Jun
01
2010

Addressing Problems, Not Symptoms

Posted by Double Eagle in Instruction, Practice, Swing Talk - 6 Comments

This is something that I think we often take for granted with our golf swings.

Think about how on one hand, the golf swing seems so simple. Just pick up a club and hit a ball with it. Easy. It truly is that simple.

On the other hand, if you want to optimize the power and control of that swing so that you can maximize your distance and fly the ball at the desired height, at the desired spin rate, and with as much or as little curve as desired, now we’re talking about an extremely complex machine.

So, how do problems and symptoms relate to that? I thought you’d never ask. Actually, I thought you would, but that’s just a figure of speech. Technically, it was me asking, though. Having fun yet?

Not only is the golf swing a complex machine, but it happens in a well-defined sequence. What that means is, we could also call the machine, a “chain of events”, where a mistake early on can easily carry all the way through the entire swing.

How many times have you heard the importance of a proper finish in the golf swing? Certainly, the point of that is not so that you can look good, though, I wonder with some people. What that means is, it’s important to get to a proper finish because it probably means we’ve done things right along the way.

At the same time, if we’ve mangled up the whole swing, but have a great finish (which we probably wouldn’t, but let’s pretend), then what have we achieved?

That’s a perfect example of what I’m talking about as a symptom and not the problem. Concentrating on fixing that symptom might not address the real problem.

Don’t get me wrong – that’s just an example and working on a better finish may very well help you fix the actual problem. But the finish happens well after the ball is in the air, relatively speaking. So, the odds are that something went wrong earlier that led to a poor finish.

If you have an infection, you could take some aspirin to help your aches fell better and maybe your fever will go down some. You might take some decongestant to help with the sniffles. But you still haven’t addressed the infection itself.

That’s at the heart of what I’m talking about. You need to make sure your swing is getting antibiotics, or your problems will just linger.

Back to the idea of the swing as a machine, or as a chain of events. If you’ve read Life in the Rough regularly, you know that the takeaway is something I’ve had to work a lot on over the last couple of years. In fact, I find that even when I have it fixed, I need to keep an eye on it periodically because for reasons I can’t explain, over time, I will tend to start to take the club back slightly to the outside of the target line instead of in a nice arc slightly to the inside.

From there, several things can happen, but for example, it might set this possible chain of events into motion: I re-route the club too far inside, it gets too vertical over the plane, it’s too steep coming down, I come over the top, and I pull the ball left.

That chain of events is set into motion by the simple fact that I start the club back to the outside the line. Put another way, all those things are really symptoms, not the actual problem.

That’s hard to grasp because we’re kind of wrestling over semantics. Sure, coming down too steep is a problem.  But it’s not the problem.

Until I realized this, I caused myself a lot of anguish and wasted time.

I like to look at my swing on video occasionally. Last year some time, I recorded some swings and I looked at the video. Lo and behold, what was I doing but getting too steep in my down swing. It was easy for even me to see. A few instructional books and some episodes of The Golf Fix and even I’m qualified to diagnose that problem, er, I mean,symptom.

Or, am I?

I set out to fix that steepness by resolving to make my back swing flatter. I’ll spare you the gory details. The point is, I couldn’t do it.  After a few weeks, I was a wreck.

The reason I couldn’t do it was because I didn’t know enough to set out to fix the problem. I didn’t really understand why the club was getting steep. It’s not like I was purposely hoisting it straight up in the air.

One lesson and my pro pointed out that my takeaway was a problem. I worked hard on that and wouldn’t you know, I was cured of that affliction.

Even after that, the idea of fixing problems and not symptoms didn’t really stick. It was very recently that it actually sunk in. My most notable problems of late have been not getting a full shoulder turn and getting away from my natural tempo to start the down swing. I have a tendency to try and hit the ball hard, but if I’m not careful, I get ahead of myself and get out of sequence, which causes several other issues, most notably with me coming over the top and pulling the ball left (most of us that do that will slice the ball, but I happen to pull it left and hook it, usually).

As I fell apart again and went in for a lesson and we worked on the same issue of tempo yet again (it’s been a common theme for the last 3 years), it finally started to hit me.

When I fix the actual problems, then the rest just works itself out. I started to hit the ball like you wouldn’t believe.

I’m not trying to say my work is done, but it’s a start. I have to work on making that good tempo more ingrained, along with that solid takeaway and along with that full shoulder turn. It’s not there yet when I’m on the course under pressure, but it’s there on the range. Some sessions are better than others, but I’m getting there.

My point is not to try and boil down everyone’s golf swing into those three things. Certainly, they’re important for everyone. But that doesn’t mean that any of those things is your problem.

At the same time, I know a lot of you are like me and like to tinker and look at swings on video and read instructional books and learn how the golf swing works. That’s all great and believe me, I’m here to walk that path with you all.

Unfortunately, many of us, me especially, have been given just enough rope to hang ourselves. Ultimately, the best thing I’ve done is work with a teacher that is adept at recognizing the problems and not just the symptoms. And even though he was telling me as much, it didn’t really sink in completely until I had a lot of time to think about it and agonize over my swing issues and to try and fail at various things.

