Before I play a round of golf I usually hit a medium bucket just to loosen up a bit and see how my swing is and then head to the first tee. I start out hitting the ball good, pretty much straight shots some fall a bit to the left with a tiny draw but by the end of the round all I can hit is a cut shot. It has been like this for quite a few years and I have adapted by hitting mainly cut shots toward the end of the round. I started going to the range after a round and tried to work on hitting the tiny draws and I found that I have to feeeeeel like I don’t use my hips at all or at least until after impact and let the hips open with the club pulling me to the finish. So I am wondering if anyone else has had this issue, I believe my hips start firing faster as the round gets going and as I get really loosened up or subconsciously I fear the fat shot so much that my brain takes over knowing it is much harder hitting a fat shot from a cut swing?
Dear Matt 4-L,
I certainly agree with the possibilities of fatigue and nutrition being responsible for the problem you described. However, ALL my work has been on swing error initiation and propagation and from what you have described, I would at least ADD TEMPO and LOWER BODY DYNAMIC BODY changes to the list of possibilities.
The good news is that corrections in these two areas, if caused, or triggered from fatigue and/or nutritional changes, do not take very much more energy to correct, and when addressed, allow you to finish the round of golf hitting the same drives as the front 9.
So here is all you do, BUT YOU NEED TO FIRST HAVE TRIGGERED THE PROBLEM AS BEFORE.
(1) After the first indication of the problem, take 5 practice swings, full power, while setting up for the next shot, BECOMING FULLY AWARE OF YOUR FULL SWING TEMPO. Then, simply hit the next drive WITH THAT TEMPO, AND STAYING FULLY AWARE OF THAT TEMPO.
(2) If the problem still exists, and IMO it could, just really concentrate on "Bumpy back, KEEP IT BACK", because, IMO, the resultant shots you have described, can be created by the rear hip ANXIOUS to get out first, instead of the turning of the lead hip, kind of pulling the rear hip out of its "KEEP IT BACK POSITION. So, 5 more full power swings for TEMPO awareness and with bumpy back, THEN hit the real shot.
(3) If that too fails, and you are still on the course, go to the one inch 'Body Lowering' set up position, WITH 'Bumpy back', and again after a few full power practice swings, hit the real shot.
Finally, BE THANKFUL that you have a consistent swing FAILURE MODE to work on; many of the rest of us have RANDOM FAILURES in both characteristics, and/or timing, which make the 'repairs' more difficult to define.
BUT IT IS IN FAILURE THAT WE LEARN, so thanks for giving US the chance to learn WITH you.
Regards,
art