Late April Assessment

Shakespeare's birthday has just passed. April 23rd is widely accepted, and that date provides circularity to his life, since he also died on the same date in 1616. The Bard was no golfer, but thinking of his tragedies, histories, and comedies provides us with a rich reference as we study the game. As a neophyte, I have no tragedies to relate, but history and comedy constantly accompany me as I develop my swing.

Foreknowledge disarms us of extreme reaction. After a long winter of solitary practice from a flat mat in my backyard and from an occasional bucket of balls on the range, I knew that hitting on a course would be an entirely different experience. And I was correct. When I went out on my local public course in the evenings to try hitting a few balls from the fairway, the slightest variation from absolutely flat produced exaggerated results. For example, on the most convenient fairway for practicing after hours, the land sloped to the right, and that gentle slope produced dramatic pushes and slices. It took me several days of assiduous practice to correct this tendency.

Then, when I actually played two rounds, I found that I couldn't reproduce my practice swing. Apparently, too many swing thoughts overloaded my mental circuits, and my muscles were confounded. Chips and pitches and bunker shots that should be routine turned out to be disasters. They made me look as though I hadn't done any practice at all. Despite my history of assiduous practice, my short game was a comedy. Fortunately, I expected this outcome. I knew that my game needed actual experience on the course. I endured the ignominy of these shots, knowing that soon I would overcome them as I became more familiar with actual play.

My first round matched my expectations. During the front nine, I flubbed every conceivable shot, except for drives, which, generally, I hit well. Actually, I was surprised that my score was as low as 54. It felt much worse. The back nine was a distinct improvement. Although I didn't finish, I was hitting the ball better, and more confidently, and was playing basically bogey golf. On one hole, which I've always dreaded, a 181-yard par three over a valley, with a steep hill on the right of the green and greenside bunkers on the right and left, I hit a 4-iron to within a foot of the pin, located at the rear of the green. A tap-in gave me an easy birdie. The six holes I was able to finish made me think that I needed just more experience with the short game and I would be OK.

Two days later, I played another round. This one happened one short notice. My playing partner from the first round called me up and wanted to play right away, and we were able to get a tee time forty-five minutes after my call to the pro shop. That meant that I had no time to warm up. And it showed in the front nine, where I shot 53, finishing with a 10 on the last hole. I hit some good shots, but a triple, a quad, and the last hole obscured two pars. Then my playing partners left me, and I joined the twosome behind me to finish the round. One of the players was a relative beginner, like me, and the other, a long-time player with a good game.

D., the good player, seemed to be a long hitter, but as time went on, I discovered that I could hit at least as far as he could and generally could hit more accurately. On the tenth hole, he hit a beautiful drive about 290 and made the green with his second shot, while Joe and I hit off to the left of the dogleg left and had long shots to the green. Mine followed a tree line on the right, but I had a nice wedge onto the green, and two-putted for a bogey. D., who was on the green in two, three putted. Realizing that I could drive as far as he could, I suddenly thought that with a good drive, I could reach this green in two also. This was a thought that never would have occurred to me last year, a measure of how far I have come.

During the rest of the back nine, I generally had the honors, getting four pars and a birdie on a par 4, for a total of 41. This was the kind of evidence I was looking for, proof that I could not only break 90, but also reasonably think about breaking 80. Experience was the only thing I was lacking.

This back nine also reminded me about the importance of the short game. I hit some really good chips and pitches, and I designed my practice, after that, to work on the game around the green. Each evening, I went out to the tenth green and hit chips, pitches, putts, and bunker shots. Over and over, hitting from different lies, including the most difficult ones I could imagine. That short game is getting better, but that repeated practice also taught me how difficult it is to achieve consistency. I can see that I'll be taking my shag bag out there many evenings.

In addition to this practice on the course, I've also been studying my basic swing. Initially, I was looking for more distance. Then I came across this Arnold Palmer video on YouTube. It showed me several aspects of the swing that I haven't appreciated enough until now. One is the hip turn. After watching this video, I realized that I never really understood the role of the "lower body," as Hogan puts it, in another YouTube video. The other aspect of the swing that I have misunderstood is the role of a straight left arm. All along, I've been bending mine in my effort to emulate the image of the pro golfers who have the club parallel to the ground at the top of the backswing. What I didn't understand was how important a straight left arm is to achieving maximum clubhead speed during the downswing. The Palmer video made me think of the Iron Byron videos I've seen on YouTube and how the straight left arm is crucial to the maximum release of the clubhead at impact. Now, I've started working on changing my swing in two fundamental ways. First, I want to move my hips to start the downswing. That will allow me to clear the left side and bring my arms into the hitting position. The second is to keep the left arm straight during the backswing. This is difficult, and requires the support of the right hand. But after studying this Palmer video, I'm sure it's the right way to go. So far, I've just practiced the swing without hitting a ball. These changes require so much practice and concentration that it will be a while before I can actually hit a ball this way. The next post will describe the results.