Yesterday, while discussing my faulty release at impact, I mentioned another tip that I got that put me back on track.

As I was practicing with a little bit lighter grip pressure, the head pro at my course was walking up and down the range and I had a conversation with him where I whined for a while about my swing issues of late and how I got a tip that was getting me back on track.

I went back to hitting balls with much improvement (though not complete). I was content. He wandered over after a few minutes and said, “Mike, do you mind if I give you one small tip?” Of course I welcome advice so I eagerly accepted the offer.

He told me that he had been watching me for a few minutes and noticed an issue with my takeaway. He had seen me rolling my hands open to start the swing.

I was somewhat surprised to hear this. This is something I tended to do for a long time, but I though I had banished that demon years ago. To me, I can’t perceive that problem during my swing, even if I try.

Early on, I learned the importance of the toe of the club pointing to the sky during the first part of the back swing when the shaft of the club is parallel to the ground. I think I eventually started to consciously roll my hands open on the takeaway to achieve that proper “checkpoint” in the swing.

Now, I’m stuck with this ingrained flaw that I have to work on.

When this happens, the tendency is to get the arms stuck behind the body on the down swing. That can cause a few things to happen. You can come over the top in an effort to square the club face, causing a slice (or pull). Or, you can come excessively from the inside, causing a block where the ball shoots out to the right of the target.

He had me consciously try to keep the club head moving down the line and square for the first eight to ten inches of the back swing. Then when I reach that first checkpoint in the swing where the club is parallel to the ground, the toe of the club points straight up, but more importantly, my arms are more out in front of me.

As soon as I did that, it was like flipping a switch.

That, plus my grip pressure fix had me hitting crisp, pure shots. I was able to turn the ball both ways again. I need a few more range sessions to groove the changes a little more, but I’m extremely enthusiastic.

The main point I want to convey is that you should pay attention to your takeaway. Keep the club head moving down the line and relatively square for the first eight to ten inches. Don’t let the club get outside the target line, and don’t let your arms get too far inside the target line, behind your body.

It seems like such a simple part of the swing, but each segment of the swing builds on the last. If we have bad posture it’s hard to have a good takeaway and if we have a bad takeaway it’s hard to get to the top correctly and if…well, you get it.

That doesn’t mean that everyone has to do it one correct way. It just means that if we have to build a solid foundation to allow the next piece of the puzzle to fall into place. And the takeaway is part of the foundation for what comes after.

Early this week I talked about conceding defeat (in the sense of trying to diagnose and fix my own swing) and also about how swing changes take a long time to ingrain. You might remember that I’ve been fading the ball on good shots and slicing or blocking it on bad shots.

My initial plan was to go back to the fundamentals: grip, alignment, stance, posture. I felt like it was working for me. And while it did improve me, after several range sessions the problem didn’t go away. I was still unable to turn the ball from right to left and I was mixing in some big misses to the right.

Previously, I mentioned an improper release as a cause for slicing and blocking and I suspected I was suffering from that problem. I started to work on a better release, yet I started to get worse.

Then, out of nowhere, a great swing tip dropped in my lap after a phone conversation with a friend. After I described my symptoms and my suspicions about my release, his reaction was to tell me to check my left hand grip pressure.

As I mentioned before, in a tension-free swing with good tempo and rhythm, a proper release is virtually automatic. However, when tension is introduced, that release is impeded.

I went to the driving range this morning and concentrated on a light left hand grip and a little more firm right hand grip. I didn’t make my right hand pressure any tighter than it had been, I was just making sure that it was greater than the pressure I was gripping with my left hand.

Almost immediately, I saw improvement.

What was happening was, when I suspected that I was holding on through impact (failing to release the club properly), I started to consciously try and rotate my forearms through impact. In doing so, I was gripping tightly with the left hand (and the right hand too, for that matter) to be able to turn over the club through impact.

Like many things in the golf swing, this natural tendency is counter to what actually needs to happen. It’s sort of like the idea that you have to hit down on the ball to get it in the air. Many people feel they need to help the ball get in the air and end up scooping. That causes all sorts of problems.

By introducing tension in my arms because of consciously trying to manipulate my release, I was actually making the problem worse. When I stopped doing that, my release immediately went back to automatic.

It can’t be stated enough: tension is a killer in the golf swing. You must allow yourself to move fluidly and freely to have any chance at hitting good shots.

If you suspect an improper release in your own swing, check your grip pressure, especially in your left hand. A good rule of thumb is to grip only tightly enough to hang on to the club throughout the swing and to keep your hands working as a single unit. You don’t want them separating at the top of the back swing.

