'He's Going The Distance...

Coming into my last lesson I just wanted to make sure that my hinge action was right and that nothing else was glaringly bad that needed to be corrected. It actually turned out better than I thought as I was hitting the ball so well and swinging so well, Ted didn't want to change anything! But like I posted a couple of days ago, we went to work on my putting and then he saw me hit a few drivers and I started with that OTT and steer move and we found that to be a case of just being too quick on the startdown (something Homer Kelley specifically warns 'drive loaders' against in The Golfing Machine).

So, where do I go from here?

For starters, I plan on continually working on my swing in order to 'groove it down.' And the payoff has already started to show. Yesterday, I hit 16 greens in regulation and didn't take a great swing until my approach on the 15th hole. Granted, I wasn't making awful swings before then, but more or less in the so-so to decent range until that approach shot on 15. But, I was still able to hit 16 greens and pepper some flag sticks (5 approach shots were pretty flagsville). All with a lot of 'so-so' and 'decent' shots by my new standards.

That's good, but what else?

Well, the putting definitely needs to step up. Now with more greens I'm more likely to be faced with longer putts. Those have to fall occasionally to really go low.

But the other factor I plan on working soon is power.

Whether any of us like it or not, this is a power game these days. Power is the great equalizer because it can turn par 72's into par 68's for the power player and perhaps lower if there's a short enough par 4 on the course.

Now, that doesn't mean I'm trying to become a bomb-n-gouger, but more power is something I think is crucial to raising the level of my play. Get some more power, still hit the ball pure and now we're looking at a golfer who can really chew up par 5's for lunch. I think a lot of golfers are in a similar boat, so here's my simple plan of going about it.

For starters, I think any time you are trying to reach a destination or a goal, you need to first self assess where you are. We know that clubhead speed has a strong correlation to distance, so the first thing I plan on buying to give a self assessment is a clubhead speed monitor. This one uses doppler radar technology and is affordable and appears to do the trick.



It goes for $99.95 and can be found at http://www.probablegolfinstruction.com/SwingSpeed/swing-speed-golf-radar.htm.

Now, I know what you're thinking 'didn't you say that 'swingers' generally hit the ball further? So why not go to a 'swinging' pattern?'

I think 'swingers' generally do, but it's important to find that pattern that works best for you, and believe me I've tried swinging, it doesn't work for me. Also, I still contend that a 'hitter' can hit the ball quite a ways. The real goal is to increase clubhead speed without losing accuracy and still hitting it pure.

Part of the problem is that I need to get into better shape. Which I will eventually do, but I also plan at taking a stab at the 'Speed Chain' from which I've heard rave reviews about.



Here's a video of a golfer using the Speed Chain.



The Speed Chain can be found at http://speedchaininstructions.com/ for $129.95.





3JACK