Distance is not a problem. What about accuracy, is that a problem? In other words, can you select the 4 iron and aim at a target 205 yards away and be confident that you will hit it? Ask the same question for all your clubs, even the putter, just use the appropriate distance for the club you select.

Moe Norman, Jim Furyk, John Daly, J.B. Holmes, Colin Montgomery (sp?). Just the names evoque images of weird looking swings, don't it? Yet it appears, by the looks of the statistics, that each of those players have had success except perhaps J.B. Holmes but you get the point.

So you want a better swing. To do what? To strike the ball better? How about you stop working on your swing and start working on striking the ball better? It's quite obvious that you have a very powerful swing, now's the time to have a very accurate stroke. Stop me when I stop making sense.

If you want to qualify, you'll have to be accurate enough to send the ball to your target more often than the other guys. Everybody can send it far, few can send it close. Let's do some math. If the only thing you could do was send the ball 200 yards but always on target, what score would you do on any course of your choice? Allow one putt per hole: You're always sending the ball to your target after all. When you're done, allow two putts per hole. Just for fun. Then average the two scores and try to qualify with it.

Let's put it differently. Can you, with any club in your bag, select a target, put the ball down, strike it and send it to that target every time? If the answer is no, you now know what you must work on. It's not the swing.

Let's put it differently. Again. What if you had to cast, reverse pivot, come over the top, slide your hips, in order to send the ball exactly where you wanted, would you do all those faults?

Let's put it differently. Yet again. If you want to compete, you must be ready to try everything including faults and otherwise, keep what works including faults and otherwise, discard what doesn't including faults and otherwise, for the sole purpose of sending the ball to your target using the club. Otherwise, you're not playing golf. And if you're not playing golf, you can't compete.

Let's put it differently. For the last time. What is the only thing you can't do badly if you want to send the ball to your target using the club? The answer is so obvious, we take it for granted. Contact. Or impact. Or whatever you want to call it, it's the interaction between club and ball. It's the only thing you can't do wrong, otherwise, you're not sending the ball to your target using that club.

"Excuse me young man, would you be so kind as to tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?"

"Practice."

Perhaps what you need is not swing advice but focus advice. You are not focusing on the right thing. Or if your prefer, good on you to have focused on that swing for so long but now it's time to switch your focus to something that will produce results. Focus on making proper contact. Focus on sending the ball to your target using the club. If you do anything that prevents you from making proper contact and subsequently sending the ball to your target using the club, stop doing that thing.

Seriously.


www.youtube.com for the video