2 The Basics Chapter
1. Harsh reality – the basics When I started my challenge I presumed that somewhere under it all I had a basic golf swing. I presumed that I’d sit with my pro and she would make a few tweaks here and a couple of changes there and I’d simply start practicing. But No. This was not the case. She insisted that I start right back at the beginning. We did grip, stance, posture and alignment for two full weeks. I had to do nothing but simply practice this and practice my takeaway. You have no concept of how hard this was since I was so fired up to get going, but it turned out to be very wise advice. This is probably not necessary for you though. Her perspective was that if I was to play golf at a “scratch level”, I needed a swing to reflect that and one that would not have any fundamental flaws. I couldn’t just rely on bandaids to my existing swing. I have read some hilarious comments about my swing on forums and even on my own blog. People assume that I had this swing to begin with and that I just worked on the rest of my game. They refuse to accept (because it makes it more uncomfortable for their own situation) that maybe I did have a rubbish swing to begin with and worked extraordinarily hard to get that right. The second thing I did was discover a fascinating guy called Jim Mclellan. His video helped me enormously because he concentrates heavily on three things. Good high backswing, good high BALANCED follow through and keep your head still. Then just swish the club between those two points and away you go! Jim’s theory does expand into more than that obviously (which I’ll come to in the next section) but at heart he keeps it that simple. Jim doesn’t preach classic basics but he says to watch exactly what he does and swing for 14 – 21 days copying his swing. In other words, yet again, no striking of the ball until you have nailed the basics. So between my pro, Jim’s advice and Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons I worked hard on these basics for the first few weeks. I stood in front of mirrors and compared my posture with Hogan and sat comparing his grip to mine in front of the television. I bought a grip that has the hand positions formed into it. I took it into my office and kept my hands in that position as I was conducting meetings or reading.
[ www.breakparblueprint.com ]
So you have a few options, but like I said before you started this course, I will not be dishing out classic swing advice – there are others who are far better qualified than me to do that. I sincerely doubt that you will need to get right back to basics like I did because I doubt your goal is so ambitious. I would suggest however that you see a pro to get a simple check over your basics and see if there are any glaring errors. I won’t be able to see those and you’ll hold yourself back from the rest of the program if you’re constantly fighting a big hook or a slice. If you don’t want to do that then Jim’s course is brilliant or you could simply sit down and do it the hard way with Hogan’s book. The choice is yours. But – three key points. 1. If you’re using a pro, walk a million miles if he/she gives you loads of swing thoughts to work on. Some pros are highly technical and will cause more problems that they cure. 2. Almost nothing is more important than grip, alignment and stance. Watch the pros on TV. The coach behind them is checking this all the time. It seems basic, but most of the faults in the rest of the swing are compensations for this. Get your pro to focus on this. 3. Grip, grip, grip – it’s almost impossible to play well with a bad grip. Sadly, it’s one of the hardest things to change. Just be aware of that.
[ www.breakparblueprint.com ]
[ www.breakparblueprint.com ]
So you have a few options, but like I said before you started this course, I will not be dishing out classic swing advice – there are others who are far better qualified than me to do that. I sincerely doubt that you will need to get right back to basics like I did because I doubt your goal is so ambitious. I would suggest however that you see a pro to get a simple check over your basics and see if there are any glaring errors. I won’t be able to see those and you’ll hold yourself back from the rest of the program if you’re constantly fighting a big hook or a slice. If you don’t want to do that then Jim’s course is brilliant or you could simply sit down and do it the hard way with Hogan’s book. The choice is yours. But – three key points. 1. If you’re using a pro, walk a million miles if he/she gives you loads of swing thoughts to work on. Some pros are highly technical and will cause more problems that they cure. 2. Almost nothing is more important than grip, alignment and stance. Watch the pros on TV. The coach behind them is checking this all the time. It seems basic, but most of the faults in the rest of the swing are compensations for this. Get your pro to focus on this. 3. Grip, grip, grip – it’s almost impossible to play well with a bad grip. Sadly, it’s one of the hardest things to change. Just be aware of that.
[ www.breakparblueprint.com ]
