Rich S: shot my low round and won

[rich_s2]

I switched from my 919 Tours to this combo set of MP20HMB and MMC’s. Standard lofts. I am worried about consistency with these so I might go back to my 919 Tours. I do like these a lot though and I get a little extra carry. Playing more state events this season so I wanted a little distance help.

[rich_s2]

Big night. If you check the page 12 you will see that my clubhead speed before going to see Monte on my buddies GC2HMT was 99mph. Tonight I hit 109 with a 273yd carry on the same simulator. Getting that left arm off my chest and letting the clubhead pass my hands instead of dragging the handle have given me a real boost this last week.

 

[rich_s2]

Just did a driver fitting at Club Champion. Love the looks of the SZ triple diamond (current gamer) but dispersion is not good with it. Tried a bunch of shafts and nothing got it as tight as I like. Tried the Sim and regular sub zero and ended up with the speedzone with diamana DF 60g Stiff flex. This thing was long, 2000-2400 spin and just unbelievably tight dispersion. The sound is incredible.

Highest swing speed was just under 108 and ball speeds were mid 150’s.

Really excited to get this and should have it before we leave for Florida. My driving accuracy is a huge part of my game so I was getting worried that the extra speed was going to hurt that. Not anymore :)

[Shades234]

Beautiful. What's the turnaround time on your driver order from CC? Or are you purchasing elsewhere?

[rich_s2]

They "promised" 2 weeks max so I should have it before going to Florida.

[rich_s2]

Selling the triple diamond if you are interested let me know. I have the rogue and diamana shafts for it.

[rich_s2]

Seeing how my back is wrecked, I thought I would give a Ella Progress report. Last year her 7i was 90 yards total max. Her biggest 7i this year was 135, here is just an average swing. Proud of how much work she is putting in!

 

[rich_s2]

Just saw this, he is taking the class at Kelly plantation

[rich_s2]

Warning, if you are fat and out of shape and have goals to increase speed, the good news is you can. The bad news is that your body won't be ready for it. Have not swung a club since the driver fitting. My back just got so bad that I had a hard time getting out of bed. The foam roller is amazing and helps but I needed to fix this once and for all. I went to a chiro 3 times and they have it back to normal. They did a exam on me and found my lower back is extremely flexible but my hips are horrible. I don't have enough core strength either. So here is what has happened:

1) Bought a hot tub (this is glorious and has been great for helping my back loosen up)

2) Bought a new mattress (I always wake up with low back pain). Got a new pillow too

3) Been doing hip stretching and core workouts

4) joined a gym. I go back to the chiro today and he will have designed a specific workout to deal with my inefficiencies. The stretches he has provided so far have been money.

As of today, my back feels 100%. The new mattress will be here in a week. Gankas says keep your butt under you and I think this is a huge part of my issue. I showed the chiro my swing in super slow motion and he showed me the parts that are causing the issues. All this stuff is minor but when you add it all up, my hopes is this allows me to play as pain free as last year but with the added speed I have gotten over this winter. I plan to start swinging again this weekend.

[rich_s2]

Driver arrived from Club Champion! Can't wait to test it out tomorrow

[rich_s2]

Gosh darn it my back is annoying the crap out of me and I wanted to resist the urge to hit this but I couldn’t. Only hit about 20 drives but my gosh this is an amazing so far. 161.7 ball speed was my record. I hit several faster than that tonight and the dispersion was incredible. Launch angle was a bit high on this one lol.

 

[puresurfr]

You have made some fantastic gains, try to rehab that back as much as possible ! You don't want to lose all that hard work by pushing it while injured.

[rich_s2]

Thanks, it is so hard for me to stop. Guts me to not practice daily. Back has just a dull ache today :(

[puresurfr]

Trust me I know where you are coming from. Just pretend that you are Kevin Durant, Do I rehab or do I come back early and fully rupture my Achilles ?

[rich_s2]

So this happened tonight! 112.8 CHS which is a gain of 11.3 mph on this sim since October. 15.1 mph ball speed increase. This Cobra SZ and Diamana shaft is just an amazing combo. Thanks for all the support this winter, means a lot. Never thought I could see these speeds

[rich_s2]

Golf trip underway. Played RTJ Capitol Hill Sat/Sunday. Course is soaked. Played the judge course from the tips (7800) and every drive either plugged or backed up lol. After nine holes (shot 44) we moved up a tee.

