"Don't try this on the course"...

[RayG]

Yeah, well- screw that! After messing around for the last few seasons trying to regain "that swing" of my good golfer years, and being ridiculously unable to find it with any consistency- I cracked. There was a thread about "uppercutting" the driver that had this link in it: http://thesandtrap.com/t/77244/how-to-hit-a-driver-hit-it-further-and-stop-slicing "Hmmm, that looks familiar... let me watch that again." I caught a few things, well, ONE thing that I hadn't been doing since those days. Having a slightly closed stance. I flashed back and remembered I would be aiming down the right edge and have a penetrating mid height draw that found the fairway more times than not. A few other keys were already being integrated- not sliding the hips, tilt angle, etc... I watched it again last night and went out today with those keys in mind. Last week at the same course I had a nearly 20+ year worst score of 94. Found maybe 2 fairways and those were mishits that barely found the short stuff. Irons were clanking all over the place. This morning, it was like a light switch. On the front side, 6 of 9 fairways (2 par 3's) led to 8 of 9 GIR's and a 37 (+1). And the drives weren't cheapies either- 250-270. And two of them were RIGHT ON the midline cut in the fairway. The back was a bit off with only 4 FH(2 3's) and a few tough lies on the ones I missed, with 5 GIR's led to a 38 (+3) (Par 71 total) So a 75 with 1 birdie, and a couple or three putts that lipped out that could have been a couple lower. But I can live with those after my driver likes me again! I will not go out and buy another magic driver, EVER! Until this one lets me down and I think I can do better, of course. But it felt right, it felt good and that's what I've been looking for. It wasn't long after the first few drives, that it wasn't really necessary to actually THINK about it anymore. It seemed to just happen. The one or two that got away a bit on the back were just lazy efforts and I could tell exactly what I didn't do that I had been doing all day. So thanks for that video tip and lets see what happens next time out.

[DrvFrShow]

That address position is very important with a driver. Between what my pro showed me this spring and this video, I'm hitting my driver better than ever.

Good to see you're back on track.

[mvmac]

So thanks for that video tip and lets see what happens next time out.

You're welcome, happy to help.

[RayG]

The switch was putting ALL of the various points together. I had been doing or NOT been doing any one or two at a time. Either: had the tilt WITH the hip sway, or- I would not have the tilt and not have the sway. I think my stance was a bit narrow before trying to keep from over swinging as well, which led to trying to steer the swing instead of freeing up the swing. Widening and closing the stance, tilt and no sway seemed to be the "magic" combination on Saturday. As I mentioned- it FELT right and natural. But I think it was also the feeling that ANYTHING had to be better than what I was doing, so I could just relax and give it a go.

[RayG]

Update: Well, it's STILL working. Last week on the course, about the same performance wise with a few putting woes. A 78 which is a bit more in line with the usual pre-awful period efforts. This AM, no time to play, but hit the range instead. Working mostly on the drives. Warmup with a few 7's, hit 5 drives, take a break, 5 again, break, maybe a few irons, break, 5 drives, etc... The feeling standing over the ball is really starting to feel as it did back in the day. Tried to keep track and by my reckoning, hit my marks (between two posts that represent a fairly narrow fairway width- 20-25 yds or so) about 70-80% of the time. Only 2-3 that were real wanderers, with the others missing within reasonable limits- probably fine on a more open type of course or playable at the very least. Distance was not really a concern, but even the range balls were carrying better and further despite being into the wind. The couple of "real" balls that usually make it into the bucket, went significantly further than the rangies. (Couple of Bridgestones and some Srixons, models unknown) It's now gotten to the point where I FEEL better over the ball, knowing it's what I was looking for, and hopefully take that back out there again and again. Might have a window for a quick 9 tomorrow so we'll see how the sense of FEELING right translates.