I hadn’t swung a club in more than five months. I live in the northeast, so by November I was done playing (don’t really enjoy cold-weather golf), the weather this spring has been kind of crappy, and just been too busy at work to find time to hit balls, let alone play a round of golf. But I have been both curious and anxious to see, after losing 25lbs over the last 5 months and working out, how I would hit the ball and what my golf swing would look like with my new body. Would it be a new, improved swing?
So finally a couple of days ago, I found a few minutes to go to the range. I hit balls for about 15 minutes – hit it okay considering the layoff time. Then, yesterday I had my camera set-up for my morning lessons and in the afternoon I found a few minutes to hit balls again. So after hitting balls for 5 minutes, I decided to video my swing and see what it looked like. Now the thing that I’ve struggled with for years is maintaining my posture on the downswing. When I did my TPI Golf Fitness Certification, they called this move an “early extension” and I was a classic example. They also presented data that showed that 99% of golfers who can’t do a full-overhead squat, will early extend on the downswing. And I was one that couldn’t do the squat, so there was some evidence that my physical limitations were the cause, or at least contributing to the problem. I’ve worked on the doing the squat and exercise related to it, and can now do one fairly well.
So I took a couple of swings and videoed them. I went to the computer, pulled up the swings, and the first thing I looked at was whether or not I was early extending. And?
The answer, unfortunately is, “yes I was”. But I wasn’t disappointed, because really I was just being hopeful. We learned at TPI that just because you change and improve a physical limitation, many times, in and of itself the motion may not change immediately. In other words, just because I am now physically able to maintain my posture, doesn’t mean that I will. I saw the same thing with the length of my swing. I am certainly more flexible now than I was 5 months ago, and because of my limited flexibility I tend to have a fairly short backswing. And it’s still short.
So it appears that we learn a motor pattern (our golf swings) much by the way our bodies are built – both with its strengths and weaknesses – and that pattern gets “set” over time. So now the question is, with my new body, what and how much of it will I have to do to eliminate the early extension in my golf swing?

I know its a few days after the fact, but I just started looking at the situation and what happened to Rory at the Masters. You’ve got to be kidding me!
The question is whether or not Rory, after not extricating his ball from the bunker on #18, would suffer a penalty. What’s in question was whether or not Rory smoothed the bunker with his foot to smooth it or if it was kicked in anger. If it was the former, no penalty, the latter would be a penalty. The reason for it is if he kicked it out of anger he would have been deemed to be testing the surface before his next shot (ball was still in the bunker). What a ridiculous rule! HE JUST HIT A SHOT OUT THE BUNKER! What better way is there to check the surface and see what it’s like than to hit a shot from it? So he would gain more information if he kicked it? Who would kick something to test the surface anyway?
I realize the rules are there to help us (that’s what they say) and are needed to protect the game. But to me this rule is just ridiculous. The USGA is slow to change the rules but they need to take a look at this one (and a few others).
That’s my thought, what do you think?

There are only two Sundays a year where I can pretty much guarantee that I’ll be watching golf – US Open Sunday and the Master’s Sunday, and this year was no different. I got out of work early and headed over to the family’s house for Easter dinner. Unfortunately, all they have for televisions are an 8” (that’s inches not feet!) in the room where we ate, and a very old 42” rear projection TV (the picture was far superior on the 8” TV). There’s nothing better than watching the Masters in HD, but there was no choice. So after getting past the HUGE visual disappointment, and yelling “where’s the ball” cause the picture was so bad at times you couldn’t see the ball land, I resigned myself to – it is, what it is – and enjoy it anyway. And enjoy it I did!
Phil and Tiger brought some early excitement as they were in a relatively early pairing as they were so many shots back. But they started to put on a show, but what happened? Phil shot 30 on the front, then made the error of hitting it in the water on #12, missed to very make-able putts, one for eagle, then again on #17. Then he bogeyed 18. And what about Tiger? He bogeyed the last two holes, and on #18 hit one of the worst recovery shots I had ever seen him hit – very uncharacteristic indeed.
Campbell, who played great all week, had his chance, but also bogeyed 18, and his tournament was capped off by the missed putt in the playoff. Then there was Perry who was two up with two to play and bogeyed the last two holes, skulling a chip on #17 and missing the green left, of all places, on #18. Then of course he missed again on the short side of #10 and it was over. Cabrera, who’s short game and putting, when he needed it, was clutch and his brilliant play brought him to the finish line.
Now it wouldn’t be fair for me to I say that all of these mistakes, bad shots, etc, were caused by pressure, because we have all seen bad shots hit by pros, and many bad shots we hit ourselves, with nothing on the line. Only Perry, when talking about the chip on #17 admitted that his nerves got to him, at least on the shot. But I have to think that at least some, if not most of these player’s performances were severely impaired by their strong desire to wear the green jacket. What do you think?

A few days ago there was an article in the Wall Street Journal, titled “The Method in the Madness”, by John Paul Newport. I felt very encouraged by Mr. Newport’s article as he wrote about how swing fads come and go, but the great teachers realize that no one method can work for every golfer. Bravo! Unfortunately, golfers don’t hear or read this enough. Instead they’re exposed to the latest, greatest method or bunch of quick-fix tips that don’t really fix anything and do little more than offer empty promises.
Back in December, while attending the PGA Coaching Summit, I had a conversation with a well-known golf professional who believes, when it comes to golf instruction, that a shift in the paradigm has now begun – one that will see golf professionals focus less on “teaching” golfers and more on helping them learn, in the individual’s own way, the way they learn all other physical skills. I would like to think that methodology will also start to move toward extinction, although I’m sure I’m being idealistic to think that, as it will most likely be around for a long time and will probably never fade away. Same thing with fads and quick fixes. As long as a golfer can be convinced that the ideas being “sold” are the “secret”, then there will always be buyers of these ideas.
But my concern is if this paradigm shift is taking place, and I do see some small glimpses of that happening, how long will it take, and will it be able to sustain itself to be realized? Golfers are continually being bombard with fast-fix advice and the latest, greatest swing theory. It will take long time, possibly with the next generation of golfers, like our children and their children, before any real change could possibly be seen. Either that or the concept of learning golf and hitting a golf ball with your own unique swing becomes in vogue. But I doubt that will happen anytime soon. In the mean time, I’ll keep trying to push this paradigm shift and continue to hope for the best.