Quasimodo's Swing

In my last post, I mentioned Jeff Mann's valuable Website. On this page, where he talks about "the kinetic sequence." Since then, I've come to realize how much his paragraph on "the rope handle technique" has helped me in the last few days.

When the left arm freewheels towards impact, it pulls the lagging club via the left hand, and this type of swing action is called the rope handle technique. In other words, the club is passively pulled along by the left hand - as if the golfer was simply pulling a piece of rope (like church bell ringers in the medieval era who pulled the bell rope in a groundwards direction in order to get the church bells to ring). At the end-backswing position, a modern, total body golfer usually has a 90 degree angle between the clubshaft and the left arm, and when the left hand pulls the grip end of the club during the downswing, the grip end of the club must obviously move as fast as the left hand. By contrast, the clubhead end of the club has inherent inertia and it lags behind the grip end of the club during the downswing.

This is a fantastic analogy, a key to my growing understanding of lag. When I emailed Jeff about something he wrote about the left arm "catapulting" into impact and follow-through, he promptly wrote me back with a revision. I haven't gone through this paper, but I'm looking forward to it.

In my practice, when I can remember to think of the grip as a rope, the results are invariably good. Swing like Quasimodo. The trouble is that I don't always think of the rope because I'm also thinking about other things, like shifting my weight over my left ankle on the downswing, on keeping my weight back and off my toes throughout the swing, and on turning my hips and upper torso until I can't turn them any more. That's a tip I got from a recent Golf Digest article about Alvaro Quiros.

The video shows the state of my swing. From behind and from the side. There's also a side-by-side of the most recent swing and one that's just a few days older. You'll see quite a difference. The swing is different now, since I've been working on improvements since I took this video. I'll try to show the latest changes in a video in the next blog.

"Overview of the modern, total body golf swing"

The title is from Jeff Mann's valuable Website. On this page, he talks about "the kinetic sequence of biomechanical events in the modern, total body golf swing," involving the pelvis, the shoulders, and the left arm. Jeff has the research and the technical understanding that confirms and explains what I've been learning lately.

I've started to appreciate how good players get maximum clubhead speed. They do it in two parts. The first is turning the hips. This rotation brings the arms down to the "hitting position," where the clubshaft is parallel to the ground and target line. Then the second part picks up from there. This is the rotation of the upper body and shoulders. This speeds up the momentum that the first part already created and it concludes with that great finish position that the pros have, with their hips facing the target (or past that point in some cases) and the shoulders turned left and almost parallel to the target line. It's all one accelerating movement, though. In theory, or in teaching, it's two parts, but in practice these two parts are the swing, from start to finish.


Here's an excellent video analysis of Steve Allen's swing that captures what I think I'm learning. The instructor is Lawrie Montague from www.GolfConfidence.Org, but I think that what Lawrie misses as a teacher is what happens in the hitting zone. All he repeats is "swing through to the finish." But what drives that is the acceleration of the upper body and shoulders. I'm the golfer he talks about who thinks of hitting the ball, rather than swinging. What will make me more of a swinger is the idea of continuing to rotate the upper body and shoulders. It's just like doing "Around the World" with a yo-yo. In order to get the yo-yo to continue down and around, you have to speed up the finger that touches the string.

Now this is all easier said than done. It's one thing to analyze the swing and see how it probably works, and it's completely another thing to go out and try to do that. To put all this together requires breaking it down into parts and practicing those with drills and slow motion, and then, gradually, trying to put it all together. That's what I'm doing each day at the range. But it's very difficult. I've slowed down my tempo and tried not to think about distance at all (that, in itself, is very hard to do!). But I need some drills.

You see, there's the hip movement, which is hard enough -- Do I start with my left knee? Am I rotating level left? Has the transition happened? Am I just holding onto the club and dragging it? You get the idea. So you have to think about all that. Then, when the hips hit their 45 degree angle to the target line, that's when the upper body takes over. Well, how exactly do you make that happen? I don't know. It's a mystery to me. But I know it when I see it.

It's like Geoff Ogilvy's swing on YouTube, one of my favorite videos. It's great when he finishes his swing and you can hear a spectator say, "Wow!" There's also a great Ernie Els swing that ends with a similar reaction from some onlooker. These are the swings I want to emulate. They are prime examples of "Effortless power, instead of powerless effort."

