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  • The swing and competition.

    Hi guys,

    I practice until virtually my hands blister. I play practice round after practice round. I play in competitions. In general I am happy with my game and I am playing well.
    I work to improve my swing, balance is everthing. I train to perform at my best.Sweet, everything going great.
    Today I played a guy in a matchplay comp. His swing was ok , but nowhere as good as mine ( sort of steep reverse pivot, totally unconvensional) but do not get me wrong I am not making excuses here, but I had a better swing.We played off scratch. But hey, from 150 yards in he nailed the pin. I was paring holes but this guy matched me and on the first nine birdied two.
    I am at this stage focused on the job in hand.I ended up 4 down after 12 managing to pull 2 back by 15. At this stage 2 down with three to play.Bearing in mind at this stage I was 3 over par.He was 1 under.
    On 16 we were both on green for 2 he is 10 foot away I am 16. I miss putt by 1 inch 1 foot past, he sinks his for birdie and it is good night have a nice day from me.
    What I am getting at is this, no matter what your try and do to improve and perfect your swing and get to where you think you are nearly there, good swing ,tempo ,balance and timing,hours and hours on the range, there is always someone in this case who swings the club horribly who will do you.
    Having said that I was beaten by a really nice guy who played well. Good luck to him.
    Am I missing something here.It throws the conventional type of golf swing out of the window, this guy was nailing the pin 150 yards in to 12 feet or closer.For me par was never good enough.I had to birdie to win the hole.Everytime he set up 150 yards out you just had this gut feeling he was going to nail it close to the pin and without fail he obliged.

    Bogeygolfer

  • #2
    Re: The swing and competition.

    3Skills has a preamble that points out the best golfers ever had different looking swings and some of them very unorthodox. They all were able to contact the ball with the clubs sweetspot and hit through impact in a very similar fashion though.

    It brings me back to the addage "It's not how but how many"

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    • #3
      Re: The swing and competition.

      I totally agree with you Brian. Many different swings but the best players always end up with the same result through impact. They hit the sweet spot and keep the ball under control.

      Bogeygolfer.

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      • #4
        Re: The swing and competition.

        It was said to me early on: Do you want to be good in spite of your swing, or because of it?

        It has since occured to me that it's those shots inside 120 yards that make or break you as a golfer - if you're all over the flag from inside 120, you're likely to destroy other golfers. Put another way, 3 bad shots and 1 good one is still a 4... I've been seeing some of those lately in either a good, tight chip for an up and down or draining a 16 footer to save an up and down. Feels good and the confidence soars!

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        • #5
          Re: The swing and competition.

          You know how often I deal with exact issue with students who play competitively whether the level is at inter-club level or pro tours? If I had $100 for every time we covered the topic, I could retire!

          Almost always, we don't touch the swing all we do is sit down and talk over a drink and a snack. Quite often I bring in a friend of mine who is a golf psychologist.

          The discussion we have deal with these sorts of mental issues: "they have a horrible swing, I should be better than them" or "he was such a short hitter, I was bombing it passed him, what's wrong with my game that I lost?" ... etc. etc.

          I'll save you all the mumbo jumbo but essentially at a level where competition is the focus the swing has nothing to do will levels of talent or skill. Take Jim Furyk for example. He is probably one of the most talented players in the world and on top of that he is one of the most skilled players. He has an uncanny ability to get into impact as well as anyone despite his very unauthodox swing.

          Another example on the other end of the scale would be someone like Luke Donald who has an almost perfect swing, hits the ball plenty far enough, hits the irons well, putts well ... but has really under delivered on his level of talent and skill.

          You have to realise that you're not playing against your opponents swing, you're playing against the player. Forget what his swing looks like, forget how far he hits the ball or whatever - you're playing the course against his score. How he makes the score is totally irrelevant.

          I know my reply is brief & to the point but true nonetheless and is a (very) short version of a 2 or 3 hour session we'd have with a player who suffered the same defeat as you. I hope it helps nonetheless.
          Last edited by TeachingPro; 08-09-2008, 09:17 PM.

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          • #6
            Re: The swing and competition.

            Thank you Graham for your reply. Your input is most appreciated.

            Bogeygolfer.

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            • #7
              Re: The swing and competition.

              Cheers Lowpost, Again I apreciate your input. Thank You.
              Bogeygolfer.

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              • #8
                Re: The swing and competition.

                Originally posted by Bogeygolfer19 View Post
                Thank you Graham for your reply. Your input is most appreciated.

                Bogeygolfer.
                You're welcome any time, helping fellow golfers is what golfers do.

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