Games November 2022 - In Closing...

[Hawkeye77]

12 hours ago, games said:

Looking back, Jeremy, Chase and Monte all threw out Alex Noren pre-shot rehearsal as a model.  In geek speak, it’s just P6 club position with P7 body turn. Saturday indoor session, I practiced just that. No NTC or other things.  Just wedges and irons to feel it. Hmm… Let’s hit driver with this….

 

FEEL is I hit the ball with lower body. Passive arms and hands felt a block right of Limbaugh.   Little off the heel… 90 mph tops.  

 

Sim I was on showed sweet little push draw.  Then I look at Mevo+ club speed. WTF?

 

98.9 mph

I’m 93-94 warmed up.

Nice!

 

Report will wait until I've had a chance to actually practice, maybe the recent snow will be totally washed away by today's expected hours and hours of drizzle, lol.  But I'm sporting a Matthew Wolff rehearsal! 

 

Where oh where is spring?

[games]

7 hours ago, Hawkeye77 said:

Where oh where is spring?

 

It sure ain't in Iowa right now!  LOL.

[games]

This happened today.  Contact square on the forehead (heel) but gaining respectability.

 

[games]

My game is in a really good place now, thanks to @MonteScheinblum, @lv_2_hack and @Schnee.  Part of re-learning stuff as an analytical is the sheer tension of doing something different.  That tension is a killer until you break it down.  I know Monte preaches the 40-yard swing to ingrain new moves.  And, whether I like it or not, it's the correct way.

 

The move that's making it come together is to feel cupping (not bowing a la DJ) of my left wrist at the top.  From there, transitioning into the bowed wrist at impact, instead of keeping it bowed throughout the downswing and impact.  It's much easier for me to shallow on the downswing now.  Now that I'm relaxed and executing properly, my driver club speed is mid-upper 90s.  At the practice range yesterday, I was flying my PW 130 and on target with proper height.  I'm really happy. 

[games]

Latest swing with 9 iron.  142 yards with 82 mph club speed.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by games
YT link

[games]

97 mph driver w 230 yard carry.

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by games
Video issue

[Hawkeye77]

Great work!

[games]

Let’s try driver here.

 

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by games
YT link

[hammersia]

On 7/10/2022 at 2:18 PM, games said:

Let’s try driver here.

 

 

Just a couple of thoughts - 

 

You said you are left handed playing right? 

 

Me too, your right hand looks like mine, a fairly weak / loose position with an overlap grip. And not much right wrist extension at the top.

 

I've been quite successful changing to a reverse overlap (left forefinger over right pinkie), and also a ten finger baseball grip (reverse overlap can be quite tough on the pinkie), both to force the right hand to have more involvement. 

Edited July 11, 2022 by hammersia

[games]

1 hour ago, hammersia said:

You said you are left handed playing right? 

 

Me too, your right hand looks like mine, a fairly weak / loose position with an overlap grip. And not much right wrist extension at the top.

 

I've been quite successful changing to a reverse overlap (left forefinger over right pinkie), and also a ten finger baseball grip (reverse overlap can be quite tough on the pinkie), both to force the right hand to have more involvement. 

 

Thanks, and good call.  Your observation is exactly what I'm working toward!

 

@lv_2_hack (Chase Cooper) has me working on the feel of more right wrist FLEXION at the top.  I was bowed left wrist (extended right wrist) at the top, but Chase Cooper said the "DJ" look (bowed left, extended right) is great for those with a DJ body type, and a death move for those of us with a bit more around the midsection.

[games]

It's been almost five years since I started this thread.  It's a great time to shut her down.  I'm in a really good place with my game.  My full swing is as good as it's going to get. I played a corporate banking scramble a couple of months ago with 120 bankers, 10 were plus or scratch, and another 30-40 were legit single digits.  One of the pay holes was a charity tee ball where if you contributed, you could use a long-drive pro's drive, and he'd also evaluate your swing.  The tee is close to the prior hole green, and he saw me stiff my group's 95 yard approach to six feet.  We got on the tee, and he said "Nice shot.  Let's see your tee ball."  I stepped up and ripped one (for me) about 250 down the left side.  He looked at me and said "You have one of the best swings out of all the 50+ year-olds i've seen today!"  (This was the 13th or 14th hole of a shotgun scramble!  For me, that was all the validation I needed.  I know I can play.)

