I recently played a round of golf with Alex from the Art of Simple Golf. He’s a great guy, and we had an enjoyable time. We were playing with two of my usual playing partners, and when Alex outdrove me by 30-40 yards, they were shocked. I average 280 off the tee, and can get the ball out there. Alex crushes it. I laughed, because I’ve always known I am long, but not that long. I’m also 6’4” and have a dad who is 6’10”. When people tell me I’m tall, I laugh and say “I’m not that tall”. It was a fun round. Alex played on the European tour before transitioning into coaching. He’s on a different planet than I am, game wise.
He still made mistakes, and was still shaking off some rust. He does not play as much golf as he wants to anymore. As we got to know each other, and he got more comfortable with me, he started giving me a couple tips. He is a golf instructor, and I am a headcase, so it was a perfect matching.
What I find interesting, is his tips were on the three things I have been practicing the most. Wedges, Driver and Putter. All three tips were different, but they all went back to fixing a problem I had created myself. I had disconnected the swings from my body, and it was creating issues.
On the driver, Alex mentioned that I was not clearing my hips and transitioning through my swing. I have been working on speed and getting my upper body to move faster. In doing so, I had lost connection with my lower body. The two had gotten disconnected from each other, because I had focused on one aspect.
My wedges have been an issue for me all season. I have been chasing “better” contact and more focused on pinching the ball, and less focused on actually controlling my body through the swing. I was trying to quiet my lower body, and ended up with an all arms swing. Alex immediately pointed out I would have issues with distance control, and that’s something I have been struggling with all season. I reconnected my arms with my upper body, and my wedge swing now feels better and performs better.
With my putter, I simply had gotten too focused on tempo and trying to control my putting stroke. My arms had taken over. Alex suggested I swing more with my core. Letting go with my arms has given me more control with my putter. Taking the little muscles out of things allows me to make a better strokes.
This is not a pitch to work with a golf professional on your swing. It is simply a reminder that golf swings are complicated beasts, and working on one small part of your swing alone does not work. You have to make sure the little changes you are making carry over to the whole swing and body.
My guess is this is one of the reasons swing thoughts have a tendency to expire. You end up doing one little thing right, but it comes at the expense of the whole swing being off.
I think that is what is interesting about golf. You can’t just do one thing really well. You have to have all the bits connected. In your swing, on the course, in your head. To get better you have to improve the whole thing, and sometimes that does require improving one small aspect, but it has to be connected back to the whole.