don't stop

when you are playing well the swing feels and is a continuous motion and the ball is simply sitting there in the path of the motion. in february billy harmon said to me," on your good shots your body keeps going and on the bad ones you stop." I have been circling this notion and swing principle for years but have had some profound practice sessions these last two days which I want to try and explain.

of all the players I've known who have attempted to improve their swings john mcneely stands out as the one guy who really made a big change and improvement. it has to do with his body rotation thru the ball to arrive at a balanced finish where lots of speed thru has compressed his golf ball to produce higher quality shots than before he made the change. I asked him this week if when he was making this swing change years ago did he purposely turn his head thru towards the target sooner on the front swing to aid he body rotation and he answer was "oh yeah". so I believe this is noteworthy because I know keeping your head down too long impedes good body rotation thru.

before I write about the sensation of turning thru and not stopping to adjust the club face at impact I want to explore why we do often stop, lose speed and have to use our hands rather than our big muscles to square the club face at impact. fear, tension, being off balance or out of position all come to mind as the cause of stopping your body on the down swing.

it seems to me when you are connected to and fascinated with your target and have seen the ball flying towards the flag in your mind's eye your focus is out there and way past the ball so you do not tend to stop. but if you are up in your head thinking how to swing and have lost your connection to the target this predisposes you to stop.

when I think of players who swing freely and who's swing is one continuous motion players like fred couples and tom watson come to mind. I do not think enough has been said or written about this fundamental....maybe because it follows so many others in terms of cause and affect.

but the great ball striker from canada george knudsen recommended that we find and practice a finish form and in rehearsing your swing if you pay particular attention to the details of a proper finish and then try and arrive at that form after the swing is complete it help me not to stop because me swing feeling/thought is at the finish and past the ball.

my practice and insight came to me this way; I was working on my short shots and initiating the front swing by turning my hips out of the way.....I had taken a strong grip and the crease in my left wrist was pronounced. I thought of keeping this relationship between my hands and the club the same back & thru. to do this I had to turn my body and not stop.....I was able to do this more effectively when I visualized the butt end of the club pointing to my belly at the far end of my left side. I turned back and thru keeping this point the same.

after playing lots of short shots I tried this with a 7 iron with great success and a sensation I have rarely felt. the heel had speed thru and the toe didn't go deeper into the ground. I finished on balance and with my shoulders level and the ball flew the distance with little effort.

on all the shots I mis-hit my head did not stay steady....this is my key to whatever swing I make. to start the club back w/o moving my head down and back/under.

I had a finish form to swing into, and it had my left wrist the same as it is at address and my left shoe on the ground at the end of the swing.

this also allows me to focus on the left hand/side as the dominant part of my body.

lastly there was a tread of this session in my 2003 mid-am swing thought of creating a more together and pre-cocked grip.