sb944 swing journal

[sb944]

Well, it's been a year (give or take) since deciding to take up the game again. The closing argument to me returning was setting up a net and launch monitor in my garage giving me time to practice without taking away from precious weekend time. Add to that youtube tuition, golfwrx, online tutors, high speed photography. Easy game. One thing I've noticed, it's not an easy game.

 

I had my last hit, a final chance to sneak in a 90 or below, and my form during the week said it was possible. Long story short, I went out in 52, pretty much closing that door, just hit some amazingly bad shots on the front 9, pretty much all over the game, but if I had to pick a real issue, it would be iron play, including down to wedge. The back was so much nicer, 42 shots, and really had several more chances, and made a couple of poor reads, like laying up into a lake. However, I really felt like I played that 9 like I felt I could have, really got some solid contact.

 

I played some TGC tonight too, US Open. Horrible first 9, had some soreness in my wrist and was taking it a bit easy on it, but really just not committing to a lot of shots, including chips. I decided to keep going with round 2 and had a much nicer +3, was very happy with my overall control. So much so I went onto round 3. I was -2 after 3 holes, then the game stuck. I rebooted, game took me back to hole 1, so back to even. I was then -3 after 4 holes, even better... game froze again. Next time I reboot, the game starts again, my hybrid sailing at the pin on hole 3. Last time I left myself a 20 foot putt, but this time the ball sailed through the green, impossible chip meant a bogey. Picked up another birdie, and just missed another to go back to -3, but the game froze again, so no idea where it will return to next time, but I essentially played about 9 holes and played to about -5.

 

So, ended the year with still a 22 handicap. It was a long long way off where I thought I might get to by now, but there are signs that things are moving forward, I feel confident moving forward from here, whether it be slow or quick, I look forward to the challenge. But what else to look forward to? I want to set some goals for year 2. My body is mostly good, I can strike the ball long enough, but my game needs improvement. So I think I have to set some goals to improve, not just play. I looked at my clubs schedule, and October is club championships. It makes perfect sense to me to set that as my next goal. It also makes sense, as the weather is cold, dawn getting later, that the next 2 months is about swing improvements and indoor practice, and the following 2 months is much more about getting to the course and shaping my golf game up for the championships. Apart from that, I'm also aiming to get that sub 90 round in, hopefully a few of them during the championships. I know that leaves another 8 or so months for year 2, but it's so hard to work out how I'll be hitting it next week let alone 12 months from now, so for now my whole goal is to get below 90 before the club championships, and to play well in those championships. If all goes well, I'll set more goals at that time.

[sb944]

It was a relatively big week for my swing. I had several sessions where my pull hook felt like an old nightmare, and if anything, I had the very occasional push hook, but a lot of straight or slightly left shots, which is super easy to play with. My key to this was focusing way more on the right (lead) arm, not trying body, not shoulders, just right arm. It feels like a super weak move, but when the ball goes 97% of the normal distance and your snap hook goes, you have to go with it... Then the hook appeared again? What was once left, was right again... and I hate right. I played it out, playing a TGC round, but spent some time the next session remapping my beautiful right free tips, but found nothing but snap hook city every time. OK, maybe only 30% of the time the ball went right of target, but enough to say I clearly haven't got enough control of the hook issue.

 

Today it was grip, grip, grip. I'd seen this as a potential issue over the last couple of months, and have had some slight goes at going a weaker grip, but if feels horrible. So, going with my right arm drive feels horrible, but doesn't perform horrible, I tried it tonight. I must say, left, left, left again... yes! Too far left at times, but that's not that bad a problem to have. A bad problem is having to aim for a snap hook and get a slice, which happens. Bad is aiming left edge and ending 1.5 fairways right. I played a TGC practice round, and found myself aiming right, and very often getting it close to on line, occasionally too much slice, which would end up short, and a couple of times straight, which felt like a double cross. Only one drive went at all right, and that would be considered a baby draw to where I was aiming. With aiming way right, and going left, the results were very good, lots of fairways and greens. The surprising thing was lots of solid contact too, even with long irons and metals.

