Catching Up on Progress

In the five months since my last post, I've taken a series of lessons from a local pro, which have led to significant improvements in my understanding of the swing. Note that I say, "Understanding," and not, "Execution." There's a big difference. While now i think I understand what should happen in a good golf swing, I can't actually do it very often. Now and then, I feel as though I can crack the ball, but generally, something is missing. That's OK. I'm four years into learning the golf swing, and, if another pro I've consulted is correct, I have have another six years to go. I'm in no rush.

My first goal, set four years ago, was to develop a good golf swing. It was not to break 90 or to break 80 or to shoot any particular score or attain any specific handicap. By now, I would say that I've achieved my goal. I have a decent golf swing, certainly better than most of the people I see out on my local course, Mohansic. I've achieved my goal. Now I'm hooked. And thanks to the teaching of my pro, Max (at Mohansic), I'm on my way to trying to learn a really good golf swing.

I've stopped playing rounds. I probably played around a half dozen rounds this season, and I didn't record a real score in a single one. Sometimes, I hit balls out of bounds or into lies where I picked up and just took a stroke, and these situations couldn't give me a real score at the end. Another time, when I thought I was playing well, my partners hustled me along to get ahead of the group in front of us, and that made my score unofficial. That was too bad because I played the last five holes at about one or two over par, and my playing partners, whom I joined on the tenth hole, asked me, twice, if I were a teaching pro. I did play well.

But all the other rounds amounted to walking around the course hitting balls. I did get to see two good players, who probably shoot in the 80s, and that was a good experience. I could see that they had a knowledge of the course and a certainty about their swings. The worst they could do was bogey. When they put together good swings, they were shooting par or getting a birdie now and then. It was quite impressive. And neither player had a swing I would want to emulate. I could tell that they had played enough so that they knew what to expect from their swings. Each had an efficient, powerful swing--made without much effort--and both were very accurate. Their short games, too, were skillful. They were good to watch.

So I decided that playing rounds wasn't what I needed. Instead, I devoted myself to practice: the full swing, chipping, and putting. I didn't bother with sand or pitching. Maybe next season.

Each time I had a lesson with Max, he would give me a basic drill, and I would work on that for two or three or four weeks before I felt ready to take the next lesson. In this way, I went from June and into November taking lessons and practicing.

At this point, after my last lesson the other day, I feel as though I understand what has to happen during the full swing. Now my work over the winter is going to be trying to incorporate my mental images of the swing into my physical performance. More than ever before, I appreciate how difficult a good swing is. In my penultimate lesson, I hit a nine-iron for Max and thought I hit it well. He said, "You hit the mat first."

That was a tremendous revelation. Whereas I was used to judging my swings by ball flight, not I started to add the sound of the clubhead hitting the ball first. It's an adjustment I'm still working on.

I plan to pick up my lessons with Max in the spring. I've realized that the timetable for learning a good swing is open-ended. I can't set a target date. Instead, it's better if I continue to think about practice and improvement. My lessons with Max have also showed me that I can't learn the swing without a good coach.

Winter is coming, I've got my drills, and I'll continue to practice on the range. At the same time, I'll work on chipping and pitching in the backyard. Putting will be more difficult, but maybe there's some way I can work on it in the living room. At the end of the 2010 season, I'm philosophical. I'm doing as much as I can. The golf swing will improve slowly. I need help and I need practice. That's the best I can do. I'll see how it goes during the next five months. It just snowed or sleeted up here outside New York City, and it's only November 8th. It could presage a long winter.