Rust Removal: Getting your swing back on track
“ The biggest problem is rushing onto the golf course and not hitting enough balls and not getting your swing into a groove.”
Remember in October when your golf game was at its peak? You spent an entire summer honing your swing, lowering your scores. Maybe you broke 100 for the first time, possibly 90, and if you’re really good, maybe you cracked 80. But that’s when it stopped. Winter came and your golf clubs went in the closet. And now that spring is in the air, you’re looking to get back out there expecting last season’s form. That’d be a huge mistake. “Even a tour pro, if he hasn’t played for three or four months, he’s not going to hit it good at first,” said Francis Mulholland, head pro at Atlantic City Country Club, which was rated the No. 1 public course in New Jersey by golf. com last year. Steps need to be taken to round back into golf shape. Mulholland and Dick Smith — who runs the Dick Smith Golf Academy with his brother Tom out of Valleybrook Country Club and RiverWinds Golf Club — have some advice to get you back on top of your game. “The best thing that I particularly tell people is that you really need to stretch and return your golf swing back to the size it was when you stopped playing last fall,” Smith said. “Many golfers go out cold after a 3, 4, 5 month layoff, and physically they’re not equipped to resume the play they might’ve enjoyed in the preceding season. “I like to call it a resizing of the golf swing. In other words, making the golf swing as full as you can from the beginning. You don’t even
by Josh
-Francis Mulholland head pro at Atlantic City Country Club
need to hit a ball.” Smith recommends taking numerous swings and stretching and rotating your hips so you can make a “fuller, more unrestricted swing” when you get back on the course. Back muscles are like a rubber band, Smith said. They shrink in the winter and you have to stretch them back out. “Of course everybody wants to hit it long and far from the get go, and the reality is the swing won’t allow you to do that,” he said. “It’s kind of an exercise more than a ball-striking thing, just trying to make a full rotation of your golf swing. In other words, the left shoulder under the chin going back, the right shoulder under the chin going through and finish full. Make a full follow through and that’ll make your swing function better.” This shouldn’t be done on the links though.
“The biggest problem is rushing onto the golf course and not hitting enough balls and not getting your swing into a groove,” Mulholland said. Mulholland recommends making 50 to 100 swings on the range before getting back onto the course. That way you can work some kinks out first. However, don’t expect for your game to drastically change. “If you hit a slice last summer, you’re going to hit a slice when you get out there this spring,” he said. That’s why Smith tells golfers to focus less on the results early on. “Your focus is striking the ball, not necessarily hitting it to a target or hitting it a certain distance,” he said. “In the process of making your swing bigger, your focus should be on strik-
ing the bottom back of the ball with the center of the club and not worrying about where it’s going because there’s no pressure on you.” To help make up for some errant shots off the tee and fairway, both Mulholland and Smith recommend spending some extra time working on your short game before getting on the course. “Chipping and putting, definitely (are important),” Mulholland said, “especially when you haven’t used your swing in a while. You’re going to miss a few more greens than you’re used to.” And if you want to make an even quicker return to form, getting some added advice doesn’t hurt. “It’s a good time of year to start to see your local PGA professional again,” Mulholland said, “before all the bad habits creep in again.”
Friedman , jfriedman@thedailyjournal.com and follow Josh @JFriedman57 on Twitter.