More on Swinging and Hitting

Back at the 202 range, I'm consistently hitting the ball well. The missing ingredient is distance. Or clubhead speed. Basically, I'm still in the hitting mode. Once I get to the ball, I'm done. I've worked on setup and take-away, and transition, and downswing, and turning the hips, and moving weight to the left side, and coming to the ball from the inside. All those things are now giving me good results. Everything except distance. And I couldn't understand that until recently. One of my teaching pros, Max Galloway, at Mohansic Golf Course, showed me the hitting zone a while ago, but I didn't understand what he was talking about. Now I'm getting back to the concept he demonstrated for me, and I'm starting to understand. It's going to take some time to work this into my swing, but it's definitely the missing ingredient.

Tonight, hitting another hundred balls, and working on rotating, I started to feel that the hips go only so far. Once they bring the arms to the hitting zone, then the upper body and shoulders have to take over and carry the swing all the way through to the finish. In my experience, this part of the swing is neglected in YouTube Videos. Max is the only pro who actually showed me how this part of the swing works. Then I found this YouTube video, which says it all. There isn't anything I disagree with or feel is left out. The model is the swing of the PGA touring pro Steve Allen with commentary by Lawrie Montague from http://www.GolfConfidence.Org.

Here again, though, Lawrie neglect what happens in the hitting zone. That's where there is tremendous acceleration, generated from the core upper body and shoulders. That is what the pros do. That's why they have these beautiful finishes. They accelerate so much that they can't help coming through all the way. Their hips are facing the target, their shoulders are almost parallel to the target line, and the club is way past their left shoulder. For years, I've wondered how they do that. Now I know.

I'm actually pretty surprised that people who teach the swing miss this element. It's there in very basic instruction for beginners. We all know how the swing gets to the transition, and then accelerates all the way around to a full finish. What the instructors don't tell us, though, is how that happens. Just think of doing "Around the World" with a yo-yo. That's how it works. Weather permitting, I'll go to 202 again tomorrow night and come back with more to say on this topic.

All Right! All Right!

In my last post, I anticipated another 3500 hours of practice before I got the swing, a forecast both premature and pessimistic, as my practice at the 202 range this evening showed. That my swing is basically OK became clear yesterday when I was hitting plastic balls in the backyard.

My round with Gary and Al at Put Nash gave me the idea that I was missing whip, or clubhead speed, in my swing. With the plastic balls, I started experimenting with speeding up the hips and shoulder turn, with excellent results. The ball really started to take off. At 202, I extended that new understanding, which also gave me fresh insights into staying connected, and using the core muscles to swing the club. For the first time, I started to feel as though the turning was producing a quality, repeatable swing. I could feel my arms tight against my rib cage and my hips and shoulders swinging my arms through, lag preserved and the clubhead swinging through at the bottom of the swing arc of my hands. These shots went out straight and high. Just what I like to see.

Next post should be about speeding up the turn, accelerating the tempo. That should give me more distance. And I have to remember to relax. As my pro, Brian Lamberti tells me, "Stop thinking!"

The 10,000 Hour Rule, or Swinging and Hitting

On a glorious day after tornadoes and torrential rain passed through, remnants of Hurricane Isaac, I played Put Nash again, full of confidence that I would play well.

This morning, I practiced in my driveway (since the back yard was soaked from yesterday's storm) and worked on swinging and keeping the clubface square, with a 5-iron and the driver. That went well. Then, after working out, I went to the range at Yorktown Golf and Baseball Center to hit a hundred balls. Again, the swing felt good. I really felt competent and ready to shoot in the eighties.

Arriving early at Put Nash, I had plenty of time to practice putting and chipping and pitching, with the idea of settling down so that I could make some nice short-game shots out on the course. Everything checked out. Solid putts, and reliable, consistent chips and pitches.

Then I went out. I joined Gary and George, his son (in eighth grade) and Al. After we teed off on one, I could see that Gary and Al could hit the ball with power and accuracy. Experienced golfers and good players to measure myself against. What soon became obvious was that there was no comparison. They had mature swings. I don't swing. I hit. Discouraged and frustrated, I thought of Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and the "10,000 Hours Rule."

He shows how some remarkable people achieved their greatest accomplishments. Among them are The Beatles, Bill Gates, Bill Joy (legendary programmer of Unix and Java), Mozart, and Canadian hockey players. The common thread through all these success stories is "10,000-Hour Rule." In brief, it states that anyone who can put in 10,000 hours of dedicated, high-quality practice can become very good at any endeavor. When I read the book, I was thinking, specifically, of my attempt to learn the golf swing. According to my calculations, I've put in about 6500 hours of targeted practice so far ( about 20 hours per week or 1,000 per year). Comparing myself, then, to Gary and Al, another 3500 hours should just about do it. By that time, I should be pretty good. So that's three and a half years from now. Judging from what I could do today, that's a decent  estimate.
With my "amazing" swing, here's what I was able to accomplish today.

