Back to Basics : The golf grip

My neck felt alot better on Saturday morning (there's some niggling discomfort, but nothing that would get in the way of golf - LOL) so the boys and I scheduled an afternoon tee-off. 

There was some rain on the first two holes though but it stopped eventually and the weather after was nice and cool. Fairways were still wet and soggy at the Samarahan Country Club, which resulted in plugged balls, but it should dry up soon after the rainy season (decides to) moves along. 

So why this golf grip business?

We teed off at 12.30pm so I figured I would get some practice / warm up at the range. It's becoming somewhat of a broken record, but I wasn't doing anything right (slicing, shanking, fat shots) except for my driver, which I hit well oddly enough. (am gaming a new shaft with my Callaway driver but more on this another day)

I have been meaning to check in with a golf pro for a while now and as fate would have it, V.Nellan, the visiting golf pro. to the Samarahan Country Club happened to be in town. 

(V. Nellan has been involved in golf instruction for over 40 years and is a well known professional in the industry. Check out this great video of him here. - Credit to the Sandakan Eagle for the video)

Thanks to my mate Lee, I was able to have an unscheduled 'consultation' session with the pro and in 5 minutes he solved my iron striking problems (I kid you not). First, he told me to take a practice swing. In that one back swing, he stopped me and told me what my problem was. My grip.

As we all know, there are essentially 3 different ways to grip a club. The 10 finger grip, the over lap and the inter lock.

I picked up golf a long time ago and when I first started, I was taught to grip the club the inter-lock way and I have been using that grip since. More on grips, here.

So imagine my surprise  when the pro asked me to try a 10 finger grip. It felt really strange at first and it was more a mental block then anything, but what did I have to lose?

He then asked me to take an easy 3/4 swing which I did and my word, was it an EYE- Opener. The impact was flush and even more surprisingly, I produced a slight draw. No slice.

I looked at him in disbelief and he reciprocated with a smile and a simple "How did that feel?" All I could muster was an amazed "Wow!"

Maybe that was just beginner's luck or just an easy 3/4 swing, so I set up again and this time he says encouragingly "Now take a full swing. Don't think about it and just swing through the ball." 

Making sure I had the new grip in place, I took a swing and again the ball flew off the face of my 7 iron effortlessly. Incredible. Flush and no slice. 

Under the pro's watchful eye, I hit about a dozen more shots and although they varied from draws to hooks (better then slicing in my books) I was replicating that sweet, flush impact. Had trouble coming to grips (pardon the pun) that it only took one tweak. 

The session was brief so there wasn't enough time to find out just why this tweak made such a big difference. I mean, it wasn't as if I played crap all the time. After the golf outings in Kuala Lumpur last year, I was striking my irons like a king! So it does puzzle me somewhat, but whatever works man!

More importantly, it was a nice boost to my ailing confidence. Let's see if it will improve / continue this weekend. 

The new grip will take some getting used to, but it's great feeling confident with the irons again.     

SEDC CHAIRMAN'S CUP - It's go time!

Photo credits : Damai Golf and Country Club

A couple of weeks ago, a kaki of ours, Edwin asked if we would be keen to join the SEDC Chairman's Cup tournament at the Damai Golf and Country Club on 18.10.2014. We thought it would be fun to join as a group and so we did. 

Handicap cut off was 24 and there were plenty of prizes up for grabs. Playing below 96 couldn't be that hard, or so I thought. 

After my last golfing trip in KL, my game was starting to get consistent and I was particularly pleased with how I was striking the ball. Much less fat shots and the swing felt good. I was playing confidently and managed to shoot below 96 consistently (I play to hdp 26). 

But, for some reason, the dreaded fat shot started to creep into my game again (amongst other problems) the week before the tournament and I was rather concerned. Went to the range once during the mid week to try and sort it out but the problems were still apparent. 

There was a good turn out totaling 20 flights.

