Taking It To The Course

It is always the players job to organize his thoughts and prepare to use them on the course.  A few days before an event I will spend more time on the course hitting shots (especially ones I am weak at) than on the range hitting balls (not that I don’t hit balls on the range, just not as much, and if I have a choice I will practice on the course).  If I am working on multiple items in my swing I will try to boil them down to a usable few, usually one back and one forward.  The important thing is to have a pattern that feels like a full motion, not something that is broken down into small pieces.  My athletic concept is sidearm throwing.  My problem areas are compressing in the backswing and finishing my upper trunk movement, and in the forward swing getting my movement immediately toward my left heel.  My back issues cause a lot of stiffness in my hips, so these issues are constant and require conscious thought on every swing.  I have no choice, in that regard, but to “play swing”.  I think many people are in somewhat of the same boat, and are not helped at all by people (sport psychologists especially) who keep telling them they are “thinking too much” and that they just need to ” commit to the target”.  Swings hit the ball.  If yours doesn’t work that well you better think about it. 

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