My 30-year swing problem — and the moves that may have finally fixed it

JACKSON TOWNSHIP, N.J. — I carry 15 clubs in my bag, which, hand raised, I know is an offense to the rule that you’re allowed only 14, but really, the extra one is just there as a matter of punishment. It’s being disciplined. Watch as your brother the 7-iron plays in the grass. See how much fun your sister the driver is having off the tee? That could be you, my friend. But it won’t be. No more. 

So the 3-wood sits.

But it also tempts. 

Hiiiit me, Nick. 

We’ll hit it off this time, Piastowski. 

You could use the 25 extra yards, Mr. Golf Writer. 

I could. So out it comes. 

And I top my ball. Or I thin it. 

Again.

A couple of weeks ago, I was thinking about how I’ve dipped into these anthropomorphic thoughts and turned my clubs into living, breathing people as I talked with an actual human. Kelan McDonagh is the director of instruction at Metedeconk National Golf Club. He’s a GOLF Teacher to Watch. I hoped he was maybe a wizard. For the 30 or so years I’ve played golf, one of the biggest misses with my game has been that I occasionally nearly miss the ball. The topping and the thinning remember every club, too, though the 3-wood is their BFF. I know the root. Sort of. I’ve taught myself, and I’ve always thought I could figure out the way to better ball striking. And, at times, I have. But then my ball rudely rolls ahead immediately 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 in McDonagh’s shop. 

The opening quote 

Should you not be interested in reading any more of this story, McDonagh summed things up this way:

Take a ball.

Throw it forward.  

What happens? Your elbow bends, then extends out. 

Just do that with your throwing arm in the golf swing, only making the move downward toward the ball. 

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

The measurements 

Before I move forward, I must write that you should also work with your own instructor. What works for me may lead to a chunk for you. Everyone’s different. To that end, my measurements most likely aren’t the same as yours. 

But here’s what we did:

– A wingspan and height measurement. The former was two inches longer than the latter. 

“So longer arms,” McDonagh said, “mean that you naturally have a taller, more upright posture, and your backswing plane is going to be a little bit more vertical as opposed to around.”

Instruction

– A forearm and bicep measurement. 

– A shoulder mobility measurement. I extended my right arm out to my right, bent my elbow so my forearm was raised, then moved my forearm backward as best as I could. McDonagh said I had good mobility there, though I once tore the labrum in that area.   

– Golf movement looks. I set up in my golf posture and put my hands together palm to palm, then took swings that way. I then held a club horizontally just above my knees and made backswings.  

The grip 

This was a big part of where the tops were coming from. My left hand was OK. It was neutral to slightly weak. 

But my right hand was somewhat strong. That stopped my right elbow from moving naturally. On the downswing, it was getting stuck into my left side, creating more of a ‘sweep’ and not a full extension down. Sometimes I would make good contact then. 

Sometimes I would top the ball. 

So I weakened the right-hand grip. I knew the grip was the swing’s steering wheel, but I was still floored that a simple wrist cock counter-clockwise could influence so much. 

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

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

This was good. To check that I had my right hand in the proper 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 toward the ground at a 45-degree angle. 

McDonagh said the thought wasn’t his, though. He’s a pupil of Mike Adams, a GOLF Hall of Fame teacher, and Adams showed him the grip check. 

“The GOAT,” McDonagh said of Adams. 

The takeaway 

This also changed. Previously, my homegrown swing thought was to “move my shoulders back,” putting the clubface inside my hands on the initial move back — and causing more of the sweep into the ball. 

Instruction

Now, as my left arm moved across my chest on the takeaway, I also moved the club toward a spot between 2 and 3 o’clock on a clock. (Twelve, in this case, is address.) The clubface was outside 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 during our time together, I was so focused on what I was being shown, I didn’t react, let alone laugh.) 

The stance 

This needed to be more athletic, so we moved my feet together slightly and put the pressure more toward my toes. 

If you’re thinking of jumping, you’d do the same thing. 

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

“If we’re in our heels, we’re sure those knees aren’t getting extended.”

The hook feeling 

The weaker right-hand grip? The more outside takeaway? I had tried both of those moves in the past — though not together — but punted on them after each caused the ball to sail right. As I hit with McDonagh, I was seeing that again. My right arm wasn’t fully extending on some swings, leaving the clubface open. 

So McDonagh told me to hook balls.  

That feel would also take time to develop. 

“Someone comes in here to me and they’re struggling with an open face and the ball is going right the first 10 minutes,” McDonagh said, “I literally need to see it go left for a half-hour before I get it back to straight. If I was to move somebody that’s hitting it 30 yards right, get them hitting it straight — before they go out the gate, it’s going back to the right. So you got to generate the feel — the opposite of that — then we work it back to straight.”

About my dip 

Instruction

Toward the end of my time with McDonagh, I also wondered about what I call my “dip.” Essentially, I don’t post up on my left leg at impact; instead, I jelly-knee through. 

For as long as I can remember, I blamed a left ACL tear on the funky-looking move — but McDonagh went back to the grip. To show me, he first had me place my right hand against a wall, then make my hip turn forward. This mimicked the strong grip — and I dipped. Then I pressed my right hand downward into his before making my turn — imitating a weaker grip — and the dip lessened. 

I was stunned. I was dipping because of my grip?

“When you came down into the golf ball,” McDonagh said, “your elbow was driving into your side, which was pushing you laterally, making your knees go down, then you tried to save it with your arms. Whereas now, when we move your right hand a little bit more on top of the grip, your right arm is going to work more this way [straight down] as opposed to this way [across the ball] so when your right arm works down to the ground, you see what my legs want to naturally do? They go up. 

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

The problems 

As we wrapped up, I started to look ahead. 

What problems would I face as I practiced?

Synchronization. 

“If you get your grip and your arms swinging really well and they’re not timed up with your legs or your lower body, you’re going to see the ball going a little bit left,” McDonagh said. “So understanding the job of the arms is to close the clubface. So if I hit a shot just using my arms as a right-handed player, regardless of where the correct position is for that person, if you swing arms only, the golf ball should move to the left. … The ball is going to curve to the right when the right arm is bent and the face is open. So the job of the arms, you’re going to let them move nice and freely. Let them swing as fast as you want to, let them go. They close the club face.

“The job of the lower body, so through rotation and through pushing out of the ground, those two things matter of fact 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 gel them together, the ball is going to go straight. When you hit it with your arms and no legs, generally you’ll see it go left. When you hit it with pretty good rotation and body work, but your arms are hanging on, you’re going to see it go right.” 

Then came my biggest question. 

Just how long would this take to work?

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

“With everything 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 at an indoor simulator that’s in the city or whatever it is, I would just literally take — 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 just hitting shots with your arms only. Make sure your grip is correct, get the width of your stance correct and just chip the ball into the net and see what your relationship is with the club face and where you’re hitting it on the face and certain things like that.

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

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