So, I’ve been trying to figure out this whole “trace crowe golf” thing for a while now. Not like some super scientific study, you know, just me, my computer, and a whole lot of golf videos. My own game was, let’s just say, a bit of a disaster, and I figured, why not try to see what these pros are actually doing? That’s how I landed on this fella, Trace Crowe. Seemed like a good enough swing to try and dissect.
My first step, well, it was pretty basic. I just started watching. Hours and hours of footage. Slow motion, regular speed, from different angles. You’d be surprised what you start noticing when you stare at the same thing over and over. At first, it was all a blur, just a guy hitting a ball. But then, little things started to pop out. The way he set up, the rhythm, the finish. I wasn’t looking for a magic bullet, just, you know, clues.
Then I got a bit more hands-on. I started grabbing screenshots. Like, tons of them. Key moments in the swing – takeaway, top of the backswing, impact, follow-through. I’d pull them up on my screen and just stare. Sometimes I’d even get out a piece of paper and try to sketch the lines, the angles. Real caveman stuff, I know. No fancy swing analysis software for me, just good old observation. My desk was a mess of scribbled notes and printouts for weeks. My wife thought I’d lost my mind, spending all that time looking at some golfer I’d never meet.
It wasn’t easy, though. Far from it. You think you see something, then you look at another swing and it’s slightly different. Or the camera angle fools you. It’s frustrating, I tell ya. There were days I just wanted to throw my laptop out the window. Because what you see on TV, it’s all edited, all perfect. Trying to break that down into something I could understand, or even attempt, was a whole other ball game.
So, what did I actually get out of all this “tracing”? Did I suddenly start hitting it like Trace Crowe? Ha! Not a chance. My handicap barely budged, if I’m being honest. But here’s the thing: I started to understand my own swing a bit better. By looking so closely at his, I could see where my own movements were, well, let’s just say, less than ideal. It wasn’t about copying him wholesale. That was never going to happen. It was more about picking up tiny little concepts. Like, I noticed a particular way he maintained his posture, or how his weight shifted. Small things.
I even tried to “trace” my own swing afterwards, using my phone camera. Set it up on a tripod, hit a few balls. And man, that was an eye-opener. Seeing myself on video after studying a pro? It was rough. But because I’d spent all that time looking at Crowe’s swing, I could spot my own glaring errors much faster. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a start. So, yeah, this whole “trace crowe golf” journey, it wasn’t about becoming a pro. It was just a weird, obsessive little project that, in the end, taught me a bit more about the game, and a lot more about how much I still have to learn.
