Typhoon My pro says to me, don't take it back so far, go 3/4 backswing. I do what I feel like is a half swing and watch the video... looks like my normal past parallel swing.

Glad it's not just me. Normal swing makes John Daly look like John Rahm. What FEELS like a half swing is not much shorter lol. The pro would hold a club out and tell me not to hit it in my backswing and I could rarely do it lol. The only time I could truly shorten is was when I first hurt my left shoulder. I probably had the best swing ever, but the doc said no golf for 6 weeks and then once I healed up the old crappy swing was back 😞

      wishbone
      I'll keep the punch shot regimen in mind for "those days". The last crappy round I was reduced to teeing off with driver once, 3 wood once, then tried 3 #5 hybrids and sucked at all of them. In between these 5 glorious drives were a variety of skulls & chunks hit all over the club faces. I missed 2 greens from inside 15 yds and could not find distance control or direction putting.

      I felt like I had never played before and I didn't know if I was right handed or left handed.

        KCee I am pretty sure it was Monte in yet another Youtube video who said that most golfers would score better almost immediately if they went to the course with 'take half a backswing' as their only swing thought.

          garyt1957

          Yeah, I’ll video my swing with a ‘feel’ change and it looks the same. But it’s actually not. Some changes we make are so subtle they’re not visible to the naked eye in many cases.

          This is why golf is so frustrating. You’ll have a feel that works great for awhile and then poof it’s gone. Feels like you’re doing the same ‘feel’, but the results aren’t the same.

          It could be the ‘feel’ is really causing something you can’t detect. So the feel isn’t real. What’s actually happening is the feel caused something else in your swing to change.

          So when the good result disappears you’re in the dark because although you can replicate the feel whatever the by product that caused the good result is no longer happening.

          Not sure I explained that right. But this is why you always hear the saying that feel isn’t real. I had this happen a few months ago. Was on the range (which I rarely do) and decided to try a feel with my irons.

          The feel was simple. Take the club back with the face or my right palm looking at the ground. Took it to the course and it was magic. But I know how this works. It was just a matter of time before it disappeared. Sure enough it lasted two rounds and then it was gone.

          The frustrating part was when I was on the range it felt so effortless to replicate. Every shot was solid and continued on the course.

          So obviously there was something I couldn’t feel that was causing the solid contact. We have to remember the difference between a good shot and bad shot can be a matter of a fraction of and inch in our swing. Something we can’t perceive.

          For those of us who have a lesser repeatable swing, the fun part is finding these feels that produce great results. And always hoping against hope that one day one of these epiphanies is the real deal and lasts forever. Lol

              Sneakylong And always hoping against hope that one day one of these epiphanies is the real deal and lasts forever. Lol

              Short version - rediscovering your good swing is always temporary. 😉

                8 days later

                Sneakylong
                After seeing your mentioning of Marcus Edblad, I have been devouring his you tube videos. I like his approach and explanations as he espouses a more arms/hands type swing too.

                    azgreg The Golf Test Dummy guy is doing a review of his swing.

                    True he is but GTD does one swing then moves on to the next to create content for his YT channel. So he truly doesn't believe in what he espouses as months from now he will be on to the next swing method. He has done Venetos, used MDLT for a few videos, etc etc.

                      braveheart

                      I discovered Edblad by accident. His approach to the swing is easy to understand if you’re a hands and arms club focused golfer.

                      Since I’m a trail hand / arm dominant golfer it’s easier to follow his instruction. I’ve been using his trail palm pushing down to the ground at impact with great results. The consistency with solidness of contact has been fantastic.

                      The problem with golf is consistency. If you can find a simple swing thought to help with consistency it’s golden.

                      Here’s another guy explaining what Edblad advocates. The right palm down thru impact has been a game changer for me. Everyone talks about the lead hand bowing thru impact.

                      For me though with a strong left hand grip that feel doesn’t work since my left hand is more in a side hand karate chop position at impact.

                          I remember reading criticisms that golf is not an athletic activity. I think that's partially correct. PGA Tour players, who's swings require strength, flexibility and balance, are athletes. Amateurs on the other hand pursue a game of leisure with minimal physical effort.

                            pellmell I remember reading criticisms that golf is not an athletic activity. I think that's partially correct. PGA Tour players, who's swings require strength, flexibility and balance, are athletes. Amateurs on the other hand pursue a game of leisure with minimal physical effort.

                            Athleticism is subjective in many cases. Does it mean how fast you can run or how high you can jump? In that case Tom Brady is unathletic because he's slow as molasses and can't jump very high.

                            Yet he is one of, if not the best to play quarterback in the NFL and was drafted by the Montreal Expos as a catcher. There can be a difference between athleticism and a skill.

                            They say John Daly could throw a football 70-80 yards. But he also can't run or jump a lick. But he has tremendous hand eye coordination. So is he athletic or have a skill or both?

