But You’ve Got a Great Swing!
The next time someone tells me, “But you’ve got a great swing!” while I’m racking up a triple bogey, I might actually lose it. Like, full head-pop-off situation. It’s always said with such sincerity, as if my scorecard must be lying. Trust me, I’d love for my great swing to make friends with the ball, but here we are.
Anyway, I could complain about my swing all day—let’s talk about what I did to fix it. Oh, that’s right… not much. The past couple of weeks have been anything but productive. We stayed out too late a few times, had visitors in for the Men’s Member-Guest tournament, and then—because the universe has a twisted sense of humor—we got the crud. Again. It hasn’t even been three months since the last time we were knocked out. Apparently, we weren’t miserable enough the first time.
Needless to say, workouts didn’t happen. I know, I know. Don’t yell at me. I’m sick. I did get out and play a couple of times. My score, you ask? 58 one day, 59 the next. On 9 holes. In the words of Resident Alien, this is some bullshit.
I did squeeze in one practice session and decided to dust off my trusty AI app to check my swing progress. Most common issues:
- Lack of Kicking at Impact
- Backswing Sway (this is new)
- Left Arm Pull in Follow Through (I hate this one)
- Hanging Back at Impact
- Shoulder Up at Impact
BUT—small victory!—my Reverse Spine Tilt at the Top has gone from 90% bad to 0% so happy dancing ensues. I’m also getting my shoulder turned, my weight onto my right leg, and keeping my knee more flexed. Progress! Of course, that might be why I’ve developed a sway.
I’ve spent the last several days in bed, alternating between naps and self-pity, but once I could open my eyes again, the algorithm gods delivered. Now I’ve got a few drills lined up and am looking forward to trying them—just as soon as I rejoin the land of the living.
- Toilet Paper Roll Drill – to help with casting
- Improving Club Path Drill – to help with lag
- Dollar Bill Bunker Drill – I’m especially excited to try this
So overall, the things I’ve been working on have been a success and the things I haven’t worked on remain unchanged. Funny how that works. A friend recently said that there’s no linear progression to good golf! So I’m taking him at his word and will keep plugging away… once I can breathe again. And if this post is boring—too bad, I’m sick.
Swing Priorities (Still):
- Keep a proper spine angle (back to target)
- Put pressure on the inside of my trail foot in the takeaway
- Keep trail knee flexed, push off to swing
- Get my shoulder under my chin in the backswing
- Keep wrists engaged (from takeaway to release)
- Take half swings
- Turn everything together—arms, chest, and hips working as one unit
Sorry you guys are sick again! Darn. The blog looks great.
Don’t forget that the body and arms move together only once you’ve gotten the hands and arms down from the top somewhere around your right knee; THEN you turn everything together. If you do the “everything turns together thing” from the top you’ll cast the club. The club needs to drop on the inside first.