, no time to second-guess yourself. <br />
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You see, the pros on TV aren’t really our model for what to do on the green. They have thousands of dollars riding on sinking every putt they look at, and since they’re good enough to do that just often enough, they take their time.<br />
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We, however, are barking up the wrong tree by imitating them. By making a putt less of a production, I believe you actually stand a good chance of putting better, and you will certainly spend less time on the green, which the groups behind you will appreciate. <br />
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(Then there’s the endless tweaking to line up the line you drew on your ball with the starting line of the putt. From 30 feet? Please!)<br />
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Ranting much this week? Maybe just a little, but not without good reason.Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-50808647727419735872017-04-24T18:35:00.000-07:002017-04-24T18:35:07.484-07:00A Few Swing ThingsNot a very catchy title, is it? I couldn’t think of what else to call this post and still build in a little SEO. So no great ideas this week, just a few things I’ve been fiddling with, and a story.<br />
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1. Practice your putting stroke at home, maybe ten or so strokes a day. Not a lot, just enough to keep the feeling of how you do it from slipping away. Putt a ball to a target while doing this. I use a jar opener for a target. You can get one at a grocery store. It’s a thin sheet of rubber about five inches on a side, with a lot of raised bumps. If you trace out a circle on it using a 24-oz. can of tomatoes as your guide, you can cut out a “hole” just about 4¼” in diameter. You can also take this ersatz hole to the practice green and drop it where you want a hole to be, if the ones already cut out aren’t where you want to putt/chip to.<br />
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2. Lately I have taken to swinging a 7-iron in my living room late at night with the lights out. Don’t worry, you won’t hit the ceiling. Just make sure you’re clear of ceiling-mounted light fixtures. Swinging in the dark will improve your balance, since you don’t have the visual cues you normally use to stay in balance. It also slows down your swing so you’re actually swinging, not clobbering.<br />
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3. A little thought I’ve been using for a while concerning the driver is a way to make sure the clubhead is moving upward when it contacts the ball. Before I address the ball I think not about hitting it square on the back, but a bit below that, on the underside. Now I know that’s not possible, but it does give the unconscious mind a way to tell the body how to hit the ball with the clubhead on the rise. Make sure as well your hands lead the clubhead. By all means turn off the conscious mind when you swing. Just a smidgen of thinking about hitting under the ball will ruin the effort. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQe3npzDV3It5VFbm5g84JT6eodepYGiWdqlk5HhJQ1hpJkFbnBd_diWpfjKBxHqA0mt4PBK6A15QcZY1ZCdWpHcWb2Ux0ZEP2xpW_MVlLZ-WtM6uRP427vflrfVfxyXWi07r7u4Zilmo/s1600/driver-arrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: center; float: center; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQe3npzDV3It5VFbm5g84JT6eodepYGiWdqlk5HhJQ1hpJkFbnBd_diWpfjKBxHqA0mt4PBK6A15QcZY1ZCdWpHcWb2Ux0ZEP2xpW_MVlLZ-WtM6uRP427vflrfVfxyXWi07r7u4Zilmo/s320/driver-arrow.jpg" width="320" height="176" /></a></div><br />
4. Once at the range my son asked me to hit a ball as hard as I could. I think I had a 6-iron or so in my hand. So I did, and it went a long way. Then, I said, “Watch this.” I put my normal swing on the ball, which doesn’t have any “hit” in, and the ball went five yards less. How much can you slow down your swing with a particular club and still get the same distance out of it? Try it.<br />
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Actually, I didn’t really hit the first ball as hard as I could. I did that another time while playing in a 4-club tournament. I was 170 yards from the green. I had a 7-iron, my 140-yard club, and a 19* hybrid, my 200-yard club, in the bag. I didn’t want to ease up on the hybrid, because you can really hit a terrible shot that way. So I had to clobber the 7. I stood beside the ball for about a minute, psyching myself to swing as hard as I could, yet still control the strike. I swung, connected, and the ball took off and landed on the green. I put the 7-iron back in the bag and promised myself I would never, ever do that again.Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-37239886776505228352017-04-17T07:25:00.000-07:002017-04-17T07:25:05.747-07:00Spine Health at the RangeI was browsing through my hard drive a few days ago when I found an article about <a href="https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/article/download/2482/2330">spine loads</a> during a golf swing. Since I have a delicate lower back, I thought I would read this article again to see if had missed anything when I read it the first time some years ago. Indeed, I had.<br />
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While loads on the lumbar (lower) spine are considerable during the swing, especially in the late downswing, they are not damaging. The caveat is that the discs between the vertebra are viscoelastic and time-rate dependent.<br />
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This means they deform when stressed (viscoelastic) and need time to get back to their original shape (time rate dependent). The article noted that “accumulated stress due to repeated swings may lead to disc degeneration, and even submaximal exertions may lead to structural deformation of the lumbar spine.”<br />