 

Apart from this 1 swing tip, I was kind of going through my bag of other tips. I still really feel like right arm dominant is a part of this swing moving forward, as is a very quiet body. This video is me feeling like my body isn't moving at all, and that all that is moving my arms back and through, both balls end up 20y left of target and relatively long, no fear at all of the ball going right, so I'm aiming 25y right if this drive was at a target.

 

[sb944]

While things have been going very well, and I'm happy to be away from the fear of snap hook, I've come back to the realm of snap hook, and hopefully with good reason.

 

While I'm not truly taking advantage of my video subscription to Tyler Ferrels site, I'm at least keeping up with his weekly video posts, and at the moment even that is keeping pretty decent value. His email last week mentioning the shaft to hips X factor was super exciting. You clearly see something different between you and the pros at every video take, but often there is a "but what is it really" feeling. What is the big one? I think where I got to last week was really good. I could keep the ball almost certainly from being right, with the payment of a few crazy left shots. But this latest tip would give that up.

 

So the payment of crazy left did not happen tonight. The tip is essentially to keep a 90 degree difference between your shaft angle and hips, if looking from directly above. Last weeks swing was much closer to 0 degrees, and hence why I got a tonne of balls go left. If I try Tylers tip here, the ball rarely goes wildly left, but unfortunately hook becomes a problem again. But it is right overall.

 

I had a session in today, and got a -5 in the TGC tournament, though a much smaller course than usual. That said, this might have been my favourite ball striking day as yet, so many burning shots right where I aimed, drives, 8i, wedges, even chips, minus 3 shanks. I did lose the round a couple of times to hooks, but recovered smartly and had the ball on a string late, with 3 birdies to finish the tournament.

 

There were so many things going on in todays round, but I do want to get some of it down:

* Backswing needs to be complete. Watching analysis of Casey fall apart, I think I do this A LOT. Rather than a nice full backswing, it gets rushed and short, and the ball goes left. However, if I full it out all the time, I do feel right is much more possible, which is possibly why I like having a short backswing is a lessor crime, but there has to be a better way.

* To keep with Tylers advice, my hips were trying to instigate the downswing.

* This did bring shots going right, which a lot did. A tonne went very small amount right I'll add, and only 3-4 did a proper hook. Very few went left to start, and maybe 3-4 started straight but went left. So while going only left feels better at times, the above shows that having a right shot is not necessarily bad.

* Still need to keep the upper body in good shape. So just the act of moving the hips earlier flattens out the swing, which is a good thing. I found that when I focused more of keep my upper body over the ball more, I really lost the hook issue, and even a shot that felt like a hook were small draws and still on the green, and well struck shots were straight or slight fades

* I had a combination of Tyler and another youtuber Shawn Clement, who showed up on a golf show I watch here. Shawn says the golf club is good to cut daisys, so when your pre shot routine should try to cut the small grass by just rotating around, and when you find that point. Step into the ball with the same distance away, which would seem to give a consistent distance from the ball. Tylers tip is to do a small version of the shot you visualise as your pre shot, so if you think it will be a small fade, make sure your "cut the daisy" pre shot feels like it will be that small fade. This gives a very solid feel when stepping up to the ball

[sb944]

I had a rough start to tonights session. I kind of had this interesting thought of getting some of my old equipment out and having a bit of an equipment play off, mainly seeing the differences between modern driver, 10yo driver, and persimmon driver, as well as old 2i and modern irons. Only I couldn't hit the ball. I started tinkering, but nothing really stuck, so I had a break. I decided during the break that it just might not be my night, and to just go with what I had, and see if I can at least keep it a consistent direction. Things improved a little, but then still couldn't get my head around things. Eventually I realised I'm blasting balls, this isn't golf. A golf swing starts by getting mentally set, and my mental set was non-existent. So I went back to Shawn Clements, cutting daisies. Before every shot, do mini swings cutting the blades of grass. When you feel the cut, move in close to the ball and cut that. Whether it was a feel thing, a pre shot routine, or just random luck, the session flipped, and suddenly I could really hit the ball well again. I didn't quite have it on the string I had it last night, but it was pretty solid, with a tonne of good shots. I am slowly getting used to what flippy feels like in the pre shot timing, and if I can, this will be huge. In other words, as I'm cutting daisies in the pre-shot, I feel like I'm a little flippy, so cut a few more until it feels more solid, now play the shot, down the middle. If I can get on top of that feeling.. that would be huge.

