Getting Ready - Getting It Right

I was due to have a playing lesson last Friday. However this was parked thanks to the glorious Summer weather and in hindsight it was a brilliant move. I swapped it for an hour long lesson with Rhys ap Iolo at the Downshire near Bracknell. Just as we finished the heavens opened in a twenty minute torrent which would have been while we were out in the middle of the course. It flooded the greens and the fairways and made the course unplayable. 

In the last lesson we'd worked on getting the arms out in front of me to give me more room to work. Initially it was hard to find the bottom of the ball although subsequent range sessions had made life easier. Things however had been compounded by too many moving parts and I was playing inconsistently and hitting similarly at the range.

I wanted to work on my driver as this has been a bit of an Achilles heel but Rhys started as always by reviewing progress to date and seeing the swing in its latest incarnation. The video evidence showed that I was actually stretching over too far so we moved the ball closer to give a better spine angle. The results were instant.

However as usual the tinker man wasn't happy and Rhys wanted to make a change. A big one. I've what might be described as an old school swing which layer by layer we're changing to something more consistent and repeatable. Part of my problem stems from getting my head ahead of the ball at impact and having to make adjustments to get the club to play catch up. The direction of the club after impact is improving. Back in December when I first hooked up with Rhys the club went right down the line after impact resulting in a high finish but a multitude of poor shots when the timing was off. We've chipped away at the club exiting lower and more to the left although this has been neglected in recent weeks as I strove to find a better takeaway.

Rhys wanted me to focus on keeping the head on, or even fractionally behind the ball at impact with the club exiting low and left. I was sceptical as this represented a big change and was one of the items on the agenda for our winter work but I trust the man implicitly and so while he was in two minds whether the time was right, slap bang in the middle of the season with big events coming up, if he thought it would benefit then I was happy to give it a whirl.

The only way I could focus on not moving was to pick a dimple on the ball, stare at it intently and swing. When it was good it was very good. The launch monitor indicated a reduction in side spin and an increase in swing speed and distance. It was funny how I could feel the difference when I put an old swing on it and everything moved. The result was a horrid hook. We looked at the address position and tried to ensure the sternum and spine were fractionally behind the ball to give me a little margin for error. I felt like there was so much more time to get through the ball and to ensure the swing path after impact was better.

Feeling invigorated we moved onto the big dog. When my driver is behaving I score well. Common sense of course and we all know that if you keep it in play, especially given the brutal rough at Royal Ascot, then you can make a good number. For me though, tempo is an issue and I tend to get too quick and then hooks and the odd block are never far away. After hitting a few for Rhys to see, it was apparent to the guru that my problems stem from a poor address position, being too far over the ball and not behind it allowing me to sweep it away properly.

We shifted the address position back so the spine was well behind the ball. Stand still, don't get in front of it and exit left. It seems so simple. Back to picking a dimple and and trusting. Now I'm a short hitter at the best of times but I was able to fire it higher and further than before. Of course old habits die hard. Flushed with success I started swinging too hard and too fast and hit some big blocks and even the odd slice. Unheard of for me. However there was enough in the brief time we spent hitting the driver to give optimism although its still a work in progress.

Plenty then to be happy about. Plenty to work on as well. Keeping the head still and on or just behind the ball is going to be a huge challenge initially. Get that pinned down and the exit left will come naturally and develop so it is about putting in the blocks on which to build towards the end of the year when we're looking at big changes and an intense period of consolidation.

All in all it was a great session and far more productive than trying to smack it around a flooded course. If I get in a better position at set up then I'm able to get back to the ball in a better impact position with less adjustments required. This will lead to better strikes, better direction and ideally better scores.

The second round of the Volvo matchplay is on the horizon this Wednesday. I'm planning to hit the course after work on Monday, providing it isn't teeming down (in which case I'll adjourn to the range) and play nine holes and put it into practise. I'm confident I'm still on the right path and with a better performance from the driver then I can hopefully shave the remaining 0.5 shots off my handicap to get back to 10. Rhys is confident that after we break it down over the winter and put it back together in better shape, a target of 7 is realistic although as usual he's set the bar high and aiming for 5. I think that may be optimistic and I might need to reign his enthusiasm in a bit. We'll see once we start the work. All in all I'm happy and confident and that can only breed confidence on the course.