My 30-Year Swing Problem—and the Move That May Have Finally Fixed It

JACKSON TOWNSHIP, NJ — I carry 15 clubs in my bag, which, with a raised hand, I know is a violation of the rule that you’re only allowed 14, but really, the extra one is just a matter of punishment. He is being disciplined. Watch your brother play the 7-iron on the grass. See how much fun your sister driver is having? It could be you, my friend. But it won’t be. Not more.

So the 3-wood goes down.

But it also tempts.

Hiiiit me, Nick.

We’ll work it out this time, Piastowski.

You can use an extra 25 meters, Mr. Golf writer.

i can So it comes out.

And I lead my ball. Or dilute it.

Again.

A few weeks ago, I was thinking about how I got into anthropomorphic thinking and turned my clubs into living, breathing people while talking to an actual human. Kelan McDonagh is director of teaching at Metedeconk National Golf Club. He is one GOLF Teacher to watch. I was hoping he was maybe a wizard. For the 30 or so years I’ve been playing golf, one of the biggest deficiencies in my game has been that I almost miss the ball from time to time. The padding and thinning are also reminiscent of any club, although the 3-wood is their BFF. I know the root. A kind. I taught myself and always thought I could find a way to hit the ball better. And, sometimes, I have. But then my ball rolls wildly forward right after contact and I realize the issue remains. It has to be something deeper. Maybe even extraterrestrial.

Or maybe it was just my right hand, as I learned after an hour at McDonagh’s.

The opening quote

If you’re not interested in reading any more of this story, McDonagh summed things up this way:

Get a ball.

Jump ahead.

What happens? Your elbow bends, then extends out.

Just do this with your pitching arm in the golf swing, making only the downward motion toward the ball.

“I try not to get technical at all,” McDonagh said.

Measurements

Before I go any further, I must write that you should also work with your instructor. What works for me may lead to a piece for you. Everyone is different. To that end, my measurements will most likely not be the same as yours.

But here’s what we did:

– A measurement of wingspan and height. The first was two centimeters longer than the second.

“So the longer wings,” McDonagh said, “means you naturally have a longer and straighter attitude and your backplane is going to be a little more vertical compared to the circle.”

– A forearm and biceps measurement.

– A measurement of shoulder mobility. I extended my right arm from my right, bent my elbow so that my forearm was up, and then moved my forearm back as best I could. McDonagh said I had good mobility there, although I did tear the labrum in that area once.

– The golf swing looks. I got into my golf stance and put my hands together palm to palm, then made the swing that way. Then I held a stick horizontally just above my knees and did backswings.

fastening

This was a large part of the country the Mayans came from. My left hand was fine. It was neutral to slightly weak.

But my right hand was kind of strong. This stopped my right elbow from moving naturally. On the way down, it was catching on my left side, creating more of a ‘sweep’ rather than a full extension down. Sometimes I made good contacts then.

Sometimes I put the ball on top.

So I loosened my right hand grip. I knew the syllable was the flywheel, but I was still crooked enough that a simple counterclockwise flick of the wrist could have that much of an effect.

“The position of your right hand changed the orientation of your arm, which affected how you turned the club on the ball,” McDonagh said. “When we move the right hand to where we need it, it moves the right elbow a little bit and gives you the freedom to fold the arm and just throw it at the golf ball.”

The easy way to remember where to put your fingers on the club

That was good. To check that I had my right hand in the right position with the new grip, all I had to do was release my right three fingers from the club and see that they were pointing towards the ground at a 45 degree angle.

However, McDonagh said the opinion was not his own. He is a student of Mike Adams, a GOLF Hall of Fame teacherand Adams showed him the grip control.

“THE GOAT,” McDonagh said of Adams.

Takeaway

That changed too. Previously, my home grown swing was to “shoulder back,” placing the face of the arm inside my hands on the initial backswing—and causing more sweep on the ball.

Now, as my left arm moved over my chest, I also moved the club towards somewhere between 2 and 3 o’clock. (Twelve, in this case, is the address.) The clubface was out of my hands.

“I have this saying,” McDonagh said.

“‘Obviously what goes up must come down. And in golf scenarios, I’ve seen it — what goes around can’t touch the ground.’

