My Road to Improvement - swing video 3/15/24

[betarhoalphadelta]

47 minutes ago, BigTerp1524 said:

I agree with the importance of improvement off the tee and ball striking in general. Typically, high handicappers like ourselves are told to focus on short game and putting. Obviously it's important, but there is so much more room for error off the tee and with longer approach shots that it creates much more work to recover from than a duffed chip or missed putt. I'm not talking about firing down the fairway 75% of the time off the tee, or hitting it to within 6 feet on every approach shot. I'm referencing keeping tee shots out of the woods, for the most part, and certainly not hitting it OB. For long(ish) approach shots getting it close enough for a simple chip or pitch should be considered a success, and on the green an A+. If I have to punch out of the woods after an errant tee shot, then miss the green by 50 yards with my approach shot I'm certainly not doing myself any favors. Tightening up even one of those type of shots would save guys like us an easy stroke each hole. I'm not diminishing the importance of short game and putting, rather I'm trying to show the importance of the long game for high handicappers, like myself.

 

I think this leaves out a major issue for us high-caps that we don't want to talk about... Complete chunks, tops, s-words, and mishits of all types. 

 

My main fault when it comes to well-struck shots is the overcooked draw which turns into a big hook. But if that was my only major source of mishits, I'd be 5-10 strokes better. Heck, on some of the courses I play, it'll mean I'm still in the fairway--just the adjacent fairway to the hole I'm playing lol... I had a round where I was making good contact and just aimed right on everything, and scored a lifetime best relative to par on 18.

 

It's the complete mishits that really kill me. I.e. the long par 4 where I top a driver 75 yards and I still have 325 to the hole... I could deal with hitting 250 and having to punch out close to the green from 150. I've got a good shot at saving bogey from there. From 325 hitting 2? I have to "par" the hole from 325 to make bogey, and since I'm basically a bogey+ golfer as it is, that means I'm already bringing double into play just off the duffed tee shot.

 

[BigTerp1524]

1 minute ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

I think this leaves out a major issue for us high-caps that we don't want to talk about... Complete chunks, tops, s-words, and mishits of all types. 

 

My main fault when it comes to well-struck shots is the overcooked draw which turns into a big hook. But if that was my only major source of mishits, I'd be 5-10 strokes better. Heck, on some of the courses I play, it'll mean I'm still in the fairway--just the adjacent fairway to the hole I'm playing lol... I had a round where I was making good contact and just aimed right on everything, and scored a lifetime best relative to par on 18.

 

It's the complete mishits that really kill me. I.e. the long par 4 where I top a driver 75 yards and I still have 325 to the hole... I could deal with hitting 250 and having to punch out close to the green from 150. I've got a good shot at saving bogey from there. From 325 hitting 2? I have to "par" the hole from 325 to make bogey, and since I'm basically a bogey+ golfer as it is, that means I'm already bringing double into play just off the duffed tee shot.

 

Agreed. I'm in the same boat. Although I've much improved in that respect, the shots you described are definite score killers. I think those type of mishits, the REALLY bad mishits, are the obvious things we need to improve upon. I was just trying to stress the importance of the long game for high cappers. It seems so much of the emphasize on how to improve is to focus on the short game.

[betarhoalphadelta]

1 hour ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Agreed. I'm in the same boat. Although I've much improved in that respect, the shots you described are definite score killers. I think those type of mishits, the REALLY bad mishits, are the obvious things we need to improve upon. I was just trying to stress the importance of the long game for high cappers. It seems so much of the emphasize on how to improve is to focus on the short game.

 

Agreed. Most strokes gained analysis suggests that high caps lose their most strokes compared to scratch in the long game, with the higher the cap reflecting a bigger difference between the long game and short game. 

 

Most of the time people bring up "strokes gained" analysis in general, it can lead to a lot of misconceptions. Some people only focus on the tee, and some people think the lesson is that you need to try to hit the ball farther. I think the more important lesson is minimizing bad/awful shots, and that's 100% ballstriking IMHO for a high-cap. 

[bortass]

@MattC555@betarhoalphadelta @BigTerp1524 Great discussion!  Here's my take on it.

 

The reasons I like Arccos and am glad I use it. 

 

It makes it easy to know my distances and they remove the terrible and great shots from the mix. So a topped drive and that personal best 320 yard drive a few weeks ago are not included in the shots that say I hit my driver about 228. I used to use a golf GPS years ago and track things on OOBGolf. It would tell me how far my average tee shot was but that's about it. It would also include all the dubbed or once in a lifetime shots(which by definition is one, lol). So now I have a better feel for my actual distances and it adjusts over time.

 

It provides metrics on all aspects of my game. I like this for a few reasons. It confirms where I have problems. It's not just my opinion any more. It's confirmed my thoughts that full swing is a bigger issue than short game and putting for me. This goes against the conventional wisdom which is work on your short game and putting. It also tells me where my issues are within the 4 areas.

 

So driving is a weak spot but the main issue now is penalties. My distance and accuracy are close to that 12 HCP I use for comparison. My approach game is worse in the 100- 150 yard range, which are all full swing irons. 50-100 yard range, I'm close to what a 12 HCP would do and that's my partial wedge range, so I hit those decently. It also tells me that I lose more strokes from the fairway than I do from the rough, sand, or off the tee on par 3s. My biggest hole in putting is the 0-10 foot range but I do quite well at 10-25 feet and am better than the average 12 HCP. Short game issues are sand and chips/pitches from 25-50 yards.

 

The metrics also help show me I am improving that's not just based on score. I'll use a P90X analogy for this one. P90X said to weigh yourself and measure biceps, thighs, waist, etc. The reason was the scale might not move but the measurements would show progress. So my scores are all over the place but I am showing improvement in individual facets of my game. Therefore I am making progress even if I didn't break 100 a few days ago. 

 

Now the fun part and what @betarhoalphadelta and @BigTerp1524 are getting at. Most high handicappers need to strengthen their full swing to make significant progress. This is my opinion based on what I went through trying to break 100 and then 90 from 2008 - 2012. The same thing happened when I took the game back up in late 2019. My scores were terrible because I couldn't hit the ball. I was in the position that @betarhoalphadelta mentioned above. Chunks, tops, and blades are killers. They are a wasted shot and a great short game or putting isn't gonna save you. These are what I'd call contact errors, just complete and utter mishits. It's why I never bought into the break the hole down into a bunch of iron shots. I could screw up any of those, so might as well hit something longer off the tee and off the deck to try to get close to the green as quickly as possible. Of course you need to be smart with this. If you can't hit driver or a wood to save your life than irons off the tee it is until you learn to hit something semi-reliably. 

 

Once you get past the contact errors, direction and distances come into play more. That's where I am now. Sure I will top a drive or wood off the tee once in a while but they are less common.  I can make decent contact on almost every swing but now I need to watch where the ball is going. Losing it into the trees or OOB, along with what direction. Distance becomes a factor because now I can roughly hit the ball within a certain range on most shots. It's still a crapshoot at times but not as big of one.

