It's your turn....

Well,not so much your turn as your TURN.

Having played a mix of the sublime to the ridiculous (or ridiclious as my friend Mr Scott would say!) over the last few weeks I decided to take the plunge today and do something I haven't done for a long time.

I shoved a cucumber through the woman next door's letterbox and yelled 'The Martians have landed!'.

I also decided that it was time to try to repair my golf swing and asked our professional Simon Longster for a lesson.

This was a big deal for me as I have an inherent mistrust of these jokers who deal in lines drawn over a video lesson,talk of the 'angle of the dangle','core power' (cor blimey I understand),glutes (or is that a mispronounced glut,as in too many of an item?) and the entire overly-technical BS,not to mention the 'rebuilding your swing' (excuse me mate but I don't think I've got time left for that!),,to the extent that I have not visited a professional on a formal basis for decades.

I have spent some enjoyable times chatting with Simon over the past months,he started his golf at a course in York where I used to be a member and during the course of our chats we found we had a lot in common as regards golf and a mutual liking and appreciation has resulted.

'OK,loosen up with some practice swings and then let me see you hit some shots'.

'I can see that you've been a good golfer in the past' (Has been).

SPLAT!...shower of liquid earth,ball......10 yards.

Next few were good (for me).

'STOP!'

'You are LAZY!'

'You are not making a proper TURN'.

'You take the club back outside and then slap at the ball'.(I'm a slapper).

'I want you to take the club back LOW and SLOW'

'The first 18 inches of the backswing dictate what happens after'.

He stood behind me in a position where I needed to swing and it felt like I was swinging round my ankles but it all came good,after 30 minutes I was hitting (Muirfield 7-iron) beautifully,great flight,baby draw,a work in progress to be sure but what joy to get back to hitting proper golf shots.

Simon's contention is that as we get older we stop turning and rely more on hands and arms,resulting in shorter yardages through the bag,he's given me exercises to do at home and I'm determined to give it a good go.

So boys,your TURN is what counts!

Well first off, it's always irked me that the mail slots around here do not accommodate cucumbers. Aside from that, sounds great. Flexibility is huge and I'm finding that out with each passing year. Would be interested to hear what sort of exercises he's assigned you.

Nothing too strenuous and basically old-school,holding a club with both hands behind the neck and turning back and through aiming for a balanced finish with chest towards the target.

Repeating the start of the backswing/takeaway to ingrain the 'low and slow' idea and turning behind the ball.

'Exercises' is probably the wrong word 'drills' is a better description.

Balance and flexibility trump strength when it comes to age and the golf swing. The returns are greater, for time spent, increasing balance and flexibility, rather than gains in strength. When you break it down, all are variables, to some degree, in the power equation, (we’re looking for the most efficient work output over a period of time), so, why not concentrate the majority of our energy on what will give us the best return.

I should have said that my post was intended for the older members on here who might be struggling with their game,an old-school teaching professional who will work with you within your capabilities and help you understand where improvements are required and CAN be made is essential,I think that older,more experienced professionals who are not stuck in current dogma are probably better in that respect.

Above all,there's always hope!

True Chris, but, don’t discard some of the younger instructors and their modern methodology.

I have been working with a 30 something at the local Muni for a couple of months now, and he has been quite understanding of my age and afflictions. Without some of his video proofing some of my issues I may have waved his ideas off as nonsense.

Well first off, it's always irked me that the mail slots around here do not accommodate cucumbers. Aside from that, sounds great. Flexibility is huge and I'm finding that out with each passing year. Would be interested to hear what sort of exercises he's assigned you.

Nothing too strenuous and basically old-school,holding a club with both hands behind the neck and turning back and through aiming for a balanced finish with chest towards the target.

Repeating the start of the backswing/takeaway to ingrain the 'low and slow' idea and turning behind the ball.

'Exercises' is probably the wrong word 'drills' is a better description.

Bobby Jones, said, "There's no such thing as a too slow backswing." Or something to that extent. I personally have experienced my best drives trying to backswing as slow as possible.

Just hard to remember.

As one of my esteemed members of Golfwrx has honored me by noting, "Kill, Kill, Kill, does not work."

Bobby Jones, said, "There's no such thing as a too slow backswing." Or something to that extent. I personally have experienced my best drives trying to backswing as slow as possible.

 

Just hard to remember.

 

As one of my esteemed members of Golfwrx has honored me by noting, "Kill, Kill, Kill, does not work."

That doesn't work for me as I have no sense of rhythm with a deliberately slow backswing. It leads to the opposite result for me from what the objective is, I end up over swinging.

For me, a bit of advice that has stuck came from Annika Sorenstam where she said that she had an internal metronome of 1, 2, 3 -- 1, 2, 3 in order to have the most rhythmic swing possible. You could liken it to ballroom dancing; moving in a consistent tempo during the backswing and then forward with a slight pause at the top, much like a waltz. It makes me think of Fred Couples or Ernie Els with their effortless power where they appear to be hardly swinging the club at all.

Bobby Jones, said, "There's no such thing as a too slow backswing." Or something to that extent. I personally have experienced my best drives trying to backswing as slow as possible.

 

Just hard to remember.

 

As one of my esteemed members of Golfwrx has honored me by noting, "Kill, Kill, Kill, does not work."

Along those lines...

