Ross May 11, 2016
Great comment Larry. I’m pretty sure that most golfers have more fun and enjoy their round more when they hit it straight.
What I really like about what you said (a shorter backswing), reminds me of myself, when I had to take my P.A.T* for the PGA. To pass, I had to shoot no worse than a pair of 75’s. I knew (at that time), if I could just keep my tee shot in play, I’d have no problems. BTW … this is before I discovered “square club face”, which later solved this concern. So, I decided to only use 3 wood (at most) off any tee, to eliminate the chance for a big miss, and also protect my attitude. I wanted to put about a 75-80% effort on the swing. Well, it worked. I ended up hitting 30 out of 36 greens and remember standing on the last hole with 9 extra shots to pass. I almost felt like I was “bunting” all my tee shots to get them as straight as I could vs. hit is as “far” as I could. It was like the tee shot had a specific distance I wanted to hit. If you were on a par 3 and needed your 8 iron distance, you would not try to hit it as far as you could. That is the effort I played with, all day … for control.
I also like your (more club) idea. If you practice taking more club and learn to swing (completely**) at different paces and different backswing lengths, you can be very successful at golf. Don’t try this on the course util you’re sure of the results from prior practice.
* The P.A.T. (Playing Ability Test), is one part of becoming a Class A PGA Professional. You have to play (2) rounds of golf in one day, playing with other professionals, and beat a “target score” determined by the difficulty of the course.
** It is easy to “chunk” or “block shots” when you take more club, because psychologically, you know you have too much club if you hit it good … so many gofers “quit” or “cut off” the finish. This can cause a “flip”… or the arms/club lag too far behind in a “protective” (I don’t want to hit too far) nature. You MUST complete your rotation! You can shorten the backswing, but have to turn through completely … OR, you can turn completely at a slower pace.