Talk to Yourself

I suppose, given the fact that teaching has focussed almost entirely on the golf swing, it's no big surprise that most of us tend to lose sight of the main goal in golf. Golf isn't about making perfect golf swings. And yet most of us continue to think mostly about our swing.

Golf is actually about hitting the ball from the teeing ground into the hole in as few shots as possible. And there is no requirement, as Bobby Jones wrote, to look pretty while doing so. And what did Bobby Jones say we should focus on after deciding the shot we want to hit? Hitting the ball. Simple enough, one would think. But it actually isn't.

The other day I was playing a round at Dunes West near Charleston. The putts were dropping and so despite missing a few shots I was still one under at the turn. On the tenth tee I stood over my tee shot and, suddenly, as I took the club back I thought about making a fuller shoulder turn. The ensuing weak slice left me way back and nearly in the trees. Only making another long putt allowed me to save par. It can happen that fast. Right in the middle of your swing thoughts have a way of intruding.

Most golfers have swing thoughts--things they think about and make certain of doing either before or during the playing of the shot. Bobby Jones tried to have no more than one at any given time. Jack Nicklaus played well with as many as five. But any swing thoughts are best considered before the shot, not during it. When you take the club back your sole focus should be on striking the ball in the required manner to produce the shot you're looking for.

If swing thoughts are intruding during your swing, I have found that talking to yourself helps. As you are swinging you might say to yourself, "Hit the ball."  Saying it to match the cadence of your swing helps; as does trying to say the last word as you strike the ball. Talking to yourself as you swing isn't a sign of insanity and will really help keep other distracting thoughts from intruding as you swing. Try it. You might like it.

Second Place Doesn't Suck

If you read Bobby Jones' books, one of the things you notice is his respect for his opponents and the fact that some of his most memorable matches were matches he actually lost.  He was not a "second place sucks" kind of player.  Golf is more about the journey than it is about winning.  Winning is nice.  But as Jack Nicklaus pointed out, golf is the only game where you can win twenty percent of the time and be the best player in the game.  So, if you're a sore loser, golf isn't the game for you.

On that note, John David and I played a very enjoyable and memorable match yesterday.  We played Brian and Gordan in a two ball, or alternate shot, match.  Our opponents played superb golf the front nine and we found ourselves five down and fearing a very quick ending to the day.  However, we agreed that we would forget our opponents and just play Old Man Par for the rest of the match.

Sure enough, after the seventeenth hole we were all square.  We halved 18 with a par.  We then played 18 twice before Gordon sunk a twenty foot downhill, breaking putt for birdie and won the match.  

It was an exciting match, filled with ups and downs and an improbable comeback before Gordon finally put an end to our run.  Golf is that kind of a game.  It ain't over 'til it's over, and even when you lose it's fun if it's played in the right spirit.  The only sad thing is that John David and I don't get to team up again until next year.  He's a great partner and a wonderful gentleman.

We just hope Brian and Gordon can go all the way now that they've dispatched us.

The Repeating Golf Swing

Whether I like it or not, I am prone to thinking about my swing.  Golfers, myself included, often dream of finding the perfect, repeating golf swing.  They read instruction manuals, haunt the range, take lessons, and never find it.  I say they never find it, because there is no swing, including Iron Byron, that hits the ball perfectly every time.  That's just the way it is.  And yet, the search continues.

My favourite golf writer, Bobby Jones, had something to say on the subject that I think is very important to realize. He also offered some great advice on how, instead, we should approach every round of golf. Bobby wrote:

    "We hear a lot these days about the repetitive or repeating golf swing.  It seems to be a new term in the golfing jargon.  Obviously, like the semi-automatic shotgun, it is a fine idea.  If a golfer could only set himself in the same position each time and, by pulling a mental trigger, release the identical swing, he would be a happy fellow.  Even though the swing might be bad, at least he would know where to look for the ball.

     The struggle for good form in golf has purpose, because a sound, simplified swing can perform with greater regularity.  But one of the external beauties of the game is that it will never be susceptible to such rigid control.  The feel of the club is altered from day to day by changes in the weather, and the player's senses respond differently because of the myriad influences within his own make-up.  It is important to test out this feel every day, either before the round or as early as possible in the play...even an average golfer can help himself a lot by hitting a few balls before starting a round, not really practising in the sense of trying to learn anything, but merely in order to find out how his clubs and his swing feel on the particular day.  In any case, he will do better on the course if he will try to play in the way that feels most comfortable instead of trying to remake his swing as he goes along.

     Lacking the opportunity for this bit of practice, or even with it, I should always recommend that the start of any round be taken quietly.  No matter what the length of the first hole may be, the first drive and the first few long shots should be struck well within the player's limit of power.  He can always step up his rate of hitting as he gets the feel of his clubs.  Some of the best tournament rounds I have ever played have started in just this way, with the first few drives kept down the fairway and the second shots played for the centre or main body of the green.  A long putt has gone down, or a second shot wandered up close.  Then, with a stroke in hand and confidence assured, the rest can come quite easily."

Jack Nicklaus was one who followed this advice.  Playing easily and comfortably as he started, and able to step it up once he'd found the groove.  Mr. Jones' final piece of advice is also worth remembering.  He wrote:

     "If I should be limited to one bit of advice to offer to a golfer before the start of a round, it would be, "Take your time".  And it would mean to take your time and avoid hurry in anything; to walk to the first tee and from shot to shot at a leisurely pace; to pause before each stroke long enough to make a considered appraisal before deciding upon the shot to play; and, above all, to take a little more time if things should begin to go wrong."

