Left Arm Alone Drill -- What It Really Looks Like

I've been writing about how valuable the left arm alone drill is, adding a few illustrative videos, in order to encourage you to try it. The video here will help you realize what a tough drill this is. Maybe in previous videos, you've gotten the impression that this drill is a piece of cake, and if you can't do it, then there's something wrong with you. Well, this post is meant to correct that mistaken impression.

First of all, I hope it is abundantly clear by now that I fall into that over-populated category of golfers who have zero aptitude for the game. What they have, instead, is an obsession. There's quite a difference. Rather than describing what that chasm looks like, let's focus, instead, on how golfers like me, who struggle more than others with the game, can hope to play well and score in the seventies.

The obvious answer is that we have to practice more than the gifted golfers with whom we are often paired. And not only that, but we have to practice with a plan. As a semi-accomplished pianist, I know how carefully planned practice can produce more immediate results. It's not how many hours you put in. It's how you spend those hours. Anyone who has accomplished anything in their chosen field will tell you the same thing.

In this video, you'll see me start out hitting the first ball perfectly. Right away, as in Greek tragedy, you know that I'm set up for a fall. I think I hit another one almost perfectly, suggesting that I really know what I'm doing. But in the rest of the video, you'll see that my percentages are not that good. And, in addition, I hit some terrible balls.

Remember that I've been practicing this drill for probably a month by now, and I feel really good about it. When you start, I'm telling you right now that you're going to be really awful! If there is any drill that will discourage the casual golfer, this is it! You're going to have to break down your one-arm swing to the barest essentials, and you're going to have to put up with the worst swings of your life! If you're like me, you're going to wonder if you should consider going into your living room and reading a good book instead.

But if you're a fighter, if you are persistent, if you are determined to get a grip on this game, then you will ignore all the negative messages that this drill will send you, and you will focus, instead, on the distant goal of developing a great swing. It's way off in the distance, as we know. As a matter of fact, you can't even see it from where you are. But you know that somewhere, way out there in the hazy, blue future, your ideal swing is waiting for you. This would be a good time to review your memory of music and recall what Ringo tells us about singing the blues:

You know it don't come easy.

This post is intended to give you confidence that you, too, can learn a good golf swing. I know I say "you, too," gratuitously, since I haven't really accomplished it yet, but I feel I'm right on the cusp, and I know that with all the hard and consistent practice I've put into learning the swing, it's going to come to me. At this point, I'm not concerned with how much ultimate distance or how much ultimate accuracy I'm going to have. As we all know, the pros are different from the rest of us. We can use their examples as models to shoot for, but they're just general guidelines. As long as I'm relatively close, I'll be satisfied. If K.J. Choi can hit a seven-iron around 175 yards with accuracy, and I can approach that, in some acceptable way, then I know I'm on the right track, and my swing is where it should be.