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What they’re telling us not to do is hit one ball after the other like there’s a race going on. Maybe your back doesn’t feel sore after you do that, but you are putting undue stress on it in any event and not letting it recover. It you do hit balls rapid fire and you do feel your back getting a little sore, that’s a big warning sign.<br />
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All of us should hit balls slowly. Rest between each shot. Take some time to review in your mind why the ball you just hit did what it did, and what you want to do with your next swing. Or take a few easy partial swings to rehearse a move you’re working on. Then hit another ball. <br />
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At the range, when it is possible to take a swing every fifteen seconds, instead of every five minutes, like out on the course, slow down. It can only help to keep your lower back healthy while playing a sport that challenges it.Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-6060313247000101352017-04-02T21:00:00.000-07:002017-04-02T21:00:00.160-07:00Timing the Whoosh<br />
Last fall <a href=”http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/11/swing-faster-by-relaxing-more/”>I wrote about the whoosh</a>--the sound the clubhead makes when you swing it fast. I want to review that, and add on another comment.<br />
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Swing a golf club, maybe a 5-iron or longer, without a ball in front of you. Listen for the whoosh. That’s the sound of your club travelling at its maximum speed. <br />
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The whoosh gives you an indication of what your clubhead speed is. While you won’t get a precise measurement, obviously, we can say that the higher the pitch, the faster the club is travelling. <br />
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And more speed is always better. The Internet is full of pages, and YouTube if full of videos, about how to increase your clubhead speed. But many of them fail to make the most important point. Your maximum clubhead speed has to appear at the right moment. Otherwise, it’s no good.<br />
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You should hear the whoosh at or just past where a ball would be. If you hear it before the clubhead gets to the ball, you are releasing the club too early and using up your clubhead speed before you really need it.<br />
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Most likely, if that is the case, you’re letting go of the angle between your right forearm and the clubshaft too soon on the downswing. Play with holding on to that angle a little bit longer until you hear the whoosh placed directly in front of you. <br />
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This shouldn’t be a big adjustment to make. Just be sure you’re only adjusting your release and not trying to force this to happen. Light grip pressure will help, too.<br />
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Be careful, though. It is entirely possible to give up your angle too early and still place the whoosh in the right spot. This is a two-part exercise: retaining the angle and placing the whoosh. <br />
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And don’t go expecting miracles once you’ve accomplished it. You only hear, “I tried this and now I hit my drives 40 yards longer,” when somebody is trying to sell you something. If you get 7-10 more yards out of this, you’ve done the job.<br />
Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-57514421353832636632017-03-26T21:00:00.000-07:002017-03-26T21:00:29.834-07:00Melding Rhythm and TempoAs I search for ways to play better golf, and pass my findings on to you, I never stop looking for ways to integrate rhythm and tempo into my swing.<br />
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I have suggested ways to find the 3:1 rhythm, and ways to find your right tempo, which varies from player to player. But these cannot be learned separately and then put together. You could get very good at swinging with a 3:1 rhythm, but if you move to a new tempo, your rhythm can break down. You would have to re-learn 3:1 all over again. Rhythm and tempo must be learned simultaneously as a unified pair by using the same exercise.<br />
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About a month ago I found a copy of John Novosel’s book, <em>Tour Tempo</em>, at a used book sale. This book teaches you the 3:1 rhythm at different tempi. (The book should really be titled, <em>Tour Rhythm</em>, by the way.) By swinging along with any one of the audio files, you are learn rhythm and tempo together.<br />
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There is on problem with these files, though. Only three discrete tempi are given, and none of them might be suitable for you. The slowest one, 27/9 (3:1 ratio) is too slow for me, and the next fastest one, 24/8, is too fast. These integer-based selections are the result of Novosel playing a video of a swing frame by frame and counting frames. Yet, a tempo of 25.892/8.631 might be just the ticket. And it’s still 3:1.<br />
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You can’t solve this problem by getting a feel for the 3:1 rhythm and then modifying it in your head as you swing. It is too easy to adjust your counting to your swing instead of adjusting your swing to the correct count. Musicians practice with a metronome* to prevent that from happening with their instrument.<br />
