From 110 to 90 in a month. My own musings

[jl923]

I've been playing about 2 years. Have a solid swing, and more than a few people commented that I should be scoring better, but always lacked the consistency to break 100. Iron game was decent, but tee game was terrible. My golfing buddy suggested that I try to hover the club like norman and nicklaus. What did I have to lose right? Shot a 94 the next time out, and it was only because my short game is pretty bad.

I figured out that hovering promotes steeper shoulders (h/t to S&T;), and i started working primarily on steep shoulders. Kept threatening to break 90 but could never avoid the blow up hole. Hey, at least I was making ball first contact and hit some greens. Major major improvement. I started using my 3 wood and with steep shoulders I was hitting it straight, but not that far. Got a tip from an old man at the course to move my back foot and shoulder back (as in closing the stance) 2 inches, and swing normally. Started hitting draws and gained 20 yards right away.

Now im thinking, all i need to do is figure out my driver and I can break 85 right? Kept slicing and hitting the driver terribly, but every other club in the bag was straight if not that long. I read a post here about the arc of the swing and how sometimes if you play the ball too forward, you catch the ball with the clubhead moving left already (hitting across the ball). with that in mind, I went to the range last week and played the ball nearly in the center of my stance and also thought, move the right hip towards the target on the downswing. Hit 5 straight with the driver. never did that before in my life. Did the same with the 5 wood and i was hitting big big push draws. Whats so counterintuitive about the set up position is that at address the clubhead actually looks SUPER open. Like im going to hit to 20-30 yds right of target. But nope, with the 5 wood it started out that way and drew back. With the driver, it was also SUPER open but the ball went dead straight.

To sum up, 3 things transformed my game from 110-90.

1) Hover, or steeper shoulders

2) Set up normally to the ball, then move back foot and shoulder 2 inches closed and swing normally.

3) Play ball closer to center and think, right hip towards target, not the ball.

Hopefully with better putting and short game I will break 90, 85, this year (80 even??). Wish me luck.

[Beachcomber]

Great to read about your successful progressions and improvement. Good luck cutting those strokes down to the mid 80's. My biggest thing about breaking 90 was knowing how to properly manage my game around the course. Knowing my own limitations and playing to my strengths.