Incidentally, a few weeks ago, I was in one of my lowest low points when all this hit me. I scheduled a lesson and was waiting for the day to arrive when I kind of woke up to all this. I went to the range on my own and resolved to fix the problems and not the symptoms and I did it.

I fixed it on my own. By the time I showed up at my lesson, I was hitting the ball as well as ever.  On the practice range, anyway.

Please don’t take this as a warning not to learn and tinker and try to dissect the swing on your own. While I do recommend working with a professional, it’s not that any of us cannot improve on our own. What I will say is, make sure you’re fixing problems and not just symptoms or you might find yourself spending a lot of time on a fruitless endeavor, or even worse, you might even compound the problem, just like I did.

posted in Instruction, Practice, Swing Talk 6 Comments

May
31
2010

The Big May Golf Book Giveaway: Winners

Posted by Double Eagle in Contests - 2 Comments

I’d like to thank everyone for participating in the Big May Golf Book Giveaway.  It was a lot of fun and there were some really interesting responses.  Also, thanks to Abrams Books and Hachette Book Group for making this giveaway possible.

Without further ado, here are the winners, selected from each contest by random drawing:

Day 1 – Golf Courses of the World: 365 Days

TP Golf Online wins for his selections of a few courses in Canada and the United States, as well as for his favorite hole, the second at Wolf Creek’s east 9.

Day 2 – GOLF Magazine Private Lessons

Sharon A. wins for her simple swing thought: “slow and smooth”.

Day 3 – Bad Lies: A Field Guide to Lost Balls, Missing Links, and Other Golf Mishaps

It’s a repeat winner! (I’m drawing each winner in succession as I write this post so it’s actually kind of exciting).  Sharon wins again for her bad experience with weather on a golf trip to San Diego.

Day 4 – Moment of Glory: The Year Underdogs Ruled Golf

Jim Dauer wins for his selection of Bob May as his favorite underdog for helping to give Tiger Woods a run for his money in the 2000 PGA Championship.

Well, there you have it.  The three winners are crowned.  I will be contacting each of you via e-mail to find out where to have the books sent, so if you don’t see anything by the time this post is published, check your spam traps and if you still don’t see anything, then please contact me.

Thanks to everyone for participating.  It was a lot of fun.

posted in Contests 2 Comments

May
24
2010

Last Call for the Big May Golf Book Giveaway

Posted by Double Eagle in Miscellaneous - 0 Comments

OK, folks, this is it.  The Big May Golf Book Giveaway is winding down.  The day 1 contest will be closing tomorrow evening.  The rest of the contests will be closing one at a time each evening through Friday.

Winners will be determined over the weekend and I’ll contact each winner via e-mail and post the results shortly thereafter.

Don’t forget – eligible individuals may enter all four contests and winning any one will not disqualify you from winning any (or all) of the others.

Here are links to the four contests.  Be sure to get your entries in before the deadline for each.

Big May Golf Book Giveaway, Day 1 – Golf Courses of the World: 365 Days
Big May Golf Book Giveaway, Day 2 – GOLF Magazine Private Lessons
Big May Golf Book Giveaway, Day 3 – Bad Lies
Big May Golf Book Giveaway, Day 4 – Moment of Glory

posted in Miscellaneous 0 Comments

May
21
2010

The Big May Golf Book Giveaway: Day 4

Posted by Double Eagle in Contests - 8 Comments

Note: this contest is now closed. A winner will be selected and notified via e-mail, and an announcement will be made on or before May 31, 2010.  Thanks for all the great entries!

We  made it!  Here we are on the fourth and final day of the Big May Golf Book Giveaway. We’ve come a long way and now here we are on the last giveaway (for now!).

The book today is Moment of Glory: The Year Underdogs Ruled Golf, by John Feinstein.  Moment of Glory takes a close look at the 2003 season, specifically the four majors, where a group of unlikely underdogs took advantage of Tiger Woods’ down season.

Here’s some information from the book’s publisher, Hachette Book Group:

After winning 6 of the 12 Majors from 2000 to 2002, Tiger Woods struggled in 2003. Four unknown players would seize the day, rising to become champions in his wake.

Mike Weir–considered a good golfer but not a great one–triumphed in The Masters, becoming the first Canadian to win a Major. Jim Furyk emerged victorious in the U.S. Open. In the British Open, Ben Curtis became the only player since Francis Ouimet in 1913 to prevail on his first time out, and Shaun Micheel came from nowhere to prevail at the PGA Championship. How does one moment of glory affect the unsung underdog for years to follow?

Feinstein chronicles the champions’ ups and downs, giving readers an insider’s look into how victory (and defeat) can change players’ lives.

I’m really looking forward to reading this book.  I haven’t read many of Feinstein’s other books, but I read and reviewed Are You Kidding Me? about the epic battle between an aging Rocco Mediate and an injured Tiger Woods, and found it to be thoroughly enjoyable.

In fact, I just skimmed that review from last year and noticed that I actually referred to it as “thoroughly enjoyable” there too.  So, either I’m a broken record with a limited vocabulary, or I really did find it to be thoroughly enjoyable.  Either way, I have similar expectations for Moment of Glory.  I’ll report back in my detailed review some time in the coming weeks.