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There is a simple solution, though. If you have Windows Media Player** on your computer, you can adjust the speed settings to almost whatever you want. Then, you could play the TT audio files, say the 27/9 one, and speed it up bit by bit until you find the tempo you like. Or, you could start with 24/8 and slow it down. Either way would work. You can write down the new speed setting that WMP shows you so you can go back to it again.<br />
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I strongly recommend you use the TT audio files to get this vital technique built into your swing. Swinging with correct, unified rhythm and tempo is one of the best golfing habits you can have. It forgives many sins.<br />
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* A metronome, though, is inadequate for this task. The metronome must be set so there is a tick at the moment you start the club down from the top, and the next tick must be when the ball is struck. This is the 1 part of 3:1. The 27/9 tempo corresponds to a metronome setting of 200. The highest setting on a metronome is 208, which yields a rhythm of 25.95/8.65. If you need to go faster, you’re stuck.<br />
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** If you have Mac, you can use VLC, but that only produces discrete, not continuous, speed adjustments. Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-27682068521805818722017-03-19T21:02:00.002-07:002017-03-19T21:02:31.609-07:00To Be In PositionI was hitting plastic balls at my backyard driving range earlier today, and just not getting the results I wanted. Everything was a hair fat. So I moved the ball a half inch back in my stance. Bingo. <br />
<br />
One of Ken Venturi’s basic teaching precepts is that players do not get out of swing, the get out of position. Put them back into position and the swing comes back. So many times it isn’t the swing that needs correcting, it’s the position.<br />
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This means grip, stance, posture, and ball position. Grip: where do the Vs point? How many knuckles do you see? Stance: how far apart are your feet? To where do the toes point? Posture: How much do your knees bend? How much does your back or neck bend? How far apart are your elbows? Ball position: how far from the ball do you stand? Where is the ball from front to back of your stance?<br />
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Practice these. Actually practice them. Get in and out of your setup and learn your position well enough so that you never have to find it -- you get into it automatically.<br />
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This will solve so many problems before they start.Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-66492354085739312002017-03-13T15:59:00.002-07:002017-03-13T15:59:25.870-07:00Golf Is a "Next Shot" GameMany people play golf by hitting the ball, finding it, and figuring out what to do next. They make golf a “this shot” game. Golf is better played by thinking about the shot after this one.<br />
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An easy example to make this clear is the second shot on a par-5 hole. You can either hit the ball as far as you can to get on the green with whatever is left over, or you can figure out what shot you want to hit into the green, then play your second shot to set up that one. <br />
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The general rule is to play this shot so as to make the next shot as easy and productive as possible.Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-56427351698063416132017-03-07T18:19:00.002-08:002017-03-07T18:19:39.820-08:00Owning Your SwingIt is said that only two golfers have ever owned their swing -- Ben Hogan and Moe Norman. Actually, Lee Trevino had a pretty good idea what he was doing, as did Sam Snead, Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Bruce Lieztke, and about a hundred other players I could name. <br />
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You can own your swing, too. A - it’s not that hard to do, and B - you need to do it to play consistent golf.<br />
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By owning your swing, I don’t mean you what you’re doing down to the gnat’s eyelash. I do mean that when you’re not striking the ball well, you have some checkpoints you can review to get back on track. <br />
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The Six Fundamentals are my checkpoints. They don’t have to be yours, but you should know something about your swing along the order of, “I forgot to do this,” and when you get back to doing “this”, the problem is solved.<br />
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The goal is to bring the club into the ball on a path toward the target, with the clubface square to that path, on the proper trajectory, and making contact on the center of the clubface. <br />
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Everything you do contributes to all that happening, or not. So you have to investigate how to do those four things, one at a time, and also what you do that gets in the way of doing those things.<br />
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This takes careful study. It means breaking down your swing into parts that move the club correctly and learning what the feeling of those correct movements are.<br />
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Then you develop your own keys -- the checkpoints you have to hit to make it all work. <br />
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Don’t expect to have this figured out in a few weeks. It might take a lot longer than that, and a few lessons along the way won’t hurt.<br />
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But it’s like this. If you hit a really good shot and you can’t explain to yourself how it happened, you have some work to do. And I know you can do it.<br />
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Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-58369603152312835822017-02-27T09:34:00.000-08:002017-02-27T09:34:07.651-08:00How the Fingers Keep the Clubface SquareBen Hogan, in his book, <em>Five Lessons</em>, called the right thumb and forefinger “potential swing-wreckers.” He even recommended the average golfer practice swinging the club with these two fingers entirely off the handle.<br />
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For the advanced golfer, however, he said those fingers were “finesse fingers,” used “for touch in striking the ball.” <br />
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Unfortunately, Hogan did not tell us how these fingers could be used in the way advanced golfers use them. I guess he left that to me. So here goes.<br />
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The human brain devotes a lot of space to the use of the hands. A great deal of that space is devoted in turn to the thumb and forefinger of the dominant hand, which are used for fine manipulation of objects they hold. The brain can be taught to do amazing things with these fingers.<br />
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One of the things they can be taught to do is control the clubface during the golf swing. It works this way.<br />
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Press the thumb tip of your dominant hand lightly into the middle of the adjoining forefinger (photo). This is where the handle of the golf club fits into your grip. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzZvRiz0bSa-rK8GJGtXJ2sricFnSllUZ7NcT9XrZJ1Nd76ll-VV3Anx-PJtK2ff-QtIlr72Fh5buL-108iAyfk03XXNC8_m1w0g0w5ZSojbr7aESrOPizaXceK-yydA-VUH_jPrlUVwQ/s1600/FingersL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzZvRiz0bSa-rK8GJGtXJ2sricFnSllUZ7NcT9XrZJ1Nd76ll-VV3Anx-PJtK2ff-QtIlr72Fh5buL-108iAyfk03XXNC8_m1w0g0w5ZSojbr7aESrOPizaXceK-yydA-VUH_jPrlUVwQ/s320/FingersL.jpg" width="320" height="287" /></a></div><br />
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Now pick up a golf club, and assume your grip, reproducing the light pressure of the thumb against the finger, but now with the handle in between. It feels to me like I am holding the club with only these two fingers, the rest of the grip being there just for support.<br />
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The trick now is to swing the club in such a way that when you return to impact, these two fingers are in the same orientation that they had at address. <br />
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You monitor this by feel. Rotate these two fingers slightly to the right. This is a different feeling in those fingers, of the clubface closing. If instead you turn these fingers lightly to the left, this is the feeling of an open clubface. <br />
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To make this concept a dynamic reality, make half swings over and over, concentrating on the feeling in the thumb and forefinger not changing at any time. Stop the club at impact periodically to make sure the clubface is staying square. Make longer swings only after you have a firm idea of what you are to do.<br />
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Very important point. All these fingers do is preserve the orientation of the clubface. If you try to do anything else with them, such as guide the club, or hit the ball, it’s curtains for that shot. You’ve fulfilled the Hogan prophecy.<br />
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There is more to hitting a straight shot than just this, such as swing plane and pivot, but this is one part that is easy to master. Practice this feeling until it becomes automatic and you don’t even notice that you’re doing it.<br />
Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-56547209839192275162017-02-23T18:59:00.000-08:002017-02-23T18:59:06.007-08:00A Couple of ThingsI didn't post last Sunday, like I usually do, because I could't think of anything to say. While not having anything to say doesn't stop some people from saying it anyway, I'm not one of those.<br />
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I got out a golf book this morning and started reading through it to see if I could find some inspiration. Which I did. Here are a couple of things that crossed my mind.<br />
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1. When you start the club back away from the ball, do so slowly at first, and smoothly. Do not snatch it away. The reasons are, one, that if you take the club back too quickly, you can pull it off the desired plane. Then you have to get it back on plane sometime before you hit the ball, which complicates the swing unnecessarily. And if you aren't aware that you're off plane, well, good luck. <br />
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The other reason is that jerking the club away makes you reflexively tighten your grip. That puts tension in your swing from the very start which will only build as the swing progresses -- something you do not want to happen.<br />
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2. Everybody has their own swing. It is based on your strength, your flexibility, your athleticism, your physique, and your basic conception of how to swing a stick to hit a ball. Because of these factors, there are things about your swing that are less than ideal but which you cannot change. These are not swing flaws, these are just you. <br />
