Breakthrough Moments (aka Oh you mean I'm supposed to do it THAT way)

[Jarlaxle]

Let me start by stating there is no way for me to properly describe what I figured out about the golf swing two nights ago.  It has to do with my right hand, but that's about as specific as I'll try to get. Bottom line, I suddenly started making way better, more consistent contact (dare I say, "flushing" it) on every single swing with anything other than a driver.  From full swings down to tiny little chips, I had a fundamental breakthrough in delivering the clubhead properly with an iron. I played nine holes last night and shot 2 over and very easily could have been even par. For context, my handicap is currently 10.5 (lowest ever is 8.5) and my best ever score is 78 so to say this was a marked improvement is an understatement. I admit I did putt well but as I told my brother that played with me, it was at least partly because all of my par putts were from 8 feet and in instead of 15 feet or longer. 

 

This wasn't a "blind squirrel finds a nut" situation, I truly believe I've had a breakthrough and that's what I wanted to have a conversation about. It was like a light came on and suddenly I could see. To me, this is why golf is the greatest recreational sport ever invented because there is always another level to achieve. Whether you are a 25 handicap that had an "A Ha" moment to start finally hitting the ball in the air or a +2 that had an epiphany about bunker play, I'd enjoy hearing your story of when you experienced a similar breakthrough. 

Cheers and here's to playing better golf!

[jdl]

I have those several times a season. But they rarely last more than a round or two. ☹️

[Sp4zRX]

Most of my AHA moments are when I stumble on to something like you describe, then I remember a lesson a had maybe one, two or more years ago realize that’s what the instructor was trying to teach me and get me to do and I just didn’t comprehend correctly. Then I feel dumb and enlightened all at the same time. It seems when I have them, my play increases 100% but within a week or two I regress 85% and the cycle continues. I am having those moments more and more frequently so I think that’s a positive sign. 

[mat562]

Realising that I wasn't left-handed at golf will always be the epiphany that had the biggest positive impact on my game.

 

Second would be discovering the interlocking grip.

[Triple Lindy]

Mine has to do with the wrist hinge, primarily with the lead hand. After breaking 80 for the 1st time a few years ago, it finally happened again last week. Like you, I putted very well, so that had a lot to do with it, but my confidence was high with an iron in my hand. It was a long progression for me, starting with Monte’s No Turn Cast. I would pay attention to the wrist during practice sessions, but for some reason, would find myself reverting to old (bad) habits once I was on the course.

 

Now to see if I can make it a trend instead of a once every few years thing.

[MattM97]

Pitching and chipping, more body turn than you think while also being a little "handsy". 

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

Similarly, I had that happen about a month and a half ago when I got back to my old form.

 

My focus is on the left arm. I keep the grip firm, and allow no movement. When I do that it naturally hinges on release. I feel at times like I'm hardly swinging the club. I just need to work on maintaining that when I need to dial it up.

 

My gloves went from "holy in a week" to "still using them after a month."

 

There was a regression a few weeks ago. I got lazy and mostly cocky... It's been pure gold since I worked that out.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Mikey_HACKilroy

[jordan2240]

I've had 432 such moments thus far, but who's counting.  The latest is with driver, and it's to simply tee the ball higher (at 2 inches).  Has worked for about 2 rounds so far.

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

I Need an AHA moment with my driver... It's not uncommon for a shaft change to require acclimation.. but enough already! Lol

 

 

[aramirez24]

I used to think tempo meant swinging slow. That's been a good lightbulb moment for me. 

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

2 hours ago, aramirez24 said:

I used to think tempo meant swinging slow. That's been a good lightbulb moment for me. 

The saying is "tempo isn't how fast you swing it,  it's how you swing it fast."

 

In fact, you've reminded me that the REAL light bulb went off when I realized swinging fast was different from swinging hard. Lol

Edit: I hate auto suggest...... Worst feature ever and it has only gotten worse... LOL TEMPO somehow turns into YEP!!

 

Edited August 3, 2023 by Mikey_HACKilroy

[Jarlaxle]

7 hours ago, mat562 said:

Realising that I wasn't left-handed at golf will always be the epiphany that had the biggest positive impact on my game.

 

Second would be discovering the interlocking grip.

It’s weird how that can happen. I do everything else right handed but shoot pool left handed. I couldn’t shoot pool right handed to save my life.

 

Did you find out by just trying it once or did someone suggest it?