 

I had a few other little play things after starting to strike it well. Firstly, I found the supposed difference between well struck drivers. Modern Cobra 265y, 10yo Taylormade Burner 260y and couldn't get the persimmon over 245y. Maybe not my biggest ball striking night, and consistency was poor overall, but still felt like I crushed a couple of persimmons to only get 20y from crushed Cobra. The Taylormade is perhaps handicapped with a poor grip, but the 260y felt pretty solid, pretty sure the difference between it and the Cobra is negligible. I also tried some right hand shots. Primarily doing punch shots with a left hand 6i flipped upside down. But more than ever before, the right hand swing was feeling super easy, and skytrak showed a decent 70-80y and not bad line. Might be a nice shot to have on course.

 

Finally, couple of small thoughts about the below. Now seem to really be getting the hips moving earlier, and looks way better this way, I think this is on the right track. Also, felt better when I went at it with the hips and then fired the shoulders after, but aiming way beyond ball, so making sure there was an intent to get to a point almost pointing the club up before letting the swing follow itself. But if you fire the arms too early, this doesn't feel possible, so it helped to think about the timing of all these moves, though it's still difficult.

 

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[sb944]

Here we go again, 1 day out from comp, hitting the ball super confidently (for me) in practice, and starting to think about really low scores compared with my handicap. However, the golf gods have never smiled on me in this area, they always find a way to completely unwind my swing on comp day. I'm starting to realise comp nerves are probably deeper than I thought, and part of what I need to embrace is the tools to battle the nerves as much as learning to strike the ball better or putt more consistently.

 

I actually thought I had a good nerve playing a lot of competetice cricket in my time. I'd savour the high pressure days, never fearful of not performing, picking up best player in the finals a couple of times. I tried to relate it to golf, so why do I not hold it together. Then I remembered, my first 2 years of adult cricket were not much different. I'd be impressing everyone in the practice nets, then I'd get out in comp and be 20% off. If I look back at the difference between winning trophies for finals and underperforming every week in comp, the difference was one of two things, or both. The turning point really came when I upped my efforts in training. I started going to the gym a lot, doing athletics training, putting in more effort at training. I knew I was out training everyone else I played with, and on the weekends, I stopped falling apart, and starting performing better than at training. When I wasn't playing well, people would tell me you need to get a hunger for it, but that wasn't it for me at least, it was a confidence. Like I've done everything I could in training, so I don't need to be nervous, I'm better prepared than anyone here. I don't have that in golf. Every day I stand over the ball, and wonder if I am going to scrape it together today or not. So what happens comp day? That thought gets amplified, one or two shots don't go as planned, and suddenly I'm fever pitch. I honestly don't feel that nervous, but looking back, it's casting enough doubt into my mind that I don't let myself get into a rythm.

 

I don't necessarily expect this to be fixed. I saw a good quote on the main academy forums "don't raise your expectation, raise your preparation." With that in mind, I'm training around as much as I possibly can right now, and it's going well. I'm getting a repeatable feel, and though this probably has time to get really good, it should be good enough already to start reducing my handicap, and my goal of breaking 90. But I want to start working on game day issues, so I've decided to get a check list going for a go to place in my swing. I've been working on this in the garage, and a combination of Shawn Clements and Tyler Ferrel tips and drills are giving me some ideas. This is my preparation list, something to go over before and possibly during.

 

Before the round:

* Grip. At least start with a grip that is slightly more neutral than I'm used to

* Swing with feet and knees locked together, feel it. This gives the feel of a controlled swing (not swaying), but that the hips are catapulting in transition

* The swing itself is to feel like a 3/4 backswing (actually goes closer to parallel), and I catch the club face before really going at it.

 

During the round:

* Relax. Try to release all pressures from the upper body. This may actually be a swing feel for every shot, get over the ball, relax the wrists, forearms, biceps, shoulders, feel like I'm releasing pressure down to my legs.

