SUN SUN SUN

Well it finally looks like the weather is going to turn around. After a good week of windy, cold, rainy weather the forecast shows the next 6 days full of sun and warming temperatures. I’ve still been “braving” the conditions to wear this rust off and yesterday showed some signs of tempo. The hardest thing I find when returning after a long break is to regain your tempo or some sort of rhythm with your swing. Tee shots with long irons or drivers are out of sync and shorter shots are missed due to deceleration in the swing. It’s just an inconsistent trend when trying to back in fine form. I’ve been experiencing this very same thing in my game as I try to find form, and it’s been tough due to the lies you find out here on Bermuda grass and wet lies. The ball always seems to be in contact with the ground and never sitting up, or on a firm lie to use the bounce of the club which in essence makes it easier (in theory) to hit.


The last few days I have been practicing with a guy who will be playing on the Canadian Tour (Roger Sloan – Canadian) and a friend of his, past #3 junior in his country (Travis O’Connell – New Zealand). It’s been nice getting to meet these guys and even better after playing with them, Travis, found flaw in my short game and offered some advice to improve the part of my game. This is what I am presently working on:

If you look at my previous post (the video) you can notice as I make contact with the ball my clubface is open as in not square with the target. You can notice that because the butt end of my club runs past my body and my hands end up in front of my left hip. This is creating an inconsistent strike. I get away with it (most of the time) because I have strong hand eye coordination. This also means that I am using the left hand/arm to swing this shot which is from what I have come to understand is the opposite goal. Travis had to opportunity to have an hour lesson with (forget name ... maybe Jim Connor - AUS) who was then considered to have the best short game in the world. His theory is amateurs always hit chip/pitch shots with an open face trying to spin the ball by coming across it. In actuality you want to hit the ball as square as possible (certainly now with the V grooves – lower spin rate) so you catch the ball on the grooves as solid as possible instead of letting it slide off the club. The other thing with hitting the ball like this means that you also will have a consistent back spinning ball over and over again.

To do this, the shot must be hit with the right arm/hand and bigger muscles (shoulders). In doing so the club will come back to square every time creating a more consistent strike. You can see you’re doing this correctly by observing the butt end of the club. It should be pointed to your belly button at contact and through the shot as you roll your right hand and arm over through the shot. I began to practice this shot by setting up closed to my target (shoulders square with my hips and feet), drawing the club back inside and trying to hook the ball even with a sand wedge. This is a tough thing for me to do because I have swung with my left side for so long but I think I can get it … after a good 1000+ shots over a few weeks.


I will definitely put in the work and get the most out of the good weather that is upon us.


Video of the swing to come.

JS