 

There are always peoples at the extremes, so I'm sure there are some high handicappers that blow chunks around the green and would improve quicker by fixing those issues. But overall I still think if you can't make decent contact on most swings; can't keep the ball in play; and hit it a reasonable distance for the tees being played, you're gonna struggle out there and it will be very difficult to break 100 or 90. You just need a swing good enough to advance the ball in the desired direction a reasonable distance but without that 'good enough' swing, all bets are off.

 

As always just the thoughts and opinions of someone whose best index was 19 a decade ago. It's not gospel by any means.

Edited August 25, 2021 by bortass
typos

[MattC555]

Being able to reasonably hit the ball in play and get it up to the green is the difference between being able to keep score and picking your ball up more often than not.  Especially if you're prone to hitting it fat.  It sucks taking embarrassing beaver pelts over and over.  I've been there.  If you can't make it off the tee or hit it off the ground, you're dead basically.       

 

That said, my round these days lives or dies by my short game.  It is the easiest bit to do consistently well.  But, if I haven't put the work in, I can compound a bad day off the tee.  Conversely, my best scoring days have been when by ball striking is decent and my short game is excellent.  Hitting a large percentage of putts inside of 8 ft can do wonders for your score.  As can reliably getting up and down.  If I can't get a feel for the greens it really doesn't matter how well I'm striking the ball.   

 

Overall, I think each player is going to have their own areas that need the most immediate improvement.  Arccos seems like a good way to figure which area that is.      

[BigTerp1524]

1 hour ago, bortass said:

@MattC555@betarhoalphadelta @BigTerp1524 Great discussion!  Here's my take on it.

 

The reasons I like Arccos and am glad I use it. 

 

It makes it easy to know my distances and they remove the terrible and great shots from the mix. So a topped drive and that personal best 320 yard drive a few weeks ago are not included in the shots that say I hit my driver about 228. I used to use a golf GPS years ago and track things on OOBGolf. It would tell me how far my average tee shot was but that's about it. It would also include all the dubbed or once in a lifetime shots(which by definition is one, lol). So now I have a better feel for my actual distances and it adjusts over time.

 

It provides metrics on all aspects of my game. I like this for a few reasons. It confirms where I have problems. It's not just my opinion any more. It's confirmed my thoughts that full swing is a bigger issue than short game and putting for me. This goes against the conventional wisdom which is work on your short game and putting. It also tells me where my issues are within the 4 areas.

 

So driving is a weak spot but the main issue now is penalties. My distance and accuracy are close to that 12 HCP I use for comparison. My approach game is worse in the 100- 150 yard range, which are all full swing irons. 50-100 yard range, I'm close to what a 12 HCP would do and that's my partial wedge range, so I hit those decently. It also tells me that I lose more strokes from the fairway than I do from the rough, sand, or off the tee on par 3s. My biggest hole in putting is the 0-10 foot range but I do quite well at 10-25 feet and am better than the average 12 HCP. Short game issues are sand and chips/pitches from 25-50 yards.

 

The metrics also help show me I am improving that's not just based on score. I'll use a P90X analogy for this one. P90X said to weigh yourself and measure biceps, thighs, waist, etc. The reason was the scale might not move but the measurements would show progress. So my scores are all over the place but I am showing improvement in individual facets of my game. Therefore I am making progress even if I didn't break 100 a few days ago. 

 

Now the fun part and what @betarhoalphadelta and @BigTerp1524 are getting at. Most high handicappers need to strengthen their full swing to make significant progress. This is my opinion based on what I went through trying to break 100 and then 90 from 2008 - 2012. The same thing happened when I took the game back up in late 2019. My scores were terrible because I couldn't hit the ball. I was in the position that @betarhoalphadelta mentioned above. Chunks, tops, and blades are killers. They are a wasted shot and a great short game or putting isn't gonna save you. These are what I'd call contact errors, just complete and utter mishits. It's why I never bought into the break the hole down into a bunch of iron shots. I could screw up any of those, so might as well hit something longer off the tee and off the deck to try to get close to the green as quickly as possible. Of course you need to be smart with this. If you can't hit driver or a wood to save your life than irons off the tee it is until you learn to hit something semi-reliably. 

 

Once you get past the contact errors, direction and distances come into play more. That's where I am now. Sure I will top a drive or wood off the tee once in a while but they are less common.  I can make decent contact on almost every swing but now I need to watch where the ball is going. Losing it into the trees or OOB, along with what direction. Distance becomes a factor because now I can roughly hit the ball within a certain range on most shots. It's still a crapshoot at times but not as big of one.

 

There are always peoples at the extremes, so I'm sure there are some high handicappers that blow chunks around the green and would improve quicker by fixing those issues. But overall I still think if you can't make decent contact on most swings; can't keep the ball in play; and hit it a reasonable distance for the tees being played, you're gonna struggle out there and it will be very difficult to break 100 or 90. You just need a swing good enough to advance the ball in the desired direction a reasonable distance but without that 'good enough' swing, all bets are off.

 

As always just the thoughts and opinions of someone whose best index was 19 a decade ago. It's not gospel by any means.

All of this pretty much sums me up. I use GolfPad GPS, mostly for dialing in my club distances which is something I'm still working out. It does the same as Arccos in that it eliminates the mishits and wildly abnormal shots. It's been great for giving me a decent idea of what I average with each club. It's also nice for seeing trends. My first few rounds this year my dispersion with my driver and long irons was 90+% missing right. Now it's pretty much perfectly even from right to hit to left. So I know I'm making progress there. Same thing for approach shots. It's nice to be able to look back at a round or overall trends to confirm or deny how you felt you played that particular day.

 

Contact versus direction/dispersion. I feel like I'm starting to trend towards being more concerned with direction/dispersion. I still have my share of those terrible mishits we've been discussing, but I've greatly improved here. It's certainly nice to be thinking less things like "don't top it idiot" or "don't chunk this one moron", LOL.

[bortass]

17 minutes ago, MattC555 said:

Being able to reasonably hit the ball in play and get it up to the green is the difference between being able to keep score and picking your ball up more often than not.  Especially if you're prone to hitting it fat.  It sucks taking embarrassing beaver pelts over and over.  I've been there.  If you can't make it off the tee or hit it off the ground, you're dead basically.       

 

That said, my round these days lives or dies by my short game.  It is the easiest bit to do consistently well.  But, if I haven't put the work in, I can compound a bad day off the tee.  Conversely, my best scoring days have been when by ball striking is decent and my short game is excellent.  Hitting a large percentage of putts inside of 8 ft can do wonders for your score.  As can reliably getting up and down.  If I can't get a feel for the greens it really doesn't matter how well I'm striking the ball.   

 

Overall, I think each player is going to have their own areas that need the most immediate improvement.  Arccos seems like a good way to figure which area that is.      

Very true about everyone having a different  trouble area. Something that happens over time will be a change in the area that you'll get the most bang for your buck out of. I would also expect it to start to vacilate back and forth as well as one improves. My expectation is my short game will need more specific focus once I get better with the full swing stuff. My reasoning is if my full swing is better, I'll be getting it closer to the green or on in regulation. In other words my misses will be smaller. Now short game and putting can start to work even more magic to drive a low score much like you do today.