* Reset rythm drill. This is like a reset switch when things are getting too tense. Take 10% off from the start of the downswing, and don't try to make up for it earlier. The ball may go 10% less, but I've found in the garage it's more like 5%, because the ball hits the centre a lot

 

So that's it for preparation. I never did say above what my 2nd guess of why I suddenly started playing better in comp cricket was. Just playing a lot. My first 2 years of senior cricket it was turf pitches, playing against other experienced players, it must have got me nervous. Playing a lot helped. I can't win that one right now, but every comp I play is more experience, so the best I can do for that is to play again this week, and book my next round.

[sb944]

Preparation went... well. Had a good day, I'll classify it as very well in regards to what I set out to do, and of course golf has a way to event things out, chipping and putting let me down today, but ball striking was up... a lot!!! I finally managed to take my range swing to the course, and I think the preparation techniques working amazingly. I had some bad shots, but due to a good routine, they were usually followed by a really nice strike. The big difference I think was the relax all the upper body, then just before the swing, hold the club a little firmer, but just with the hands, don't tense the arms at all. This routine got me feeling more relaxed in general early, and got me back on track when I did hit a bad swing, all round through.

 

OK, so what did I score? So I didn't break 90, but I did get 90, 50 front, 40 back, 39 points, won the comp. But the really funny thing was my ball striking wasn't really any worse on the front, I just got a couple of unlucky breaks, missed a couple of short putts, and then there were the 2 wipes from the fringe that I'm really regretting. Some touch around the greens certainly could have meant a mid 80's score, good touch around the greens could have meant low 80's. The long game was on, and more than just that, it was like on skytrak, which has been solid, it really didn't fall apart at all on the course. I hit maybe 7-8 nice drives, some lovely long irons, and a few nice wedges though the shorter stuff had plenty of issues today.

 

So, in summary, had a really good effort today. not rushing to set any goals, but I now have a confidence I can take my skytrak game to the course, which is absolutely massive going forward, my goals have to be lifting again now. All I can say is my next round won't be for probably 3 weeks, so it will be skytrak training again until then.

[sb944]

Some very solid returns this last week, some days better than others, but certainly no complaints overall. It's difficult to piece it all together, as different sessions go differently, and even at times during the sessions I'll be striping it or really not. I'll try my best to give an overall summary:

* Driver is still a bit hit and miss. Alternated between Cobra and Taylormade this week, can't really get 100% comfortable with either to be honest. Miss is almost always left (slice) ranging from fade to severe slice, other miss is just a big mis hit, usually ending up pretty straight, but maybe 30y short.

* 3W is my biggest turnaround club, going from snap hook 75% of the time to a solid reliable club now, getting probably 10y less on average than driver, with better dispersion, it's very close to leave the driver in the bag, especially on my smallish home course.

* Hybrid has been in the bag for a week or so, and not really had a good time with it most of the week, just can't keep it straight enough, mainly slicing.

* 4i/5i are another huge turn around clubs, just striping these so often, and straight too. My biggest miss is hitting it too well and through the green :)

* Mid irons are less perfect. It could be my swing changes, but I'll stripe and 8i one hole, then hit a weak fade 7i the next, then pull a 9i long. At times these irons are on fire, at times...

* Wedges are pretty good really, I've had the pull hook tendancy in these which is almost gone, and a lot of straight shots, distance control is a little weak, very weak under 90y

 

I didn't follow much advice this week, saw some videos, but mostly kept working on the main ideas. At the moment it is:

* Setup. Grip has gone a little strong again, but hooks didn't come with it. Stance is pretty casual upright, I tried a better stance but didn't feel it and didn't see any better results.

* Go back a little slower than regular, don't go too far back, don't rush in going forward, feel the club. Keep an eye on making sure the club goes back a little on the inside of where it feels natural. Lower body feels almost still, head feels like a rock

* Forward, I still like the thought of right foot up going back, left foot up after impact, this thought keeps me from getting snap hooky through impact. In a couple of sessions I had success with trying to keep the arms in closer coming down, the way to repeat the feel is to drive the rear shoulder at the target, not at the ball.