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There are, however, mistakes you can be making that you don't have to. They need to be corrected, and they can be. Your improvement will accelerate when you have figured out the difference between your natural tendencies and your plain old errors. Then you can fix what can be fixed and leave what cannot be fixed, alone. <br />
Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-72931068334991393902017-02-13T08:14:00.000-08:002017-02-13T08:14:05.981-08:00Fear of the GroundI don’t think many recreational golfers ever get over the hardest thing they had to do when they first took up the game -- being able to hit the ball and only the ball.<br />
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The ball is so small, as is the tool you use to hit it. If the club meets the ball just a bit too high, you risk blading it. A bit too low and you hit the ground first. <br />
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It is this second miss that haunts us and stays with us for years. The ground is in the way and we’re afraid of hitting down there instead of the ball. <br />
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Unrecognized and unaddressed, this fear is what does the most to prevent recreational golfers from playing the good golf they are otherwise capable of.<br />
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Take this self test. At the range, take out your 6-iron and hit a ball that is sitting on a tee, maybe just a quarter inch above the mat. You’re likely thinking about how easy the ball will be to hit and how good the shot is going to be.<br />
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Now put a ball on the mat. If, when you address the ball, your thinking changes, if you think you have to hit the ball precisely right to get a good shot, you have the fear.<br />
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You’ve changed your thinking from, “Oh, boy, this is going to be a good shot,” to, “Oh, brother, I hope this works.”<br />
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To get over fear of the ground, practice without it. Tee up every ball when you practice full swings and pitches. <br />
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Don’t worry, this is not cheating. It’s teaching your unconscious mind that the ground isn’t there. Over time, you come to believe that, freeing yourself to take unfettered swings at the ball. <br />
Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-90106961153954411622017-02-05T21:00:00.000-08:002017-02-05T21:00:00.609-08:00Swing ThoughtsWhen you’re standing over the ball, ready to take the club away, there’s something going through your head. What that is will either make your shot easier, or harder.<br />
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Imagine a playing partner standing beside you as you’re addressing the ball, giving you all sorts of little reminders. Swing smoothly. Let your weight shift. Swing through the ball. Nice finish. <br />
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How long would you put up with that? One time, tops. So there’s no reason to do that to yourself. The reminders you give yourself as you’re about to swing, or during your swing, are destructive. They divide your swing into parts, when it should be thought of as one whole movement.<br />
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Sometimes a technical swing thought can pay off, but unless you spend hours on the practice tee and play frequently they can be risky. Besides, that’s just not how the game is played. Cary Middlecoff quotes Ben Hogan:<br />
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<em>Hogan was recently asked what specific thought went through his mind just before he started his swing. “All I think about is trying to knock the damn ball in the hole,” said Hogan.<br />
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"Oh," said his questioner. "I thought maybe you used some sort of mental gimmick like starting the club back with your hands, or staying in the backswing plane, or something like that."<br />
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“No," said Hogan. "You have to work all that stuff out on the practice tee."</em><br />
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So what do you think about? What should be going through your mind? It is the feeling of what you are about to do. Not what the technical points are, but what the swing feels like as a unified whole when all the technical points are performed correctly. That’s what to teach yourself on the practice tee.<br />
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When it’s time to play, take a practice swing that is rhythmic, graceful, flowing, and ends with a firm, stable finish, concentrating on what your swing as one movment feels like in its entirety. Then step up to the ball and duplicate that swing before your mind has a chance to go wandering off in another direction.<br />
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Your conscious mind is always looking for something to do. Make sure you give it the right task when it’s time to hit your golf ball.Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-45962611666336355722017-01-30T08:06:00.000-08:002017-01-30T08:06:05.697-08:00The Connection Between Rhythm and TempoI believe that rhythm and tempo are the primary fundamentals of golf. Get those right and we can move on to the rest of it.<br />
