I'm about to conclude that I've been doing things incorrectly.
Now I've been able to move the ball pretty well this summer. But the driver is still the weak spot. Yes, it's gotten better, but it is nothing that I can rely on.
I have two things that I'm try out.
We can start with the easy item and it may be that this has been my algorithm all along. We are talking pitching here. The idea is that we swing a circle using arms and club with as large a radius as we can. Thus we don't hing the wrists and chop at it. We come back at the ball and allow a long flat spot in swing as we hit it. The idea being that we get a nice consistent contact with a consistent club face angle to the ball. I've been at the range for a couple of days and tried this. I'm pretty happy with the technique. The trajectory seems a bit low. I've not taken this to the course. Friday's round was lost to a memorial service for a friend. Monday is the next round and I'm eager to try this out on a course. If you watch the pros this week you will see a lot of this as they bump it along the fringes and greens.
The second swing thought is to make sure the hips are not too active. Get the hands in front of the body and then let the hips go. It's a different take on the swing. The hips don't pull anything around, but we want to get into a good position, close to the impact position before we drive hips around.
This can be thought of syncing the arms to the body. It feels slow, but I'm really happy with contact and distance. I was rolling shots up onto the 250 target at the range. The tees were about 15 yards up, but I am happy to hit the ball 235 or so with range balls.
What I've found is that to do the above, you have to use the torso more than the legs/hips. It may be that I've never really used the torso much. An untapped power source!
I looked for YouTube videos for syncing the driver swing. I ran across a gal who talked about pros having a very solid and stable platform from which to hit. I think this is an important thought. We amateurs are all over the place and have no balance. The pros are rock solid and balanced. If you can be in balance, you can be very consistent.
I've been trying to turn without moving my hips much. Then do not take a too long back swing and then get the arms moving and join the hips, then let the hips go.
I hit some nice shots. I have to think if I hit any bad ones. If they were, they were up in the air and out there. If I can move all of that to the course, I will be happy.
As I've been trying this, my calluses have started to move. I'm getting sore spots on the joints of the little finger on the left hand, The sore spot on the left thumb is in remission. This lines up with what Hogan had in his book. Since I started as hooker of the ball, this is probably a very good sign.
Sadly we have to wait for Monday. Since retirement, I have found weekends to be the bane of my existence. The roads are crowded and the golf course is closed to me!
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