BigTerp's swing journey

[BigTerp1524]

Things felt really good last night. Was hitting it much better and the new grip is starting to feel pretty normal. I'm feeling extremely confident standing over a foam ball on a hitting mat in my rec room. Sounds silly, but I really need to carry this confidence over to the course. My round the other weekend I felt uncomfortable, unsure, etc. standing over the ball on the course. I think I get it in my head that hitting off a mat is giving me some forgiveness that I'm not going to get off the turf. Although that's a bit true, I need to get over that and just swing my swing. Need to work on my mental game some as well!! Something I've been doing to help get over this is place the ball as far forward on the mat as possible. This helps me get the feeling that I'm not hitting the mat, but hitting the ball first then the front most rubber of the mat (way different feeling than hitting the turf of the mat), which should translate to a ball first hit then shallow divot. This helps me realize I'm not benefiting from the bounce of the mat if I hit behind the ball (fat/chunk). I also get feedback from the mat if I hit behind the ball versus no feedback if I'm hitting ball first. So this is also helping me do that. 

 

Something else I just started working on is my chipping and pitching. I adopted Monte's Use The Bounce techniques and it has really helped. He teaches simple and easy to understand techniques that I think will really help my short game. I've gotten confident enough with this in just a day or two that I've been pitching real balls into my trampoline net at home. NO WAY I would've attempted this previously in fear of skulling one across my rec room and without a doubt breaking something. But now it's a nice soft pitch into the net and a soft rebound right back to me. Encouraging since I loose a lot of strokes in the short game.

 

Took some video last night. Not a ton of change, but I noticed a few negatives. I seem to be coming inside a bit on the takeaway and getting my hands behind a bit too much coming up to the top. This is probably going to be my achilles heel. When I do this I feel like I don't give my hands the room they need to come back down. Then I'm sort of jammed up at impact with a poor release and follow through. Something else I noticed is I'm crowding the ball a bit. I need to back off the ball just a tad more which seems to help me get better extension at impact. Both of these probably correlate to each other. So 2 things to work on and be conscious of moving forward.

 

Some video from last night. I did a full speed one as well just to see how it looked. I was amazed how quick my tempo still is. It's tamed WAY down from before, but still looks a little quick to me. Although it feels like I'm taking it back in slow motion!!

 

 

 

 

 

[TheDeanAbides]

Yep, deep and flat at P3. Back to it. 😉

 

Also don't play the ball that far forward. It's a bandaid. 

Edited April 22, 2021 by TheDeanAbides

[BigTerp1524]

3 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

Yep, deep and flat at P3. Back to it. 😉

 

Also don't play the ball that far forward. It's a bandaid. 

Thanks for the confirmation. I'm getting to the point I can sort of feel when things go astray, but can definitely recognize it on video. So that's encouraging.

 

Ball too far forward? I try to line it up a little left of center with my 7i. Sort of in line with where a logo would be on a polo shirt. I got this from an AMG post awhile ago. Should I move the ball back more towards center? Should I be playing everything from the same spot (minus driver and woods) and adjust stance versus ball position? What am I bandaiding doing this? I obviously want to fix the fault, not cover it up.

[TheDeanAbides]

1 hour ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Thanks for the confirmation. I'm getting to the point I can sort of feel when things go astray, but can definitely recognize it on video. So that's encouraging.

 

Ball too far forward? I try to line it up a little left of center with my 7i. Sort of in line with where a logo would be on a polo shirt. I got this from an AMG post awhile ago. Should I move the ball back more towards center? Should I be playing everything from the same spot (minus driver and woods) and adjust stance versus ball position? What am I bandaiding doing this? I obviously want to fix the fault, not cover it up.

Sorry, I was referring to you saying you're pushing it forward on the mat. Did I misunderstand?

[BigTerp1524]

9 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

Sorry, I was referring to you saying you're pushing it forward on the mat. Did I misunderstand?

I think you did. I position the ball on the front most part of the mat, so there is no turf in front of the ball. Just the little rubber lip that makes up the bottom of the mat. This way I can feel if I hit ball first or hit it a bit fat and hit the turf first. However, I adjust the mat and/or my stance/position so the ball is lined up left of center. I would say it's positioned about where the logo would be on a polo shirt, or maybe a hair back towards the sternum from there.

[TheDeanAbides]

Gotcha. 🙂

[BigTerp1524]

Thinking about picking up Monte's efficient swing video series. Thoughts? Is this a good compliment to the NTC? Would it be a good series for me in particular? Or am I better of just continuing to work on what I have been with the NTC?

 

Really wanting to do an online lesson with Monte himself. Just waiting for my test 7i to come in so I'll be at least starting with a club that's much better fit for me. Lately I've really been noticing the small grip and short clubs I'm swinging now. Trying to be patient, but I can't hold off much longer though. Components have been on backorder since mid March.