 

[sb944]

I didn't expect to play this weekend, but it was shaping up quiet, and an early booking came up, so I grabbed it. I happened to also practice a little less this week, and not at all focusing as well on how to get from "range" to "course" with my feels. On Saturday, I had a small session to do just that. I re-read my notes above, and tried to make the practice more about what I need to "goto" in my round. I was losing a battle against a slice in the session, but found something late and finished very strong. I basically reminded myself to not sway, keep still over it, and hit some long straight drives/3W/long irons affter that small change.

 

The front 9 is the hardest, but I finally managed it nicely. I'd been struggling to get 50 on this 9, but found myself scoring nicely after 4 holes and while 6 and 7 unglued me last round, I hit 2 GIR on those and finished the 9 with 22 points. My 2 shot holes are all front 9, so this is really like turning -1 for a bogey golfer, but to be honest, I was even ball striking a lot better than that again, just really let down around the greens. Still, 45 was way above expectation today. In an unfamiliar situation of scoring well on the front, I started the back poorly, but within a few holes I had it up to -5 total, greenside in 2 on a par 5. I turned that birdie chance into a double bogey, turned the next 2 GIR's into bogeys, and missed a 1 foot putt on 17 for bogey to really derail a big day. I still managed 38 points, which will put me to 20 handicap, maybe even 19.

 

How to rate the day:

* Driving. Best in comp, a lot of well struck drives, getting it online is not always great, but only found real trouble a few times with wild shots

* Iron. really quite similar to tee, hitting most shots within a small margin of solid, just not quite getting a commitment to a line, so sometimes aim right side, then it turns into a slight draw.

* Wedge/chips. No pass here, hit a fair few thin which ends up ruining a hole, and even the ones I hit in the middle I misjudged. Bunkers poor as per usual

* Putting. I never made a decent putt, and missed 3 within a couple of feet, but I did hit some really nice attempts as well as a few poor 3 putts. More work to be done.

 

So it's easy to analyse, I need more short game I think my striking today was easily as good as low teens handicappers, but my chipping and putting cost a lot of shots. I don't know what else to do when I'm getting limited course time, but it really is real grass lies that give you the best practice for this part of the game.

 

So just to refresh initiatives, I'm supposed to be working on my nerves to get my range game to the course. Well, I feel like I did that well again today. Putting every putt like it's the same regardless of whether it's birdie or for double bogey, good again. Overwhelmingly the full swing shots were really good, early, mid and late. In isolation there were some poor shots, but way fewer than probably any other day. I'm looking to lower my handicap, and my next goal is C grade club champs. I was playing with an experienced member today, former pennant player, former handicapper, still involved a lot, and he mentioned the last C grade champion was "over capped." This was without any prompting, but all I'm thinking is "and you know I am too..." but what can I do? I was -5 today and finished -2, but not due to trying to miss a shot, not to mention any other part of the day, I try to get everything as close to the hole as possible, only sometimes talent/experience/nerves gets in the way. But if I continue, unless I get very hot soon, it looks like I'll only get 1 or 2 more shots off my handicap, if anything, by club champs, so what then, not play? I don't want any experienced player out of a title by playing a higher handicap than I should have, but nor do I have any other control than playing my best when I get to course, which is what I'm doing. My handicap is now 19.8, so snuck below 20 now, and can probably play to that on a relatively bad day, but don't see it going down to 17 or 18 by October, which might make it harder. Not at all saying I have it wrapped up, but I have a distinct advantage playing a lot better just a couple of months from the championships.

 

Anyway, solid day out, still loving the game, just slighly confused about what I'm actually aiming for in the short term with this sport.

[sb944]

Had a hot couple of weeks on TGC, leading up to another live round. In TGC, I felt like I was really getting some solid contact in. I am finally properly contending in the gross standings, getting a couple of 3rds in British Open, and PGA tournament. Live round was another solid result, but miles off TGC rounds. I had moments. I finished with 5 pars in a row, and it really should have been 8, as the 2 bogeys had approach shots under 70y which I managed to butcher. It came after a poor start, one of many. I did manage an 89, and also down to a 19 handicap IRL now.

