One of the best things about golf is that it allows us to make the game as hard as we want it to be. It’s a simple game, but we tend to find ways to increase the difficulty. I found myself trying to hit a flop shot out of deep rough recently. I was trying to put the ball close to the hole. It was a bad choice, and when I look back, I could have simplified my choice, put the ball on the green and given myself a par putt. It would have been a long par putt, but I would have had a chance. Instead I hit 2 more chips and wound up making a triple bogey. A comedy of errors, and each one could have been avoided.
I feel the same way about my driver swing. When I get technical on the tee box, I tend to hit the ball worse. Yet, anytime I hit a swipey fade, I get back into my head about finishing my swing and pivoting and dropping my hands and starting my swing with my hips and then I’m looking for my ball in the right rough all day. When I pick a target and make a swing, it is not always perfect, but it is consistently better. Eventually, this lesson will translate to my thoughts on the course. Hopefully soon, but that does not seem likely.
My iron play has always been the best part of my game, and tends to be my most mindless. I just hit the ball. When I keep SG, my approach numbers are always ahead of everything else. I don’t have an explanation for why I don’t get technical with my iron swing. It might simply be confidence. I’m confident with my swing, I’m confident with the target. I know what I need to do, and know how to do it. Even when I miss, and I miss frequently, I tend to forget the miss and move on.
This creates an interesting issue for me, as my iron game has one significant flaw. My launch is extremely high. My irons go between 120-150 feet in the air on my usual shot. Piercing trajectory only applies to hitting planes flying low. It is an issue I would like to address, but I worry that a “better” swing will bring worse results. I need to send out some video, but I assume my issue is I am getting my club ahead of my hands at impact, and adding loft.
The question becomes, can I address the flaw without bringing technical thoughts on to the golf course? Can I practice on the range, and implement a new feel and have it carry over to my round while leaving the mental baggage behind? I have no idea. The biggest question, and I think it’s the biggest challenge in golf is: How do we go from playing golf swing to playing golf?
There is a central dichotomy in golf improvement. We need to make changes to our swing, but we also can’t swing our best on the course while thinking technical thoughts. Or at least I can’t. My best rounds and best shots all tend to be mindless. Times when I am playing golf and not thinking about my golf swing. Yet, if you’ve been here awhile, you know I think about my golf swing alot.
I don’t have an easy answer to this question. For my own issue, I can work on siloing a low flighted shot that is different from my regular iron swing, and use it when the wind is up. Ideally, it would help me build the feel of holding my wrists at impact, which would translate into lowering my ball flight with my regular iron swing.
Maybe this is where differential practice has more value. You are practicing feelings and thoughts that you would never bring to the golf course. Ingraining what it feels like to hit the heel or the toe which doesn’t necessarily require an awareness while on the course. Instead of ingraining technical moves and thoughts, you are ingraining a feeling.
As I work to improve this year, I need to be mindful of what I bring to the course with me. This isn’t to say I can’t have technical thoughts or work on things on the range. It simply means I need to make sure the technical thoughts on the range stay on the range. Technical thoughts will always be an issue on the golf course for me, and will play a role in my game as I try to improve. That said, my best golf will always be free of technical thoughts. This does not mean I need to eliminate technical thoughts, simply that I need to embrace my swing on the course.a