My round with the PGA pro last week highlighted not just the importance of great wedge play but also the eternal importance of getting your fundamentals correct. Those of you who signed up for my first secret will know that I like to think of the swing as one fluid movement and have strong views about how the full swing should be taught. Having said that though you must have excellent fundamentals before you go to strike the ball.
There are many wierd and wonderful swings out there which seem to prove enormously effective. World number two Jim Furyk is a classic example of this and even Jack Nicklaus had an unconventional swing in many ways. But even these guys would all relentlessly advocate the importance of getting your basic absolutely spot on.
“You can laugh at my swing but my fundamentals are as pure as you can get…”
Jim Furyk contemplating how to beat Tiger yesterday.
Often, during my challenge year, I would discover that some perceived fundamental flaw in my swing was actually a problem with my set up. I still check my grip every time I hit a shot and still struggle with a slightly too open club face at address. The great advantage of playing with a PGA trained pro is that these guys spot these flaws instantly and they can make a huge differnce to your game in a very short period of time. My ball striking had been off a little for a couple of reasons.
1. My shoulders were a fraction open at address.
2. I was standing a little tall at address causing the lie angle of my club to let the toe catch the ground on occasion.
Twenty minutes at the range today and a little work on these aspects meant that I was striking the ball better with my irons than I have been in months.
The concept of “fundamentals” in all parts of your life is so crucial. I actually stole the title of this blog post from a chapter in my book since it was something that came home to me time and time again during the year. I preach it endlessly to clients in my day to day consultancy business too. Unless you have solid fundamentals in your business you can run around like a headless chicken trying to get more sales and all it will do is create more problems. Likewise you can spend all the money you want on new clubs or spend hours trying to craft a beautiful draw with your driver but if you haven’t got your fundamentals correct you’ll simply groove in new faults.