[TheDeanAbides]

Book the lesson. You won't be wasting your time. 

[BigTerp1524]

Talked with Monte this morning about my concerns doing a lesson with my current clubs. His response was "what time are you available next week". HA!!!!

 

Booked with Monte for a remote live lesson next week. Looking forward to it!!

[TheDeanAbides]

That's great news! 

[BigTerp1524]

9 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

That's great news! 

Yep. I'm pretty excited about it. 

[TheDeanAbides]

16 minutes ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Yep. I'm pretty excited about it. 

I'll take back all the good things I've said about him if he tells you I've broken your swing. 😆

[TexasMacks]

Thank you for sharing!

 

Edited April 23, 2021 by TexasMacks

[BigTerp1524]

Played my second round of the year yesterday. Finished with a 119, YIKES!! Not much different of a round versus my first. I did chip/pitch slightly better, but other than that there wasn't much good to report. I had 9 penalties. Not much OB on the course I played, but did have to take a few drops and lost a few balls. So the penalties added up. My driver went back to a fade at best and a horrible slice at worse. Need to get that figured out. Still a lot of topped/chunked/skulled, etc. hits. The funny thing is, a few times after I hit one of these shots I would drop another and hit again (just to hit, not to score) and would end up hitting it good. One hole I topped a drive 50 yards. Re-teed and just swung and hit it right down the middle 275+. My buddy laughed and said "that'll be fun to ride up to and pickup". I think I REALLY need to relax and just swing. I feel like I get over the ball and start thinking WAY too much. I understand it's going to take some time, a lot of time, and repetition on the course to get things moving in the right direction. But I'm going to keep plugging along. Looking forward to my live online lesson with Monte tomorrow evening. Hoping I can take away a few things to get me headed in the right direction.

[TheDeanAbides]

32 minutes ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Played my second round of the year yesterday. Finished with a 119, YIKES!! Not much different of a round versus my first. I did chip/pitch slightly better, but other than that there wasn't much good to report. I had 9 penalties. Not much OB on the course I played, but did have to take a few drops and lost a few balls. So the penalties added up. My driver went back to a fade at best and a horrible slice at worse. Need to get that figured out. Still a lot of topped/chunked/skulled, etc. hits. The funny thing is, a few times after I hit one of these shots I would drop another and hit again (just to hit, not to score) and would end up hitting it good. One hole I topped a drive 50 yards. Re-teed and just swung and hit it right down the middle 275+. My buddy laughed and said "that'll be fun to ride up to and pickup". I think I REALLY need to relax and just swing. I feel like I get over the ball and start thinking WAY too much. I understand it's going to take some time, a lot of time, and repetition on the course to get things moving in the right direction. But I'm going to keep plugging along. Looking forward to my live online lesson with Monte tomorrow evening. Hoping I can take away a few things to get me headed in the right direction.

You can't play golf and golf swing at the same time. Take one thought to the course - two at the most - and think about what you're trying to do with the shot rather than the swing. Make the changes away from the course. 

[BigTerp1524]

6 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

You can't play golf and golf swing at the same time. Take one thought to the course - two at the most - and think about what you're trying to do with the shot rather than the swing. Make the changes away from the course. 

Yep!! I found myself thinking WAY too much while playing yesterday. Like I said, the few times I dropped another ball and just hit it, more times than not it was a great result. Makes it clear that's what I need to do. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

2 hours ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Yep!! I found myself thinking WAY too much while playing yesterday. Like I said, the few times I dropped another ball and just hit it, more times than not it was a great result. Makes it clear that's what I need to do. 

 

Been there, done that. Had one hole where I hit a low hooking screamer with 4w that ended up finding water. Buddy who was last to hit was getting a drink from the cart girl, so I said "screw it", pulled driver, and just hit a ball for the heck of it. Smoked it into the fairway. 

 

Amazing what the pressure of the ball actually counting as a stroke does to your swing, huh?

[BigTerp1524]

1 hour ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

Been there, done that. Had one hole where I hit a low hooking screamer with 4w that ended up finding water. Buddy who was last to hit was getting a drink from the cart girl, so I said "screw it", pulled driver, and just hit a ball for the heck of it. Smoked it into the fairway. 

 

Amazing what the pressure of the ball actually counting as a stroke does to your swing, huh?

