I'm trying to improve, am I doing it right?

I've been golfing for a year and a half now and have reached the 90's rather consistently, perhaps the low 90's at least over my last many rounds. I had an opportunity to play 6 entirely new courses over my spring break with a buddy of mine and managed to shoot between 92-96 the whole week. I'm very happy with this. Anyway, I'm wanting to improve upon all of that so here's a few things I'm doing and could use some feedback.

Last year I spent every waking hour reading golf digest and watching instructional videos online. This meant every time I addressed the ball I had a novel of tips running through my mind and lead to severely inconsistent play. I even took several lessons! I had so many people telling me how to play I never developed a game of my own. After taking about 3 months off from the game over the winter, I came back and thought about nothing more then swinging smoothly and staying in balance. Anytime I get an urge to put a little extra on it, I remind myself of Ernie Els, the big easy! I love his swing and is what I try to be like ... smooth and solid.

I'm doing this because I believe starting slow will develop a good foundation of muscle memory provided that the shots I'm hitting are accurate, which is become my primary goal as opposed to my first year where I wanted to split the fairway with a 300 yard bomb every time ... which never happened. The only thing I split were the leaves hanging off the trees to on the right side of the fairway as my huge slice tore through my soul as I re-tee'd for 3.

So my only thoughts now are picking a line, addressing the ball, and pulling the trigger. I don't think there is a single thought during the course of a swing that could be positive for the outcome of said swing. A clear mind, I believe, will allow my body to just react instead of plan. I'm trying to make the golf swing a very natural part of me, not something that feels forced.

I'm planning on not taking any lessons this year, I mute the television when golf tips come up on the Golf Channel, and I refuse to open a Golf Digest anymore. This year, the game needs be my own.

Does this sound like I'm on the right track? I mean I'm sure it does, but is it accurate? Is this how you start on the road to success?

Here's what I want ... I want to impress my playing partners when I pull out the big stick and hammer one down the middle with grace and style, so I believe if I have this foundation of a smooth swing, over time I'll become more comfortable with it and begin to increase club head speed and distance and be able to 'swing within myself' faster and still remain in balance. Are these thoughts correct? Or should I be doing something differently?

I just don't want to hinder my potential. Maybe I can be good at this game one day, maybe not ... just as long as I'm on the right track to something.

Edit: If it helps, I do have a practice net that I can hit balls in to. I've been using it with the only thought of working on rhythm and balance.

I don't think there's anything wrong with reading magazines, but you just have to be able to filter the information. When I first started I was with you and tried every tip I could find. Now that I have a basic, reliable swing, I tend to tweak from that foundation and keep what works. For example: Yesterday I was watching McLean's video on Ben Hogan's swing and out of all the information I took one item, the biggest flaw I could detect. Then today I go to the range, get in my regular swing and then focus on that one flaw.

It's like mathematics, physics or software development. You should only change one variable at a time otherwise there's no way of knowing what works and what doesn't. Although the golf swing is obviously a long closely related sequence of actions and reactions, you should still be able to isolate certain parts of it. Taking fifteen new swingthoughts to the course is a disaster waiting to happen. First of all you should not try out new stuff on the course if your intention is to play well, that's what the range is for.

Instead of making the whole swing your own, maybe you should stick with only one source of information. And if there's one source, I think many would agree that would either be a pro teacher or Ben Hogan's five lessons. Having no sources to reference to may lead to bad swing habits that will be hard to undo later. For me, a big mirror (sliding glass doors) and McLean's video on Hogan taught me more than a years subscription of Gold Digest.

I am kind of in the same position you are in. Like I said, at first I took every tip and tried it, but now I read a headline like "Hit every fairway from 300 yards with this single tip", I just smile and move on. My single source for my long swing is Hogan's book and video, my source for the short game was Leadbetter, but I adjusted his swing to something that suits me better and my source for putting is nothing really.

I am currently in the low 90's and I am convinced if I keep practicing the way I do now (3 times a week, 2-3 hours at a time) and I play once a week, I will break 90 before the summer is over.

I used to play tennis and I think golf is over coached personally.While there are fundamentals to have in both a tennis shot and a golf swing I don't see why it should be made more difficult than it is.

Imagine Nadal or Federer trying to play like each other it wouldn't take long for each one of them for their strokes to fall apart by adjusting themselves to each others unique style.

Although they have to obey the law of physics which says a topspin ball has to have a swing plane from low to high.Golf is no different,it has fundamentals which require a swing plane,grip basics,alignment etc.....

So my point find your own style and if you get tips or watch videos make sure they enhance your swing style.

For instance I am absolutely dedicated to a flatter or one plane swing method and will only stick with those who teach it on the internet.Jim Hardy,Jeff Ritter,LaBauve,and Stan Utley short game as he is very much in agreement with that in his methods.

The rest is about how I implement that in my practice,and there is no confusion.I think that's a great swing thought,be like Ernie in your rhythm,not AK.

You may want coaching input but like the previous poster said don't change everything at once,learn to work on one mechanical aspect at a time and see if it first needs changing at all,say perhaps what is your wrist hinge like does it need setting early or does it set naturally in your swing?Work on this one thing for a whole session before thinking of anything else.

Mentally though the way you think is great with the approach of discovering a swing.Your body is the best teacher and will learn,but only if you feed it the right images of instruction,but just don't force feed it,but you seem to be wise to me in your approach.

I feel you're basically on the right track, but with some caveats that others have pointed out as well. I also used to devour every golf magazine, but had the epiphany once while reading completely opposing tips in the same issue; if they didn't have a bunch of different hot tips each month they wouldn't sell the magazines. So now I just consider the tips for what they are - marketing tools.

One thing others said was to not abandon all tips and focus on a few things simple, and I agree completely with this. I'd recommend finding one good source for the full swing (such as Hogan's 5 fundamentals) and one for short game (like Utley, or Pelz depending on how their different styles fit you) and then working hard on those fundamentals for a season. Regardless of the hot tip of the day from the magazines and web sites, the key fundamentals are never out of style, and if you can't master them then you'll probably ultimately limit your potential.

One last piece that has worked wonders for me has been the use of video. The main range I go to has an InPractis system, and using it has been a great help. I thought I had a pretty good kinesthetic sense of what my body is doing, but a little video work proved otherwise - what I felt was NOT what was actually happening. Now I use video occasionally to see what I'm doing, compare it to fundamentals (I happen to be using Michael Breed's book "Picture Perfect Swing"), and then focus practice accordingly. This has worked really well for me, and I now have no problem skipping all those different magazine tips which just cluttered my mind.

you are going thru information overload...
like you said yourself... you need to find 'your' swing...
to be a consistent player... you have to find what works for you and repeat it...
golf digest is like a playboy... its fine if you just look at the pics but never read the articles about tips and quick fix's...
if you took lessons... work on the drills your coach gave you... if you are beyond those drills... work on thinks that youre weak at... short game... putting... sand play... distance control... accuracy... etc etc