The Only Thing That Counts Is Me

1. I am Powerless
2. And I need the Help of a Power Greater than Myself

Those are the first 2 steps of the 12 Step Alcoholics Anonymous program and I have just taken those steps. Yes it’s true, I have a problem and I have finally admitted to myself that I am powerless to solve it myself and I truly need the help of a Higher Power.

The problem I am talking about is of course my golf swing and the Higher Power is a USGA certified golf instructor. What were you thinking?

I haven’t seen a golf coach since I first took up the game seriously some 5 years ago. He taught me to swing and helped me make adjustments from time to time for the first 2 years. I haven’t been back since.

For the last 3 years I’ve been tinkering with my swing myself. Some people buy the latest greatest golf clubs and gadgets every 6 months hoping to play better. I read all the classic instruction manuals I can get and I tinker with my swing every 6 months hoping to play better.

In the last year however, I’ve developed a quirk in my swing which I can’t get rid of without ruining the entire swing stability and rhythm. I cock my wrists early in the backswing to ensure that they will release in the correct sequence with everything else on the downswing through impact. It results in a bizarre momentary pause in my backswing when the club is parallel to the ground before the arms, shoulders and hips turn to bring the club up.

My friends say it’s disconcerting to see and looks clownish. They make the very valid point that no PGA Tour player we’ve seen on TV has any such momentary pause in their backswing (we’re not talking about the top of the backswing, it happens right after cocking the wrists, before everything else coils). Whilst there are many different swings on the PGA Tour (including quirky ones like Jim Furyk and Ryan Moore), the fact that nobody remotely good does what I do is a pretty powerful indication that what I’m doing can’t be good.

So I’ve gone back to the books and tried to figure out what I could do. I’ve read and reread Ben Hogan’s “5 Lessons” and “Power Golf”, David Leadbetter’s critique of Ben Hogan’s instruction 50 years later, Harvey Penick’s “Little Red Book”, Tiger Woods’ “How I Play Golf”, Hank Haney’s explanation of how Tiger has since changed his swing from “How I Play Golf”, Jaime Diaz’s explanation of why Tiger changed his swing, Butch Harmon’s explanation of whether Tiger’s new swing is better than the one Butch taught him. Every month, I religiously read Golf Digest, Golf Today, Golfweek, Golf Tips, On the Green, Fairways & Greens, Asian Golf Monthly, Inside the Tour, African American Golfer’s Digest, Bad Golf Monthly, Golf & Travel, Golf365, International Golf Preview, Golf for Siamese Twins, Insane Golfer Monthly, Golf Till You Go Blind and its sister publication Blind Golfer. Ok, I haven’t read all those golf magazines but they do exist. Except the last 4.

As a result, I know a fair bit about 1 plane swings vs 2 plane swings, I can tell what swinging across the line means, I know what Harvey Penick calls the “magic move”, I can tell a neutral grip from a strong grip from a weak grip, I know all about weight transfer, getting in the slot on the down swing, cuts, fades, draws, power fades, back spin and thanks to Caddyshack 2 I know what putting with a wedgie means :)

But no matter what I do, I can’t get rid of that momentary pause without screwing up my swing. *sigh* So I’m going to see a coach.