Interesting. I recorded the video on Saturday. I studied it a little and saw how short my backswing is, which I already knew. I hadn't been aware of how little I was bending my knees, though, because it *felt* like they were sufficiently flexed. But watching the video, I could see that they weren't bent enough to provide stability, so my upper body was rocking around a bit. I also noticed that even though I *felt* like my short backswing was slow enough, in fact it was rushed.
The great thing about video is the lesson it provides about the difference between what you're doing and what it feels like you're doing.
I mentioned in another post that for a long time, the worst part of my game has been my mid- and long
irons, and that I often duff 10 or so iron shots in a round.
So, after making this video, I played 18 holes on Sunday. I didn't duff *any* iron shots. My score was 96, which is good for me but obviously nothing special. But I was also using a new putter, which I haven't gotten a feel for yet, so I did a lot of 3-putting. The main thing was: I wasn't duffing my
irons.
So, what was different?
1. I used the modified "diagonal" grip that I had been experimenting with. The position of the club in my hand is no more than a centimeter different from what it was before, but it seems to make a difference in terms of finding the sweet spot.
2. I made an effort to take a bit more backswing. Not a lot more; just a little.
3. I flexed my knees more than I've been used to doing.
4. I set up the ball in the middle of my stance for all iron shots. I'd been resisting doing this, because of various things I've read about where the ball "should" be at setup. But whenever I've looked at divots or places where my
irons s****e the grass, they've always started just at the center line between my feet. This may mean that I don't get my hips around enough, but I've been unable to fix it. So my usual iron shot has tended to be either very thin or topped or, if I hit it in the air, a pull-hook. All of that suggests that I'm making contact with the ball too late, so I just decided to give up trying to strike the ball further forward in my stance.
5. I slowed my backswing more than felt natural.
That's five changes to my swing, but since they all come at different times (except 2 and 5), it wasn't that hard to do. Once I have my grip, I get my foot/ball position, then the backswing.
So that was that. On the first hole, I hit a bad drive. I almost always do on the first hole. No matter how much I limber up, stretch, and so on, I seem to need to hit one bad ball before I can settle down and hit properly. Anyway, that bad drive only went about 150 yds, low and off to the left. I walked to it and took out my 5i, with 225 yds to go. I didn't choose the 5i because I thought I could make it to the green. I picked it because it was the longest iron that I could take out of the bag with some iota of confidence. I set up and swung, with the modifications described above, and hit a perfect shot that landed about 30 yds from the green. I was flabbergasted. Since when do I hit a 5i 190 yds?
I didn't pay too much attention, thinking it was just a fluke. On the next hole I got a decent drive, maybe 240 yds., in the middle of the fairway. I walked to the ball, shrugged, and took out the 5i again. Click--another nice long straight ball.
This kept happening. I'd take an iron out, and hit it clean and straight. Good distance. Sometimes my line was off, but then I'd check and I was aiming carelessly anyway. I never spent too much time on aim before, because my iron shots were so wild anyway.
I know too well that what "clicks" one day can easily unclick the next. But I just thought I'd share the experience of playing a round of golf where each shot was, well, golf-like.
Todd
PS -- Relevant to the recent discussion about True Length Technology, although my
irons all seemed to work well, it was only the 5i that was giving me unusual distance, suggesting that that particular iron best fits the mechanics of my build and swing.