We all agree that golf is a daunting game, so we constantly look for a magic bullet to make it easier. Yet, inevitably, we try the magic bullets and, alas, they often don't work. I, you, all of us fall into this snake pit of hope. But I'm here to tell you, yet again, of a swing thought that will at least get you started on the right groove at the very beginning of the swing, even before the action starts. For once the action does start, the mind should be relatively free from thought, as I've stated before on these pages.
It involves a part of the body we just as soon forget, and often do in the course of daily life, unless.....unless...like a cut finger, that part causes us pain or discomfort. Funny how that is with we humans. We ignore our bodies until pain arises drawing our attention to...well, get rid of the pain. This swing thought reverses that negative pattern. For this thought involves the incredible, formidable, moveable, hip joint. Yes, the one that people get replaced after it's worn down from wear and tear and, well, age. So, like Elvis of old, we've got to use it or we lose it.
Now I submit that the right hip (left hip, of course, for the lefty), is one of the key elements on the backswing that insures the proper loading of the right side that sets us up for the blinding fast downswing which happens as a result of that loading--for better or worse. Even a slow swinger gets the driver to 60 or 70 mph which, when you consider a car, is pretty darn fast. As Rocco says that happens in a split second, and by necessity, without thought.
So I suggest the initial swing thought at the start of the swing is to rotate the right hip by moving it back and to the right while keeping the right leg braced with your weight to the instep of the right foot. This prevents swaying while promoting turning as if in a barrel. The shoulders, arms, wrists and hands follow the right hip as the left shoulder touches the chin at the pinnacle of the backswing. Freeing the right hip in this way, helps lengthen the backswing arc which ultimately increases clubhead speed and distance. You might also experiment by allowing the left heel to lift a bit to lengthen that arc even more. That move, which modern instruction has often discouraged, will serve to free the right hip in its rotation.
Since we ditched the hula hoop as a form of recreation and exercise back in the 60s, our hips, as a society, have grown lazy from disuse, which has crept into the average golfer's operating manual. In fact in the 70s and 80s, the instruction often recommended not moving the hips on the backswing at all! That is now gone with the Dodo bird.
Everyone can turn that right hip more or less, which means just about everyone has the capacity to hit the ball further with more consistency. Masters champ Jon Rahm is a good example of a top level pro who rotates that hip only minimally but attains tremendous distance and consistency. Viktor Hovland demonstrates a fuller hip turn with similar results. I believe the hips, being a go-between the upper and lower body can activate both via their rotation. For once the right hip is fully rotated, the downswing is almost automatic in uncoiling to impact (given other fundamentals are intact). Of course, it will take practice to make sure the timing is correct. And the time to practice is where top pros and top amateurs, for that matter, have the advantage. Anyone can learn to play golf, but to play at top levels, practice, and a lot of it, is essential.
But you and I don't necessarily have as a goal to play at top levels, which is good since we have much less time to practice. Or least I know I don't! I'll take low to mid 80s and be very happy at my advanced age. I'll take something between par and bogey golf. I'll take solid contact most of the time. I'll take confident chipping and pitching where I know, if I concentrate, I can get up and down much of the time. I'll take effective, confident putting where three-putts are rare and I can drop occasional 25 footers for birdies. If I break 80 on occasion, I'm in heaven. At that point, maybe I'll even enter a local tournament, getting back that competitive feeling when I was second man on my high school team that won the Philadelphia city championship in '63.
Hey, a guy can dream, can't he!
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Congrats to Jon Rahm for a great comeback victory at the Masters, on his countryman Seve's birthday and the 40th anniversary of Seve's second Masters victory. PGA elites who jumped ship to LIV came close but ultimately lacked the real tournament experience to win. I suggest the PGA offer the LIV golfers who played in the Masters a once-only, time-limited chance to quit LIV forever and return to the PGA where they belong. What do you say, Jay?
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As for the proposal to limit the distance touring pros can hit it via a different golf ball for those pros, it's not a preferable solution, but it may be the only solution. The problem is that as the pros get longer with better training, better equipment, and better techniques, tournament golf courses, which are mostly privately owned, stay about the same distances, requiring the acquisition of more land and resources to lengthen them. That is unrealistic and near impossible to do. Even requiring new courses to be of an increased length is unlikely and probably illegal. It would also deter people from becoming members--the heartblood of private courses. So, yes, keep the ball as it is for us amateurs. We need all the distance we can get. And have the pros play a modified ball that limits their distance. I'm not thrilled with that solution but I do think it's the only way. Your thoughts?
Oh, and I loved that Jon Rahm won the Masters. Good for him. I don't think Phil will ever come back to the PGA tour. Brooks Koepka might be persuaded, but I'd still be surprised. LIV is, of course, 54. Ironically, it was the fourth round that propelled Phil's tie for 2nd. It undid Brooks. 72 holes is a tournament. 54 is an exhibition.
I haven't decided, yet, what I think of rolling back the ball for pros. I'm pretty ambivalent about it.
Got a new driver. I'm not really hitting it farther, but I think that will come. The cool thing is I'm hitting it straighter. And yes, the right hip is crucial. When I get it right, my tempo is what it should be and that's my bottom line.