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Rhythm is pretty easy to figure out. It’s three counts up, one count down. You can count to yourself or use a metronome to get the 3:1 swing and probably be doing it after only a few tries. From there it’s a matter of practicing enough to make that your habit.<br />
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Tempo, the overall speed of your swing, is a bit more of a problem. There is no correct tempo like there is a correct rhythm. There is only the tempo that works for you.<br />
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To find that tempo, I have suggested in previous posts to use a metronome to lock in on the right tempo. I have suggested hitting balls with a gradually increasing tempo until your ball-striking deteriorates, then backing down until ball flight is at its best. <br />
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Those methods work well on the practice ground, but are of little value when you're playing. This is a third method that solves that problem.<br />
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The correct tempo for you is the one that, on the downswing, is the fastest one possible that does not make you feel like you are rushing, or like you are muscling the club through the ball. <br />
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That’s the tempo that allows the pieces of your swing to occur in the right order and at the right time.<br />
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You can see how this links up rhythm with tempo. They mutually reinforce each other. Rhythm puts the brake on tempo. Tempo allows the 1 of the 3:1 rhythm to occur (too many golfers swing with a 3:¾ rhythm because their tempo is too fast).<br />
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Swing a club at home every day for just a few minutes to practice this. This is a feel that you need to develop and repetition is the only way develop it.Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-60579423599436431822017-01-22T21:00:00.000-08:002017-01-22T21:28:14.516-08:00ArriveTo have a chance at a par, your shot into the green has to get there. It has to arrive. Where it’s appropriate, for shots you intend to hit the green, be they approaches from the fairway or pitches from closer in, play to hit the ball past the pin. This is the scoring zone. <br />
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Most greens are deeper than you think. If you think you have a 6-iron to the pin, hit the 5. That choice guarantees you will fly the hazards around the green, which are usually in front. It allows for your average shot to get to the pin, rather than depending on your best shot. Taking the longer club corrects the tendency to under-club.<br />
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There are some greens that are so steep from back to front that hitting the ball past the hole is the last thing you want to do. Play to the pin and if you end up short, that’s all to the good.<br />
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But most of the time, don’t worry about being long. Unless you know the pin is way in the back, there’s lots of room behind it. Arrive.Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-53850956915895606312017-01-16T12:17:00.002-08:002017-01-16T12:17:37.995-08:00John Jacobs (1925 - 2016)John Jacobs, the legendary English golf teacher, died on January 13 of bladder cancer. Jacobs was a player of modest success, but after his playing career became one of the greatest teachers of his time.<br />
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His formula for the golf swing, "Two turns and a swish," was explained in his book, <em>Practical Golf</em>. This exemplified Jacobs's approach to golf instruction, which was to make things as simple as possible.<br />
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Jacobs's method of teaching was to watch the ball, and not the golfer. Ball flight told him everything he needed to know to correct the flaws in that particular swing. This method is the basis for his other well-known golf book, <em>Golf Doctor</em>.<br />
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As a player, Jacobs won two professional tournaments, the Dunlop South African Professional Match Play Masters in 1957, beating Gary Player 2&1 in the final, and the Dutch Open, also in 1957. He played on the British Ryder Cup team in 1955. He played in the Open Championship fourteen times, finishing twelfth in 1955.<br />
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He was instrumental in founding the European Tour and was its Director-General from 1971 to 1975.<br />
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Jacobs as an instructor was equally sought out by the best players in the world and by rank beginners. No matter who it was, his greatest pleasure was to see them improve. <br />
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Watch him teach at the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbAe2vgfzbA">PGA coaching summit</a>. The video is over an hour long, and worth every minute of your time. <br />
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The influence Jacobs had on the art of teaching was enormous. Butch Harmon said, "John Jacobs wrote the book on coaching. There is not a teacher out here who does not owe him something."Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-27476223587518463472017-01-09T09:05:00.001-08:002017-01-09T09:05:25.265-08:00The Mental Forward PressOne of the most difficult things to do is to begin a motion smoothly from a complete stop. In golf, we want to take the club away without a jerk or without putting tension in the body.<br />
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At one time, the way to do this was to have a forward press. This would be a slight movment toward the target that the backswing could play off of, hopefully in a rhythmic way.<br />
