You've got to know where you are before you know where you're going and I think it's much easier when you know what's happening rather than taking someone's word for it.

What you said about drifting is also true. No one can find the groove and hold it indefinitely. All of us are hovering around it and trying to correct something to get closer. As time goes on, a correction turns into an over-correction and we have to put the breaks on or go the other way. So, yeah, feel is everything in that case.

Stricker's obviously feeling it right now and he's riding it out, which is especially interesting because no one knows better than him that it comes and goes. That's pretty much the way I'm starting to see it. If I'm in a good spot I need to let go and enjoy the good shots and when it's over I need to accept that until I can figure out what's wrong and get it back again.

Something else my teacher likes to say is, "Feel ain't real". In other words, if I want to swing from 7 o'clock to 1 o'clock, I need to think about swinging from 8 to 2.

As my dear Mom would say, you, or your coach, said a mouthful! The longer I play, the more I think that "feel" is the single most important factor in determining how well one plays golf.

I too have had the "feel ain't real" revelation.

Although probably everyone has some degree of "disconnect" between what we think our bodies are doing and what they are in actual fact doing, I think expert athletes have a much better sense of things than average people do.

The part of the nervous system I'm talking about is the proprioceptive system. I think expert golfers learn the correct moves, but are better at remembering how these moves feel, and are therefore able to repeat them more often.

I've played golf for nearly 20 years now. I've had my swing videotaped. I've hit every club in the bag as well as anyone with my size, speed, flexibility, etc., is capable of. Trouble is, I can't ingrain the feeling, leading to unacceptably large, daily, shot to shot inconsistency. And, worse, over longer periods of time, I'm prone to big drifts away from good form, leading to periods where I can't create the good shots at all.

Again, everyone goes through this pattern, but the better you are at feeling what you are doing when you are doing something correct, the smaller these variations will be. To answer the rhetorical question in my Thrash Talk from a few weeks back, the Holy Grail of golf instruction, however possible it is, will be based on proprioceptive training. If you can teach people to accurately feel where their bodies and the club are in space, how fast they are moving and accelerating, etc., there is the chance of creating the consistency needed to genuinely improve.

For single digit players--inside out can be overdone and lead to a lot of problems. ( a 2-way miss with pushes and hooks). Inside to square to inside is the ideal swing path.

Now I really try to exaggerate any changes, especially at first, until I can get to a point where the ball flight is consistent (one way or the other) and I can gage things from there. If my ball flight is telling me that the clubface is open, I don't just try to get it square. I almost have to try to hook a few to really get it squared up.

And the thing about accelerating is paramount. Especially with wedges.

I once had a lesson with Kathy Whitworth, and she said that this fundamental--taking the proper grip and not changing, milking, etc.--was her most important fundamental.

The other key element for me is the grip and set up. If my grip is right I feel I can accelerate and release my hands through the ball and keep good balance. The set-up ensures I have good balance. I keep my legs aligned to the direction I want the ball to go bend from the hips and make sure my right shoulder is set slightly below the left and my shoulders are aligned. This way I can turn slowly and then swing down with my arms through the ball. My hips follow the movement of the arms as they accelerate through the ball.

A good article.