 

While my start was poor, my feeling on course was massively improved. I spent a decent amount of the week thinking about the mental side of golf, and really what it boiled down to was re-aligning some goals. I've come to realise I have lots of goals, but I am not acknowledging that there is only one truth to my golf, and that's what's happened in the past. Anything else is only so much under my control, based on talent, time on course, etc. Worrying about whether I can be a 4 handicap or never get past 16 won't do me any good, but it does add pressure, adds nerves on game day, adds disappointment when I get set backs. I need to be comfortable with todays game, because for all I know I've already peaked, or am very close to. Or I may get 15 shots better, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter at all to anyone else, and it really shouldn't matter to me. I guess my one results based goal would be to give myself the best chance to at least reach my peak game. The others should be the same as any other hobby/sport, which is to enjoy the time I'm playing, who I'm playing with, the opportunity to even get to play, etc.

 

As for my swing, it's been really improved on TGC, and mostly improved IRL when I get into the rythm. Today's TGC round was the best though. On a tight long course, I was striping it. My latest tips have been around keeping a very still lower body through the swing, and it works well. But the swing comes and goes. I'll hit 4 scorchers, then go cold again for a little. Well today, I watched a video from Tyler Ferrel about lead arm extension after impact. Quite simply, he said my intent was 100% wrong. I intend for that lead arm to really drive through to about 9 oclock, and he said no, the intent of that arm is to get to impact straight and then start bending and keep rotating, and it's the rear arm that pushes it any further. This really worked. I don't know if it was a one off, but the striking was so solid, and poor strikes were still getting greens from 6i's. Will hopefully get some videos together in the next day or so.

[sb944]

TGC rounds only since last live round, in the gross standings a 4th at Firestone, 5th at Barracuda, and while it's still going, a handy -9 at this weeks PGA, though I think when that is said and done, -9 may only get about 5th place give or take. Still, it's miles better than my first attempt at the PGA course, less than a year ago getting +14 for 2 rounds, turned into -9 for 3 rounds, including so many wasted shots.

 

I simply can't relax in this game. I'm hitting the ball well, yet every second practice I'm trying to drastically change my swing. What I've noticed since losing my snap hook is that all the "major" swing changes have done little to TGC comp, I mainly get into a good place a couple of times each round, and my worst swing over the last 8 weeks is capable of sub par golf, as is my best round tonight -5. But I have noticed the trend has been more consistent striking overall.

 

Since the last post:

• I've watched Monte's chip videos, and I think moved a long way toward improving my chipping issues. Nothing thought about that isn't in those bounce 2.0 videos, so better to hear the tips from him than me, buy them, big deal
  
• Same with putting, just Montes big putting tip in those videos, kind of a big deal for my putting
  

Just the above has made a big change in TGC scores, because even good shots end up running through greens in TGC, but having a half decent chip game and putt game helps not lose shots on those holes where I have a decent chip area. And it also helps that you can rely on it, as in, I'll aim for the right part of the green, because if I go left I'm dead, if I go right I have a decent chip. And when you aren't chipping well it's, go to middle of green, because you can't afford to be chipping.

 

Finally, swing. It is the biggest issue, and so difficult to keep on top of. No matter how well I hit it, my swing never looks close to tour, I'm all arms. I'm less arms now than 10 weeks ago, and less 10 weeks ago than 30 weeks ago, etc, but it's still so far from a pro arms. I had all good Tyler tips going into this weeks thoughts, but was upset to see yesterdays swing still looked so non pro in the arms. I decided tonight to just try to get into a pose of impact and try to look like the pros, it's been a while since I did this. I found myself in that position, and had thoughts that my bottom shoulder is way further in than I thought. I got it going in practice, and distance, control, everything was going well for mid iron, other clubs were all fine well too. I hit -5 in my last PGA round in TGC, and could have been -10 if I made some putts, and 1 or 2 less concentration issues. The feel is very different, it's opening up the body, and slotting the bottom shoulder, and leaving the hands behind. Easy to say, but when I do it, the swing ends up pretty great. Like 10% distance gain, no wild slice or hook. Fingers crossed this was not just a good night, which I've had a few recently. Here is tonights swing:

[sb944]

