Shankopotamus Redux

After my last post, Brian Lamberti, the other pro I've been seeing, called to see how I was doing, and I told him about my shanking problem. We scheduled a lesson for the next morning.

He watched me hit two wedges (which I thought I was hitting great) and said, with conviction, that my weight was on my toes and that unbalanced stance was causing the shanks. That diagnosis began a long conversation about posture and turning. After he left, I hit a couple hundred balls, just working on turning and balance and posture. Of course, this working on basics represented a huge regression. I had to forget about hitting full shots and focus, instead, on an abbreviated swing where I could pay attention to keeping my weight under my ankles and finishing with my chest forward and vertical over my left leg, the post around which I was turning.

After a break for a little while at home, until about 4:00, I remembered that I had to pick up my driver at Yorktown Baseball and Golf and that when I did, I could hit another hundred balls and do some more practice. While I hit (I hit only a couple of shanks, none of them as bad as the day before), I felt really good about the irons and hybrids. Even with a short swing, I was getting decent distance and, even more important, consistently accurate shots. I liked the way I felt and liked the way I looked at the end of the swing. I had my balance, my chest seemed to be erect, and my left arm had swung around my body over to the left side. I felt as though it must look something like the pros after they hit an iron shot for accuracy.

The 3-metal was a wreck. I continued to slice it and mis-hit it and hit the ground behind the ball, all kinds of swing problems. Out of curiosity, I tried the repaired driver a few times and actually hit one decent drive, after which I quit; ending on a good swing seemed more positive than pushing my luck by trying to hit one more drive.

After my hundred balls, I went over to Mohansic to practice the short game, which has become, be far, the practice I enjoy the most and which is the most rewarding for me. The putting felt great. I can see that I'm getting good touch in my hands. Observing Dave Stockton's advice, I hit with one ball and practice a complete putt every time I hit the ball. The long putts are the focal point of my putting practice, from, say, 25 feet up to 90 feet, with the primary goal of controlling speed and getting the ball to the hole without leaving it short, one of Stockton's fundamentals about putting (he always wants the putt to die at the hole but get to the hole and stay within 17 inches past it). Letting the back of the left wrist take care of the direction is another fundamental I keep in mind.

Lately, I've been practicing chipping with a 9- or 8-iron, following up on Brian Flanagan's suggestion during a recent lesson down at Fairview Golf Center in Elmsford. Today, I chipped with the lob wedge from thick grass to a short-side hole and then used a 9-iron to chip uphill across the green, just to a spot, working on rolling the ball consistently, probably about 60 or 70 feet. That felt awesome. I could really feel the similarity of the putting stroke and the chip, and I was able to chip ball after ball at the same spot and roughly the same distance, concentrating on using the toe of the club. As usual, a very satisfying hour or hour and a-half.

When I got home, though, the enormity of my predicament started to weigh on me. Here I am, I felt, four and a-half years into learning a golf swing, and I am really hitting like a good beginner. Nothing I'd want to take to the course, and no real competence with either the 3-metal or driver. The thought of just calling it quits seemed like a reasonable response to a completely hopeless situation, especially since this isn't the first time lately that the rhetorical question, "It's hopeless, isn't it?" has been running through my consciousness. It seems as though the more you learn about the swing, the more you realize how ignorant you are about it. The swing is a far horizon ahead of you, obscured by a slight haze (even on a clear day), reminiscent of a Cézanne Mont Sainte-Victoire landscape. The abrupt disappearance of apparent competence, or near competence, a week ago I'm finding hard on my ambition. Golf, in my musings, may be giving me a lesson in exactly how many disappointments and failures it takes to subdue one's hopes.

Like a minor god in classical mythology, Golf looks down on pale mortals with amusement. As King Lear says, "As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport." At least there's an end in sight, and, fortunately, we don't have to suffer the eternal futility of Sisyphus, endlessly rolling his boulder uphill. All we have to say to the Golf immortal is, "OK. You win." Easy. The problem is that golfers are nuts. The Golf gods must be crazy, and they make us crazy. We can't recognize an impossible situation when one squats right in front of our noses—in the correct posture and weight under the ankles. Completely oblivious, we show up at the practice tee or the driving range the next morning. That's where I'm headed now.

