Some thoughts on tennis and golf

I haven't posted for a while and need to catch up while things are still somewhat fresh in my mind.

Since my last post about our round at Gross National, we've played at Brigadoon (or "Bring a dozen") in Michigan, Bluff Creek (Chaska), and the Summit golf course in Cannon Falls .

But I've been thinking lately that this blog has become more of a travelogue of the courses we've played than a record of my "golf experiment". And I've been meaning to collect and post some thoughts about the evolution of my swing (I know those following this blog have been patently waiting for my next revelation).

I'm currently trying a new swing - the "Trahan Swing" - which I'll write more about later.

But today I've got something else on my mind...

I've got 2 things on my mind this morning; actually they've been on my mind for several days now.

One is my serve.

I've been thinking about this for at least a couple of weeks.

During the last service game of our family doubles match, on my final serve, just as the ball reached its apex, I decided to hit the ball up the tee.

And that's just what I did.

And the ball landed, with good pace, just where I wanted it to.
What had I been "trying" to do on the previous serve? For that matter, what had I been trying to do during my serves of the last 20 years? I can't say because I don't know.

But I do know exactly what I was thinking and trying to do on that last serve.

I was staring right at the ball as it hung in the air before starting it's descent, and at that exact instant *decided* to hit the ball up the tee.

The ball went just where I wanted it to, and it really wasn't that difficult.

Had I just discovered the "secret" of the tennis serve?

That's what I was thinking as we started picking up the balls and getting ready to leave for home. And that thought stuck with me, at least for a while.

About a week later, I ended a tennis session by hitting about 25 serves.

And I as I stood there with a pocket full of balls, I thought about that last serve.

All I had done was throw the ball up and tried to hit it to a specific spot.

Could I do it again?

I started my motion, tossed the ball, and as I started my swing I stared at the ball and tried to hit it up the tee.

And that's just where it went.

After that first serve I hit about 22 good serves out of 25 tries.

I was even able to adjust to the occasional bad toss and still end up with a good serve.

It was working, and I hadn't really changed anything.

Same setup, same toss, wind-up, swing, follow-through.

Same everything that I'd always done.

Except.

Except that during the swing I was looking at the ball and trying to hit it to a specific spot.

It was just a matter of focus.

Now when I say I was trying to hit the ball to a specific spot, it's not like I was aiming at a 4 inch square on my opponent's service box.

It was more of a general target, like "out wide", "up the middle" or "down the tee".

And I didn't always hit my target. But almost all my serves landed in.


I couldn't wait for our Tuesday night doubles match! I had great confidence in my serve, and was looking forward to one great service game after another. Unfortunately, things did not work out as I'd planned. With the pressure on, I missed several serves during my first service game, lost my confidence, and reverted back to my heavy spin slice serve.

Mary & I hit again yesterday, and I tried about 20 serves at the end of our session. Probably got about 70% in, and started to become more aware of what's happening.

A big part of the success comes from just watching the ball as you're hitting it, as a lot of my problems are a result of dropping my head and left shoulder as I start my swing.

Another part of the "success formula" is that when I'm trying to hit the ball at a target my mind is completely free of any distracting thoughts.

I think, that at least for me, hitting a good serve boils down to watching the ball with nothing on my mind but hitting the ball at a target.

Although the proceeding sentence is completely accurate it doesn't come close to describing what it feels like, and what I'm seeing as I focus my attention on hitting the ball at a target.




Now, the second thing on my mind this morning actually has something to with golf, but I'm out of time and will have to write about that later.