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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