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The trouble with a forward press was that unless it was done carefully, it could get the golfer and the club out of position before the club was taken away, to the detriment of the shot that followed.<br />
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Now days we don’t hear much about forward presses. If you watch the professional golfers, you don’t see very many of them with one. I guess that move is out of favor.<br />
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But the problem remains. How do we solve it? By having a forward press that is more in the mind than in the body.<br />
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This is what I think we should do, ideally: start the swing with a reverse waggle. Instead of taking the club back, with just then hands and wrists, like a traditional waggle, raise the clubhead a bit and swing the club forward, toward the target, by the same amount. Then flow right back into the backswing and come down into the ball. <br />
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That makes the swing a three-step movment, not two. It sets you up with perfect rhythm, and keeps you relaxed throughout the swing. Unfortunately, since the club is not next to the ball at the start, it might be difficult to find the ball accurately at impact. <br />
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But you can take a practice swing like that, if you want to. It’s not unheard of. Then, address the ball, and do the reverse waggle in your mind, and, following the same rhythm as in the practice swing, take the club into a relaxed, flowing swing.<br />
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It’s still a three-part swing. You merely did the first part in your mind.<br />
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If you try this, you might find your body responding to the initial mental movment in some way. That’s O.K., just ignore it. Focus on the mental feeling as you get your swing started.<br />
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Another benefit of the mental forward press is that it will take your mind off any anxieties you have of the shot you’re about to hit. Anything that helps you in that department is all right.Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221065382707732482.post-13722434296992819612017-01-01T21:00:00.000-08:002017-01-01T21:00:36.186-08:00The Best Posts of 2016I put up fifty-two posts in 2016. Not counting the four for the major championships previews, I gave you forty-eight ways to improve your game.<br />
Well, maybe not so much as that. Sometimes I know I’ve come across something that truly works and will make a big difference. Other times I look back and say to myself, What was I thinking? <br />
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But because it will be very difficult for you to go back and find the good ones, I’ve done it for you. These are the best posts of the year, the ones I think will help you out the most in hitting better shots and lowering your score.<br />
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February 7<br />
<a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/02/a-basic-golf-skills-inventory/">A Basic Golf Skills Inventory</a><br />
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February 14<br />
<a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/02/what-made-me-a-good-golfer/">What Made Me a Good Golfer</a><br />
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March 6<br />
<a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/03/the-way-you-take-your-grip/">The Way You Take Your Grip</a><br />
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March 27<br />
<a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/03/a-new-way-of-practicing/">A New Way of Practicing</a><br />
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April 10<br />
<a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/04/the-vertical-dimension-of-impact/">The Vertical Dimension of Impact</a><br />
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April 13<br />
<a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/04/swing-speed/">Swing Speed</a><br />
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May 5<br />
<a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/05/a-tempo-feeling/">A Tempo Feeling</a><br />
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June 9<br />
<a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/06/keeping-golf-stats/">Keeping Golf stats</a><br />
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July 4<br />
<a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/07/a-back-friendlier-golf-swing/">A Back-Friendlier Golf Swing</a><br />
<br />
September 18<br />
<a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/09/make-more-short-putts/">Make More Short Putts</a><br />
<br />
October 9<br />
<a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/10/the-right-way-to-create-a-golf-swing/">The Right Way to Create a Golf Swing</a><br />
<br />
October 23<br />
<a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/10/your-stance/">Your Stance</a><br />
<br />
November 6<br />
<a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/11/getting-good-around-the-green/">Getting Good Around the Green</a><br />
<br />
December 18<br />
<a href="http://therecreationalgolfer.com/blog/2016/12/the-two-week-health-rule/">The Two-Week Health Rule</a><br />
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<br />
Happy New Year.Bob Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437579771646953785noreply@blogger.com0