I had some good building sessions, working really tough on my swing issues, drills and just accepting I have to rebuild to get it right. I then had a week long break, and during the break, spent a fair amount of time thinking through some of those changes. I almost felt after the break I'd come back better, as I felt I'd thought it through a bit, and had clarity on how to implement the change needed. But my return session led to disastrous results trying to drill and implement the change. By the end of that session, I felt weaker about golf. It was maybe the first time recently I've really thought "maybe I just don't get this game." Even at things I do poorly at work I manage to get to a respectable state when I work at it. But in golf, I can put 1000x the thought into it, and stand up to the ball, and honestly don't know where this shot is going. I'll match the best guys on TGC some nights, and feel I have all the potential, and other days it's snap hook to crazy slice and I don't know why, or which is coming. To make matters worse, my back is getting sore after every session recently. The scariest thought came into my mind, "is this it?" And it didn't really go away easy. I have been working extra hard at work, but maybe that is a better place to channel my energy anyway. I watched a golf channel show where they walk with the player, in this case Brendan Steele, and his swing analysis says his best bet is to just focus on rotating hard. He confirmed it by saying when he's playing well, he gives a lot of energy to the shot, not just trying to get it there, but make it happen with every shot, be it drive, layup, putt.

 

So I've decided my swing problems are what they are for now. I've improved my swing a lot, it's not where I'd like, but I can put a nice strike on the ball, and at times go long streaks of hitting A grade level shots, and then occasionally dip down into D grade for a bit. But I'm going to focus on something else the next few months, I'm going to try to really commit to what I have over our summer here. At each shot, I want to give it all my energy, and find my feel, not find my good looking swing. I'm also going to focus one big swing technique, and that is looking after my back, which involves arching the lower back more. I'm not quite doing it right still looking at videos, but my session tonight did leave me with less back pain. And I did strike the ball pretty nicely tonight, so not quitting just yet.

 

Here is the latest:

[golfarb1]

Holy back pain!! If you keep on swinging with that amount of extension in your lower back during your follow through ,your lumbar spine will be shot in 20 years..The lumbar spine especially the vetebrae nearest your pelvis is built for stability and weight bearing .It is not designed for rotation or excessive extension or flexion.

It is obvious that you have a considerable amount of athleticism in your swing ,but you ruin it with massive amounts of excess lateral motion in your swing and a problematic grip.

 

Things that you need to do

1.Take a clear picture of your left hand on the grip and then both hands on the grip .It is obvious that the hands are not working together.I just need a clearer picture of each hand on the grip before critiquing it more

 

2.You need to start your hands closer to the middle of your stance with your driver rather than just off of your lead thigh.When you are hitting irons ,your should start your hands just off of your lead thigh.The reason for the difference is because the low point is in front of the ball with irons ,while it is at or slightly behind the ball with a driver.

 

You need to have a minimal amount of hip sway going back,similar to Adam Scott in the below video. .Obviously there is some lateral movement at the hips going down ,but you far exceed the amount needed. Place an alignment rod in a basket vertically just outside your right heel and try NOT hitting the rod in your downswing. ..Using your above front video as a frame of reference,your right hip should go only a small amount beyond the edge of the refrigerator in the background.Another way of looking at this is that correct amount of lateral motion at the hips is the amount that you have when your right arm is parallel to the ground going down.Because your right hip has moved so far laterally at impact and beyond ,it is a major factor in your extension of your lower spine because it encourages more pelvic tilt away from the target.Another major factor is your bent lead leg ,near ,at impact and beyond .At impact your lead leg should be in the process of straightening,while yours is bending even more.A lead leg that is straight or in the process of straightening means that the left side of the pelvis is turning behind you or away from the target line .and will help to diminish any back extension. Look at this video of Adam Scott..the lateral motion in his hips is over by the time that his lead arm is parallel to the ground and his lead leg is straight only a little after impact.

