[Hennybogan]

I am not really certain why I hit it better on the range. I usually go through a large and small bucket of balls starting with my wedges and moving through the bag. Usually hit 10 to 12 drivers and then finish off with my wedges. Because of past swing flaws, (overplane) I really concentrate on hitting the inside quadrant of the ball and driving out to right field. I hit nice soft draws with the occasional pull thrown in. I can go through 100 balls on the range and never hit a hook. But, when I play its fore left!! On a typical round I may hook 10 out of 14 tee shots, 2 or 3 of those will be completely off the golf course. I play like Seve, always scrambling, getting up and down from everywhere, making 4 or 5 par putts per round between 6 and 10 feet. It's truely madness, drives me stir crazy. Generally in a round I may have only about 4 two putt pars. I play high stress golf.
I am a very mechanical player, always trying to fix my swing on the course. I think I need to become more of a feel player. Also, I have a completely different tempo on the course. I can feel my swing getting shorter and faster as I play.
Bucket, when we get together for a round, maybe we should play captains choice.

8cork,

It sounds, on one hand, like you don't need my advice. It sounds like you get the most out of your ballstriking.

Maybe I can help. I always knew that I was not the calm, causual type. I swing more like Nick Price than Bob Murphy. So my goal was always to build a swing that would work at that speed. I'm more relaxed than I was early on, but I'm still on the quick side. When I practice, contary to some common advice, I try to get my swing ramped up to on course speed. I think you want to swing at a pace that fits your personality.

Trying to fix your swing on the course just does not work, as a rule. If you are mechanical on the course, it can interrupt the flow of your swing and cause steering and other problems. You might have one tendency you can think of and have a few practice swings with some special feel before you start your routine. Once you walk in, if you take practice swings, they should be directed towards the shot at hand and not away from the current miss.

If you are more calm and casual in normal life, you need to look at what causes you to speed up. Are you clear about what causes the left shots? Can you take some video while you play and compare it to the range? Have you taken the whole bottle of pills with regard to being overplane? Understanding the cause of your left shots may go a long way towards solving your problem with getting it to the course.

HB