Every round is a new adventure.  Even the greatest players in the world don't know how they will play from round to round.  Bobby Jones said that he was certain of the fact that he would play his best no more than six times a year, and in his best rounds he would hit no more than six shots exactly as he wanted, other than putts.  If that was true--and there's no reason to believe it wasn't--we should realize that we are never going to have the perfect, repeatable swing, and we should be prepared in advance to have to do some scrambling every time we play.  That's golf.

Understanding Why You Slice, Hook, Push or Pull Isn't Rocket Science

There is only one absolute in golf that I can think of after fifty years of playing the game.  There are some good fundamentals regarding the swing that, if followed, will tend to make the game easier to play--like a still head, a firm left arm, a sound grip, and a one-piece takeaway--but there have been good, and even great, players who have swings that don't follow all the rules.

The one absolute is that a club face that is aimed at the target and is moving down the target line will produce a straight shot.  Even that is not absolutely true, I suppose, when you factor in the effect of wind, or mud on the ball.  But that's about as absolute as it gets in this game.  The key for every golfer is to find the best way for you to swing the club to produce a square strike with the club moving down the target line.  And that is only if you are attempting to play a sraight shot, which Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus considered to be more good luck than good management.  Neither Hogan or Nicklaus ever tried to hit a full shot straight.  But that's another story.

The truth is, however, that the only thing that determines the flight and direction of the ball--other than wind and/or mud on the ball--is the path and angle of the club face at impact.  You can make the prettiest swing ever and still miss the shot if, at the moment of truth, your club face isn't moving in the right direction and facing the right way.  That's why Bobby Jones wrote a chapter on striking the ball that he said was the most important knowledge any golfer can learn.  Learning the iron-clad, scientific truth about how a ball will respond when struck different ways is the key to understanding the game.

I was reading Jack Nicklaus' book, Golf My Way, and near the beginning, Jack provides the same information.  Like Bobby Jones, Jack learned these things through endless hours of playing and practising the game as a kid.  The fact is, however, understanding these things as early as possible when learning the game, or finally understanding these things after you have struggled with your game, can really turn you into a better player overnight.  Bobby Jones strongly believed this.

So, without further ado, if you don't already know why you are slicing the ball, or pulling it, or hitting snap hooks, Jack Nicklaus provides the real answer.  By understanding this information, you just might see more shots going where you want them to.  And, even if they don't, at least you'll know why the ball reacted as it did.  Jack wrote:

    "What causes this sidespin?  The simple answer is any kind of glancing or crosscutting blow.  And what causes a glancing or crosscutting blow?  No, it isn't the fact that you didn't turn enough going back or failed to start the downswing with your legs.  What's more, it isn't necessarily what you've come to believe from reading other golf books: that an inside-out swing always causes a hook, or that an outside-in swing always produces a slice.  At root is the fact that, at impact, your clubface was not looking in the same direction as your clubhead was travelling.

    To make this clearer yet, let's specifically relate the interaction of clubface alignment and swing path to the curve balls and foul balls you actually hit on the course:

WHEN YOU SLICE.  Your clubface is looking right of the direction in which your clubhead is moving.  Thus you cut across the ball from out to in, imparting left-to-right sidespin to the ball.

WHEN YOU FADE.  The same cross-cutting action as above, only the angle between your clubface and swing path is smaller.

WHEN YOU HOOK.  Your clubface is looking left of the direction in which your clubhead is moving.  Thus you cut across the ball from in to out, imparting right-to-left sidespin to the ball.

WHEN YOU DRAW. Same crosscutting action as when you hook, only the angle between your clubface and swing path is smaller.

WHEN YOU PULL STRAIGHT LEFT.  Your clubface is looking in the same direction as the clubhead is travelling.  The trouble is you're swinging from out to in.  (Consequently, a golfer who hits straight left should not think of himself as a hooker, but recognize that he actually has a slicer's fault--an out-to-in swing path.)

WHEN YOU PUSH STRAIGHT RIGHT.  Your clubface is looking in the same direction as your clubhead is travelling.  The problem is you are swinging from in to out across your target line. (Thus, although the ball ends up to the right, like a slicer's, you are actually swinging on a hooker's path.)

WHEN YOU PULL-HOOK ( the ball starts left and curves more left).  Your clubhead is travelling from out to in, across the target line, with the clubhead looking left of the swing path.

WHEN YOU PUSH-SLICE ( the ball starts right and curves more right).  The clubhead is travelling from in to out, across the target line, with the clubface looking right of the swing path.

Elementary?  To a good player, probably.  To a high handicapper, I'm not so sure.  Either way, the basic point may be worth restating: It helps to know where--and how-- you want to go before you start going there."

Bobby Jones made the same point, going on to say that every golfer needed to understand the relationship between swingpath and clubface angle, and the resulting shot shapes that can result.  He then said that by focussing on the strike required, a golfer could come to understand what was causing the different shots, and how to set himself and swing the club to correct the situation, or to intentionally produce a draw, or a fade, or a hook.  

It is science.  But it isn't rocket science.