 

The day I shot the 41 or 42 on the front 9 had everything clicking. I was hitting the ball great(for me) and my short game an putting covered the miscues in various areas. I remember on #7 hitting a great drive. I got my approach on the green but about 42 feet from the hole. My birdie putt stopped within 2 feet of the cup.

 

Now maybe this sounds funny but short game stuff is always part of my normal range session. Two main reasons. I warm up with chips and pitches and then move on to partial wedges. I like hitting partial wedges in part because the range at my old home course was short, so no long irons, woods, or drivers. So I just got in the habit of hitting them a fair amount. So I always warm up with shorter stuff. I also like using smaller swings because as was pointed out in @BigTerp1524's thread, if you can't hit a partial shot solid, you can't hit a full swing solid. That leads me to hitting partial shots while working on cast B from NTC which is the actual drill or hitting them when I'm working on getting my hips to move better or if I just want to try to hit it solid. get the variables about a full shift and backswing out of the picture.

 

I made it to the range the last two days. One change I made is to slow myself down by taking my time to get the next ball. I also was working on multiple things in a sporadic manner. Today, I used 5H, AW, and 8i. I warmed up by chipping and pitching all of the balls that were on the ground in the various stations with the AW. Just knocking them back into the range to make it easy for the person that picks the range. That went very well and I worked on keeping my my posture while doing it. I also hit a few of them up onto the practice green and most of those were in an uphill lie in the rough, so i got to see how the ball reacted. I then took the 8i and started hitting half shots. I was paying attention to how my hips were moving and doing the Cast B drill at the same time.

 

Eventually it was full swings with the 5H. That went very well. Almost all of them were great shots. The thing I payed attention to during the swing was the feel of my right hip going up and back. Then I went back to the 8i and more half shots. I decide to see what would happen if I made sure my arms got straight in my follow through. I feel like I chicken wing it. Any how that made a nice change to things. The ball came out crisp and straight. It wasn't super high without the full follow through.

 

Then I grabbed the 5H and hit partial shots to see what that was like. Did that for a bit and went to the AW and hit more pitches. Then I decided to hit pitches with the 5h and see how that behaved. Took the 8i and hit a full shot and smoked it. After that shot I used the 8i to chip at the smaller flags on the range. Just trying to land the ball close to the flag. I worked my way around doing that. Decided to hit another full 5H and nuked it too. Went back to some chips/pitches with the AW to end the session.

 

is this the best way to learn? I dunno but it was fun. i also have a feeling mixing it up does help in the long run.

 

Yesterday featured a good amount of driver. Just trying to swing and hit the ball and see what happens. It was a mixed bag but I had some pretty good shots here and there. The rest of the session was going back and forth between SW and 8i to hit full or partial shots. No rhyme or reason, just mixing it up and working on bits and pieces of things.

[MattC555]

When I get to the range to practice I warm up like I would normally before an actual round:

 

Partial wedge till I'm loose

A couple full wedges

A couple 9 irons, then 7, then 5

Repeat with my hybrid and 3w

I then try and groove my driver

 

At this point I'll mimic playing a few holes at my local course.  Taking whatever club I feel I would.  For my home course that means driver, then whatever iron I'm left with, then a chip if I feel I'd have missed the green.  I'll punch out if I think my drive went into the woods, etc.  I think practicing my warm up routine helps me get my actual round going better.  I'm not totally loose after hitting 15-20 range balls and my mechanics change over those first few holes until settling in.   

 

After that I'll start focusing on whatever I'm working on that day.  Swing mechanics, flighting/shaping shots, short game, etc. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

1 hour ago, MattC555 said:

Being able to reasonably hit the ball in play and get it up to the green is the difference between being able to keep score and picking your ball up more often than not.  Especially if you're prone to hitting it fat.  It sucks taking embarrassing beaver pelts over and over.  I've been there.  If you can't make it off the tee or hit it off the ground, you're dead basically.       

 

That said, my round these days lives or dies by my short game.  It is the easiest bit to do consistently well.  But, if I haven't put the work in, I can compound a bad day off the tee.  Conversely, my best scoring days have been when by ball striking is decent and my short game is excellent.  Hitting a large percentage of putts inside of 8 ft can do wonders for your score.  As can reliably getting up and down.  If I can't get a feel for the greens it really doesn't matter how well I'm striking the ball.   

 

Overall, I think each player is going to have their own areas that need the most immediate improvement.  Arccos seems like a good way to figure which area that is.      

 

Yeah, I think that's the difference between a 6 (you) and a 20 (me). You have a good enough long game that it's your short game that determines your score day to day. I can swing 15 strokes easy in my score based on whether my ballstriking is good, and end up having roughly similar number of strokes around the green and putting regardless of whether I shoot 93 or 108. 

 

If I had your long game, I'd probably be a 9-10. If I spent the next 1-2 years getting to your long game, just the amount of time I'd be spending on the course working on short game and putting (even if I wasn't aggressively practicing it) would probably get me to a 6...

 

A player can't be a 6 with my long game. A player with a good long game could be a 6 with my short game. If I get to a 6, then my short game will be much more determinant of score...

 

1 hour ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Contact versus direction/dispersion. I feel like I'm starting to trend towards being more concerned with direction/dispersion. I still have my share of those terrible mishits we've been discussing, but I've greatly improved here. It's certainly nice to be thinking less things like "don't top it idiot" or "don't chunk this one moron", LOL.

 

I felt like I was getting there, but my last few rounds just fell apart. However I had a REALLY good range day today, and maybe I'm getting over the second hump when it comes to contact.

 

42 minutes ago, bortass said:

 

Now maybe this sounds funny but short game stuff is always part of my normal range session. Two main reasons. I warm up with chips and pitches and then move on to partial wedges. I like hitting partial wedges in part because the range at my old home course was short, so no long irons, woods, or drivers. So I just got in the habit of hitting them a fair amount. So I always warm up with shorter stuff. I also like using smaller swings because as was pointed out in @BigTerp1524's thread, if you can't hit a partial shot solid, you can't hit a full swing solid. That leads me to hitting partial shots while working on cast B from NTC which is the actual drill or hitting them when I'm working on getting my hips to move better or if I just want to try to hit it solid. get the variables about a full shift and backswing out of the picture.

 

 

I do the same re: short game. I do it for a few reasons. First, partial wedges are great for warm-up.  Second, just working on contact and distance control with those partial wedges is important because I have multiple shots every round where that's in play. Third, because hitting 100 balls in the SoCal heat in under an hour can be a hell of a lot of work, so interspersing some partial wedges as a break from full swings keeps me more fresh. 

 

[bortass]

Morning,

 

Hope everyone had a good weekend and if you got any golf in it was better than mine... It was a rough day for me unfortunately. I'll get the write up posted later. We played the sister course with all the water and I had one of my worst rounds in recent memory even though I didn't lose many balls. Pulls and tops off the tee with a few pushes mixed in for variety. Mishits on every par 3 etc. One of those days, yet again. I feel like I type that too often so obviously, I'm not making much progress which is a bit embarrassing. I do think one flaw is I am noit accelerating through my bunker shots. They killed me...

 

Anyway, I'll get the summary posted later. And I'll end on a positive note for me. I hit the 20 lbs mark this morning. So I still suck at golf but I'm getting thinner while doing it, lol.