Shankopotamus

"Read the rule book, shankopotamus!" Great TV ad. It's given my golfing coterie an epithet that we can use often. Even though I haven't been playing, I've noticed at the range that every once in a while I shank a few balls. Then I make some correction, and the problem disappears. Since my last lesson with Brian Flanagan at Fairview Golf Center in Elmsford, NY, shanking (if it occurred to me at all) was a distant, if amusing, memory.

On Saturday, I wanted Brian to talk to me about the driver. At the start of the lesson, he asked me how my swinging was going, and I said, "I'll show you," and hit a 9-iron, fortunately hit pretty well, really high and on target. Then I hit a driver, and Brian said, "That's not your 9-iron swing. You wanted to jerk the club down to the ball." I recognized that immediately, and we went through the rest of the lesson talking about a smooth, long, shallow swing, with a level hip turn.

The lesson over, I went to a nearby mat and hit 300 of the free balls that a lesson provides a student and worked on what Brian had taught me. After about 150 balls, I started to get the feel of a level hip turn, and then everything fell into place, giving me the misconception that I had leaped to another level of golf competence.

The next day, I happened to be near the Doral course in Purchase, NY, and I hit about 60 balls at the range, generally cracking the ball and starting to feel like a pro. I hit mostly 3-metals, since Brian had told me, "That's the last piece of the puzzle." If I could hit that repeatedly well, then I had learned the swing. I left Doral feeling really good.

Today, I went to my usual range at Yorktown Baseball and Golf to hit several hundred balls. In the morning, I reviewed a Dave Stockton DVD on the short game, and at the range I tried out what he says about hitting various short shots. At first, I hit the ball great. Wedges right on target, irons right at the flag 155 yards away. All Systems Go.

Then, I made the fatal -- or revelatory, considering the eventual outcome -- mistake of trying to hit low punch shots. All of a sudden, I started shanking the ball. Time after time and no matter which club I picked up. If I made a slight adjustment, I could hit a 9-iron or a 7-iron OK. But the 5-iron was recalcitrant. No matter what I did, I shanked it into the net on the right side of the range.

I actually began to panic. "What has happened to me?" I wondered. "How could I have hit the ball so well yesterday, and now, today, I can't hit it any better than a complete beginner?" "What gives?"

Finally, I saw Eric, who sometimes works at the desk, and a very good golfer, come out the front door where I could walk over and talk to him. Desperate for help, I did.

"Eric! What causes a shank?"

He explained that it's being off-plane and swinging the hosel into the ball ahead of the club face. I recognized that as my problem instantly. Earlier in my practice, I had been hooking many balls way left, and now I understood why. I was coming from way inside and either shanking or hooking.

So I went back to my mat, with the mirror behind me, and paid close attention to the plane of my downswing. It didn't take me long to solve the shanking problem. Pretty soon, I had demonstrated to myself that I could hit the ball cleanly and straight. Then I started working on fades. I never really got it, but I could feel that I was close. And I thought that I need to go back to YouTube and find some instructional videos on shaping shots.

Three hundred balls and several hours after I started, once again, I felt as though I might be competent in the swing. Tomorrow, at the range, I'll see. But it felt like a good day's work.

Mania and Depression

I know I recently promised to show you how I use the club shaft and bungee cord when I want to work on staying connected. Interestingly, I just saw a Paul Wilson video where he says that he doesn't like this idea very much because it prevents the golf student from reaching a good position at the top of the swing. Paul's point really doesn't deter me much. I'm not so interested in whether or not I can get to a good position at the top of the swing. I'm more interested in what happens after impact. And the bungee cord teaches me the feeling of my left upper arm connected to my ribcage as I complete the follow-through. The latest example of a player I'm trying to emulate (please hold down your laughter!) is Dustin Johnson on YouTube.

He's 6'4" and hits his driver about 350 yards, or about 150 yards past where my drive would be. That would be pretty discouraging. However, his swing is very instructive for anybody. I've looked at two analyses, one from PurpleGolf.com and one from WayneDeFrancesco.com. The detail in each video is fantastic, and both analysts make great points. A couple of fundamentals struck home with me.