                            There's plenty of so called athletic people who suck at golf. And there's plenty of unathletic people who can play golf very well. I do think golf is in a league of it's own regardless of whether people consider it an athletic sport or a skill.

                            Throwing darts is a skill. But I can't imagine an expert dart thrower missing the whole dart board on some days. lol The disparity from good and bad in golf is the largest by far imo compared to any other sport or skill.

                                Sneakylong

                                Throwing darts is a skill. But I can't imagine an expert dart thrower missing the whole dart board on some days. lol

                                Used to throw a lot of dart leagues and tournaments, you should see me trying to throw a double one out on a bad day..... Lol

                                  SMT And he only charged $25 per lesson until the day he passed away

                                  Correct, he was and is the only mentor in golf and life!

                                      scotts33 When I first drove up to Milwaukee after we were together at the PGA seminar. he asked my why I came "all the way up" to visit him? I said, it's only 2 hours...

                                      He asked me what I was concerned about most in my game, which I found as an interesting way to ask.

                                      I told him that all of my misses were left of target and that I fought a brutal hook more often than not.

                                      He asked me what was my worst offender. I said , maybe my driver. He said, perfect, pull out your 6 iron. hahahahaha

                                      He said, do you see the first target out there? He said, you should it's only 95 yards from here. He then asked me to tee up every single ball that we were going to hit today, with my 6 iron.

                                      I told him that my iron play at that time was pretty solid, He said, "Mike, the best thing about this wonderful game is that the ball doesn't know what it is hit with".

                                      He said, I have you for an hour and I want you to hit your 6 iron, off the tee, NO FURTHER than the flag that is less than 100 yards from us and never, EVER, let a golf ball start to the left of the flag or end up left of the flag!

                                      He said, "You can hit it 100 yards RIGHT of the flag, but one inch left and you are also buying lunch, That is something I assumed anyway.

                                      The first shot was a half mile right of the flag. He said... "beautiful",

                                      I figured he was happy so I hit the same shot 4 more times in a row.

                                      He said, "Are you sick of hitting it so far right yet?"
                                      I said, you were happy with it and that was my goal. He said, "NO!, No it wasn't, you specifically told me that your shots tended left with curve.

                                      He got me there.

                                      He asked me, "How close can you hit it to the same 95 yard flag, without it costing you a lunch?" I said , maybe 10 feet, he said "Beautiful", then instructed me to hit it 5 feet right, but again, NOTHING left of it.

                                      He was laughing a bit and said, I want to make you a little uncomfortable.

                                      Half the big basket of balls was gone and my longest shot was 100 yards or less. He then asked me, after all these balls now, how easy can it be for me to hit the RIGHT EDGE of the flagstick on the 95 yard hole?

                                      I said with a golf shot or a bucket of water? He laughed.
                                      He instructed me to do it on the next shot. It was about a foot or two right. He said "terrible", "do it again".

                                      6 more six irons, 95 to 100 yards off a tall tee all just barely right of the flag.

                                      It was now 45 minutes into our time together and this was all I was doing.

                                      He told me to get out my 4 iron and hit the very next single ball to the 150 sign. No further but hit the right side of the flag. Again, about 3 feet right at 150 yards with a teed up 4 iron.

                                      He was handing me my driver before that ball hit the ground. He said... 3 balls, off the tee, just right of the 200 marker. Again, all 10 to 15 feet right. None left.

                                      He goes.... "Let's go eat lunch, it's on me". As we were riding in to the clubhouse for lunch he said.... Tell me again what your reason for coming up today? I repeated it and he goes.... "Hmmm, Can't help you as I never saw a single one of those... The french dip is wonderful".

                                      I truly admired the man and he only took $25.

                                      It has helped me every single time I hit a ball to this day. I miss him and our visits.

                                          SMT I told him that my iron play at that time was pretty solid, He said, "Mike, the best thing about this wonderful game is that the ball doesn't know what it is hit with".

                                          That's one of his best lines of all time Mike! I think, he was one of the best to make sure a golfer understood the targeting aspect of the game.

                                          I also truly miss Manuel. As, I caddied as a kid at MCC he helped me in golf and life.

                                              Sneakylong
                                              Totally agree. I recall when I first started playing golf, I was visibly frustrated after a round. I was sitting alongside another golfer in my league. I said, “ I played football and baseball in high school at a good level, why is this so difficult to play”. He ( was an Allstate hockey player in high school and college) said, “think of golf as more of a game than sport, that way you won’t be as annoyed when seeing an elderly man, child, woman or out of shape guy play better and beat you”. Then it dawned on me that the skill of hitting shots more accurately is not predicated on you being bigger, stronger and faster in the game of golf. The latter attributes I listed may help you beat an opponent in most sports you play but not automatically out on the links.