[bortass]

 

A mix of overcast and sun in the 80s and humid. I warmed up on the range as usual and it went okay. Things weren't great but it was serviceable. Unfortunately this is a round that highlighted a number of the weaknesses in my game. The positive thing about that is it makes it more obvious what I need to work on. Like chips in the 25 – 50 yard range and putts inside 10 feet.

 

I don't like writing up the rounds where I played this poorly. It creates doubt about my ability to eventually get to where I want to go. Maybe I do blow smoke up my @ss and am slightly delusional, lol. However the round happened and I'll own up to it.

 

1 – par 5, 444 yards, dogleg left, #10 HCP. The first hole for the other course here is to the right. I hit a nice mid height draw down the right side of the fairway and almost through the corner, 220 yards. I made the hole a bit longer but that's fine. I'm in a great position for my second shot. It's 230ish to center but I leave the 4w in the bag. The fairway narrows with trees on the left before it opens up a bit more by the green. I hit my 5i and catch it thin. It gets a few feet off the ground but rolls 158 yards down the fairway towards the left side. Ugly shot but a good result. Left side of the fairway and the flag is on the left behind a bunker. It's partial SW range and I hit a nice high shot onto the green, 67 yards. The green is elevated a few yards from the fairway, so I can't see the surface but my ball is 15 feet right of the hole. My birdie putt misses and I have a two footer for par, which I make. 5.

 

2 – par 4, 328 yards, #14 HCP, dogleg left and forced carry over a small creek/drainage channel. It's 212 yards to hit through the fairway and slighly down slope. So I go with my 7w. It's fat and I drop kick the clubhead into the ball. It's a very high baby draw, 177 yards down the left side. It's soft on that side and the ball doesn't go more than a foot from where it landed. I didn't clear the corner and I have no shot at the green because there's some very small trees right in that line. I use my PW to chip the ball42 yards and into the right side of the fairway. I'm past the corner but the ball is above my feet because I hit it too firm. It's 105ish to the flag which is towards the left side and slightly elevated. I decide on a full PW and I blade a push into the bunker that's guarding the right front of the green. I leave the first one in the bunker and launch the second one 45 yards and through the green. I hit a 32 yard chip with my SW to get back on and left myself 18 feet above the hole. Guess I should have aimed more right... Leave the first putt 4 feet short and 3 jack for a smooth +5 with nary a penalty stroke in sight, 9.

 

Well I went from feeling good about my game on #1 to a chump on #2.

 

3 – par 4, 356 yards, straight, #2 HCP, forced carry over a stream short of the green. Woods to the right and tghere's a line of trees between this hole and #4 on the left. There's also a drainage hole over there that's marked as a hazard between the two cart paths. I aim for the middle and hit a real strong pull down the left rough and into said drainage hole. I can't find my ball and I drop a bit further back on my line to get into the fairway, 210 yards off the tee. The hole is on the left and 130ish. I chunk my 8i, 41 yards.... Okay now it's 90ish yards and partial PW range. I think I had the ball too far back in my stance because it's a solid shot, mid height that lands on the green and rolls off the left side, 113 yards.... I chip from the rough with my SW and it comes out nicely and rolls towards the hole and stops 6 feet out. My first putt stops about 3 inches from the cup, triple bogey 7.

 

Sigh, still in chump mode.

 

4 – par 4, 319 yards, straight, #8 HCP, elevated green with a tier in it. I hit a decent draw with my driver past the right side of the fairway bunker on my left, 194 yards. I didn't get a lot of roll since it's soft in this area. I'm in the fairway and the hole is to the right side for a change and just short of the tier on the back. It's about 112 yards and slightly uphill and I hit my 9i. It's a nice looking high draw that lands near the front of the green and releases. I get to the green and I'm 2 feet past the hole! I make the birdie putt, 3!

 

I'm a golfer again!

 

5- par 3, 501138 yards, #16 HCP, elevated tee shot with a forced carry off the tee over and overgrown area with a small stream in it. The flag is near the middle and a touch to the left. It looks like an 8i and that's what I go with. I hit a terrible push right into a tree on the right side well short of the green. The ball hits the tree and kicks back and to the right some more. 96 yard shot and i'm in a bad place. I have a line at the green but I have to carry a bunker. No biggie except tree branches start about 5 feet off the ground. I have no way to go over them. So I need to somehow hit a real low shot and carry a greenside bunker... I try to punch a little 7i and it comes out good, lands in the bunker but doesn't have enough juice to roll over the back lip. So I have a bunker shot and manage to get out in 1 this time. I hit it too firm and it goes 16 yards and 15 feet past the hole. I sink the putt to “save” my bogey.

 

Back to chump mode after that tee shot...

 

6 – par 4, 318 yards, slight dogleg left, #12 HCP, entire hole slopes up away from the tees. I double down on being a chump and top my driver 55 yards low and left. I'm in the rough with a decent lie and hit my 4w. I blade it 97 yards down the fairway. Should have hit an iron instead. At least I'm in the fairway and it'a 160ish, uphill, to the green. I hit my 7w and I can almost see impact. The club head is wide open and coming from the inside. The ball heads dead right, very low, with more curve right on it, 107 yards and into the rough of #2. I find my ball and I'm on a slope in the rough and I have to hit a low shot between mature pine trees to head in the direction of the correct green. It's a blind shot and I use my 5i. It comes out nice and low and goes 91 yards and through the left side of the green. I'm barely in the fringe and use my putter to chip. It's not great, I chip it 7 yards and leave it 4 feet short. I go and two putt from there for a triple bogey, 7.

 

7 – par 5, 414 yards, dogleg right, #6 HCP. Slightly elevated tee shot to a fairway that slopes away from the tee box to the lake, roughly 205 yards to the water. Hazard left off the tees and houses right as well. Fairway on the other side of the lake runs 90* right. Lake is on the entire right side and it's a clear shot to the green or any part of the fairway from the tee box side of the fairway. So the first forced lake carry of the day. This hole has been a struggle for me. I tee off with my 7w and top it 80 yards to the right and behind some trees/brush. I find my ball on the edge of the brush but I have no shot down the fairway. I hit a little 34 yard chip with my 9i sideways to get into the fairway. I layup with a punched 7i and it's a decent shot, 129 yards. I hit the punch to just keep my swing shorter and more controlled. I'm finally short of the lake in 3 and take a safe line with my 6i. It's a nice draw into the face of the slope that's on the other side of the fairway, 130 yards. I hit a partial SW and it's long, 93 yards, and 38 feet past and left of the hole. I hit my bogey putt and leave it 9 feet short... 3 putts for a nice snowman, 8.

 

8 – par 3, 126 yards, #18 HCP, green is elevated and a forced carry off the tee. The hole looks to be about 105 yards or so. I hit a full SW and it's a high push, 104 yards well right of the green and at the base of a mature pine. I have to chip down on the ball because there's a large root that's exposed behind my ball by a few inches. I try to chip it and it's bladed 33 yards and through the green. My SW caught a root, nothing I could do about it. I use my putter to chip it 16 yards and 9 feet short of the hole. I two putt for a double bogey, 5.