OK, enough of me babbling, let’s award this book to a lucky winner.

The Contest

Please note that the contest is only open to residents of the United States and Canada. However, I encourage everyone to feel free to participate in the conversation.  Just let me know if you’re not from the United States or Canada so your entry will not be included in the drawing.

To enter for a chance to win this book, tell me who your favorite golf underdog is, and why.  It can be someone current or someone from the past.

We’ll use the term “underdog” kind of loosely. You can define it how you see fit.  By far, my favorite golf underdog is John Daly. He wasn’t always an underdog, but he’s had some rough patches and is working on getting back to prior glory. Right now, many people don’t give him much of a shot, but that doesn’t mean I’m not rooting hard for him.

Your underdog might be someone most people have never heard of.  It might even be Ben Hogan (I’ll leave out why, in case someone wants to use him as their entry).  It’s completely up to you.

The contest will remain open for one week.  The winner will be chosen by random drawing. Be sure to tune in for the rest of the contests this week.  Winners will not be disqualified from winning the other contests so be sure to get your entries in for all of them.

Please review the comment policy before entering.  Any entries that violate the comment policy will be discarded.

Winners will be notified via e-mail, so please be sure to leave a valid e-mail address with your entries.  I will also publish a summary post at the conclusion of all four contests. The book will be shipped to the winner directly from Hachette Book Group. No P.O. boxes, please.

Good luck!  I’m looking forward to reading all your entries.

—————————

Be sure to enter the other contests this week:

Big May Golf Book Giveaway, Day 1 – Golf Courses of the World: 365 Days
Big May Golf Book Giveaway, Day 2 – GOLF Magazine Private Lessons
Big May Golf Book Giveaway, Day 3 – Bad Lies

posted in Contests 8 Comments

May
20
2010

The Big May Golf Book Giveaway: Day 3

Posted by Double Eagle in Contests - 6 Comments

Note: this contest is now closed. A winner will be selected and notified via e-mail, and an announcement will be made on or before May 31, 2010.  Thanks for all the great entries!

This is day 3 of the Big May Golf Book Giveaway.  Let’s keep this party rolling!

Today’s book is Bad Lies: A Field Guide to Lost Balls, Missing Links, and Other Golf Mishaps, by Charles Lindsay. Published by Hachette Book Group, this book would make an excellent gift and a great coffee table book.

Here’s some information from the publisher:

In Bad Lies, golf’s wittiest observer, photographer Charles Lindsay, celebrates the hazards and pitfalls of the game. Lindsay stakes out the diabolic border territories that encroach on golf courses–moon-crater bunkers, waist-high fescue grass, murky lake bottoms–to capture the unbelievable my-ball-went-where? moments that make the game so infuriating and so addictive for so many.

This hilarious follow-up to Lindsay’s popular Lost Balls (Little, Brown, 2005) features inspired and gorgeous color photographs, plus larger-than-life pictures of some of the world’s rarest–and oddest–golf balls. Texts include a foreword by outspoken golf commentator Gary McCord, definitions of the game’s offbeat terminology, and a meditation on the golf ball and the immortal soul.

Bad Lies takes a look at the lighter side of golf.  While much of golf photography seeks to examine the splendor and majesty of golf, Bad Lies concentrates more on, well, bad lies, choosing instead to center on the not-so-glorious underbelly of this great game.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for my full review.  In the meantime, let’s get down to business.

The Contest

Please note that the contest is only open to residents of the United States and Canada. However, I encourage everyone to feel free to participate in the conversation.  Just let me know if you’re not from the United States or Canada so your entry will not be included in the drawing.

To enter for a chance to win this book, tell me about your worst golf-related experience. It could be an awful lie, a terrible round, lost luggage on a golf vacation or anything in between.

Please, though, I’d like to keep it on the light hearted side.  Let’s try and stay away from personal tragedies or other stories that will give me a heavy heart.

The contest will remain open for one week.  The winner will be chosen by random drawing. Be sure to tune in for the rest of the contests this week.  Winners will not be disqualified from winning the other contests so be sure to get your entries in for all of them.

Please review the comment policy before entering.  Any entries that violate the comment policy will be discarded.

Winners will be notified via e-mail, so please be sure to leave a valid e-mail address with your entries.  I will also publish a summary post at the conclusion of all four contests. The book will be shipped to the winner directly from Hachette Book Group. No P.O. boxes, please.

Good luck!  I’m looking forward to reading all your entries.

—————————

Be sure to enter the other contests this week:

Big May Golf Book Giveaway, Day 1 – Golf Courses of the World: 365 Days
Big May Golf Book Giveaway, Day 2 – GOLF Magazine Private Lessons
Big May Golf Book Giveaway, Day 4 – Moment of Glory

posted in Contests 6 Comments

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  • Well, I got over my apprehension about bringing my video camera out to the range with me. I was hoping to be able to share some stills and some of the video so we could analyze them together, but I’m having some technical issues. When I step frame by frame using my camera hooked up to my TV, the position of the club is apparent through the entire swing, but when I transfer the video to my PC, [...]

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