Edited August 3, 2023 by Jarlaxle

[LBB]

This tends to happen to me every once in a while. 

 

The a-ha moment usually happens right after I tap my credit card at the register or click the button online that says "confirm purchase"

[cbrwn425]

9 hours ago, MattM97 said:

Pitching and chipping, more body turn than you think while also being a little "handsy". 

Just discovered this myself. First round and a couple range sessions with more hands and distance control and strike consistency has been greatly improved. I’ve been struggling for a while from 50-60 yards, feels good to step up with some confidence for a change. 

[MattM97]

10 minutes ago, cbrwn425 said:

Just discovered this myself. First round and a couple range sessions with more hands and distance control and strike consistency has been greatly improved. I’ve been struggling for a while from 50-60 yards, feels good to step up with some confidence for a change. 

 

I'm still trying to figure out all the shots from various ball in stance to grip position, to swing length. 

 

Needs more work and probably a few lessons but it's better than before.

[cbrwn425]

9 minutes ago, MattM97 said:

 

I'm still trying to figure out all the shots from various ball in stance to grip position, to swing length. 

 

Needs more work and probably a few lessons but it's better than before.

Same for me. It’s better and feels more repeatable but a long way to go to get everything dialed in. I’ve been working on 30 yard shots in the backyard playing with different stances and ball positions and 54* vs 58* to see what gives the most consistent results. Think I’m on to something with that yardage. 

[bobfoster]

I've had more mini-AHAs than I can count over the years. But they are generally temporary. Everyone's swing changes, slowly but continuously over the years. AHAs are usually in relation to a current swing. Slightly changed my grip, or stance, or swing path and suddenly everything gels. For awhile. Until it somehow no longer does.

 

The one massive AHA - the first one ever for me, and the one that has lasted decades - is simple: Reps. Practice. I look at the almost countless YouTube videos that are up there today. The "perfect" grip. Just clear your hips a bit sooner. The "secret" that pros do and you don't (those make me giggle - golf isn't the Masonic Temple for criminy sake, where Initiates gain access to secret, hidden knowledge). Etc. Some have partial validity. Some have good ideas. But here's the truth: There are no tricks in golf. There are no secret techniques. There are no magic bullets. There's reps.

 

The AHA came in my early teens - had been playing now and then with my Dad since I was 8, but just for fun at first. Had just started to take it a little seriously. I putted horribly. Was way short, or way long, or wide by feet on one side or the other. My Dad belonged to a club, and I knew the pro - I used to hang around, help him do grunt work early in the morning. I asked him. He took me out to the practice green, dumped a whole bucket of balls about 15 feet from a hole, and just said "Keep putting from here until you sink one". Actually took almost two full buckets. Was all over the place at first. Then started honing in. The misses started getting less and less long, short, or wide. Was just hitting a single putt, from the same distance, the same slight break, over and over. 

 

But then, the next time I played with my Dad, I had a slightly shorter putt, but on a very similar line. Still remember thinking "I can do this, I've done it before". Sank it. That was the big AHA moment that has lasted all these years. Have done it with every part of my game. I can stand confidently over a ball 50' out and do a half swing with a wedge, because I've done 100s of 50' half swings with that wedge on the range. If I think I need a baby fade around a dogleg with a 3W, my grip and stance sort of adjust themselves - because over time I've spent a few range sessions doing nothing but trying to hit that one shot shape with that one club. A lot of my practice sessions are kind of focused (because of that principle). I rarely take my full bag to "hit balls" - in fact, usually only one or two clubs, and usually with a particular thing in mind. Last session was three buckets of doing nothing but hitting a low draw with a six iron. 

 

All of this - these many years later - has flowed from that single original AHA. These days they call it "muscle memory", but that is really just another name for that simple sensation: "I can do this. Because I've done it before. My body remembers."

 

And it isn't that hard to fit into life. I have putting mats at home and in my office. Not uncommon to spend an hour (mostly listening) on a boring conference call or something, and I'll just hit a couple dozen putts. But a couple dozen a day, for weeks, for months ... for years ... produces a pretty consistent putting stroke. Even with clubs. I've lived sometimes in the north, where the winters have a lot of snow. But a couple times a week I'll take a few clubs - wedge, short iron, mid iron and long iron, and just do 25 "brush the carpet" pendulum swings with them. Not even using a ball. Just keeping all the physical aspects the golf swing embedded. Again not much time - maybe 15 minutes (usually with the Food Channel or Football or something on in the background), but golf is a lot like Yoga - don't need to spend hours, but even just a little bit, if it is done every day, has huge effects. 