 

9 – par 4, 306 yards, dogleg right, #4 HCP. Forced lake carry off the tee to a fairway that runs 90* right. Water down the entire right side of this hole once you get across. I aim a bit to the right and hit a low push into the lake with driver. I drop on the red tees, 27 yards from the prior spot, and hit a very solid 5i. It's a high draw that goes through the fairway and catches the cart path and rolls towards the right. 187 yard shot and it's probably 90 yards to the hole. I have to go under some limbs that are just short of the green and the lake is behind the green from my perspective. I punch my PW and it's a good shot that catches some leaves but it goes 82 yards and I'm just on the green. I'm 37 feet short of the hole and two putt for a double bogey, 6.

 

10 – par 4, 250 yards, dogleg right, #7 HCP hole. Straight off the tee with lake down the entire right side. The green is across the lake with a forced carry all the way to the green. This time I hit a nice tee shot with my 7w. It's a baby draw down the fairway, 168 yards. I'm in the fairway and it's 105ish to the hole which is on the left side of the green. I have to cross the lake and hit a full PW and blade it. It's a line drive the somehow makes it across but I'm well right of my target line. My ball is in the rough to the right front of the green. I can use my putter to chip and I hit it 22 yards and 4 feet from the hole. I actually make the putt for par, 4.

 

A new 9 and I can golf again!

 

11 – par 4, 260 yards, straight, #15 HCP. Short par 4 the green is on the left side and houses on the right of a fairly wide fairway. I hit a 204 yard low push with my driver. I'm in the right rough near the green. GPS says it's around 40 yards to the hole. I have to carry a bunker with my pitch and fail. The ball came out good but I didn't swing hard enough, so it drops in the bunker. It takes me two shots to get out and I'm 7 feet short and left of the hole. The bogey putt misses and I have a tap in from less than 6 inches for a double bogey, 6.

 

So much for that....

 

12 – par 5, 477 yards, straight, #1 HCP. Drainage ditch about 200 yards off the tee. It's playable in there but you may have a bad lie. Approach shot is a forced carry over a marshy area of the lake short of the green. I aim down the middle and hit my 4w. It's a solid shot, nice mid height draw but I pushed it towards the brush that's on the right side. No sign of the ball and it's marked as a hazard, so I back up a good 30 - 40 yards down my line to get back in the fairway with a shot down it. I drop 171 off the tee and hit a very nice 5i. A solid high draw that goes 169 yards and sets me up in the fairway for my approach. The hole is back left and it's about a 7i. I mishit it, probably off the toe. It's a high push that carries all the crap in front of the green and i'm in the front rough. It's another long chip with the putter, 22 yards to 4 feet. And I two putt, double bogey, 7.

 

13 – par 3, 154 yards, #17 HCP, green is elevated with bunkers short right and tiered green. The hole is back right and someone shoots the pin around 158. I hit a high push with my 5i, 169 yards, and miss the green to the back right. I chip with the SW and it's another okay chip that stops 10 feet above the hole. Either bad aim or a slight push. I hit the par putt 4 feet long but manage to make the bogey putt, 4.

 

14 – par 4, 349, straight hole, #9 HCP. The approach to the green is from an elevated fairway. My drive is a high push fade, 22 yards, into the right trees. My ball is in some long weeds/grass and I don't have a good shot at the green. I hit a partial AW that goes 81 yards and it sets me up in the fairway on the left side short of the green. The hole is back left and I take some off a partial SW. It's a 55 yard shot that rolls 9 feet long. Not bad really. My par putt misses and I have a foot for bogey, 5.

 

15 – par 4, 274 yards, straight, #17 HCP. Entire hole slopes down to this green. The area fronting the green is always very soft. I hit a low pull that's a line drive just to the left of the fairway bunker on that side. I see sand fly as the ball lands next to the bunker. It's a 206 yard drive and I'm in the left rough well past the bunkers.The hole is back right and around 70 something yards. I hit a nice partial SW 74 yards and it ends up in the rough past the hole. I chip with my putter, about 7 yards, and the ball tracks at the hole and stops a foot short. So close to another birdie but I have a tap in par, 4.

 

16 – par 3, 112 yards, #13 HCP. Forced carry over a small creek. The elevation of this hole is like a U with the tee and green being the top points. The flag is forward and just over 100 yards on the left side of the green. I hit my PW heavy and it's a high shot that goes 77 yards and lands in the rough short of the bunker covering the middle front of the green. I hit a nice pitch with my SW over the bunker and on the green to 7 feet. It's a two putt bogey, 4.

 

17 – par 5, 467 yards, mostly straight, #5 HCP. Forced carry over junk off the tee to the fairway which is about 150 yards away. The lake is down the entire right side of this fairway and the green is offset to the right, so the approach in is almost always crossing water. Tee shot is an issue because driver can reach the lake with a push of about 205-210 yards. There are a couple trees that will knock balls down into the junk on the left side, so you are forced to hit at an angle that makes the lake and issue off the tee. I aim my driver to the right of the fairway bunker that's on the left side of the fairway. It's a dead pull into the left trees but we don't hear it hit anything. I find my ball 148 yards off the tee right next to a tree trunk. My ball is to the right side of the trunk and I have less than 18 inches from it to the tree, maybe more like a foot. Anyhow I can try to chip the ball to the right of the tree with a no follow through shot and try to get in position for a third shot closer to the green. I use my 5i and somehow pull it. No one saw exactly what happened but the ball kicks up the trunk of the tree and ends up 3 yards behind me. Now I have a better angle and hit the shot again but it's the wrong shot. Contact is solid and I know I'm in the lake. No ball so I drop. I then hit my 4w, 192 yards, into the fairway on the left side. My 9i into the green is a bit long and I chip it to 3 feet with my SW. A nice chip that I follow with two putts, quad 9.

 

18 – par 4, 360 yards, straight, #3 HCP. Lake down the entire right side and the fairway narrows but I'm not sure exactly where distance wise off the tee. I aim left with driver and hit a push fade into the lake. Drop 195 off the tee and mishit my 7w way left, 159 yards. I'm near the tees for #10 and hit a 65 yard pitch with my SW onto the green. I have a 35 foot putt that I leave 9 feet short.... I somehow make that putt for another smooth quad, 8.

 

A 54/51 105. I had 4 good holes, 4 okay holes and 10 bad ones. 7 were triples, quads and the nice +5. I had issues in all areas and I can't play decently that way. I normally have an area or two that can cover for my issues.

 

6 penalties with tee shots. My distance off the tee was pathetic thanks to the tops and then having to drop a ball 29 yards off the tee on #9,

 

My approach game was in the range of my normal but a bit worse however the issue was in the 150-200 yard range versus the normal 100 -150 yards.

 

Short game is a laugh. I was +3.3 strokes for chips inside 25 yards. -1.8 for my chips in the 25 – 50 yard range. I also lost 2.5 strokes in the sand. I think I know what needs work in this area...

 

My putting has issues inside 10 feet. I do fine lagging the ball but not finishing. I missed way to many short putts. I didn't hit them firm enough to take out the break.

 

Some stats:

Avg drive: 163 yards.....

