Post-Break Range Session

[Travtex]

Gave myself a few weeks off golf after the last couple of Horrible Death Rounds. No tips, no drills, no range rocks, no happy affirming swing thoughts. Spent my time fishing, instead. Went out and pounded a hundred balls at the range, yesterday, after... oh, two or three weeks of not touching a club.

Golf being the insidious kind of evil that it is, it was an excellent session overall. My swing drastically improved over three weeks of not jacking with it. I had a pretty narrow focus for the session, focusing on a few minor things that were sorta counterintuitive to my Usual Swing (And some that weren't).

1.) Head centered over the ball. No movement. Head stay still. Period. This was a usual thing, but more focused by...

2.) "Quiet Lower Body". I've built my swing from the ground up, very hip-driven. Restricting my lower body was VERY much counter to my normal 'Feel'. I was trying to feel as though I wasn't moving my lower body at ALL. This felt, obviously, very bizarre. However -- I had some very good results, AND when I looked to see what I was doing, I still had a pretty active lower body. Just didn't "feel" like it. (Though now I feel a bit of a stretch/tension in my back shoulder at the top of the backswing. Is that a good or a bad thing?)

3.) Flaring the rear foot. Before, I had back foot 90* to the target line, and the front foot flared slightly. This session I experimented with both feet flared out a bit. This seemed to help me balance my weight... Probably because it felt a bit awkward. (I'm a lifelong martial arts/baseball guy... A regular 'athletic stance' feels very natural, BUT... I tend to shift my weight around and back and forth. Tweaking the feet made me stay more still, for WHATEVER reason.)

Little to no loss in distance, drastic improvement in accuracy for First Day with it all. Was targeting the little postage stamp practice greens at my local range at 170 and 195 and while not lawn-darting it, I actually hit them a handful of times, and even banged the marker with a few.

Band-Aids or Positive Steps? Can never tell, heh.

[Harmonious]

If it's working, I'd say not to analyze it too much, just go with it. If the next time you hit the range or play a round, and you are still hitting it well, you may have found your "one true swing" (Bagger Vance). Good luck!

[Travtex]

Well holy crap Thank You, Bagger Vance.

Hit another hundred rocks this morning... and it was even better. One good session can be a range day fluke. Session two with same ball flight and increased consistency, I think I -might- have made an improvement. We'll have to see how it translates to the course.

Feels a bit awkward, but when I do stop to analyze WHY it feels awkward I realize that I'm just being a moron. My brain thinks I'm not doing an athletic maneuver properly because "I'm not moving enough". By THAT, I mean I'm keeping my head dead still and restricting my hip turn (The hip turn is just a feeling. Like noted, I'm definitely gyrating around playing Elvis Golf, but to ME it's restricted).

Got a bit of a twinge in my trailing shoulder and elbow, though. I could feel that extra coil on the backswing, wonder if the angry elbow is indicating a problem or just new muscles getting involved in the motion.

Awesome sessions, though. Probably the only two trips to the range where I hit more good solid shots in the general direction of my intent than 'What the Hell?' shots by a wide margin.

Notice I need to get my hands deeper on the longer clubs, though, otherwise I get back to balloon-pushing the driver/woods. (I'm not sure WHY this would be... anyone?)