Is That a Light I See in the Tunnel?

It was a wonderful day on the links.  Ok they are not links and it was dark, overcast, a hint of rain, and more humidity than usual, but still a wonderful day.

I've been working on getting the butt end of the grip to be pointing towards the ball on the downswing.  My old habit was to come down poinitng below the plane and hope my hands could save it.  They could, but it was tough on my hands and the grips.  Grips cost money and while the pension is beyond generous, it's not that big, and one shouldn't squander!  Besides the athletic tape to keep my thumb from bleeding was getting expensive too. 

So I've been trying to aim at the ball and this quiets my hands.  Now, there is one other strange puzzle piece lingering is the gestalt of my modern swing and that is a strange, early, and seemingly without purpose raising of the right foot.

It's coming up too early.  People are talking about it.  And we are talking about an international conversation here. 

I usually am not aware of it.  I thought it might be an adjustment of my early hand path and it would just wander off to some other dimension when it was no longer needed.

Now, today, I'm flattening the swing.  Then it seems that if I want to, I can add some speed/effort right at the bottom of the swing.  This seems to work well, too.  I'm losing some minor directional control, but the club ball contact is producing sounds that even Ben Hogan would find satisfying.

I hit one 5 iron and Sonny remarked on the sound and he was 50 yards away at the time.

As I was doing this, I notice that my hands are running ahead of the body.  You could think of this as stopping the body and flinging the arms forward.  One should not want to be known as a "flinger" and it didn't feel like a good long term swing facet on to which I wanted to hang. 

So I think to myself, mayhaps I can move the body first and bring the arms along in due time?  Since the hand path is better than it was, perhaps this is now possible, where I wasn't capable of it earlier due to the need to flip the back on path. 

I'm willing to give it a try.  It felt that the swing was in control and the body and arms were synced and working together.  Yippie!  This is the holy grail of the golf swing -- to be synced up.  Much better than to be in a state of flingdom.

I stumble on this about hole 12.  I then hit an iron over the green.  This is better than it sounds as a club that is going too far is indicative of swing efficiency.  On the long par 5 13th I hit a nice, long drive.  The second is a fairway wood that goes where I aimed it and I find a bunker about 140 with lip that loomed.  I hit an 8 iron that clears the lip and then I find I'm 4 feet from the pin.  It's a fast sliding putt, but in it goes.

14 is a another great drive.  An iron in and two putt for par.  14 is the last of the tough holes on the back nine and I'm close to licking the proverbial chops.

An interesting phenominum takes place when I'm playing well, I seem to disconnect and just play along.  I don't think about much and am not real aware of the score.  It may be the "being in the zone."

The 15th is a long par 3 with a back pin and wind.  I hit one of the better hybrids into this and it's an automatic two putt.  16th is a longish with a tricky green.  Well, it's tricky if you don't hit it to 5 feet after a wonderful drive. 

17th was a 4 wood down the right side of the fairway.  Short of the pond and looking directly up the length of the green.  An mid iron in and another simple par.

The 18th is a dog leg to the left.  It curls quite a bit and there is a forest of sycamore trees that do not allow you to cut the corner.  Another drive, hit with confidence, down the right, which opens the corner of the dog leg.

I hybrid into the wind to setup an 8 iron to a deep pin.

I cream that and it floats over the green.  I pitch back to 4 feet and hit a beautiful putt.  It doesn't go in, but it rolled with a honesty seldom found in public life these days. 

So the back comes in at 1 over 37.  The feeling that I have almost complete control over the long shots is bit overwhelming.  One fears that it will vanish!  However it seems to me that the understanding of what I am doing is somewhat mastered.  If I just stumbled upon it, I could see it wandering off.  But with all this struggle to discover it, I think I'll be able to hang on to it.  Besides, it's a lot simpler than what I was doing before.

Even the errant right foot is starting to stay out of the action. 

What a day.  The frozen yogurt tasted especially nice at lunch.  The afternoon nap was one of comfort and satisfaction.  I look forward to the next outing.