 

I started this journey carrying 7=iron 140 yards and driver 200.  I'm now carrying 7-iron 160 and driver 230.  I'm over 55 now.  I can play pretty much anywhere, and not embarrass myself.   Looking back on this thread, so many lessons learned, so much crow eaten, and so many friends made.  Here's what I learned:

 

1. @MonteScheinblum - Monte has put together a great menu of learning opportunities.  I did them this way:  Started with a clinic to get his opinion on my biggest fault, subscribed to his Rebellion Golf channel videos, did a couple of remotes and saw him for private lessons and a playing lesson.  Far and away his biggest contribution to my game is "No Turn Cast."  This is THE modern golf swing primer.  Monte always chides those who say "this feels wrong."  The beauty of NTC is that my brain embraced the change because it made sense.  If my brain accepts it, I'm pretty sure my body will execute it...  

 

2. @lv_2_hack  - In working with Monte, I got to know Chase Cooper.  Chase gave me the most important tip I ever got.  When I ingrained NTC, my lead wrist stayed in flexion for my entire swing which means the shaft was never rotating.  Works better for DJ than for me.  Chase got me to effectively rotate the shaft throughout the swing (clockwise in the backswing, counter-clockwise coming down aka the "motorcycle move").  This motion had a side benefit of allowing the club to come down more from the inside, and I started to finally "feel" Monte's concept of the mass of the clubhead trailing the hands into the ball.

 

3. SwingFit AI - AFTER five or six months of ingraining Chase and Monte's thoughts from an October 2021 visit to Houston, I KNEW my swing had permanently changed for the better.  I decided to get a full club-fitting, and fate led me to SwingFit AI in Hilton Head, a brand-agnostic fitter.  IMO, the best fitting I ever had, and the best fitting no one's talking about.  Initial fitting is done inside using GEARS to determine how the body swings various shaft weights, flexes, etc.)..Final decisions are made outdoors on real grass.  I've told the story:  I paid for a set of irons with the Oban shafts, and I absolutely love them.  The experience helped me understand why Oban is so prevalent in iron fittings done by the national brand-agnostic fitter.  SwingFit AI gave me a great driver recommendation (9* Stealth + with an Accra shaft) too!  While I bought the driver elsewhere, the experience and the results far exceeded my expectations.

 

4. Trap!  - I fell into a trap when No Turn Cast came out in Fall 2020.  It really changed the look of my swing, but also caused a fatal flaw as I ceased to rotate the clubhead back and through during the swing.  It wasn't until a year later that Chase detected it at Monte's Houston clinic in October 2021.  The trap was making a big swing change without video lesson or in-person lesson.  

 

I don't have much to say about January 2018 - Fall 2020 primarily because I just wasn't focused.  New job, relocation, and a lot of life issues got in the way.  I will say it was a pleasure getting to know Jeremy Anderson at Legacy GC in PHX.  Truly a class act and a gifted coach.  No shock that he's also friends with Monte.  Also, I appreciate getting to know guys at Monte's clinics including  @parmark, @Precis1on and @Hawkeye77.  Finally, it was great watching and learning from @Schnee sharing a cart with him over a round at Houston Oaks after years of exchanging friendly forum posts.

Edited November 13, 2022 by games

[parmark]

Well played Doug, great to see results after all the effort and work you put into your game!  This is giving me motivation to jump start my '23 season --I will be 67 1/2 come that start of next season. Started with my basement P90 work outs this week and including a specific golf stretching series using bands.

 

Hope we will have a chance to be teeing it up again. Next time I will join you for that 10:30AM IPA after we finish the round!!

 

 

[northgolf]

Hi games, shutting down the thread makes sense. If you are where you want to be and are happy playing, then the extraordinarily talented golf instructors/aficionados you hashtag did for you what they keep doing for others: making a difficult game enjoyable. 

 

I have enjoyed your journey.  Be well friend.

[Precis1on]

Great to see your journey over the years. Can't believe it's been that long since the first clinic. Of course we're all still at it.

 

All the best to you and your game! 

[Hawkeye77]

Been fun to see (thinking giant range ball bucket between the legs) and read!  Things didn't work out last summer, they will in '23 -- playing golf somewhere in the greater Des Moines area! 

[otw]

Great review and much luck going forward