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Well, the only reason I made this blog in the first place was to record my swing thoughts so I can go back in the future to see the swing thoughts I had when my ball striking and short game was good.

Today was a really good ball striking day, perhaps the best in a long, long time.

Here’s are my thoughts through the swing:

Address

Make sure to setup up with the left foot about 15 degrees open, I have a bad habit of opening up almost 45 degrees, which hinders my balance.

Takeaway

I really want to feel like I am taking my stomach and all of upper body together away from the ball on-plane.

After that, I simply feel the momemtum of my body (stomach and all of upper body) swinging a little further to the top of the swing while cocking the clubs with my hands.

From the Top of the swing

I don’t really feel the top of my backswing anymore as I feel the body constantly moving in action.  But from the top, I really feel like my whole body simply swings inside-out pivoting on my upper body or the spine.

Well, that’s about it.

This also worked really well with the short pitch and chip shots.

Okay, this does really happen to me every couple months.  That is that I find the secret to the golf swing.

You go to the golf course and return with this “amazing” feeling that you’ve finally mastered the game of golf, or at least just the golf swing in this case.

Let me tell you how it happend and the secret too.

I have been on a long-trail of hitting balls on the range and really not practicing my short game or putting.

Well, yesterday, I go to the range at Harding Park GC, and found that the range closes early on Mondays.  Of course, this was my first time going to the range after 6pm on a Monday.

So, I decided to practice my short game for 2 hours.  What happened after that was amazing.

For the first hour and a half or so, I was really struggling to hit these hard-pan lies.  After trying several things, I hit a goldmine, the secret to my golf swing.

You see, the secret is in the dirt just like Ben Hogan said.  Literally, I found it in the hardpan dirt, where it’s practically impossible to hit the shot good unless you strike the ball perfectly.

As such, I found the secret of the golf swing as the following:

Your full swing is an extended version of your short shots.  It’s never the other way around.

For example, you are hitting the 2-iron really well.  You miniturize that 2-iron swing on the short pitch shots.  It might work and it might not, simply because what’s working for the full swing isn’t guaranteed to work on the short shots.

However, if you are hitting your 30-yard pitch shots from a hardpan lie perfectly (as you do need to hit it perfectly on the ball in order to avoid chunking it or thinning it) and you extend that short swing into a 2-iron swing, you will find that 99% of the time, the swing works.

This is why tour pros practice their short game so much because the rhythm and the swing technique flows into other longer shots.

Now, that is how I found the secret, let me tell you the “technical” details of my findings:

You need to feel that on the downswing, you are rotating everything including your stomach, shoulders, arms, and hands to the left while your weight is centered over the left foot.  You also need to feel you are standing very tall.

Here’s the important part, you need to feel like your wrists are uncocking upwards toward the sky just after impact.

If you take a careful look at Hogan’s after-impact position, you will notice that his wrists are actually lifted toward the sky.  This really helps you to hit the ball perfectly while minimizing wrist action through impact.

Now how to achieve this feeling?

It’s pretty simple, try to imagine there’s a giant ball hanging from the sky sorta like the above picture.

Then, try to rotate your body to move that ball foward toward your target.  Also try to hit the big imaginary ball with your elbows, this will automatically uncock your wrists the correct way by letting your wrists lift upwards.

I tried this and boy, I am going to the PGA Tour Q-School next year baby!

Chad Campbell is one of those PGA tour players who don’t have a perfect swing.  As you can see here, Chad sets up to the ball with a very narrow stance for a driver.  A big no-no, but he can still play.

Here’s his backswing.  He gets behind the ball real good even with his small stance.  I wouldn’t say it’s pretty but it gets the job done.

After impact, Chad does a good job of extending his arms but his left foot comes off the ground, a sign of real instability.  Of course, Tiger has/had this problem too but Chad really needs to work on his swing if he’s serious about winning more tournaments.

Either that or he can go work on his short game/putting more.

I don’t bet on Chad winning this week unless he holes every putt he sees.

Here’s Chad Campbell’s Driver swing in action:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

Jeff Overton is one of those young guys on the PGA Tour who haven’t really proved themselves yet but have a lot of potential to do so.  Let’s look at the young star’s swing.

At address, Jeff sets up with his hands way ahead of his ball, an unusual setup.

At takeaway, Jeff breaks down his wrists early.

At top of his swing, note the position of his head.

Look at how far his head has dipped at half-way down.

At impact, notice that his head has dipped probably around 5-8 inches from his backswing.

After impact, Jeff does pretty good in extending the club.

At finish, Jeff’s left foot AND right foot has slided about 10 degrees to his left, sign that he needs to work on his footing.

Jeff Overton’s swing may not be the worst on tour but he really needs to work on not dipping as much and his footing.

Clearly, this isn’t a swing that can win majors or any PGA tour tournament unless his short game and putting is just like a miracle.

With some swing changes, this young man could really win some tournaments though.  It’s hard to believe even that he made it to the PGA Tour with this swing.

Here’s Jeff Overton’s swing in action:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode