What Time’s the Next Swing Plane to Augusta?

Elin's Swing Coach Is Next

What is it with great athletes always tinkering with their swings? Tiger’s swing angst is well (if not over) documented.  His last swing coach has even written a book about, well, Tiger’s swing, and his desire for a SEAL of approval.  (A book from Elin Nordegren’s swing coach, is eagerly awaited, but most likely not to be published any time soon.) 

Tiger is not the first great athlete in a sport involving swings to tinker with same.  Baseball’s Cal Ripken Jr. was famous for adjusting his swing constantly.  Rod Carew, one of the modern era’s greatest hitters, adjusted his stance in his own words “from at-bat to at-bat or pitch to pitch.” (But he never moved his back foot.)  In the golf world, swing coaches have made small (or large) fortunes helping golfers get their swing adjusted. (Whether the new swing is better is another story.) 

Golf's No. 1 Still Tinkers

Still, it was a surprise to read that another prominent golfer has been working to adjust his swing.  Not just any prominent golfer, but Rory McIlroy himself, the current top-ranked golfer in the world and the guy who last summer destroyed a Congressional course in the U.S. Open that the members had spent several years preparing specifically to bring golf’s best players to their knees.   

            The AP reported on February 16^th of this year that:

Rory McIlroy is confident the changes he's made to his swing will work in time for the Masters in April.  The 22-year-old Northern Irishman has been working with longtime coach Michael Bannon on improving his swing setup.  “I still feel it's going to take a couple more weeks to fully click in,'' McIlroy said Wednesday. ``But it's definitely on the right track.''

McIlroy opened his season by finishing second in Abu Dhabi and fifth in Dubai last week, when he revealed he'd been working on a ``few fundamentals'' in his swing.

``Posture was one of the key things, and just a little bit of swing plane,'' McIlroy said. ``I was setting the club a little steep on the way back, so the club was getting a little bit across the line at the top.

``So Michael and I have been working on me getting more feel, and getting the club pointed a little more left at the top so it's on the right plane. That's basically it.''

``Hopefully, there will be a day when it all clicks and it comes easy to me,'' McIlroy said. ``As for the time being, I still have plenty of swing thoughts I am thinking about out on the golf course.''

Maybe Next Year, Rory

After crushing the field at the Honda Classic during the first week of March this year, his first (of many) green jackets seemed a foregone conclusion as he headed to Augusta.  However, McIlroy must have been thinking about his swing plane (and maybe his forehand -  See here),  as he played his way around Augusta this year at five over par, tying for 40^th place with none other than Tiger Woods, among others.  (He also must have been distracted at the TPC last week, as he failed to make the cut for the third time in three tries.)  

In the meantime, never having to think much about my own swing plane, I wonder what it’s like to leave the old swing behind, someone you’ve been together with forever (or at least for a couple of years). There must be some conflicting emotions at leaving the old girl, er, swing behind.  It must go something like this, in the words and music of the late, great John Denver (a linkster and a fellow parodist -  Watch Here  in a song made famous by the nonpareil Peter, Paul and Mary. (Why aren't PP&M in the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame, by the way?  Come on, Joan Baez in, Peter, Paul and Mary still out? Watch here, and you be the judge.  How many years, indeed.

Title: Leaving On A Jet Plane.

Words & Music:  H. J. Deutschendorf, Jr. (John Denver)

Copyright Claimant: Robbins Music Corporation (PWH)

All my clubs are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standing here, can’t wait no more
I got to wake you up to say goodbye
The dawn is breakin', it's early morn
The swing coach's waiting, his meter’s on
Already I'm so happy I could cry.

Chorus:
So kiss me and smile for me
Don’t bother to wait up for me
Don’t hold me, please just let me go.

‘Cause I'm workin’ on my swing plane
Don't know if you’ll be back again
Oh, babe, you have to go.

There's so many times you let me down
So many times I've duffed a round
Because of you, I’ve lost tons of bling
Every course I play, I won’t think of you
Every time I swing, I won’t swing like you
If I come back, it means I’ve lost everything.

Chorus:
So kiss me and smile for me
Don’t bother to wait up for me
Don’t hold me, please just let me go.

‘Cause I'm workin’ on my swing plane
Don't know if you’ll be back again
Oh, babe, you have to go.

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time let me kiss you
Then close your eyes, and I'll be on my way.
Dream about the days gone by
When on the backswing my elbow flies
About those faults, I will gladly say,

Chorus:
So kiss me and smile for me
Don’t bother to wait up for me
Don’t hold me, please just let me go.

‘Cause I'm workin’ on my swing plane
Don't know if you’ll be back again
Oh, babe, you have to go.

AMDG

© R.E. Kelly 2012-2021