This is exactly my priority piece. Thanks for the blog!

I know that is a problem of mine, I can feel it sometimes. I especially do it hitting longer clubs off the deck and believe it is the main reason why I hit behind the ball or hit it fat. 

I thought about this blog as I've begun what seems to be my annual end-of-the-year, downward spiral. The repeating pattern includes an improvement in ball striking in the middle of the season with improvement lasting a couple of months, followed by a decline.

The most recent improvement with the driver and woods came as a result of a small change in the backswing. Simply keeping the takeaway long (remember the "straight trial arm" thread?) and hinging the wrists later and along the plane (don't know the correct term - radial deviation??)  instead of thinking about Hogan's supination lessons. The results were almost automatic... ball starts along target line with little to no curve. There was no need to compensate my alignment or club face. Whether off the tee or, in the case of fairway woods, off the deck - align everything and remember those two things - long arms, wrist hinge late and along the plane. Seemed easy to repeat and the results were like magic.

It was nice while it lasted.

If "small change big change" can apply towards success, I suppose the reverse can also be true. Obviously, there were so many other little things I must have doing (mostly) right. Maybe my slower tempo at first helped in the timing of my lower body, and once I started experiencing success my confidence grew and I starting swinging too fast, throwing off the timing??? Maybe over swinging??? There are so many possibilities I'm looking at as to why good results are no longer automatic. Point is, I don't think it takes much to screw it up.

Whatever the cause, I suppose this is an endorsement for instruction - or at least for recording the swing when it's good. That way, it might be easier to identify the subtle change when it isn't.

This is something that plaques many many golf swings. It's like a mega-virus that the CDC won't address.

1 hour ago, JonMA1 said:

Whatever the cause, I suppose this is an endorsement for instruction - or at least for recording the swing when it's good. That way, it might be easier to identify the subtle change when it isn't.

Bingo. And of learning how to use video to see if any of your priorities that you've fixed (whether it's steady head, backswing length, etc.) need revisiting.