What If You’re Fixing the Wrong Thing?

“I just want you to tell me what I’m doing wrong. I’m pulling the ball to the left. And I can’t stop it.”

Those were the words of a golfer who came to see Julian at the ProperGolfing studio in Leamington Spa.

He was an intelligent, analytical golfer who had recorded almost everything about his game. Club distances, practice notes, course information, even the slopes on the greens.

But there was one thing he didn’t know.

He had diagnosed his own golf swing incorrectly.

If you have ever asked yourself why your golf ball goes left, and then spent weeks working on the “obvious” fix without it getting any better, this story is for you.

Why does my golf ball go left?

The golfer believed he was swinging from out to in, and that this was pulling the ball left of his target. It seemed perfectly logical. It’s what most golfers would assume, and it’s what plenty of tips online would tell him to fix.

The GCQuad launch monitor in our studio told a very different story.

His swing path wasn’t the problem at all. In fact, he was swinging the club in a direction Julian would ordinarily be very happy with.

The real clue was that exceptionally upward angle of attack. He was hanging back through impact, with his weight staying on his trail foot. That put the low point of his swing behind the ball, and when the low point is too far back, the club has more time to close before it reaches the ball. Hence a clubface 17.5° closed, and a ball heading left.

He could have spent countless hours trying to change his swing path or manipulate his clubface, and never touched the real cause.

The fix was a habit, not a technique

Julian didn’t give him a complicated sequence of body movements. He changed a habit.

For years, this golfer had believed he needed to keep his head down and his eyes fixed on the ball. That belief was holding his body back.

Julian encouraged him to let his eyes and head follow the ball towards the target. Suddenly his body could move through the shot naturally. His weight transferred, his balance improved, his finish improved and so did his ball striking.

The clubface came back to around 4° closed, his angle of attack became slightly downwards, the left miss turned into a soft draw, and he gained around 20 yards.

All without rebuilding his swing.

Julian shared this story on last night’s group coaching call, and it made for a really enjoyable and informative evening. It sparked a lively conversation about where golfers actually look during the swing. Some look at the back of the ball. Some pick a spot just in front of it. It’s well worth asking yourself what you do, and whether it might be stopping you from moving.

What this means for your winter practice

Winter is when most golfers try to “fix” their swing. The danger is spending the whole off-season working hard on the wrong thing, and arriving in spring with the same miss.

This golfer didn’t need more information. He had plenty. He needed the right diagnosis, a simple change, and a way of checking it was working. That’s exactly how we coach:

• Coaching
• Practice
• Feedback
• Practice
• Review

It’s the process at the heart of the Timeless Golf Winter Programme, and it’s how you make sure every hour of practice this winter is spent on the thing that actually matters.

Play the Timeless Golf Swing® way

If you’d rather put it all into practice with Julian on the course, our golf coaching holidays combine coaching, great golf and wonderful company.