Half Cocked

I am not a PGA touring professional, I am not a PGA instructor and I am not the guy that shares swing-thought nuggets with friends and business associates during a round.  Heck, I can barely get off the tee box myself!  I am known as “Bad Golf Guy” and there are numerous self-deprecating posts to substantiate the moniker.

I have struggled with inconsistency for as long as I can remember, firing a round in the low eighties one day and scorching the same tract with a mid to high-nineties round the following day.  I never knew the reason(s) and I never invested in lessons to sort it all out, thinking that countless hours on the range would fix the problem(s).  Some thirty years later, I am no further ahead, actually a little further behind because I am thirty years older and clearly no wiser!  All I know is that I am generally disappointed with my performance after most rounds and routinely disappointed with my performance after competitive rounds (see Bad Golf Guy March 2018 post “My Nemesis”).

As you may recall, by shear happenstance, I stumbled into a neighbor who has been a teaching professional for the majority of his adult life (see Bad Golf Guy February 2018 post “Francis We Just Met”).  Francis pinpointed  my challenges within moments, suggesting my “Wizard of Oz thing”  with my take-away was the culprit.  Francis has forwarded at least fifty video’s addressing the proper take-away and has personally demonstrated fifteen to twenty exercises to attempt to get my club in the correct place.  In addition, friend and teaching professional John Sokolowski at the Highlands of Donegal has shared his wisdom as well and numerous articles  addressing the same scenario.  So I’ve got peeps…unfortunately, after years and years of repetition, not an easy fix.

Last week, Francis stopped by to say hello.  He grabbed a club, mimicked my take-away (as Kosmo Kramer once said, “Look away, I’m hideous”) and asked if I could get the club to the initial, “parallel to the ground, toe-up position”.  If so, he continued, it is simply a matter of raising the club with your arms in the “Y” position, making a proper turn and allowing your body to swing the club through impact, or as he calls it, “allowing the club to fall up”!  Sooooo much easier said than done!

I thought about the concept for a few days and decided to go to the range to, once again, give it another go.  This time I made a significant change to my address position.  Rather than addressing the ball in the traditional, club directly behind the ball position, I immediately placed the club in the “parallel to the ground, toe-up position”, paused, raised my club and made a swing.

I have had many a range epiphany in my day however this was something very different.  The ball flight was drastically different, the ball traveled farther and a higher percentage of my shots were reasonably on-target.

Obviously a work in progress and I am simply hopeful this success lasts a little longer than the two or three days my previous epiphanies have lasted.  I will keep you posted.

So if you are out on the course and see this “goober” starting his swing “half-cocked” come over and say hello to Bad Golf Guy!

Thank you Francis and John, I think we are slowly/pathetically moving in the right direction.

Disclaimer:  This was by no means a “sanctioned” swing tip/nugget.  Please see your local PGA touring professional, your local PGA instructor, your weekend playing partner or your automobile mechanic for proper instruction or guidance!

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The back nine can only get better!