I guess it was too good to last forever… two weeks after the golf season, I’m having to take a break for about a week, that began last Sunday.
The weather has been barely above freezing since then, and will be around freezing until things start to warm up again around Sunday/Monday.
If you look at Jimmy Thomson’s address procedure, you should see something that you don’t see at all in the modern conventional golf swing, and I mean you won’t see it at all.
Look where Jimmy put his club head on the ground before actually swinging.
I have been doing some looking at Jimmy Thomson’s address routine with his driver, because of something that hit me on the weekend with regard to addressing the ball.
I have always loved how quickly Moe Norman would address the ball and then fire a perfect strike at the target while most guys would have still been wiggling and writhing into position over the ball, not even close to pulling the trigger.
I just realized that the near-ounce (24g) heavier R7 Quad driver head that I have made is nothing more than a home-made version of the old Momentus Power Hitter Driver.
That said, I was talking the other day about my little experiment regarding swing speed vs club head mass, and I have actually made a significant swing speed increase with the heavier R7 Quad.
I received a new putter over the winter, from an appreciative DJ Watts Golf reader/commenter, and I have to say that I absolutely love it.
I should be taking it for a test run sometime next week, as I’m waiting for the practice greens to dry out, firm up and quicken up a little. They’re still winter-soggy, and putting or chipping on them won’t give do anyone any good as far as simulating playing conditions go.
(**Update: I have inserted a clip comparing my swings with the two different clubs at the bottom of the post)
I conducted an un-scientific experiment yesterday at the range with two drivers. The first was the Taylor Made R7 Quad driver, 8.5 degrees loft, that has weight inserts, which I had made 24 grams heavier than the standard weighted R7 Quads.
After four months off swinging, I’m still getting back to where I have the feel for the swing and the tempo, etc. I’m thrilled to say however that this is the quickest by far that I’ve been able to get back into swing shape after a winter layoff.
This swing clip is from Friday, and I’d say the swing is looking as good as it did at any point last summer.
I saw a link on Golf Digest online that asked if someone is a “thrower” or a “dragger.” Out of curiosity, I clicked on it and couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing.
Basically, Jim McLean in a video clip describes how Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman were among the longest and best drivers of the game, and that they “threw” the golf club.
The posting from a couple of days ago sparked furious debate on what someone thought was a “new move” on my part – the “toe-pivot” with the left or leading foot.
Well, video analysis (why did I just have a voice yelling in my head, “Let’s go to the tape!”?) shows that it’s not a new move, just something that someone noticed and that I only recently began to look at with regards to my own swing.
Well, I got out to the Academy today to hit balls for the first time this year, and of course the grass tees will not be open until sometime in April. I don’t particularly care for the mats, but you do what you do when that’s all there is.
I hit nearly two jumbo buckets’ worth, leaving a dozen or twenty due to having to get home, but I couldn’t believe how well I was hitting it today after a four-month layoff.
And it’s about time. The golf academy where I practice has officially opened for the season, and we’re already in the mid-teens Celsius (60F and above) for our daily highs.
This is a good deal warmer than the historical averages, but it is what it is, and I’m getting a good four weeks’ head start on my season, which is awesome.
(***Update 5:53pm - Just heard confirmation on the golf telecast that it’s his left Achilles. So, another lower body injury for the modern swing)
Tiger Woods WD’d from the WGC at Doral this afternoon with a left leg injury (not disclosed whether it was the knee, but he said “leg” and not “blister” or “Achilles”), and he did not look good leaving the course.
He went straight from the course to his courtesy car, climbed in and drove away with barely a comment.
I took this photo from one of our windows a little earlier today. It was 16C yesterday (61F), and this is what it currently looks like outside.
Nothing like a flash blizzard to brighten the spirits, is there? No need to panic however, since the ground is not frozen, we’re forecast for sunny high of 15C by Sunday, and this irritating little white stuff will be a distant memory by Monday.
Just a word that the “Leaning A” concept was something that I talked about during the past week or so as a possible new concept in the MCS school of thought.
After some extensive thought/drilling, I am confident that it will become an integral part of the MCS, but since the original post was merely my “thinking aloud” on the blog as I am wont to do, I have decided to take down the posts and wait for such time as I have established the proper principles of the new concept.
I had the Golf Channel on last night while I putted in the living room, and a show happened to come on featuring Annika Sorenstam giving a lesson on how to hit the Driver.
It was while watching her that it suddenly struck me why her swing always looked peculiar to me, while of course being utterly devastating on the LPGA Tour.
I had an email conversation last week with a gent who has been implementing the MCS swing philosophy, and he wrote me that it has really been helpful in allowing him to keep playing golf with a left hip that he knows will have to be replaced.
I asked him if I could share some of his sentiments, and Neil readily agreed. It’s really the stories like this one that give me a great deal of satisfaction in trying to convert golfers to a more mechanically-sound golf swing technique.