One is the "squat," which I haven't really thought about in quite a while, not since I was poring over the Swing Like a Pro book that I've mentioned in these posts. And the other is the whole phenomenon of the follow-through, something about the swing that has mystified me forever.

When Dustin swings the driver, he's very athletic, and that gives me hope. He squats and uses his legs and rotates his hips with the upper body following, and he keeps that left upper arm connected to his ribcage after impact. I think it's this connection that must help to give him the whip that sends the ball out there to places on the fairway that most players never venture.

After watching Dustin on YouTube, I started experimenting with the squat and posting on the left leg. Result: Mania. I felt great. The ball went out there straight and traveled a good distance for me, about 200 or 210 or even 220 yards slightly uphill at this driving range. I thought I had found the answer.

Then I started doing some more reading about the squat and did some more thinking about the clubhead traveling around me as I uncoiled my body. Result: Depression. All these variables are far too much to think about during the swing. As usual, I found that I could focus on maybe one thing on any one swing. Every once in a while, a lucky swing would produce a nice drive, right down the target line and carrying a pretty good distance. Usually, though, the result was much worse. A depressing sight.

The good results did tell me that I was onto something that I should pay attention to. Now I need to do much more practice on each new swing thought that I have. I'll see what works and see how I can start to build a repeatable swing. Remember, I'm four and a-half years into this. And it's still far from complete. Not even enough to go out and play a round.

Still, I feel as though I'm really close to the good, basic swing. With any luck at all, I ought to be able to settle on a decent driver swing and a decent 3-wood swing and go out and play Mohansic.

Let's see if it's "Famous Last Words" or "Stranger Things Have Happened."

Drive, He Said

I was reminded of this Jack Nicholson 1971 picture after I finished an exhausting and fruitless day of hitting at Yorktown Baseball and Golf in Yorktown, NY. I have blisters on my fingers (as John Lennon complained out loud, too, on The White Album) with not much to show for my exertions.

My practice started out well. I put on the club shaft and bunji cord and started hitting, thinking that this would be the answer to whatever was missing in my swing. Not!

When I really relaxed, I could hit the 3-metal with a satisfying "Click!" sound, but, in general, I'd have to say that "Tension" is my middle name. I feel as though I'm hitting my wedges great ( though sometimes I pull them left or something else is missing, and I get a less than perfect shot), and if I could play golf with just those 4 clubs, I'd be very happy.

I'm still pretty happy with the 9-iron and even the other irons, down to my two hybrids. And I'm happy with the 3-metal, some of the time. I feel as though I can hit that. It doesn't go huge distances, topping out at, maybe, 190 carry, uphill, but I take the satisfying sound that the head makes on impact as a good sign.

The driver, in contrast, is a disaster. I have the idea that I should be swinging this club the same as I swing my gap wedge, but it's not happening. Either that bit of golf wisdom is mistaken or else I just am not making the same swing.

I am not easily deterred, however. I continued to hit with the shaft and bunji cord wrapped around my upper arms. And I hit without that training aid. It didn't make any difference.

Then I started swinging more slowly, trying to concentrate on turning my hips and letting the release just happen. The results were less than stupendous. Some drives went 150 yards, some 175, some 190. Balls were not flying over the fence out there at the 250-yard mark. Most results looked like what a beginner could do.

Self-pity -- let's not go there!

Instead, let's think about tomorrow's practice.

Obviously, I'm missing something obvious in the driver swing. And I'd really have to argue with someone who tells me that it's the same swing as my gap wedge swing, even though, when I watch the ladies on the LPGA, it seems that they make the same swing every time, no matter what the situation. I guess I just don't get it. Or I'm not making that hip turn.

Tomorrow, I think I'm going to think about Iron Byron. Somehow, I'm not getting the clubhead to release and swing through. I have no follow-through, and, most of the time, when I hit the ball solidly, I push it right.

My pros tell me, "Turn, Sean, turn!" If only it were that easy!

After hitting at the range, I went to Mohansic to practice the short game. Much more gratifying. I love my putting, although I need to do some more practice on super-long putts (like 90' or so), but when I extend my arms and lead with the left, the ball rolls beautifully.

I did some chipping with a 9-iron and worked on that from various distances and learned a lot about how that shot reacts and how to hit it.

