It's natural for me to think about the angle of the club face at impact when the ball goes on a line I never intended. But, there have only been a very few times when my full swing woes were provably attributable to issues like these.
Almost always, the root cause has been poor tempo.
There have been times when I got too slow going back and there have been times when I was too fast at the transition but tempo (and lack of it) always end up being the source of my problem and also of its solution.
The longer my tempo stays bad the harder it becomes for me to recognize it's has gone bad. The new bad tempo starts to feel correct, at least in some perverse, only-in-golf, way.
Years ago, my internal timing really left me leading to immense frustration. At some point I stumbled onto the creation of a very effective tempo aid. I took a 6 foot length of 1 inch PVC and fill each end with the equivalent of about a foot and a half of number 9 lead shot. I was still shooting a lot of skeet in those days.
Anyway, I'd lay the PVC across my shoulders, behind my head. Then, I'd take my full swing stance and I'd work on my back swing and down swing tempo. The mass of the lead and the flex of the PVC made me very much aware of the need for gradual deceleration at the end of the back swing and gradual acceleration at the start of the down swing. I could turn quickly (and fully), but not abruptly. The mass from the lead also made it easy to rotate fully and well beyond the ball. It was immensely helpful and cost about $10. One day I ran out of 20 GA and I loaded the shot into some shells for a league shoot.
So, that's one thing that worked.
Here are some that haven't:
The Whippy: I always wanted to love these clubs. Cool guy. I always felt that as more of a hitter than a swinger, the Whippy was basically making fun of my natural swing. I got OK with it after a while but I always found the transition back to my regular clubs simply felt too weird.
Metronomes: What a great idea, but not for me. There are lots of free metronome apps for the iPhone but I have never been able to correlate the mechanical regularity of the beats to the human tempo of my movements. A golf swing has pace, timing and tempo but it doesn't really have rhythm (though good players obviously do) that can be readily associated with the external and continual beats of a metronome.
Counting, or Fre-ddie Cou-ples, a la Johnny Miller: I've known guys who count back (1 and 2) and make impact 3 and finish 4. It makes sense, and I've been known to do it between holes or when I warm up. It's totally harmless (I think) and maybe helpful for some but it's never gotten me out of a tempo tailspin.
In the end, my best ally against poor tempo has been my own sensitivity. I literally feel for it. I find that I can zoom in on a certain part of my body (my shoulders, usually) and feel the point at which they start to move at a speed that doesn't fit with the swing I'm trying to make. My goal is always to equalize the pace and feel of my back swing (and turn) with my move into the ball. This has proven far more effective for me than to feel as if I am swinging slowly or easily, etc. I need to feel my hitting impulse I just need to have it happen at a pace I can handle.