Longest drive: 222 yards

Fairways: 5/14

GIR: 2/18

Avg Approach: 108 yards

Up & down: 2/13

Putts: 34

 

Strokes gained compared to a 12 HCP. 

Overall: -22.6 strokes

driving: -10.8, this is a big drop compared to normal

Approach: -7.3, on the worse side of my normal range

Short game: -1.0, also worse here thanks to the bunker shots

Putting: -3.5, also worse than normal.

 

Birdies: 1

Pars: 3

Bogeys: 4

Dbl bogey: 3

Triples+: 7

 

[bortass]

I need a better process if I want to achieve my goal and not waste 5 years doing it. I am about 20 months down the road and progress is slow. 89 is still the best score I have shot for 18 but that was quite a long time ago it seems. I've gained 17 yards on average with my driver since February. I have stopped blading and chunking chips and pitches within the last month. I am making better contact overall, recent rounds not withstanding.

 

In an effort to try to create a better process, I will have weekly practice goals. I will edit the post as I complete them. I suck at planning and goals in general, so I hope this will help. Let me know if you can think of better ways to do this because like I said, this is not natural for me. I am a lousy project manager....

 

 

 

Practice goals for week of 8/30:

 

Practice sand shots: Rewatched part of the bunker series from UTB and noticed a few things. Setup is fine but I don't use as much of a backswing nor follow through compared to what Monte teaches. I will hit bunker shots and focus on the backswing and follow though and not worry about where the ball goes.

 

9/1 Update: The bunker is not in good shape with the heavy rains yesterday. A puddle in the bottom and everything else is wet and packed down. I did my best but struggled with now skipping the club into the ball with the firm conditions. This needs more reps with hopefully better conditions in the future.

 

Practice my takeaway: Watched the videos of my swing that I took last month and I roll my forearms as part of my takeaway. I have always done this and it's not a new move. I watched a Dan C. video that @glk posted regarding using an alignment stick/driveway marker in the butt of your club to help prevent the rolling of the forearms aka trailside stick drill. I'll take an old club and work on that drill.

 

9/1 Update: The old club I brought to the range to try this with has a graphite shaft, so the driveway marker can't be inserted. So nothing done yet on this front. I did get the marker inserted into my blade PW wince those clubs have a steel shaft.

Edited September 1, 2021 by bortass

[glk]

Do both side drills.   Front to me is better to stop forearm rotation in takeaway.   Also teaches pivot and arms synch, good wrist set, side bend, no flip impact. Tons of good things.  Go slow, work up to hitting balls with slow swings (regular swings at the risk of bruising your lead side, I know from experience. ).   

 

Can do both.  Keep it touching lead side, slide it down front leg - comes off at knee when wrists set.  Point stick between ball and toes.   On downswing have swing point outside ball - this is the steep to shallow pattern.   Can read the notes for more info.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhe5iCyFZko/

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-kuVOOl1B6/
 

Would be good for bigterp too.  Actually for a lot of folks.     This and a smart ball and you can really educate your arms and hands.

 

 

Edited August 31, 2021 by glk

[BigTerp1524]

@bortass keep at it. I certainly understand the struggle. I played my worst 2 rounds this year, by far, a few weeks ago. And they were back to back rounds a week or so apart. The second was so bad I actually picked up after 15, cracked a beer and just enjoyed watching my partners finish up the back 9. I followed that up with 3 rounds in a row of my best golf ever. Such is the ebbs and flows of golf, especially for guys like us who are working a lot on our swings. 

 

@glk I'll check those drills out when I get the chance. Thanks for suggesting them for me as well. I have a smart ball at home, but haven't worked much with it. Feels really, really bad when I use it. I understand change shouldn't feel good or whatever, but using the smart ball feels flat out wrong. 

[glk]

1 minute ago, BigTerp1524 said:

@bortass keep at it. I certainly understand the struggle. I played my worst 2 rounds this year, by far, a few weeks ago. And they were back to back rounds a week or so apart. The second was so bad I actually picked up after 15, cracked a beer and just enjoyed watching my partners finish up the back 9. I followed that up with 3 rounds in a row of my best golf ever. Such is the ebbs and flows of golf, especially for guys like us who are working a lot on our swings. 

 

@glk I'll check those drills out when I get the chance. Thanks for suggesting them for me as well. I have a smart ball at home, but haven't worked much with it. Feels really, really bad when I use it. I understand change shouldn't feel good or whatever, but using the smart ball feels flat out wrong. 

And there in lies the issues - you have the pivot going in a good direction but your arms/ wrists are killing you.    

[bortass]

10 hours ago, glk said:

Do both side drills.   Front to me is better to stop forearm rotation in takeaway.   Also teaches pivot and arms synch, good wrist set, side bend, no flip impact. Tons of good things.  Go slow, work up to hitting balls with slow swings (regular swings at the risk of bruising your lead side, I know from experience. ).   

 

Can do both.  Keep it touching lead side, slide it down front leg - comes off at knee when wrists set.  Point stick between ball and toes.   On downswing have swing point outside ball - this is the steep to shallow pattern.   Can read the notes for more info.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhe5iCyFZko/

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-kuVOOl1B6/
 

Would be good for bigterp too.  Actually for a lot of folks.     This and a smart ball and you can really educate your arms and hands.

 

 

Thanks for the info. How does a Smart Ball fit into the mix? I'm starting to research it since you mentioned it.

[glk]

34 minutes ago, bortass said:

Thanks for the info. How does a Smart Ball fit into the mix? I'm starting to research it since you mentioned it.

Smart provide arm structure - won't let you separate elbows going back or coming through - one fault that gets the club inside is that the trail elbow pulls behind the body - smart ball won't let you do that.      It also helps with synching arms and pivot in swing - lots of talk about synching in downswing - but arms and pivot need to work together in the backswing too.

Also makes it hard to over bent trail elbow - both arms going inside and bending trail elbow early act to cut of rotation of the sternum - get a smart ball in between your forearms and you'll really turn your sternum (can do this without a smart ball by intending to keep the trail elbow straight as long as possible, too - good to use when doing the stick drill.)

 

the lead side stick drills helps with synch too but not as much as a smart ball, imo.

 

plenty of tour pros can be seen working with the smart ball.

Edited August 31, 2021 by glk

[bortass]

1 hour ago, BigTerp1524 said:

@bortass keep at it. I certainly understand the struggle. I played my worst 2 rounds this year, by far, a few weeks ago. And they were back to back rounds a week or so apart. The second was so bad I actually picked up after 15, cracked a beer and just enjoyed watching my partners finish up the back 9. I followed that up with 3 rounds in a row of my best golf ever. Such is the ebbs and flows of golf, especially for guys like us who are working a lot on our swings. 

 

I hear ya. I expect scores to bounce around and know that anything I work on that is fairly new has a chance to lead to a less than stellar performance on the course. It's just a given because change takes effort and time. 

 

My frustration is at myself and maybe I'm being unrealistic in where I think I should be. I was playing a lot more golf when I was shooting in the high 80s. Close to 100 rounds, mostly 9 holes, during the 6 month golf season. At times I feel like I should have made more progress by now on the scorecard.

