My Latest Golf "Fix"

In my last post, I said I'd need mental toughness in the days ahead. I played in the annual Cardinal Classic this past Friday through Sunday, and in an MGA Qualifier yesterday. On a scale of 1 to 10, I think I'd give myself about a 7 overall, with individual days of 7, 4, 6, and 8 respectively.

I'd rather not bore with the details, other than to say I accomplished my goals at the qualifier fo 1) Not embarrassing myself, and 2) Not finishing last. I finished T10 out of 13, shooting an 80. Not my best golf by any means, but my best round in an MGA tournament to date. The course was Minnewaska, a 71.9 rating and a 136 slope, but the MGA may even post it as higher for the difficult tournament conditions.

During the Cardinal Classic, I discovered my latest "fix." I will no longer lift my left heel on the backswing. Not that it's bad to do per se, but that because of softball, I tend to not set the heel back down in the same spot, instead pointing it more forward, thereby causing me to fire my hips too violently, and subjecting myself to bad pulls. I'm still not at the right level of trust yet, but I'm encouraged by what I see so far.

Harvey Penick wrote that lifting the heel is OK if it comes naturally, so I never bothered to change it. But when my playing partner made a comment that I lift my heel "old school" style, I began to think hmmm, maybe THAT's what has been causing my pulls.

Sure enough, when I hit balls after the round, it seemed I was opening up my stance while putting my heel back down during the downswing. We'll see how much this fix improves my game over the next several weeks.

Maybe the money spent on my $299 driver, plus two changes of shafts at about $140 total, would have been better spent on video lessons with a pro...