i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

Eventually got round to ordering my copy yesterday.

I'm reasonably happy with the way I'm striking the ball at the moment but I think having more knowledge about what you are trying to achieve at impact and also having some visual images to focus on will only help my game.

Will report back on the results.

It is easy to come through impact with the clubface open or closed without thinking about it, these will produce poor shots. Coming into impact with an open face that squares then closes will produce effortless power as opposed to powerless effort. All you need to do is rotate your forearms as suggested previously.

As far as consciously or unconsciously trying to close the club at impact, I agree that there is a strong element of timing to this. Of course timing and tempo are very important to the entire swing mechanics.

To get a nice feel for rhythm of the closing action, this is what I do. I use an image in my mind of holding a tennis racquet or table tennis racquet and as I'm walking along on the golf course I swing my arm to the right across my chest emulating a partial back swing with my palm facing down. Then as I swing my arm back I sort of flip my wrist so my palm is face up. I imagine this happening just through impact not too quickly but certainly not gradually. I think of a "flip". Then when I step up to address the ball I'm prepared with the motion and rhythm I want to perform in my actual swing.

My problem was always pushing out to the right. If I execute the "flip" correctly I get a really nice draw and a bit of a noticable power boost. The ball has a nice "crack" sound at impact, the kind you get when you know you've hit the ball well.

Of course if you over-do it or miss-time it you'll get a wild hook or pull it left! But this is worth practising because when you get it right, this motion gets the club face facing more or less in the right direction at impact.

I think there's a bit of a misconception of how the face must be exactly square at impact. It is ideal to get the face square, but surely there's room for a slight margin of error. Consciously trying to maintain a square face at impact might even do more harm than good. Your natural arm rotation should close the club. But if you're like me and you tend to play a push, you can try to fool around with a stronger grip or try to learn the flip.

I also think there is an element of forearm strength and flexibility involved in the swing motion as well. Some people have a naturally strong forearm that tends t close the face better, some of us don't. You might even try some strengthening exercises concentrating on your forearms.

The opening and closing continues to elude me. But I wonder if it's really all that important. I might make progress just focusing on the other two skills. I'm thinking the third skill may simply be over my head at this point, but I could return to it at some point in the future.

Tod,

The book suggests a drill where you hold the club out in front of you and swing it around your body while noticing the natural opening and closing of the clubface. It's a good drill just before taking address of the ball.

The other drill that uses the hand clapping exercise also shows you how it's done and the additional power it creates.

Yes. Maybe I'm just confused. To me, this natural opening and closing is...the whole story. Take the club back; it opens. Swing through; it closes. I don't have to do anything. I don't need a drill for this. But the impression I have is that there's more to it than this natural opening and closing; there's some added torque or something, else why elevate it to a separate "skill"?

Anyway, I'm just going to ignore the 3rd skill and assume that it takes care of itself if the first two are in order.

__________________
Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

The proof is in how the ball flies. If the ball pushes to the right, you're "natural" closing action is not enough. IF you're drawing the ball back the the left you are closing the face enough through your natural movements of your arm. My point is some people's amrs don't do it enough and you have to conciusly add to that turning over of the wrist. Some do it by strengthening the grip to cause the club to come to a more closed positin at impact than it was at address. Some do this wrist action thing.

I shot a 106 today; a 101 last time out. My scores are going in the wrong direction, but it actually wasn't a complete disaster. Today both irons and driver were faltering. I did, however, remain very mentally focused and resisted the temptation to diagnose and "fix" my swing. Usually when this happens I would immediately start trying to work out what I should alter: my foot position, my takeaway, my shoulder turn, whatever. Today I did none of that. I stayed focused on the club face making impact on the ball. It didn't help, of course, but the results were no worse than they would have been if I had started a series of swing fixes. Maybe in the long run this discipline will help.

__________________
Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

I guess it underlines what everyone probably already knew; some methods of tuition work great for some people, and some others work best for others.

NB; this isn't scepticism; I still want to give it a try.

Good luck, Todd! Keep trying

I feel for you man. I am going through the same thing. I just can't imagine how I made good shots a few months ago, the way I am swinging now. It all feels so alien to me right now.

A short update on my 3Skills experience:

I played a few games whilst on Holiday last week and had a round at my club with a PGA Pro mate of mine on Friday.

I have been concentrating on the skills and keeping all other swing thoughts at bay, my game on Friday was great I hit a number of drives that were around 300 yards splitting the fairway and that is not normally like me. I can honestly say that my iron play has been great, I have to be a little careful with club selection though as the improved contact can easily over hit now. Need to do something with my putting as I left around 6 birdy opportunities by an inch or two short.

If only I had read this book and been given some instruction on its precepts years ago it would have saved me a whole bunch of heartache.

I would be interested to see how a complete beginner would fair with the system as I still am a little wary of the idea of completely forgetting body movements, I still think that basic setup and swing concepts are necessary but would be delighted to be shown otherwise.

So! Brian is getting on fine with it, I wish the rest of you the same progress.

__________________
Best Regards
Brian

________________________________
Funny o'l game!

Well, I'm looking at this as an experiment. I'm trying to apply the 3 skills as they're presented, without mixing in other ideas or "first aid" swing remedies. It's only a couple of weeks so far, and even though my performance has been declining, I'm not passing any judgment yet. I'll keep doing the drills and see what happens.

hi brian
nice to hear the 3skills is working well for you as well, hope it falls into place for the other guys.
had my works society comp today, only went and won it with 38 points
not hitting 300 yd drives but every one of them went where it should!
irons were good although the wind played havoc at times, short game is getting better by the round!
its great having the freedom to just hit shots!

Great news Ian... congrats mate

The first of many hopefully

Good work Slats.

Glad to see that all the work you have been putting in recently is paying dividends.