For those who wakeup with no swing...

After so many years of trying to master the golf swing sometimes I wake up and whatever semblance of a swing I had the day before is non-existent. In fact when I pick up the club I feel like it is the first time and have no idea how to get things started.

After so many years of being lost I have decided to look for a detailed backswing methodology that helps me get my swing started (the rest of the swing should be natural). My preference would be something very simple, like "swinging" the club as MLDT says, however, that still hasn't prevented me from losing my swing. I have come to the conclusion that I fall into the category of people who need to understand their swing at a more technical level than most.

With that in mind over time I have recognized some "fundamentals" that I see over and over when I am swinging well. During the setup the right arm is forward with a standard grip and the shoulder dropped and as a consequence my right knee has turned in and there is pressure on the inside of the right foot. Also, my left hand seems to start the swing and the left thumb is "behind" the shaft at some point in the backswing and feels like it is pushing the shaft away from it. I also "step" off the inside of my right foot to start the swing

I haven't talked about shoulder turn for the reason being that if I don't get my hands "connected" early in the swing It makes little difference how much I turn my shoulders. When I started playing golf the "one piece takeaway" - holding the hands on the club w/o any manipulation of the hands whatsoever (like Justin Leonard) was popular and it helped me to hit sometimes straight long drives, but nothing else.

So back to my fundamentals what I see is that if I do the correct takeaway sequence my hands feel connected very early in the swing and the distance I want to hit is is just a function of pushing everything back behind the ball without worrying about plane, after all both hands feel comfortable on the club in a powerful and efficient position.

These are the observations I have been thinking about more or less for more than a coupe of years. The reason why I am sharing this is this morning I woke up and as I expected I had no swing whatsoever.

So I used the fundamentals that I had been seeing over and over in my good swings and after about an hour of short practice swings I finally got it back. I practice shorter swings because my goal is to get my hands "connected" as soon as possible in my swing because it gives me confidence and makes me more relaxed for the rest of my swing.

Here is a a practice method that I came up with when I wake up "with no swing":

Narrow stance and lean butt against something heavy that can support your weight, like a couch, etc. and tilt slightly forward(like Hogan in 5 Fundamentals).Place right arm down and in front of body forward of center with the inside bone of the right elbow pointing at the target right shoulder drops right knee kicks in and there is a little pressure on the inside front part of the right foot. (Mike Austin has a training video with this setup.)Place left hand on club very lightly - keep supple.Close eyes(assuming one has good balance) and twist left hand over without moving the right elbow nor the right foot (the right hand has to move back and swivel) until the thumb feels like it is "behind" the shaft - in other words it can apply a vigorous force on the shaft simply by pressing away. The left thumb should actually be pointing in the opposite direction of the target, Good news, you have now connected the hands.Open eyes and keep eyes on ball and continue the swing by holding the position of the left thumb on the shaft and pushing back behind the ball over the right leg, let the tension on the inside part of the right foot start the downswing. The left thumb never loses it's ability to press vigorously on the shaft or it is no longer "behind" it.Please swing easily my friends, this is only to learn the mechanics of connecting the hands early in the swing.