Playing Golf vs "Golf Swing": Wyndham Clark and Maturing with the Driver

[Obee]

Fantastic stuff here from Wyndham Clark. Everything I have always believed about the game in one, simple article on driving:

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/wyndham-clark-boss-off-the-tee-more-than-smashing-the-ball

 

Go look back over all of the threads over the years on mechanics versus mental game, etc. Golf versus "golf swing." so many people focus only on mechanics they think, "mental game" is overrated. This is literally what "mental game" is.

 

This is how you learn to play the game and score. By using this type of approach to every shot that you hit and every club in the bag. What are the conditions? What shot am I hitting? Why am I hitting it? Visualize. Execute. There is more, but that is the gist.

 

Almost none of these guys hit one shot over and over. They are always doing something a little bit different. This is how you play the game if you want to be your best. The last portion about 3-wood is absolute gold for lots of players who like to only cut the ball with driver. Learn to draw your 3-wood!

 

Most of his concepts are absolutely for the more advanced player, but certainly not only for tour pros. Get your game down to single digits and the fun begins. 🙂

Edited June 24, 2024 by Obee
clarity

[Mike_C]

Thanks for the link.

 

I can get to over thinking  a lot, especially in tournaments, I used to be really bad about it.   I literally one day came to the course on a tournament day and just said to myself "just hit the G** DAMN BALL".    Don't think too much, don't notice the water here, trees over there, pick a target, take it back and just hit it hard.  Not swing like Kyle Berkshire, but just think good tempo and full swing.   That day I played well and to this day have to remind myself to sometimes just swing and trust what I know I can do.....

[kiawah]

I recently started working on a swing change and have hit the ball well with all of my clubs, but face control with driver has been lacking and I am not 100% confident in hitting my standard straight-ish draw. Consequently, I have been hitting 3 wood on a lot of holes where I benefit from playing the ball right to left a bit more reliably. I actually managed to shoot -1 doing this on Saturday using my three wood on 5 holes or so that I would ordinarily use my driver on. If I was into the wind on a longer hole, I would move the ball back and make a really "punchy" swing which helped me to turn the ball over a bit more, too. I really like the added confidence of knowing I can predictably turn over the three wood or at worst hit a little push down the right side rather than making a tentative driver swing. 

I know I am playing golf as opposed to golf swing when I have finished making my decision about the shot I am playing before I am over the ball and giving myself the freedom to let the ball get in the way of my swing. I have also been trying to play the shot the hole demands a lot more often. If it's below my feet, I'll cut it. If it's above my feet, I'll choke up a bit and play a draw. Despite what the DECADE crowd seems to think, I am scoring much better giving myself 140-160 in the fairway or a couple of feet into the rough rather than anywhere way out of position. Chasing those extra 10-15 yards is often a fruitless pursuit. Thanks for sharing. 

[Mike_C]

24 minutes ago, kiawah said:

I am scoring much better giving myself 140-160 in the fairway or a couple of feet into the rough rather than anywhere way out of position. Chasing those extra 10-15 yards is often a fruitless pursuit.

My wedge play, especially full sand wedges or lob wedges, used to be very poor compared to my short and mid irons.   I used to intentionally try to hit my tee shots to the 150 marker, regardless of how long the hole was.  Having said that, I have improved a lot over the past 10-15 years from from 120 to  50 yards.    

[kiawah]

1 minute ago, Mike_C said:

My wedge play, especially full sand wedges or lob wedges, used to be very poor compared to my short and mid irons.   I used to intentionally try to hit my tee shots to the 150 marker, regardless of how long the hole was.  Having said that, I have improved a lot over the past 10-15 years from from 120 to  50 yards.    

Yeah, I know what you mean, I was laying up recently on a short par 4 on my course because my lob wedge had no grooves left and there was no way I could stop it anywhere close without landing it a foot from the lip of a bunker or holing the thing on the fly. You gotta be strong with the wedges because it is really deflating to have a great look from the fairway and have to walk up to the next shot with that same club still in your hand. Lol

[Obee]

3 hours ago, kiawah said:

Yeah, I know what you mean, I was laying up recently on a short par 4 on my course because my lob wedge had no grooves left and there was no way I could stop it anywhere close without landing it a foot from the lip of a bunker or holing the thing on the fly. You gotta be strong with the wedges because it is really deflating to have a great look from the fairway and have to walk up to the next shot with that same club still in your hand. Lol

The real takeaway here?

