TrueSwing Consistency

 The #1 complaint I hear from new players is that after a few holes or a few games that using TrueSwing they start loosing distance.  They equate this to their being a problem with TrueSwing and are wondering why.  I think we have all been down this road, but there is a solution to the problem, because the problem is YOU and not TrueSwing. 

What we will try and accomplish here is to teach you how and why TrueSwing works if you know the secrets.  If you follow this tutorial, you will soon be hitting consistent shots with TrueSwing that do not diminish over time. 

TrueSwing’s Mechanics 

The first thing that we all need to understand is what TrueSwing is, and how it equates to a real golf swing.  If you are a fan of real golf, whether you watch it on TV or play, the first thing you will notice if you pay careful attention is that swinging as hard as you can is not what gets you distance and consistency.  Look at the Tour Pro’s and pay careful attention to their swings.  They aren’t up there killing the ball, they are making smooth, and consistent swings.  Oh a few of the tour players really take a swipe at the ball when driving, but if you watch the truly great drivers in the sport they don’t, as a matter of fact it looks like they are exerting very little effort. 

Watch carefully when they take a mid length to short iron shot.  Their swing almost looks lackadaisical.  It’s a smooth, slow swing without the exertion of a lot of strength, for the art to golf is not power but smooth consistency. 

TrueSwing is looking for that same thing, not speed or power but a smooth consistent swing.  If you overhit the ball with too much speed or power, TrueSwing and it’s artificial intelligence learn this swing and compensate for you.  As it compensates, your shots slowly erode and go shorter and shorter distances. 

So what exactly is it that TrueSwing wants?  The answer is exactly the opposite of how must of us try to play.  We want to hit the ball further so we swing harder, and the harder we swing, the shorter our shots get.  Soon we are hitting drives 200 yards and our Lob Wedge only travels 35-40 yards. 

What True Swing is looking for is not speed, but smooth consistent swings that are slightly faster on the downstroke then the backstroke, but just slightly.  What we have to do is learn that stroke.  Think of it like your moving your mouse from the top of the computer screen to click on a link at the bottom of the screen.  If you move it as fast as you are trying to playing PGA your going to fly right past that link and have to go back up.  Move your mouse the same way you do when you go from the top to bottom of a web page……that’s a good place to start. 

Set-Up 

Now lets get our computer set-up to play PGA golf.  The first thing I suggest that you do is check to your mouse settings.  This is a very important adjustment that will aid you in maintaining a proper PGA stroke.  

There are two main mouse drivers that 98% of all people use.  The first is the Microsoft driver (either the one that came with your operating system or an upgraded one that came with a MS mouse) and Logitech’s mouse driver.  Settings for the two drivers that work best for me are slightly different, so we’ll talk about each. 

I prefer (personal preference) Logitech’s mouse driver as it seems to be much more adjustable then Microsoft’s. The settings I suggest are: 

Logitech Driver:
Cursor (Pointer) Speed:  Medium (1/2 way)
Acceleration:  Off or None
Refresh Rate (if available): 100 

Microsoft Driver:
Cursor (Pointer) Speed: Approx. 2/3
Acceleration: Off
Refresh Rate (if available):  100 

We are now ready for the next step…. 

Practice…..Practice…..Practice…. 

First thing we need to do is create a new golfer.  Don’t worry about what he looks like or how he dresses we will throw this one away shortly anyhow. Let’s head to the driving range with our new golfer. 

This golfer is fresh, so 300 yard drives with a D2 are very possible at first.  Should we expect to maintain a 300 yard drive…..no.  What we are shooting for is something in the 270 yard range.  Go to the tee and hit the ball, remembering that speed is not what we are looking for, make a slow backstroke with a slightly, and I mean slightly, increased speed downstroke. 

See how far your ball went, is it between 270 and 300 yards.  If so, decrease the speed until you are going as slow as you can and still get that average distance.  If not, slightly increase your speed.  This may take time for some and if you don’t get it after 15 or 20 strokes, discard that player and create another one.  The object is to hit the ball 270 to 300 yards with as slow a mouse movement as is necessary. 

Once you find that, we move onto creating our player. 

More Practice…..Practice…..Practice…. 

OK, let’s create another player….This time make him look like you want him to and dress the way you want him because we are keeping this one. 

As soon as you have created this player let’s hit the driving range again.  Remembering the speed of the stroke we learned above we want to take 10 shots with each and every club in our bag except for the putter.  That’s right 10 strokes with the driver, 10 strokes with each of our woods, 10 strokes with all the irons, and 10 strokes with all of our wedges.  If you hit a bad shot or the ball doesn’t go far enough….take another shot.  We are going to hit between 130 and 200 shots on the driving range. 

What this does is teaches the artificial intelligence “Our Stroke”.  Your first few shots with each club will be the longest, the middle strokes the shortest, and the final few strokes should be where the clubs shot length is.  So for the driver (1 or 2) you will start out at about 295 – 300 yards and it will fall to an average of 260-280 by the 10th shot.

This is the learning process of the game. 

Do this for each and every club.  You will notice that your irons end up shooting at or near the desired club distance. 

After finishing these shots on the driving range its time to head to the chipping area.  Here we do the same thing with our three wedges, and if you like the short irons set on chip.  Take ten shots with each club, trying to get as near the cup as you can, don’t follow every shot, take 4 or 5 with the same club before changing locations.  Hit at least 30 – 50 chips. 

Next is the putting area.  Here I suggest that you take 25 – 30 putts.  What we are looking for here is not sinking the ball, but getting the distance right.  I don’t spend much time worrying about my aim here, I just want to get it close.  We are trying to learn the stroke and not the ability to read greens and sinking putts.  Again do not follow, but make repetitive putts trying to get as close to the cup as possible. 

Am I Finished? 

If you have completed this successfully, you are now ready to hit the links.  You will notice during your first game that you distance is much more consistent and will not fall off as the game goes on. 

Will it remain this way?  Well bad habits are hard to break.  I know what TrueSwing wants, I know the speed and smooth consistency required.  But like most people when I need to get just that extra few yards I tend to swing harder, and the ever vigilant artificial intelligence takes notes and keeps making adjustments.  So after time my player still erodes some.  When I first started doing this I’d recreate once every 6 weeks or so.  I am learning even though I am hard headed and have not had to re-create a player for 6 months now. 

TrueSwing at its Best 

Now you are ready to enjoy the wonders of TrueSwing, your shots will be straighter, have consistency of distance, and will travel the advertised distances.  You will be able to make small shot adjustments now with confidence because you now know that that 5 iron is going to travel 189 yards and if you make adjustments to take off 5 yards it will go 184.  You will get a better feel for the game and will be able to put touch on shots without having to make adjustments to shot set-up.  With a little time and practice soon your approach shots will be landing within a few feet or yards from where you want them to, instead of well short or way over. 

Good Luck, and hit ‘em straight...
fabita
fabita@playersladder.com

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