Shoulder Down - Uneasy feeling

Thanks Tom! Thankfully, my teammates weren't great so it wasn't as if I was the weak link. I was in good company. But it sucks when you hit a drive straight down the fairway ("hey, maybe I am straightening things out") only to follow it up with a complete miss. Nope, still don't know what I'm doing today. It's a minor setback - I know I can, and will, do better.

Awesome advice, @Russell Hogue, PhD!

@James Flood - 4 or 5 bombs of 280+ yards? You must have been doing something right!

Scrambles can be all fun and pressure-free until we hit a few crappy shots with three other teammates staring at us and - perception or reality depending on the group and the competition - relying on us to contribute. Then things can tense up in a hurry and it becomes very difficult to find some kind of groove.

I'm with Russell. Forget about it. The season is young for you. Many good rounds ahead!

@James Flood I started a thread about how to handle a bad round. My advice, forget it. Don’t go hunting for corrections or beating yourself up about a bad day because one round doesn’t signify corrections are necessary. We are human, so bad days will happen. Now, if it is more than a round, when it creeps into a few bad rounds then it’s time to put in some work, but it’s critical that the work includes video. You have to see what you are actually doing not what it feels like. A coach I work with sometimes has a great game to help monitor things. Every shot you assess (RBIS) 1. Rhythm - did the swing stay in sync nice tempo, not rushed. 2. Balance - were you in balance and able to hold your finish. 3. Intent - did you have a specific target and did you stay with the target for the entire swing, or did you black out and default to “hit the ball” 4. Strain - was the swing effortless or did you tighten up to go after it. If on any swing you messed up, not because of the result but because you didn’t have good RBIS…then you simply tell yourself “you know, I was falling back after that shot”…that’s it. Move on. Set a goal of having X percentage of your shots within your parameters…and let the score and game take care of itself. In this game the goal is not outcome driven, but process oriented. My bet is if you swing in with a. Good rhythm, stay in balance, release over the intermediate target where you want the ball to go, and keep strain down so the swing is effortless…you will be shocked at the outcome.

Well, I played horribly yesterday. Really bad. Uncharacteristically bad. I don't have any video from the round but my operative theories for the failure are:

1) too much tension / too rigid in my swing. This, of course, got progressively worse as the more I missed my shots, the more determined I was to correct things. I just never got comfortable with my swing;

2) I didn't consider it at the time but I'm pretty sure I wasn't allowing my hips to turn which led to an arm-heavy swing. I was so focused on turning my shoulder that I seemed to forget about my hips. It's as if my upper body was moving out of sync with my lower body. The tension exacerbated this, of course, and is ultimately the problem. I'm doing this from memory so, other then the tension, I could be completely off-base.

I had been to the range a few days prior and felt pretty good about the swing. Still working on a few things (as are we all) but the swing was fairly reliable. I wasn't missing much and when I missed, it was within my expected margin of error. Yesterday I was all over the place.

That said, it wasn't all bad. I managed to pull off least 4 or 5 bomb drives (280 or so) and a handful of decent iron shots. Back to range this week.

Thanks Tom! I think I needed to hear that. I still think I could stand to get my lead shoulder down more but that's what I'll focus on. I'm playing in a tournament today (a scramble, so no pressure, thankfully) and I'll see how things go. Thanks again for such a detailed response.

James

Glad to see this thread - was considering starting one specifically on this topic. I'll post in more detail later but I'm pretty sure this is what's holding me back. Haven't played much but I've gone to the range a few times. Based on video, I'm pretty sure I have the following in a serviceable state: setup, arms straight, weight forward. Still working on the lifting in the backswing but it's much better than when I ended last season.

I'm not sure I should even be focusing on it but I can't seem to get a fuller backswing. I feel like I should be able to go further but I my body tends to max out at (what looks like) a 3/4 backswing. Is it a symptom of a deeper flaw? Could the shoulder be the missing piece? I have no idea. Even if I ultimately abandon it, I'd at least like to feel what it's like. I'll post a video in that swing forum later.

@Russell Hogue, PhD - Arnold Palmer's favorite tip, perhaps?

@Ronald Burkholder this is my biggest challenge right now. Turning the shoulder down. Did you get past the issue? I suspect it just took time?

Thanks, Tom. I spent an hour on the range this morning before my round just doing the Lesson 2.8 drill with the LW, PW, 8, 5, and Driver. Then I went and shot 75 with one 3 putt and one lost ball. The 3 putt was on the first green. The practice green was slower than the first green and I powered a 20 foot putt 10 feet past and lipped out the comeback putt. The penalty was a straight right 4 hybrid that didn't hook back. I should not have been aiming off the fairway. Anyway that was probably my only bad swing all day. I didn't fat any shots today. Hit 11 greens, had 30 putts, and enjoyed some Crispy KFC strikes most of the day. I just watched the recommended video and will concentrate on tucking on the downswing to make sure my post impact extension is there.

BTW, you rock!

@Ronald Burkholder - Have a look at this video on extending the spine through impact and let me know if it helps you resolve the issue.