A few years ago, I was playing with one of my iron sets with shafts in the stiffer side of the spectrum. We went out with no warmup on the back nine, I'm left with a shot from the rough at 7 iron length. Wtih the cold muscles and rough in play, I figure the 7 iron will roll up. And, with the stiffer than my usual flex shafts, I was worried about a stupid swing. I made extra effort to be slow in the backswing and take an overall easy smooth swing. And wound up at the back of the green. Ball mark showed that I airmailed the flag by 10 yds. OK, maybe a flier?

Get to the par 3 #13. Same length shot as #10. Hit 7 iron again. Still trying to swing smoothly. Airmail the green. What's going on?

And it continued. Swing smooth, get extra distance. It was kind of stupid, even cartoonish. This extra distance lasted for three weeks, probably because that's about as long as I could continue to swing that smoothly. LOL

There's a lesson in there, obviously. I'll be damned if I can dial it up on command, though. Which causes no small amount of irritation. ;)

Along those lines...

 

A few years ago, I was playing with one of my iron sets with shafts in the stiffer side of the spectrum. We went out with no warmup on the back nine, I'm left with a shot from the rough at 7 iron length. Wtih the cold muscles and rough in play, I figure the 7 iron will roll up. And, with the stiffer than my usual flex shafts, I was worried about a stupid swing. I made extra effort to be slow in the backswing and take an overall easy smooth swing. And wound up at the back of the green. Ball mark showed that I airmailed the flag by 10 yds. OK, maybe a flier?

 

Get to the par 3 #13. Same length shot as #10. Hit 7 iron again. Still trying to swing smoothly. Airmail the green. What's going on?

 

And it continued. Swing smooth, get extra distance. It was kind of stupid, even cartoonish. This extra distance lasted for three weeks, probably because that's about as long as I could continue to swing that smoothly. LOL

 

There's a lesson in there, obviously. I'll be damned if I can dial it up on command, though. Which causes no small amount of irritation. ;)

I experience this, too, occasionally. Its amazing how far the ball will go with a full turn and an easy pass at the ball without tension.

Its equally amazing that I cannot convince myself to play this way all of the time.

A few months ago I went out by myself to play 9. I resolved that my only swing thought for the day was to be, "Zero Tension." Well, I had my best ball striking round in a long, long time and hit the ball as far, if not farther, than I ever do. But next time out? Kill, kill, kill. Lol

So what happened? For me, somewhere in the back of my mind I start thinking something like, "Well, if I can hit it that far with little effort...how far can I hit it if I try just a little bit harder?"

Will also say that the no tension thing REALLY pays off for me in the short game, particularly putting.

If I get to play this afternoon maybe I'll try it again. See how long I can sustain this one thought.

To the OP's point, I saw a video with a golf instructor awhile back (don't remember who now, maybe Monte Scheinblum?) who said that amateur golfers, especially older ones, come to him all the time and tell him they cannot make a full turn anymore. He basically called BS on that, saying that golfers just forget the right way to do it. He said that after showing them, he has never had a golfer who could not make a complete shoulder turn.

His point was very simple: you make a shoulder turn by pulling with the back shoulder, not pushing with the front shoulder. I tried it, he's right. When we push the turn with the front shoulder we push away from the target but also tend to push out, which creates muscle strain in that shoulder/back before we reach full turn. When we PULL the turn with the back shoulder (right shoulder for righties) there's no strain in the front shoulder stopping us.

Without getting too technical Monte has a number of solid common sense thoughts that relate to the golf swing. His “Drive for Dough” video is the most helpful instructional video I have ever used.

To the OP's point, I saw a video with a golf instructor awhile back (don't remember who now, maybe Monte Scheinblum?) who said that amateur golfers, especially older ones, come to him all the time and tell him they cannot make a full turn anymore. He basically called BS on that, saying that golfers just forget the right way to do it. He said that after showing them, he has never had a golfer who could not make a complete shoulder turn.

 

His point was very simple: you make a shoulder turn by pulling with the back shoulder, not pushing with the front shoulder. I tried it, he's right. When we push the turn with the front shoulder we push away from the target but also tend to push out, which creates muscle strain in that shoulder/back before we reach full turn. When we PULL the turn with the back shoulder (right shoulder for righties) there's no strain in the front shoulder stopping us.

Great advice, dummy. Too bad you spent the rest of the spring and most of the summer NOT following this advice while slap punching 200-215 yard drives.

LoL. That's a meta-lesson right there!

What I had noticed for my own golf game was, after I passed 60 and recovered from a major injury; I tend not to finish my back swing then hurry through the transition. There seemed to be an urgency to go through the transition.

Not finishing the back swing was probably a self preservation move. Knowing that if I do a full swing , it'll eventually break something and it'll hurt.

Yeah, shorter golf swing is not because we seniors are "lazy", it's the way things are.

If your instructor does not believe it, then ask him again after he has passed the mile stone of 60.

I make do with what I have now not what I used to have........ and be happy that I still have it.

What he said! ^

Only just found this thread, so, apologies.

Agree with ' turn the right shoulder out of the way'. The left shoulder takes care of itself. Being old golfer 'round shouldered' this has worked for me for some time.

Secondly, re. Teaching Professionals...I went to one, seriously now, about 3 or 4 years ago, he says 'Don't care where you go, never let a Pro change your backswing, it's perfect ' BS btw.

I replied, 'But I don't hit the ball with my backswing, I want help with the bit where it goes 'Bang !'

He said, (remember at that time I was 69 years old), 'You've got to be more athletic!' Arrgh....I didn't go back.