(This is actually a great rhyme – but the whole time we were together, I was so focused on what they were telling me, I didn’t even react, let alone laugh.)

ATTITUDES

This was supposed to be more athletic, so we moved our feet together a bit and put more pressure on my toes.

If you are thinking of jumping, you would do the same.

“So if you’re watching a guy at MSG and he’s about to shoot,” McDonagh said, “what part of his feet is he going to use? He’s going to use the balls of his feet to push off the ground. That’s what I want you to do there. I want you to use the balls of your feet to extend your feet up.

“If we’re on our heels, we’re sure those knees aren’t expanding.”

Hook feeling

Weakest right hand grip? How much outside food? I had tried both of these moves in the past – though not together – but hit them as each caused the ball to sail straight. As I hit McDonagh, I was seeing it again. My right arm wasn’t fully extending on some swings, leaving the clubface open.

So McDonagh told me to tie the balls.

This feeling would also take time to develop.

“Someone comes here to me and they’re tackling with an open face and the ball’s going straight in the first 10 minutes,” McDonagh said, “I literally have to watch it go left for half an hour before I turn it right. If I were to move somebody who hits it 30 yards to the right, get them to hit it straight, before they turn it right, before they go straight. we feel – the opposite of that – then we turn it it fairly.”

About my fall

Toward the end of my time with McDonagh, I also wondered about what I call “immersion.” Basically, I don’t post on my left foot at kick; instead, I jelly-kneed through.

For as long as I can remember, I blamed a torn left ACL for the fantastic-looking move – but McDonagh was back in control. To show me, he first asked me to place my right hand against a wall, then make my thigh bend forward. This mimicked the hard squeeze – and I was hooked. Then I pressed my right hand down into his before making my turn—mimicking a weaker grip—and the dip subsided.

I was stunned. Was I sinking because of the catch?

“When you came down on the golf ball,” McDonagh said, “your elbow was going into your side, which was pushing you to the side, causing your knees to come down, then you tried to protect it with your arms. Whereas now, when we move our right hand a little bit more over the grip, your right arm is going to work more this way (straight to the right) ground, you see what my legs want to do naturally?

“So I think yes, maybe it’s because of the injury history, but I think it contributed a little bit to the position of the hand on the shaft. … It’s changing the direction you’re pushing. If you’re pushing down on the ground right there, your feet are naturally going to go that way. It’s just an athletic movement.”

The problems

As we finished, I started looking ahead.

What problems would I face while exercising?

Synchronization.

“If you get a good grip and your hands swing really well and they’re not connected to your legs or lower body, you’re going to see the ball go a little bit left,” McDonagh said. “So understanding the arm work is closing the clubface. So if I hit a shot using only the arms as a right-handed player, no matter where the right position is for that person, if you just swing the arms, the golf ball should swing left. … The ball will swing to the right when the right arm is bent and the swing face is open to it. They swing as much as you want, let them they go

“Lower body work, so through rotation and push off the ground, those two things make the face open. So it’s just like a math equation. If the arms are closing it, the body is opening it. When you put them together, the ball is going to go straight. When you hit it with your arms and no legs, you generally go left and when you see the body right, you’re going to see it. The arms are hanging, you’re going to see it’s going to go right.”

Then came my biggest question.

How long would this take to work?

When could the 3-wood join the rest of the gang?

“With anything we do in life, the more you do it, the better you get at it sooner,” McDonagh said. “If you’re going to do it once a week, if it’s in a home simulator that’s in town or whatever it is, I would literally take it—obviously you can take the whole bag if you want, but maybe take like a 9-iron, 7-iron and one of your hybrids. And just go in and start the session, make sure the arm width is just the right shot. Stand correctly and just put the ball on the net and see what relationship you have with the club and where you are punching him in the face and some things like that.

“Because at the end of the day, whether you’re playing this game on TV for millions of dollars or you’re just starting out, nothing beats hitting the ball in the middle of the clubface, from one end of the scale to the other.”

Editor’s Note: Below is a short video summarizing my time with McDonagh. And if you feel inclined, here is a way to donate money to help McDonagh’s dad, who is battling cancer.

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