• Giddy Up par 5 -- 4 and 2
• Israel's Climb par 4 -- 4 and 2
• Down & Away par 4 -- 2 and 3
• Sybil's Ride  par 4 -- 3 and 2
• Pond Stop  par 3 -- 1 and 3
• Arnold's Hideout  par 4 -- 3 and 2
• Star par 3 -- 2 and 2
• Agor's Farm par 4 -- 3 and 2
• Tight Quarters par 4 --  3 and 2
• Nature's Beauty par 4 -- 5 and 2
• Tompkin's Corner par 4 -- 6 and 2
• Bullet Hole par 3 -- 2 and 2
• Barn Shot par 5 -- 3 and 3

For a total of 45 for the first nine holes, which seems to be what I usually shoot.

Here's my analysis. On only a few shots did I feel I made a really good swing. For the rest, I complete forgot the lessons from the range, which include  pulling the handle through. I made only about two good, confident strokes.  On all the others, I was tentative. On my first bunker shot, I jumped into it. On the second, I did a nice job.

Here's a good example of where I am now, at my best. On thirteen, I hit the drive well, but pushed it right. When I found my ball, I could see that I could hit it over some trees and actually shorten the hole. So I hit a 3-hybrid, a little fat, but it went straight, and I could hear the ball hit some branches in the farthest tree. When I got to my ball, it was on the cart path, so I took a drop. The next shot, a seven-iron from about 170, slightly uphill, cut through some high leaves and landed on the front of the green. From there, I three-putted, tentative all the way. It's a par-five. With any putting stroke at all, I could've saved par.

So here I am, at about 45 for nine holes. And here's a little history. Seven years ago, when I first started on this goal to learn the golf swing, I shot a 45. It was after my first lessons. Now, here I am, six years later, shooting the same 45. However, there is a difference. When I shot the first 45, that was the absolute best score I could have. Now, in contrast, a 45 seems to me a score that doesn't represent my best. Today is a perfect example. I think that today, I hit only one fairway, and maybe hit one or two greens in regulation. The short game felt tentative. In general, I can't maintain all the swing thoughts I had at the range.

Still, assuming that I could summon those range thoughts, I still don't have the tremendous whip that Gary and Al have. I know what it is. I just can't do it yet. In another 3500 hours of practice, we'll see.

In the Rough

In the last post I threatened to take my wonderful, accomplished, fantastic swing out on the course. And I did. At Put Nash. In the afternoon. Going out by about 4:00. I could have gone out by the 3:00 time when low rates first become available, but I went to the range first, where I hit 60 balls, assuring myself that the swing was, as I had suspected, amazing. My last swing, as I remember it (and my memory could be faulty), was a pitching wedge. Right at the flagstick. Stopped within eight feet. Should have been on the Golf Channel. Proof enough that I was ready to play.

On the grounds of Put Nash, I went to the putting and chipping green first, as all the experts tell you. The putter felt a little unsteady when I tried long putts. Hmmm. In my usual practice, I feel as though I can putt like Billy Casper. What gives? So I hit a few more long putts. All short. But at least those strokes reminded me to get my hands through the ball ahead of the clubhead. Some chipping and, my favorite, bump-and-runs, and I was all set. Ready for the first tee.

Remembering times like this, I invariably think of an article I once read about the novelist, Carl Hiassen. You might know him. Strip Tease (movie with Demi Moore), Skinny Dip, Basket Case, and others. All in set in  Florida, dealing with greedy land developers, corrupt politicians, and clueless cops. Very entertaining. Give him a try. I think I first got onto him after the 2000 presidential election travesty, when Florida became known, derisively, as Flori-DUH!

In the article, which was about Carl's golf game, the author quoted the caddie as saying, something like,  "Yeah, he can play, but he can't score." I've remembered that ever since I first read it, and that caddie seems to stride down the course beside me, every time I go out.

Check out Carl's book on golf, The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport. One online review begins, "Arnold Palmer once said, 'Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening.'" As we all know, golf is a constant struggle. Which begs the question: "Why do we do it?"

Lewis Black has one answer. Robin Williams has another. Golf makes good material for comedy.

Whenever I go out on the course, the gallery in my imagination includes Lewis and Robin and Carl and his caddie and Arnie. After many shots, there's a lot of shaking heads.