 

So - can't speak for anyone but myself, but (put another way), my AHA is that there really is no such thing as an AHA in golf (in anything other than a temporary sense). There's Reps. 

 

 

Edited August 4, 2023 by bobfoster

[mat562]

10 hours ago, Jarlaxle said:

It’s weird how that can happen. I do everything else right handed but shoot pool left handed. I couldn’t shoot pool right handed to save my life.

 

Did you find out by just trying it once or did someone suggest it?

 

My first whack with a golf club was with one of my father's clubs when I was 11. I'm a bit of an oddball in that I do most things left-handed, but some things - writing, racket sports and, now, shooting - right-handed. I played cricket - or, at least, when I was forced to pick up a bat at school, and chuck the ball around - I did that left-handed, so I assumed I'd probably play golf that way too. It felt natural enough when I first set up to a ball, anyway. I was one of those kids who was pretty good at most sports; you know the type, the sort of wiry, sporty kid who could take up a sport on Monday, and by Friday look like he'd been playing it for some time and be doing it to a decent standard. I picked a golf club up though, and I was hopeless. Fatting it, missing it, topping it, you name it. So I chalked it up as a sport that simply wasn't for me. I'd been to the Open that summer with my father, and seen Sandy Lyle hitting 1-irons that looked like tracer rounds from a machine gun, so by comparison I was embarrassingly bad, even if I was was only 11.

 

Roll on a few months, and a friend got some golf clubs for Christmas. Right-handed ones. It was freezing cold, but with the keenness of youth he wanted to go out and give them a bash and asked me to come along. I was just going to watch him hit some balls. Crikey, I thought. If I can't hit the ball the proper way round, I've no chance with these wrong-way-round clubs. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I picked one up, put my hands on it with the wrong hand at the top, and had a swish. It didn't feel that bad. After a dozen or so shots the ball was getting airborne and eveything. It was even going quite straight, albeit with a bit of a swooping draw. I now realise that my grip on the club was like something you'd use to strangle a marauding ostrich, and I was aiming further right than Bobby Locke, basically hitting the ball like a forehand ground stroke in tennis - a sport I wasn't bad at, and which I played right-handed - but I soon got things sorted out and progressed pretty quickly. With an encouraging father, a few pointers from a local pro, and a new found enthusiasm for going out hitting balls for hours on end, I was a decent scratch player within three years.

 

If my old mate Matt hadn't got those right-handed Daiwa clubs, and if I'd only had a T-shirt on on a cold December afternoon, and didn't fancy getting cold, I'd undoubtedly have given the game up before I started.

 

 

[caniac6]

20 hours ago, jdl said:

I have those several times a season. But they rarely last more than a round or two. ☹️

Seems like I have a breakthrough moment every time I go to the range, and it either only works at the range, or I forget what it was the next day.

[jdl]

2 hours ago, caniac6 said:

Seems like I have a breakthrough moment every time I go to the range, and it either only works at the range, or I forget what it was the next day.

I have a Google Keep note with all the things that I learn when having these "breakthroughs". But I forget to look at it each spring so I have to learn them all again during the season.

[Jarlaxle]

5 hours ago, mat562 said:

 

My first whack with a golf club was with one of my father's clubs when I was 11. I'm a bit of an oddball in that I do most things left-handed, but some things - writing, racket sports and, now, shooting - right-handed. I played cricket - or, at least, when I was forced to pick up a bat at school, and chuck the ball around - I did that left-handed, so I assumed I'd probably play golf that way too. It felt natural enough when I first set up to a ball, anyway. I was one of those kids who was pretty good at most sports; you know the type, the sort of wiry, sporty kid who could take up a sport on Monday, and by Friday look like he'd been playing it for some time and be doing it to a decent standard. I picked a golf club up though, and I was hopeless. Fatting it, missing it, topping it, you name it. So I chalked it up as a sport that simply wasn't for me. I'd been to the Open that summer with my father, and seen Sandy Lyle hitting 1-irons that looked like tracer rounds from a machine gun, so by comparison I was embarrassingly bad, even if I was was only 11.