 

Taking a deep breath, maybe it's not as bad as I feel. The best I ever got was an index of either 19.6 or 19.8. I am currently a 22, so being almost within 2 of my personal best within 20 months after a 7 year layoff isn't terrible. I also need to remember the courses I'm playing, while shorter, are harder than my old home course. My home course has a slope of 126 versus 116, so there's a two stroke difference in my course handicaps. Also there are only 2 holes where you do not have OOB/Hazards on both sides of the entire hole at my current home course. So if you spray it, it's gonna hurt.. LOL.

 

The part about being frustrated with myself is that I am terrible with planning etc. So I bounce around things and that may be slowing down my progress. That's why I am hoping that making weekly practice goals and then following up on them will help me in the long run. P90X, WW all have a plan that I follow(ed) and have had good results but I'm just using what was provided. I don't have a get better at golf plan and have to roll my own. First world problems....:)

 

[MattC555]

Keep your head up @bortass.  We all go through waves of good and bad rounds.  You're progressing and hopefully having fun.  Golf is hard and we all want to play better.  Give it time, put the work in, and you'll see improvement.   

[bortass]

4 hours ago, MattC555 said:

Keep your head up @bortass.  We all go through waves of good and bad rounds.  You're progressing and hopefully having fun.  Golf is hard and we all want to play better.  Give it time, put the work in, and you'll see improvement.   

I am having fun and seeing improvement. It was more around feeling like I am holding myself back with how I work on things. No short term practice goals, specific things to try and fix with my swing because saying 'fixing my swing" isn't good enough. I am hoping that I can get the roll to the inside in my takeaway resolved because it happens very early and the rest of my swing has to make up for that move. To me it looks like I am shallow at the top thanks in part to that takeaway.

[glk]

11 minutes ago, bortass said:

I am having fun and seeing improvement. It was more around feeling like I am holding myself back with how I work on things. No short term practice goals, specific things to try and fix with my swing because saying 'fixing my swing" isn't good enough. I am hoping that I can get the roll to the inside in my takeaway resolved because it happens very early and the rest of my swing has to make up for that move. To me it looks like I am shallow at the top thanks in part to that takeaway.

Indeed it does make you "shallow" at the top - so your pattern is backwards - shallow to steep - which is an issue as you well know.    I did this too - iteach had me doing the stick drill and I still do it years afterwards - does a lot of things but one thing is it stops rolling the forearms early or else the stick comes off your side early.

 

The way I look at it you can "roll" your arms right or left .   rolling right mainly consists of the right shoulder going external and right forearm supinating (hand going palm up)  and the lead arm pronating (hand going palm down - this is the shallowing of the arms movement in transition - you have done it in the backswing - so when you get to the top you can't do it any more - so you do the opposite - arms roll left - steep.     Beside the stick drill - exaggerated Fuyrk or Wolff backswings - lots of times to make a change you have to really, really, go the other way - trying to nibble around the edges typically leads to little difference - teachers will talk about getting slicers to hit big slinging hooks and then bringing them back to a more neutral path.   Same this work here.

 

On that line this might be of interest.

 

[bortass]

44 minutes ago, glk said:

Indeed it does make you "shallow" at the top - so your pattern is backwards - shallow to steep - which is an issue as you well know.    I did this too - iteach had me doing the stick drill and I still do it years afterwards - does a lot of things but one thing is it stops rolling the forearms early or else the stick comes off your side early.

 

The way I look at it you can "roll" your arms right or left .   rolling right mainly consists of the right shoulder going external and right forearm supinating (hand going palm up)  and the lead arm pronating (hand going palm down - this is the shallowing of the arms movement in transition - you have done it in the backswing - so when you get to the top you can't do it any more - so you do the opposite - arms roll left - steep.     Beside the stick drill - exaggerated Fuyrk or Wolff backswings - lots of times to make a change you have to really, really, go the other way - trying to nibble around the edges typically leads to little difference - teachers will talk about getting slicers to hit big slinging hooks and then bringing them back to a more neutral path.   Same this work here.

 

On that line this might be of interest.

 

 That was a great video!  It's low definition, so do you know how the tee was set into the glove? I am having a hard time telling. 

 

I'm familiar with the turn a slicer into a hooker pattern. It's what my old pro did with me. We turned my insta-slice into a hook over time and then we went and weakened my grip to reign it in. Those were the days I was happy if I hit a ball way left, lol. It meant I did what I was supposed to do. It may not have been score friendly but it was so much better than losing the ball way right.

 

I think I lost a lot of my mechanics during the layoff. I'm not surprised though.

[glk]

34 minutes ago, bortass said:

 That was a great video!  It's low definition, so do you know how the tee was set into the glove? I am having a hard time telling. 

 

I'm familiar with the turn a slicer into a hooker pattern. It's what my old pro did with me. We turned my insta-slice into a hook over time and then we went and weakened my grip to reign it in. Those were the days I was happy if I hit a ball way left, lol. It meant I did what I was supposed to do. It may not have been score friendly but it was so much better than losing the ball way right.

 

I think I lost a lot of my mechanics during the layoff. I'm not surprised though.

tee was just poked into the end of the grip.   to have tee point to ground at left arm parallel means you cannot rotate the left arm so club stands straight up.        the stand the club up feel is something I use at time.    Another feel is light going back, heavy down - club is pretty light when the shaft is more vertical.

 

another detail

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKWc9zVlzg5/

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by glk

[MattC555]

I agree that you're rolling your forearms atthe start of your back swing, starting you off on a shallow path that you then 'correct' by going over the top. 

 

If it were me I would work on creating width on the backswing.  From bunkered.co.uk:  "Tony Clark teaches his students to use shoulder rotation, and allow the arms to follow the shoulders, resulting in a one piece takeaway."  “We see plenty of people slap their arms across their chest and the club is behind them,” Clark says. “If they keep going, they’re either going to come over the top, or drop it on the inside."

 

I give my wife lessons and that is the first thing we always go back to when she is having trouble getting back to square. 

Edited September 1, 2021 by MattC555

[bortass]

@glk Something you shared with me seems to be helping. I’ve been trying to have the feeling of the butt of the club pointing at/inside of the ball. It’s from the smart ball video you shared.

 

I haven’t been able to get to the range since my last session. So I have been using that feel in my pre-round warmup and on the course. Results are positive so far. 

 

Not sure if I’ll get much practice in this week since I plan on playing almost everyday. I do have a playing lesson Thursday morning which will be interesting.

 

I am not sure when I’ll be able to do some write ups but Saturday and today were both solid.

[TheDeanAbides]

On 8/25/2021 at 3:35 PM, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

I think this leaves out a major issue for us high-caps that we don't want to talk about... Complete chunks, tops, s-words, and mishits of all types. 

 

My main fault when it comes to well-struck shots is the overcooked draw which turns into a big hook. But if that was my only major source of mishits, I'd be 5-10 strokes better. Heck, on some of the courses I play, it'll mean I'm still in the fairway--just the adjacent fairway to the hole I'm playing lol... I had a round where I was making good contact and just aimed right on everything, and scored a lifetime best relative to par on 18.