When Saturday morning came, the morning rain and grey overcast set the tone of what was to come.

I was grouped together with our resident pros, Edwin, Daryck and Ski and our shot gun start meant we would tee off from hole 2 on the Mountain 9. 

Suffice to say, it was a day where nothing went right and one I would rather forget. I ended up playing a deflating score of 101 (+5). 

Driving was inconsistent (On 3 holes, my 1st drive went out of bounds), iron play was rubbish (I was hitting it fat even with my trusty PW), duffing chips and putts were wayward. What disappointed me was knowing I could have played much better. Cest'la vie.

On the upside, we had a lot of fun joking around and teasing about winning the cattle worth RM4,500.00 (which was one of the hole-in-one prizes, I kid you not) 

But all wasn't too bad. One of our kakis, Lee Lee managed to play 3 under and grabbed 6th prize in the nett score category so there was plenty of cheering from our table during the prize presentation. 

Post tournament, I sort-of know what went wrong with the swing and have been spending the last two evenings hitting those practice golf balls in the garden. If I am right, I should see significant improvement the next time I am on the course.

In other news, only 9 more days to the CIMB Classic!

At the range

Finally took the time on Sunday afternoon to hit the range for a practice session. Played on Saturday morning and was having a torrid time. Shot a 100 (+1) which wasn't terrible, but it frustrates me when I know I can play much better.

In particular, I was chunking my longer irons and hitting them fat. Seeing the divot start way before the ball is disheartening. And if you're like me, it takes me a while to sort out the problem. The outside in / over the top swing was still apparent too.

Thankfully, the short game was quite tuned. Was comfortable chipping around the greens and managed to chip over a bunker and watch the ball roll down the basin and into the cup for a much needed birdie on Hole 7.

I thought it was a good idea to record my swings and it really helped me to visually focus on what needed to be fixed. Tips and suggestion are gladly welcome. 

If you notice, I placed an alignment stick on the mat just to help to groove proper alignment and check that your ball flight is consistent with your target line. Also definitely record your swings or have a friend help (I positioned my phone on my bag which worked perfectly). It makes it so much easier to identify the problems.

There were a number of swing issues that I concluded from the video(s):

1. Outside in / over the top;

2. Incorrect swing plane during the down swing;

3. Club head was pointing too much to the right of the target line on the back swing. Ideally it should be parallel to the target line;

4. Not keeping / maintaining posture during the swing;

5. On the downswing, my lower body wasn't leading my upper body and thus the outside in swing and incorrect swing plan.

EDIT: 6.08.2014
6. My friend told me that my 'take-away' was too close to my body, thus, too rounded a swing which, contributes to the outside-in swing. He advised that I try to push further from the body whilst maintaining the swing plane. Also mentioned that my right knee was turning too quickly. Tried some adjustments and it helped with my ball striking, so that's good news.

I also managed to sort out my 'Hitting-fat' problem. Essentially, if you' re hitting it fat, the swing is bottoming out much earlier in the swing arc then it should, thus the divot before the ball. The pros will tell you that you always make contact with the ball first then the turf, to compress the ball. Easier said that done though. So what was I doing wrong?

Figured out that I wasn't transferring my weight sufficiently and effectively during the down swing. Plus my ball position was a little more towards my lead foot when it should have been more centre for my setup and swing. 

I was also making a conscious effort to push off my right to shift the weight and I was really extending my arms on the down swing and through the follow through for better contact and distance. Worked a charm.

Towards the end of the session, I was pleased with how I was hitting the ball and was trying to get the hang of feeling the lower half of my body lead the downswing (i.e. bump my weight / hips to the left to allow the arms to drop and swing from the inside). It's not there yet, but it's improving.

For those hitting it fat, here's a good video, which explains why you hit it fat and demonstrates an easy tip to over come it. 

Played at Borneo Highlands (next post) yesterday during the second day of Hari Raya and was pleased with how I was hitting my irons so the practice at the range definitely helped.