Today we played Lost Key and got paired up with a lovely couple that had been married 62 years. Had fun but was a long day.

As for my game my driving has been horrible. Irons are way better than ever. Chipping is rusty but good and putting has been good. Went back to my shorter ST190 and shot a 77 today after losing 2 balls off the tee. Kelly Plantation tomorrow do fingers crossed the driver is fixed. Found a groove towards the end of the round and the last two drives were the longest of my life. I’m just used to being accurate off the tee and that has not been the case the last three days.

Tomorrow is a serious day, we both feel like we got the cobwebs out and are ready to play. Money match happening and I’m a huge underdog so wish me luck

[rich_s2]

Kelly Plantation today, folks if you are in the Destin area play this course. This is why we play golf. Not very difficult but great scenery and incredibly friendly staff. Shot a 76 today. Just not making putts, got to get used to this Bermuda. My buddy was on track to make a run at the course record which the starter said was 69 (have a hard time believing that) but he blew up on 18 (we played the back nine first).

[rich_s2]

Golf trip is over, back home. I will be honest, I played like crap. It was wet and windy most days and we played the tips on every course. My buddy is a plus and he played lights out even with me playing so bad. The first half of the week my driver was way off and my irons were the best they had ever been. Second half my driver was good and irons were ok. By the end of the trip I had a hard time getting out of bed due to my back. Long story short, if I am going to play 7100-7500 yards with my length when it is wet and windy, my game has to be on. When I say wet, I mean wet. Ball plugged pretty much every drive all trip other than Kelly Plantation and Peninsula due to being sand based. We averaged over 18 holes of golf for 7 straight days and that is too much golf lol.

What I need to work on:

1) my body. I need to get into better shape. Very worried about my back at the moment. Tried yoga and some mild exercises yesterday and it made it worse. Going to just relax a few days and see what happens.

2) I did not take my new driver swing to the course the first half of the trip and it showed. Second half was way better and I saw massive distance and accuracy improvements. Really need to focus on the new swing

3) tempo...oh my word I struggle here. When this goes south so does my game. I also think this is the main cause of my back issues. For the rest of winter I am going to really slow things down. Need to find a mental trick for this.

4) A 215 club. You have this a lot from the tips and my new hybrid was less than stellar. Going to try putting the 4i back in the bag and if that does not work then a driving iron. I hate hitting hybrids off the tee and am definitely more of a iron player. I do love hybrids out of the rough though but the long par 3's were a struggle this trip.

5) Long irons. My buddy says I am a fantastic long iron player but I need to be better. Strikes were good so I need to work on starting lines. I shape the ball a lot and need to give myself more room.

6) putting. I putted very well on the fast greens but some of the course had REALLY slow greens due to the wetness I imagine. I found in those cases if I held the finish I putted much better. Going to try to groove that on all my putts. We did a ton of putting practice ($$ bets) and I would win on the fast greens but he killed me on slow greens. Really need to learn to adjust my lines as well on the slow greens.

Overall, the vast majority of my rounds were in the mid 80's with only a few in the 70's. Frustrating but motivating. I have time before spring but I have a feeling the majority of that time will be trying to get my back healed up. The gem on this trip was Cambrian Ridge. This is hands down the nicest course I have ever played. Better than Whistling Straights and Sand Valley, it is that good.

[DLev45]

I live just outside of Birmingham, and you caught us at a bad time. The rain has been absolutely brutal the last 3 weeks.

8 inches total so far through the first 17 days of February. Looks like you were already out of dodge on February 11th. That was our heaviest day. My home course got 4 inches in 24 hours.

Next time around you need to check out FarmLinks at Pursell Farms. It's a beauty for an open-to-public course.

[rich_s2]

Will do! I love the RTJ courses but will check them out next time. The wetness was off the charts, really surprised the courses were open. Cart path only but most of the fairways were just completely mud. Chipping was brutal too. Not the best conditions especially when we have not played outside in months. Beautiful area you live in!! I could see retiring there.

[rich_s2]

My back was in really bad shape after the golf trip. Went to the chiro again and fixed it pretty much instantly. PT guy there got me working on the right stuff as well as a fellow member here. Practiced last night and just worked on tempo. Zero pain. My buddy and I played in a 2 man best ball indoor tournament today and we won. Back has zero pain.