Get a new phocking LW!!! 😉

[Chunkitgood]

10 hours ago, Obee said:

Fantastic stuff here from Wyndham Clark. Everything I have always believed about the game in one, simple article on driving:

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/wyndham-clark-boss-off-the-tee-more-than-smashing-the-ball

 

Go look back over all of the threads over the years on mechanics versus mental game, etc. Golf versus "golf swing." so many people focus only on mechanics they think, "mental game" is overrated. This is literally what "mental game" is.

 

This is how you learn to play the game and score. By using this type of approach to every shot that you hit and every club in the bag. What are the conditions? What shot am I hitting? Why am I hitting it? Visualize. Execute. There is more, but that is the gist.

 

Almost none of these guys hit one shot over and over. They are always doing something a little bit different. This is how you play the game if you want to be your best. The last portion about 3-wood is absolute gold for lots of players who like to only cut the ball with driver. Learn to draw your 3-wood!

 

Most of his concepts are absolutely for the more advanced player, but certainly not only for tour pros. Get your game down to single digits and the fun begins. 🙂

Except, you’ve got to learn the process of striking the ball properly before you can do something a little bit different like a “squeeze cut.”  What he talking about is so far outside the experience or capability of the vast majority of golfers that it’s cruel.  Those guys don’t hit the same shot over and over now, but at some point they sure did, probably when they were 8.  And by the way, the idea of a pro needing to learn to draw a three wood says a lot, and none of it good.

People who are really good at golf should perhaps be careful about talking about it to those who aren’t.  This article was sort of a “let them eat cake” thing.  A lot of golfers can’t hit a fairway with any distance?  Well, let them play a squeeze cut.

 

But glad you enjoyed it.

[GoGoErky]

8 hours ago, Chunkitgood said:

Those guys don’t hit the same shot over and over now, but at some point they sure did, probably when they were 8.  And by the way, the idea of a pro needing to learn to draw a three wood says a lot, and none of it good.

Have you seen a pro on the range ever? I’ve been able to watch guys on the range during the week and they hit ten same shot over and over for some period of time. It’s what they do on off weeks. They keep their game ready by hitting balls on the range and on the course.

 

8 hours ago, Chunkitgood said:

Except, you’ve got to learn the process of striking the ball properly before you can do something a little bit different like a “squeeze cut.”  What he talking about is so far outside the experience or capability of the vast majority of golfers that it’s cruel.

Well duh. You have to practice and practice and then practice some more and develop your stock shot then you learn to hit different shots that you will

need on the course. The mechanics are done at the range and on the course it’s good swing. The opposite is done by amateurs. Many will self diagnose why a bad shot happened and then proceed to change something on the next swing to fix it. Or they are working on their swing while trying to score. That’s a recipe for bad golf. This is what he’s talking about.

 

Followed by the just tee it up and hit it crowd. See this every round. No picking  target, no setting up to hit a shot just swing away.

 

8 hours ago, Chunkitgood said:

People who are really good at golf should perhaps be careful about talking about it to those who aren’t.  This article was sort of a “let them eat cake” thing.  A lot of golfers can’t hit a fairway with any distance?  Well, let them play a squeeze cut.

Learning from how good players approach something is actually beneficial to the ones who aren’t as good. I’ve learned a lot on the course from playing with better players and for those who I am friends with asking questions so I can understand what they are doing and why. You don’t get better listening to the 20 handicap in

the group or the guy saying you picked your head up. Or the guy swinging out of his shoes with every club.

 

[Obee]

9 hours ago, Chunkitgood said:

Except, you’ve got to learn the process of striking the ball properly before you can do something a little bit different like a “squeeze cut.”  What he talking about is so far outside the experience or capability of the vast majority of golfers that it’s cruel.  Those guys don’t hit the same shot over and over now, but at some point they sure did, probably when they were 8.  And by the way, the idea of a pro needing to learn to draw a three wood says a lot, and none of it good.

People who are really good at golf should perhaps be careful about talking about it to those who aren’t.  This article was sort of a “let them eat cake” thing.  A lot of golfers can’t hit a fairway with any distance?  Well, let them play a squeeze cut.

 

But glad you enjoyed it.

 

  

Edited June 25, 2024 by Obee