I finished up with some pitches, short ones, from relatively thick rough, and, for the most part, I was happy with the results. It was 6:30 or so, ninety-something degrees and high humidity, and I was ready to go home and have a Corona.

Tomorrow, I'll be fresh, and we'll see about "Drive, He Said."

Turn, Turn Turn!

Maybe you remember The Byrds song "Turn! Turn! Turn!" If you don't, check it out.

I'm thinking seriously about the song right now because of what my pro, Brian Lamberti (at Golfworx in Baldwin Place, NY) was advocating in my last lesson with him.

Brian qualified for the sectional qualifier for the US Open at Canoe Brook CC in Summit, NJ, and finished the 36 holes yesterday, turning in 78-68-146, not quite good enough to make it to Congressional.

But in my last lesson with Brian, I watched him do his hitting routing, and he told me that all he was doing with every club was turning. He continued to say, "All I'm doing is turning." Certainly, every swing looked the same. If he wanted to hit the ball farther, he would make more of a turn through the follow-through. That was the only difference I could detect. And he could do whatever he wanted to with the ball flight: fade, draw, high, low. I think he accomplished those different shots with his address, but don't quote me on this. He was just awesome, and I didn't want to distract him with novice questions.

At the time, I tried to do what he told me during the lesson, but, naturally, my old habits made that impossible. However, over the last two weeks, I've been working on that turning as my main practice goal. Brian Flanagan, my pro at Fairview Golf Center in Elmsford, NY, was telling me the same thing. I'm a hard case, and it takes a second opinion to convince me.

I've been hitting 200 or 300 balls a day at Yorktown Baseball and Golf in Yorktown Heights, NY, and it wasn't until late this afternoon, after a frustrating time with the driver, that I finally started to feel what the full hip turn feels like. Before that, my other clubs felt good. I feel like a pro with my wedges, and the other clubs felt good when I swung on plane.

But suddenly, I tried something different. It may have been the videos I've been watching of Brittany Lincicom, with her quick hips, that made me try something a little different. So I started focussing on the hip turn and not thinking about my hands or the release or anything else. And, suddenly, I was cracking the ball straight out there!

Dubious, I grabbed my 3-metal and tried the same swing. "Crack!" right down the middle.

Back to the driver. "Crack!"

The driver still isn't hitting the fence at the 250-yard mark, which means I'm missing something, but what I'm doing is a lot better than what I was doing before.

In the next practice, I want to practice this turn with the irons and see how my accuracy and distance change. With all the work I've done, I feel as though I can make flexible changes without too much trouble.

As The Byrds sing, it's "A time to build up, a time to break down." Tomorrow, I'll work on the new concept of turn and try to forget about the old swing habits.

Hitting and Swinging

After four-and-a-half years of learning a golf swing, I'm still mostly a hitter rather than a swinger. Until recently, my "swing" (I'm using the term loosely) ended at impact. I just wanted to hit the ball. My lessons at Mohansic with Max Galloway last fall helped me think about using the lower body and doing some turning, and lessons with two other pros this spring have helped me immensely.

Brian Flanagan, at Fairview Golf Center in Elmsford, NY, saw my problem right away and started urging me to coil and uncoil, to continue turning the hips all the way through the swing. It took me about six weeks to feel comfortable even attempting that. Then I took a single lesson from Brian Lamberti, a pro at Golfworx in Baldwin Place, NY, who basically told me the same thing, along with a few other valuable comments.

Brian is a touring pro and is getting ready to play in the sectional qualifier at Canoe Brook CC in Summit, NJ, this coming Monday, June 6. He just played a practice round at the Trump course in Briarcliff, NY, and shot a 29 on the front nine en route to a final score of 64. I'm going to go down to Summit and watch as much of the 36-hole qualifier as I can. I told Brian that I'll pick up my lessons with him, sometime in late June, after he wins the US Open.

Both pros told me, each in his own way, to think about the whole swing, rather than focusing on individual parts or positions. And this advice was crucial. Brian also gave me an idea for a learning aid, using a club shaft and a bunji cord to help me maintain connectedness through the swing. I'll have more to say about that in the next post. For now, you can see where my swing currently is in the latest video.