 

Roll on a few months, and a friend got some golf clubs for Christmas. Right-handed ones. It was freezing cold, but with the keenness of youth he wanted to go out and give them a bash and asked me to come along. I was just going to watch him hit some balls. Crikey, I thought. If I can't hit the ball the proper way round, I've no chance with these wrong-way-round clubs. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I picked one up, put my hands on it with the wrong hand at the top, and had a swish. It didn't feel that bad. After a dozen or so shots the ball was getting airborne and eveything. It was even going quite straight, albeit with a bit of a swooping draw. I now realise that my grip on the club was like something you'd use to strangle a marauding ostrich, and I was aiming further right than Bobby Locke, basically hitting the ball like a forehand ground stroke in tennis - a sport I wasn't bad at, and which I played right-handed - but I soon got things sorted out and progressed pretty quickly. With an encouraging father, a few pointers from a local pro, and a new found enthusiasm for going out hitting balls for hours on end, I was a decent scratch player within three years.

 

If my old mate Matt hadn't got those right-handed Daiwa clubs, and if I'd only had a T-shirt on on a cold December afternoon, and didn't fancy getting cold, I'd undoubtedly have given the game up before I started.

 

 

Thanks for sharing!

[Tengu]

Focusing on the right arm and right shoulder to make the correct move in the backswing instead of "pushing" the left arm to the back. Improved my clubhead speed the most this season.

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

2 hours ago, Tengu said:

Focusing on the right arm and right shoulder to make the correct move in the backswing instead of "pushing" the left arm to the back. Improved my clubhead speed the most this season.

 

I'm curious as to what you mean by pushing the left arm? Not because I'm looking to pick......

I'm genuinely curious.

[Tengu]

11 minutes ago, Mikey_HACKilroy said:

 

I'm curious as to what you mean by pushing the left arm? Not because I'm looking to pick......

I'm genuinely curious.

 

Often I focused like my left arm going back away from the target. As a result my left arm would often move across my chest instead of turning my shoulders. Pretty much as explained in Depth here:

 

Edited August 4, 2023 by Tengu
typo

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

8 minutes ago, Tengu said:

 

Often I focused like my left arm going back away from the target. As a result my left arm would often move across my chest instead of turning my shoulders. Pretty much as explained in Depth here:

 

Makes sense; basically rotating too much in the upper body. I used to do that quite a lot, too. I think that was an AHA moment for me too this year. 😄

Honestly, I love the feeling when I finally figure something out. The first time it happens, it usually is isolated in a way that I can't repeat it. Then it happens again, and then again and again and again, etc etc.

It's kind of like a surprise at first as though you have zero confidence but then produce the desired result. With me, usually another rut follows because the sudden control goes right to my big fat head and I get cocky.... LOL

Then I clean it up for good.
 

[JohnnyCashForever]

I don't know if you're supposed to do it this way, but these things have improved my tee shots, iron play, and overall ball striking considerably since the beginning of the year.  I'm enjoying the game more because of it.

 

1. Take the club back mostly with your non-dominant hand controlling the backswing.  

2. Hogan's glass plane.  Feel like you're adhering to Hogan's glass plane ideal on the backswing.

3. Low hands at impact.  At impact, feel like your hands are in the same position or lower than at address. (Low Hands for Better Contact - Dub's Dread Golf Club (dubsdreadgolfclub.com))

4. Be like Billy (Casper).  Use the pop putting stroke on all putts. 

5. On all shots and putts, pick a target and commit to it one million percent before you address the ball.

Edited August 5, 2023 by JohnnyCashForever
Stupid typos

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

^+1

Dude gets it! 😄

Today I had another moment with my driver. I do have to admit I hit a rut (mental issue) with my 7-iron before working it out.... But I went today to work mostly on the woods and driver. I got halfway there at least.... Trouble is I got tired and started losing control and posture again.

There was a range of about 20 shots in a row where I took the club back, didn't feel like I was manipulating the grip, and transitioned with such smoothness that I almost couldn't believe the feel of those strikes..... Neither could half of the range apparently...... Half of them started hitting their drivers after that. BWAHAHAHAHA!!!

 

Trouble is, I lost it as I got tired, but given the progress I expect my next session to be better. It's just that I made the mistake of buying another bucket (small) and it's hard work turning over that shaft repeatedly like that. I think that's why my earlier shots were working out more than the late ones.....

 

Of course, I also think the earlier part of the session went straight to my head.