The Best Way to Get to the Masters (Part 2)

My last blog post was regarding practice, and, the importance of practice, practice, practice.

Although I can't stress this enough, I do want to note that practice alone is not an answer.

SMART PRACTICE is essential.


I hit the range twice this week, and took notice of the other hackers working on their game.

Many (MOST?), swing, ball after ball, and repeat same slice (hook, top, etc.) over and over again, thinking that just swinging again will fix the issue.

Some others I see attempting to look at their swing.  Looking back at the club in the back-swing, or taking slow swings to see what it looks like.

When I went to the range on Tuesday, I had an awful slice with my drive, and was chunking my pitches.  Note, that my under-100 yard shots are all pitches with different clubs, and different length back-swings.

As of late, I had been hitting many FAT.  If you're a novice golfer, FAT does not refer to that jelly roll around my midsection - it means you're swing arc bottoms out before hitting the ball.  The end result is hitting the ball short (or barely at all).

On Tuesday, I took a video of my swing.  I see these videos all over FB, GolfMatch, and other sties for their #TipTuesday, where you post your swing, and get analysis by roughly 4,000 other hackers who not only comment on your swing, but your poor choice in shoes, attire, and hair style!

As I watched my drive swing on the video, I noticed right away that my first move was to cock my wrist, and then take the club back. THIS IS BAD!!

As I thought about it, I remembered that last season I had a very bad case of Golfers Elbow (tendinitis in the lower part of the elbow).  I might have adjusted my swing (subconsciously) in an attempt to minimize the pain, and my "muscle memory" now took over.
It looked ugly.

So, on the Thursday practice session, I made a point of keeping my takeaway all shoulders, and not cocking my wrists until my turn stopped.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE!  My drives were straight or a draw.  Such a simple change, yet so difficult to analyze when you look at yourself.

With that issue fixed, I now needed to fix my pitch shots.  I took out my two fold-able alignment sticks.  I recently got these off of the GCT (Golf Club Traders) forum on Facebook.  A great place to pick up equipment pretty cheap.  The pair was $10 with shipping.

So I set the sticks up aligning to the 50 yard marker.  I was still hitting chunks 50% of the time.
Then I reset the stick to 90 degrees off - meaning it was under me facing the ball.  As I set up directly over the stick, the ball should be at the tip of the stick (dead center of my stance).

I now saw that my setup had the ball a shade forward - a damn good reason to hit the ball FAT!

Once I adjusted that, my pitches were on point again.

So, what's the object of this post?

When practicing, don't keep swinging and repeating your errors over and over again.  I've always referred to muscle memory as a good thing.  But, in this case, if you keep repeating the wrong swing, your muscles will remember this and repeat it in practice.

1. Pay attention to your swing and issues.
2. Use practice aids to determine what you problems are.
3. If all else fails, see your golf instructor for some help.

I can't wait to hit the links this weekend and see if I can finally shoot a decent score.


Until next time

Keep it in the Short Hairs