This addressed a big part of my situation, but wasn’t the whole problem. Tomorrow, I’ll talk about another tip I got during that session regarding a proper takeaway. That one put me the rest of the way back in my groove.

I’m not talking about insurance coverage here. What I’m referring to is the number of wedges you carry as well as the gaps in loft between all of them.

As I’ve said many times, I’m a fan of Dave Pelz’s 4×3 system, where the idea is to carry four wedges and to groove three distinct swing lengths that give you a total of twelve easily repeatable distances within 100 yards.

It’s clear that scoring happens within 100 yards. Your goal on approach shots should be to get the ball close enough to the hole to make the next putt. To do that, you need to take out the guess work. Grooving wedge distances that are easily repeatable makes it much easier to achieve that goal.

To do all this effectively, it’s imperative to have the right tools for the job.

First, this means carrying four wedges. That will give you maximum coverage within 100 yards. I carried three wedges for a long time and considered getting a fourth, but couldn’t decide which club to ditch. After a lot of consideration, I realized that I almost never use my 4-iron. I mean never. Coming to that realization meant that I then had an open slot for that fourth wedge.

Second, it’s important that the wedges have fairly even gaps in loft to them. This allows you to have an even distribution of grooved yardages within 100 yards.

After dropping my 4-iron, I picked up three new Cleveland 588 chrome wedges. I now have a 49° pitching wedge, a 56° sand wedge, a 60° lob wedge, and a 64° extra lofted wedge. Having a fairly even distribution of loft between each wedge ensures that my distances within 100 yards will be somewhat evenly distributed.

Something to consider: I play Callaway X-16 Pro irons. The pitching wedge that came with those irons is 46°. However, I replaced it with a pitching wedge that’s three degrees more lofted. That means that I now have a significant gap between my 9-iron and pitching wedge.

I’m planning on getting new irons for next season, so I’ll be sure that I consider the lofts to give me more even coverage. In the meantime, I’ll get my 9-iron bent to add a degree or two of loft and I’ll have about a degree added to my 8-iron. This will even out the coverage some until I get new irons. Of course, that means I now have three new clubs and will have two clubs with different lofts to get used to.

You may notice that I have a somewhat larger gap between my 49° and 56° wedges at 7°, whereas it’s 4° between the others. The main reason is that I wanted to keep my 60° wedge. This was mostly due to the cost of buying 4 wedges instead of 3 (my 54° sand wedge needed to go because it was getting too worn).

Why did I choose the larger gap where I did? The reason for that is that I wanted more precision from the shorter clubs. That means that the yardage gaps get smaller as I get closer to the hole. My preference was to have that extra level of distance control closer to the greens.

Another thing to consider when outfitting yourself with wedges is the bounce of each club. Having a variety of bounces will make your wedges more suited for a variety of situations.

For instance, you’ll want more bounce on your sand wedge because it’s more appropriate for hitting from the sand. However, if the sand is excessively wet or packed down, a club with less bounce might be more effective. Also, from a tight or hardpan lie, a club with less bounce will be more effective, while from deeper rough, more bounce is helpful.

For my 56° wedge, I chose the most bounce, for use in the sand. My 60° wedge has the least amount of bounce for hardpan lies. My other two wedges have moderate bounce for a large variety of situations.

If you’re really looking to score, look to do it within 100 yards. Putting is arguably the most important skill, but even the best putters start to quickly lose effectiveness outside of 8-10 feet. That means it’s imperative to put your approaches close. Get the right clubs for the job, and you’ll have a better shot of doing that.

Yesterday, I said I was going to try one last-ditch effort before throwing in the towel and scheduling a lesson. You may recall that I’ve been sending everything to the right and I said I suspected that I might be standing too close to the ball.

An insightful comment from Greg Bartz reminded me of G.A.S.P., or Grip, Alignment, Stance, Posture. When everything is falling apart, the best thing to do is forget it all and go back to the fundamentals.

At my range session, I paid careful attention to those four things. My grip and alignment were fine. I had suspicions about my stance and posture, however.

As I mentioned, I was concerned that I might be standing too close to the ball. I went through my posture check list:

• Bent at the hips
• Back not slouching
• Arms hanging freely, about a fist-width from my zipper for short irons, a little more for the driver
• Chin up a little to allow a free shoulder turn
• Knees flexed
• Rear sticking out just a bit, indicating a proper bend from the hips, not from the waist

In addition, I made sure that at address, my club face was square and also that the sole of the club was resting on the ground evenly, not more on the heel or on the toe.

After all this, I was encouraged because it felt strange. Very strange. It felt like I was reaching for the ball. It felt like my back was super-arched. It felt like my chin was way up in the air. That all told me that I was doing something wrong before.