Between the smooth swings and core strengthening I feel like I’m on the right track. The other bonus is smoothing my swing out has tightened up my dispersion. I played really good today. I also won a skin so it was a good day :)

[rich_s2]

I will share what my buddy Nick and I have been working on for a while now. I do this mostly on a indoor sim and he drives an hour to a heated outdoor range to work on it. Basically we are trying to dial in our left/right dispersion when shaping the ball both directions. The goal is to get as close to tucked pins as possible without short siding ourselves. We put short siding and taking a double bogey on the same level. Like I said in a different post, we feel the purpose of shaping the ball is to give us the biggest miss possible. This means the only way you hit it super tight is to mishit it. Lets take a tucked front pin for example that is on a elevated green just over a bunker. The only way we hit it close is to mishit it. The perfect shot is 5 yards long. We are trying to do this same thing only left/right with draws/fades.

This sheet lets us keep track of our shots so we can see our tendencies and then play for them. The better we get at shaping the closer the starting line gets to the target. It has become very clear that I didn't give myself enough room on my starting lines and my miss was sometimes short sided. Out of 10 shots, I would short side myself 2-4 times. This showed me I have to work on this shot but also adjust my starting lines so there is virtually zero chance of a short side. It's a balancing act for sure. Over the last two months we have gotten so much better at this and it showed on our florida trip. Nick's dispersion is tighter than mine and he gave himself a ton of birdie looks and I don't remember him having more than 2 left/right short sided shots over the entire trip.

We have been working on distance control as well but his distance control is REALLY good. His problem is that he thinks he will hit it perfect and my problem is I play for too much miss when it comes to distance dispersion. We are making progress there though.

Here is the sheet I made up and it has really helped us both. This is what us up north people have to do over winter while you southern peeps get to play actual golf :P

[swh0507]

What did your buddy think of the aimpoint class?

[rich_s2]

He enjoyed it. Definitely learned some things. I have a breakmaster he will be practicing with once the snow is gone. He would tell you it was worth the money. Interesting story, he was putting horrible on the first half of this trip. His putter would make a weird sound when he middled it so I took a video. Watch how far to the right the ball kicks off the putter. After watching the video we went to a store and he bought a new mizuno. Instantly fixed and he putted very well the last half. Watch the video and tell me what you think:

 

[swh0507]

I would guess a setup issue? The video looks like face is closed with a path slightly left, almost like it is a "cut" putt. If the putter sounded weird though, maybe head was loose? Did you try the putter to see if it sounded weird when you struck it? What about different balls?

[rich_s2]

It doesn’t squirt right with the new putter. I don’t think anything in a stroke could make a ball go that right off the face. When I used it he told me to hit it thin, they went in. Then he said keep the bottom really low to the ground, made that weird noise and always went a little right. Never seen anything like it. No damage on the face of the putter either.

[rich_s2]

Ella's current 7i swing! HS golf practice starts in a month and she is pumped

 

[DavePelz4]

Great to see the Ella update Sir! She continues to get taller and her swing is better everytime you post it.

[rich_s2]

Well what a year lol. Once covid hit, I stopped practicing for a few months. Started playing again a month ago straight off the tips since that is what the state events will play at. It was bad. Could not break 80 to save my life. Just kept working on things as my handicap went up. I did add massive distance with driver so that's been awesome. About 10 days ago the switch flipped and I started playing better. Fired off a pair of 74's and am at a 2.7 currently. State am qualifier is early July and I am playing in a local circuit starting late this month. Best part about the layoff is that my back is completely healed and I have zero pain.

Driving accuracy is getting really good

Irons are decent

hybrid and 5w not so good

bunkers-worst part of my game hands down

putting-good but starting to get better. I dont ever 3 but only make 1 over 10' per round.

 

I would put my driver carry at a solid 260 and at 270 on a nutted one. Tips are back a ways from the blues so learning proper strategy from back there. I feel its close to popping. Just going to keep putting in the work and see what happens. Hope you all are staying safe in this crazy world!

 

Ella has had a few 9 holes in the 40's! She has found a group of girls to play with and plays a few times a week. She is getting better for sure.

[Obee]

Love it! Ella's swing lookin' good!!