Pathway to Succes

By Dean Claggett, Director of Golf

As the golf season gets into full swing we’ve had the opportunity to go out and play or practice to refresh our minds and bodies of with our golf swing and the habits that we carry forward from the previous season. Unfortunately the swing habits we have don’t always lead to the best shots or our best scores. We seem to go around and around looking for the secret but not knowing how to find it.

A passion for the game and a desire to improve

We watch golf tournaments on TV, read magazines and study the golf channel infomercials in the hope that our swing or the newest tip will last longer than two weeks. It has been my experience from teaching, playing and observing the game that most amateurs don’t have a personal recipe for success. What I mean is most golfers don’t know what creates a good shot, a bad shot or how to practice to improve. Therefore the search for improvement is never-ending.

Training camp and exhibition games

All professional sports teams have a specific routine to prepare for their schedule. What I would like to introduce for all golfers is a short training session every time you practice at the range or at home in your rec room, garage or backyard.

• Start with an understanding of your starting position
• Start in a tall standing position, arms relaxed by your side
• Push your hips back creating a forward tilt in your spine towards the ball
• Softly put a gentle bend in your knees
• Bring your hands together in front of you in a golf grip position

Imagine this as your starting position

Now, look into a mirror and get a feeling for how athletic, ready and balanced you are to start your golf swing.

1. At the driving range, go through this recipe for your starting position after each shot. Work through  the first 10 – 15 balls to become accustomed to it and to create a positive habit.
2. Once you feel ready to add a next step, set up two clubs to represent railway tracks for your alignment, either use two individual clubs or alignment sticks that can be purchased at any retailer. Have your knees hips and shoulders on one track and the clubface and golf ball aiming at your target on the other. Presto a starting position fit for a golfer!
3. To continue the development of your golf swing start by attempting to understand what the clubface does to the direction of the ball and also how the path of your swing influences the ball flight in the direction of your target. Please pay attention if the ball goes in a different direction than your target. Was the clubface open or closed? Did the ball slice or hook? Ask yourself these little questions and then accept the challenge to do the opposite to create a new feeling in your swing.
4. I would like you to understand what it feels like in your hands and arms when you swing the golf club. What influence do they have on the flight of the ball? I know as a golf instructor I shouldn’t talk about hands and arms because everyone writes about the body and the big muscles and how they influence the swing, but let’s educate our hands and arms first. Play around with aiming at different targets and different distances under 150 yards. Feel the contact you create and assess your finish position, balanced or not? Do you still have control of your grip or have your hands moved on the handle?

All the little assessments are important because they allow us to understand our patterns of behavior or our habits, what good habits we have and what bad habits we have. This knowledge will enable you to improve your golf swing!
In my next article, we will continue our early season development to improved golf!