I took a few practice swings and felt like my plane was really good and that I was approaching impact from the inside. It felt like my arms were swinging a little more freely through impact.

All that was left was to hit some balls. I’m happy to say that all the shots were flat out awful. There were some tops, some pulls, some thins, some fats, and even a handful of shanks (don’t worry, I’m on medication) .

You’re probably wondering why I was happy to see that. Well, go back and read the title again. Swing changes take a long time. I’ve heard people say it takes a thousand balls to ingrain a swing change, and I’ve even heard ten thousand.

I went out there and put my body in positions it hasn’t been in for a long time. I know, because it told me before, during, and after each and every shot.

The next step is to just keep doing it. After a few range sessions of nothing but grip, alignment, stance, posture, I should start to see improvement. See, my body will eventually work out the rest. I’ll eventually need to go back to other fundamentals like proper weight transfer and proper release, but without these basics, I’ll be right back where I’ve been all this year.

As I hit shots today, I would shank the ball then tell my body, “No, that’s bad. Stop letting your weight get on your toes.” Then the next shot would be better. Of course, I’d shank again after five or ten balls, but that’s OK. It takes time. I felt like I was guiding my hands through impact. That’s a natural reaction to changes in my posture that caused me to alter my swing plane. My mind was still trying to operate under the old set of rules. Eventually it will give in.

The bottom line is, I’m not throwing in the towel yet. I’m still going to schedule a lesson with my pro because it’s time. But I need to see if I can dig myself out of this hole first.

Sometimes we just need to step back and acknowledge that something is broken.

I’ve been working on getting my game back this year and trying to take it to a much higher level. But the last few weeks have been simply brutal. I’ve been having so much trouble with ball striking, that I eventually modified my golf practice plan to make all the rounds optional, with the option being a range session instead.

I’ve been at the range regularly (minus a couple of minor injury rest periods) but haven’t been on the course in almost two weeks.

It started when I was working on getting my lower body to stop lagging. I’m a big guy, but I have the strength and speed to make a good swing. As I started to improve in that regard, I noticed something that I haven’t seen in years: my misses were going right.

In addition, I perceived that my grip was a little too strong (as in hand position, not in how tightly I grip the club), so I worked on weakening it. I eventually started to think that since my misses were going right, maybe I weakened it too much so I went back to making it a little stronger. That didn’t help.

Then, I convinced myself that for a long time I must have been “holding on” through impact (not allowing the club face to return to square) to fight the snap hooking I’d been doing early this year. I figured I fixed something and was just left with a poor release. So I worked on that and started to spray the ball all over the place.

Meanwhile, it all went downhill. Well, I guess further downhill is more accurate. Now my drives go so far right that they actually cross the fairway twice (you might need to think about that one for a minute).

I’m left with the tatters of a golf game, ready to concede defeat. Time for me to suck it up and get to my pro. I mean, if Tiger Woods needs a teacher, then who am I to think I can solve all these problems myself?

Conceding defeat doesn’t mean quitting. It’s just time to regroup.

Well, soon anyway. As I was riding home from work mentally working on this post (don’t worry, the freeways in New Jersey don’t require your complete attention while driving), I started to think about what my problems could be. I’m really starting to think I’m standing too close to the ball.

It all makes sense. If I would read my own posts (or at least pay closer attention to the research I do prior to some of my posts) I’d have recalled that standing too close to the ball can promote an over the top move. Being 6′3″, it’s easy for me to get a little upright and swing in a more vertical plane, so standing too close would just magnify that problem.

Could I really be coming over the top?! No! Not me!

With this thought in mind, I broke out my driver tonight for some practice swings, paying careful attention to my setup. It did seem that I was a little close, but it was hard to tell without hitting some actual shots (my apartment manager would not approve). When I put myself into what I felt was a proper setup, it felt like I was reaching for the ball a little. That tells me that I was previously standing a little too close. That, or my perception of proper setup is wrong. The thing that I’m sure of is that my practice swings felt good, like I was on plane and with a much more free movement through impact.

Before I concede defeat, I’m going to call an emergency range session after work to test my theory, in place of a workout. If I don’t have success, then I’m really conceding defeat and scheduling a lesson.

If you’ve reached the point of giving up, you should schedule a lesson too. If you’re like me, then you agree that it’s sort of fun trying to experiment and figure it out for yourself. But when it stops being fun, then it’s time to get a second pair of eyes on the problem. It will be better in the long run. If I was 20 years old, then maybe there would be value in figuring it out for myself, much the same that Ben Hogan did with his own swing. But at this age, if I want to succeed, then I need quicker answers.