 

The rule of thumb is that the fewer the number of moving parts in your swing,the less chance for errors.Your swing has far too many moving parts

[sb944]

OK, time off due to work, moved state, broke a collar bone cycling. Golf has stopped. Before moving, club championships came up, I was in Div C, and I hadn’t golfed for 6 weeks before due to work. Black tees meant a totally different course, but after 9 holes was WAY up, shooting a 42 with all the hardest holes behind me. A 53 on the easy back 9 soon grounded me. It went like this, but due to bad weather, black tees, stroke play and obvious difficulty for high handicaps to play consistent, I hung in there. I finished about 5 shots off 3rd, 10 off 1st after 4 rounds. I really, really enjoyed it, I wasn’t nervous or upset at my game when it went bad, I just lapped it up, would love to be good enough to do this more often at a good level. Unfortunately, I never played at that course again.

 

I decided to pick up the clubs again 10 weeks after my collar bone, and except for some collar bone pain, was hooked again instantly. It’s not quite like riding a bike, because you do forget some good tips you might have implemented, but in a way a long break hits reset, and you get your “natural” swing. For some people I imagine this is fairly simple and uncomplicated, with a clear path towards a good swing, for me it’s a mess of moving parts, any of which could contribute to a bad swing.

 

But I’m on a lifelong journey to work this golf swing out, and if nothing else, the reset has given me a chance to start fresh, so here I am. Skytrak can’t be used inside anymore, there is a horrible little area I can use it, but it means ideal weather and light are needed, so my practice is going to be a lot lighter. But I still have it. I also have been to the range a bit. It’s been… not great if you watch the ball. But I feel like I’m putting some things together. In fact, I feel better than ever about my understanding of the swing!

 

It started with a pause. I was at the range, and I’m hitting duck hook 70y right, mixed in with 70y left slices, and a few straight ones, good times. I can feel my swing having no choices in my swing but to whip the club at the ball, but I don’t know why, so I threw in a pause at the top of the swing, because... why not. The pause soon became a pause while I did something in the hips area, and for a sweet 30 minutes I couldn’t miss my target, no matter how hard I swung or what club I had. I did something, or maybe I didn’t, but I wanted to know more. I dusted off Monte’s Drive For Dough video, and watched part 1 again.

 

OK, how did I miss this, he clearly states everything you can and can’t do, and now I know exactly what I’m doing that I shouldn’t be, and I know the science of why the hip bump is important. Or to put it more specifically to my swing, I’m starting the swing with all the wrong angles, and no intent of getting the right angles, so if I do the right moves, I will miss the ball completely. So from there my body compensates, and after some practice I can get it going relatively straight often enough. The bump is there to get the hips which are pointing down at the top of the swing, to point more up (secondary tilt) and now if you pushing your shoulders out it’s pretty much at the ball, not a foot above the ball.

 

So I’ve now mastered the golf swing ? OK, a couple of steps left. I still have a bunch of tendencies, and I need to flesh these out. 30 minutes into my next session, and while I’d mis hit a few, the trajectory of the ball, shot shape was great. Then I start hooking it! But I’m doing the bump now, I can’t hook it? I can, and did. I fixed it shortly after, but the 2nd 30 minutes showed I had work to do. Similar again on the next session, some hot patches, but still lose it for a while. Between sessions, I finished watching Monte’s video, and put in my thoughts into it all. I have come the conclusion there are many important factors to a great swing, and I can’t control them all at once. You can get yourself into a bad position at the top with many types of mistake, you can make many types of mistake in transition. I can’t make all of these work today. This session, I was focusing hard on just the hip bump. It goes like this, start in a good stance, slightly tilted back, make 5 practices where I focus just on not swaying back, then the hip bump, just that simple, then step up and execute. It went pretty nice, 30 minutes again of solid results. Then I figured there were other problems and started looking at other things, and within 5 minutes, a couple of hooks came into play. I then started hitting it bad. I did the next shot focusing on hip bump, straight again. I played around a bit and got mixed results. I realized after a couple more hooks, my hips were swaying. The last 30 minutes I just focused on getting the hips right, and the results were good. I won’t say great, because I still don’t have 100% clean contact, or 100% accuracy, but the Skytrak view with the last 50 shots told a very nice story overall. My point is, I’m cleaning up a huge problem of mine, probably the biggest, but I need to put in the work on just that one issue, it’s not a natural move for me, yet if I don’t do it, my swing is bad.