Saturday, August 2, 2008

Trying to regain a semblence of physical coordination

Yesterday my putting stroke and the rest of my game became uncontrollable.  The swings and strokes were wild.  It seemed as if my physical coordination had gotten suddenly worse.  I don't know why this has happened.  I have been feeling tired at various times during the day and wondering if I should make an appointment with my doctor.  But I wasn't feeling tired when I played golf yesterday.

Today I went on the practice green to see what I could do to salvage a putting stroke.  The stroke was still bad.  All the stupid mistakes that everyone wants to avoid were happening left and right.  I couldn't keep my arms, shoulders, hands, and club as one piece.  I turned toward the hole before impact.  I hit short and long.  I opened and closed the clubface.  Worst of all, the stroke just didn't want to move squarely and smoothly like I had come to expect.  I worked on it for about an hour and managed to regain some it.  Here's what I remember doing.

I hit almost all short putts, starting at three feet and moving outward, then repeating.  I often hit from the same spot over and over, from below the hole so as to take some unevenness out of the green.  I had to practice not looking at the hole too soon.  I had to straighten my back.  I had to practice the shoulder move in standing position with the putter shaft horizontal to make sure I was doing it right, then bend down to putting position to establish it.  I had to swing back and forth a lot to get the one-piece arms-shoulders-putter arrangement working, during which I tensed the arms and hands to lock them into one piece.  This created a feeling of one-piece movement even if it was somewhat artificial.  Perhaps I had been too loose and relaxed in the muscles there.  I also had to make sure the torso turning didn't quit before the stroke was finished.  I tried to lock the shoulders to the torso to eliminate "up and down" shoulder movement, and that helped for a while.  

Gradually I was able to start repeating swings and sinking putts, but not as well as I had come to expect.  I just have to practice again and see what happens.

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