 

It's the complete mishits that really kill me. I.e. the long par 4 where I top a driver 75 yards and I still have 325 to the hole... I could deal with hitting 250 and having to punch out close to the green from 150. I've got a good shot at saving bogey from there. From 325 hitting 2? I have to "par" the hole from 325 to make bogey, and since I'm basically a bogey+ golfer as it is, that means I'm already bringing double into play just off the duffed tee shot.

 

Can you identify where the chunks happen and why? Not technically, but emotionally and mentally. 

If you read my last post on BigTerp's thread you'll see what I recommend for playing the game when you're at his level and making swing changes. 

Golf is so much about confidence and enjoyment that if your cap is over 20 and you're topping drivers you need to think about par differently. I was talking to my friend Lewis this morning about this topic and he's so thankful that he learnt to get the ball off the tee and hit his mid irons well at the beginning. There's a lot to be said for three solid 7 irons and a couple of putts over a topped driver, hacked hybrid, chunked wedge etc because you're flustered. 

Make golf fun by hitting clubs you can middle more often than not. 

Edited September 7, 2021 by TheDeanAbides

[betarhoalphadelta]

3 hours ago, TheDeanAbides said:

Can you identify where the chunks happen and why? Not technically, but emotionally and mentally. 

If you read my last post on BigTerp's thread you'll see what I recommend for playing the game when you're at his level and making swing changes. 

Golf is so much about confidence and enjoyment that if your cap is over 20 and you're topping drivers you need to think about par differently. I was talking to my friend Lewis this morning about this topic and he's so thankful that he learnt to get the ball off the tee and hit his mid irons well at the beginning. There's a lot to be said for three solid 7 irons and a couple of putts over a topped driver, hacked hybrid, chunked wedge etc because you're flustered. 

Make golf fun by hitting clubs you can middle more often than not. 

 

To a degree I think my issue was that I've been spending this entire calendar year trying to work out swing changes. It's not just a topped driver that's a problem--I can top/s-word/chunk my 7i too 😉

 

One change I made club-wise was to go to single-length clubs. So everything from 4h down to GW is all the same length and lie. That helps me, but mentally I still sometimes swing too hard with the 4h and the 5i, especially off the tee, because I'm thinking "hit it far" rather than "just swing easy and let the loft do the work." That's something I've been trying to correct mentally, and I think I'm making some progress but I still lapse. 

 

Driver has been getting much better for me. One issue was that I was using a 20-year-old driver with a steel shaft and a <300cc head, and I never felt like I could find the face. During that stretch I was teeing off with an iron 95% of the time. I picked up a Ping G25 with graphite shaft and a club face the size of a grapefruit. I'm making SO MUCH better contact and it's inspiring confidence. I played this previous Sunday and hit driver on 10 holes, with only one mishit (because I swung too hard). 

 

So yeah, I'd say mentally my biggest issue with mishits is when I swing too hard and don't let the club do the work. As long as I keep myself reined in mentally, contact is much more consistent. 

 

I feel like I'm on the back end of the changes I was trying to ingrain. I still started falling victim to the hook late in that round as I got lazy with the swing, but overall my contact was pretty good all day. 

Edited September 7, 2021 by betarhoalphadelta

[TheDeanAbides]

2 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

To a degree I think my issue was that I've been spending this entire calendar year trying to work out swing changes. It's not just a topped driver that's a problem--I can top/s-word/chunk my 7i too 😉

 

One change I made club-wise was to go to single-length clubs. So everything from 4h down to GW is all the same length and lie. That helps me, but mentally I still sometimes swing too hard with the 4h and the 5i, especially off the tee, because I'm thinking "hit it far" rather than "just swing easy and let the loft do the work." That's something I've been trying to correct mentally, and I think I'm making some progress but I still lapse. 

 

Driver has been getting much better for me. One issue was that I was using a 20-year-old driver with a steel shaft and a <300cc head, and I never felt like I could find the face. During that stretch I was teeing off with an iron 95% of the time. I picked up a Ping G25 with graphite shaft and a club face the size of a grapefruit. I'm making SO MUCH better contact and it's inspiring confidence. I played this previous Sunday and hit driver on 10 holes, with only one mishit (because I swung too hard). 

 

So yeah, I'd say mentally my biggest issue with mishits is when I swing too hard and don't let the club do the work. As long as I keep myself reined in mentally, contact is much more consistent. 

 

I feel like I'm on the back end of the changes I was trying to ingrain. I still started falling victim to the hook late in that round as I got lazy with the swing, but overall my contact was pretty good all day. 

What is your preshot routine? 

[betarhoalphadelta]

27 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

What is your preshot routine? 

Pretty standard, I think...

 

1. Planning. Off the tee (par 4/5) this is surveying the hole, looking at where there is trouble, determining if there are any risk reasons not to take driver, determining where a good shot will be and where my miss would be likely to end up, and setting an aim point. For approach it's about distance/elevation, wind, picking a club, where hazards and trouble around the green are, and again setting an aim point based on good shot vs typical miss. So it's basically about "where do I want the ball to go?" and "where is it likely to end up if it doesn't go perfectly?"
2. Practice swing. I typically will address 6 inches short of the ball and take a practice swing. This accomplishes two things... First it's about "finding the ground", which was more of an issue with VL irons than SL, but it's about making sure I'm in my posture and I want to feel the sole on the grass through "impact". Second, it's just about mentally getting myself ready to swing that club. I try to make the swing as similar to what I think my real swing should be, so especially when I start getting into partial wedges it's about feeling the swing length and effort I think I need for the distance of the shot. This is usually only one swing (for full swings) unless I just feel like the practice swing was completely wonky. For the partial wedges and/or pitches/chips sometimes I'll take multiple, particularly if I'm trying to figure out how the club will respond to a non-fairway lie. 
3. Address the ball and try to swing the same way I did on my practice swing. 

Not sure if this is any different than what most players do...

[TheDeanAbides]

35 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Pretty standard, I think...

 

1. Planning. Off the tee (par 4/5) this is surveying the hole, looking at where there is trouble, determining if there are any risk reasons not to take driver, determining where a good shot will be and where my miss would be likely to end up, and setting an aim point. For approach it's about distance/elevation, wind, picking a club, where hazards and trouble around the green are, and again setting an aim point based on good shot vs typical miss. So it's basically about "where do I want the ball to go?" and "where is it likely to end up if it doesn't go perfectly?"
2. Practice swing. I typically will address 6 inches short of the ball and take a practice swing. This accomplishes two things... First it's about "finding the ground", which was more of an issue with VL irons than SL, but it's about making sure I'm in my posture and I want to feel the sole on the grass through "impact". Second, it's just about mentally getting myself ready to swing that club. I try to make the swing as similar to what I think my real swing should be, so especially when I start getting into partial wedges it's about feeling the swing length and effort I think I need for the distance of the shot. This is usually only one swing (for full swings) unless I just feel like the practice swing was completely wonky. For the partial wedges and/or pitches/chips sometimes I'll take multiple, particularly if I'm trying to figure out how the club will respond to a non-fairway lie. 
3. Address the ball and try to swing the same way I did on my practice swing. 

Not sure if this is any different than what most players do...

You'd be amazed how different people can be, but the reason I asked was to see if you actually have a preshot routine. 

 

What about your post shot routine?