The Loop

This hole in my sweater is the best training aid ever

November 19, 2014

One of my favorite sweaters has a prominent hole in the armpit, which means it's only a matter of time before my wife discovers it and confiscates it behind my back (ours is otherwise a relationship based on trust).

I could follow my colleague David Owen's practice for holey sweaters by wearing shirts of a similar color underneath, thus masking any flaws. Or I could try to establish some previously unknown golf justification for its survival. For now, that's what I'm going with.

Check out this image pieced together by another colleague, Luke Kerr-Dineen, who also doubles as my unpaid swing guru. The orange line runs down the shaft of the club; the silver line rests on the right tricep.

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On the left is Ben Hogan. In the middle, Jason Dufner. And then there's me. Impressive, right? As you can tell, one of my worst habits is a tendency for my right elbow to ride up and away from my body, costing me power, for one, but also leading to the occasional snap hook. There are a number of makeshift aids to help with such a problem -- a towel, a headcover -- all designed to force your arms and body to stay connected.

The greatest incentive, though, may be humiliation, and that brings me back to the sweater. As you might imagine, one way to obscure a hole in the armpit of a sweater is to never let the armpit be visible to the human eye. Which means you can't really lift up your arm in any haphazard manner. Which means -- you guessed it! -- my arms and my body have to stay connected.

Still not convinced? Check out this short video starring Golf Digest Senior Editor of Instruction Peter Morrice and myself. In the meantime, I am exploring ways to take advantage of a stain on one of my favorite pairs of pants.

A video posted by Sam Weinman (@samweinman) on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:21am PST