My gallery with me, I stepped up to the first tee. Here's how it went. "Best-ball" scoring. Or call it "Fantasy Golf". That is, if your ball is behind a tree, move it. If you hit into a hazard, hit another. Terrible chip or pitch? Do it again. If your putter hits grass first and the ball goes only halfway to the hole, bring the ball back and make another stroke. It's a lot like tennis, with two serves. The numbers below show strokes to the green plus putts. Each hole sports a local historical or geographical allusion. On three, Ryan joined me, a college student and very athletic, with a beautiful swing. When he gets serious about his game, he'll be really good.

1. Giddy Up par 5 -- 6 and 2
2. Israel's Climb par 4 -- 2 and 1
3. Down & Away par 4 -- 2 and 3
4. Sybil's Ride  par 4 -- 3 and 2
5. Pond Stop  par 3 -- 1 and 2
6. Arnold's Hideout  par 4 -- 3 and 2
7. Star par 3 -- 2 and 2
8. Agor's Farm par 4 -- 6 and 2
9. Tight Quarters par 4 -- we skipped this to get ahead of a slow group
10. Nature's Beauty par 4 -- 2 and 1
11. Tompkin's Corner par 4 -- 2 and 2
12. Bullet Hole par 3 -- 3 and 3
13. Barn Shot par 5 -- 4 and 2

And then sunset sent us to the parking lot.

This is a typical outing for me. It's so bad, I can't really keep score. Yet, there are some good shots. And a lot of anxiety. Especially in the short game. In my backyard or on the practice green, I feel competent, but as I address a chip or pitch or putt on the course, doubt dominates and bad things happen.

To get back to Carl Hiassen, my game is in the deep rough now, but All the practice and drills and lessons from Max Galloway at Mohansic and Brian Lamberti at Golfworx are definitely improving the swing. It's good enough to take out on the course now, and I need to get out and play as often as possible.

What If Practice Never Makes Perfect?

An unusual title? Sure. The rhetorical question begins a "Briefly Noted" in The New Yorker (Jul 30, 2012) of Leanne Shapton's  Swimming Studies, a memoir in which "Shapton, a writer, artist, and former contender for the Canadian Olympic team, grapples with the habits she leaned as a teen-age competitive swimmer. Taught to value exertion and hard work over talent and pleasure, Shapton remains preoccupied, even as an adult, with time, sequence, repetition, deprivation, and pain. The intensity of competition heightens and subverts everything from body image to early-morning light." The minute I read it, I knew it described my struggle with the golf swing. The magazine in one hand on the Lexington Avenue 4 express train, I hazarded my balance—and the safety of my fellow commuters—to grope blindly in an outside pocket of my large commuter bag for a green marker pen to highlight this passage, already looking ahead to the end of the working day when I'd be back in my backyard practice area again, repeating the swing, videotaping myself, working on tempo and sequencing. Like anyone else who's seriously tried to learn a good golf swing, I've accepted imperfection. We know the answer to the question the New Yorker poses. Practice never makes perfect in golf. But we continue to practice anyway—relentlessly, stubbornly, assiduously. Like ancient mariners, we're sailing toward a receding horizon.

You'll notice that I haven't posted in quite a while. The habit of regular posting just got away from me, at first because my swing was changing almost daily, and I didn't see the point of a post that would be old the next day. Then, I just found other things to do, like watching YouTube videos. In the last couple of months, though, I started to feel a legitimate swing coming my way. Tonight, exhilarated at solving (I'm pretty sure) a nasty shank, I felt the full swing was there, for the first time, without any major flaws, and the video looked  worth posting.

You'll see two swing thoughts I've been working on. One is posture, including bracing against the right leg on the backswing, and the other, making a relaxed, full swing , all the way through to a finish with my shoulders turned left of the target line. It's the swing of a neophyte, but it looks to me like one that's on the right track. The first shot shows some slow motion practice, an idea from a YouTube video of Ai Miyazato. The chair is helping me feel the right leg bracing instead of straightening during the backswing. Then, a full swing, looking pretty good until the follow-through, where you should see more extension in the hands as they come through and around. I also bang the mat a bit, which means I let the clubhead go too early.

In the background, on the stone wall, you'll notice this orange fireball. That's a New York sunset, a little after 7:00pm, like a huge laser from across the Hudson River. I took it as a good omen. "Red sun at night, sailor's delight." By this time, I was hitting the ball so well, I hit a few more shots and then called it a day. Maybe tomorrow, I'll take the swing out to Put Nash.