It's crazy. I mentioned this last week sometime, and it may even sound silly, but I have so much confidence hitting foam balls into a trampoline net in my rec room. I'm obviously working on a few things and I'll go through plenty of motions/feels like just working on my takeaway, getting to P3 in good position, getting good hip rotation versus sliding, etc. etc., etc. all without hitting a ball. But when I do hit the ball that's all I do. Just hit the ball!! I'm engraining everything with various drills, feels and so on. So when I just hit the ball without thinking about all that crap all the work I've been putting in to engrain the swing changes should make my swing work itself out subconsciously.  On the course, especially yesterday, I felt like I was trying to breakdown/analyze my swing and was focusing WAY too much on the swing itself. That led to everything being out of whack. What @TheDeanAbides said really made me realize just how much I was doing that. I've got a round planned for next week, and am really going to try and focus on nothing more than my shot and the target. But it's going to be tough to get all of that other stuff out of my head!!  

Edited April 26, 2021 by BigTerp1524

[BigTerp1524]

Had my first live online lesson with Monte last night. Went really well. He said I didn't have a ton of issues, but 2 that needed attention. The first was I'm gaining flex in my right knee in the backswing. This blocks off some hip rotation and causes me to over rotate my torso and shoulders and get my backswing too long. This should be a simple enough fix. The second, and more difficult fix, is I'm throwing/rotating my shoulders open WAY too early. He explained how we are taught that the arms are passive and the rotation of the hips/shoulders/torso generate the swing. This causes me to immediately throw my hands out and then have to bring the club down more over the top and my hands are then trailing behind from the get go. Results in many issues down the line including the lack of extension I'm getting at impact since I have to compensate at the last second to even hit the ball. He had me make a few very slow motion half swings concentrating on REALLY keeping my shoulders closed and keeping my right arm/elbow sort of tucked into my side/belly. This was rather difficult for me at first. Monte also stressed how this move is not pulling the hands down, but bringing the arms down in conjunction with cast A while keeping my shoulders closed. It was sort of a modified Justin Rose drill. After just a few swings like this my position at P5/P6 was damn near perfect!! It was a very awkward feeling. But it was the first time, probably ever, that I felt my arms synched up with my torso. It was eye opening how even at 1/4 or less speed how easily, smoothly, effortlessly, etc. everything rotated through from this position to impact and how much better my extension and follow through felt. Just a really smooth, efficient and even powerful feeling. I really cannot explain how good this felt even though getting to this position was awkward. He showed me before and after pics of me at around P5/P6. Previously my shoulders were already squared back up to the ball WAY ahead of my hands/club. After, my shoulders were still closed with the club in a much better position and everything ready to rotate through to impact. Monte also stressed how my backswing is still overly long. He had me make what I felt was a half swing. I did as instructed and then when he showed me a freeze frame from the top of my "half swing" I was all the way to the top in a pretty good position at P4. I told him I couldn't believe it. Monte explained that I needed to work on my body awareness to help fix this.

 

Everything we went over and the drills and feels he had me do all made perfect sense. Was well worth it to now have some really solid drills and feels to work on with some clear goals in mind. He left me with "Don't screw it up" LOL!!!

 

Things I'll be working on moving forward.....

 

1. Keeping the right knee from gaining flex in the backswing.

2. Really shortening my backswing and getting better aware of where my hands are here to keep from getting too long.

3. Half swings in slow motion working on keeping my shoulders closed, cast A and getting/keeping my right arm close to my side/belly. Monte suggested I do a TON of this work. 

4. Justin Rose drill to really engrain the feeling of keeping my shoulders closed. Monte said I should keep this video on a loop, watch it over and over and over again and fall asleep with it playing in the background.   

 

I'll definitely be going back with Monte in the future after working on the above for a few weeks. Considering doing his improvement plan next time around, so I can have some check-ins between lessons.

[TheDeanAbides]

Brilliant stuff. You'll progress better now you don't have us Muppets teaching you. 😆

[rondo01]

Really excited to see how keeping the shoulders closed impacts your motion. This is what I struggle the most with, by a long shot.

[BigTerp1524]

25 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

Brilliant stuff. You'll progress better now you don't have us Muppets teaching you. 😆

Yeah, it was. I was impressed how well Monte could convey that information over video chat and cover so much in just 30 minutes. As long as I do my part and, as Monte said, don't screw it up I think it'll all eventually have a profound impact on my swing. 

 

I'm glad I held off on a lesson with him until now. I feel like the past 4 months I really engrained a lot of simple and fundamental stuff from his NTC series as well as all the help from you hooligans. This gave Monte the opportunity to really get to the meat and potatoes of my swing that needed the most attention.

[BigTerp1524]

18 minutes ago, rondo01 said:

Really excited to see how keeping the shoulders closed impacts your motion. This is what I struggle the most with, by a long shot.

Me too!! I was surprised how badly and early I spun my shoulders. Like I said, it was definitely uncomfortable and awkward working through the little drills he had me doing. But man, the feeling of coming through with arms and torso in sync felt amazing!!  

[TheDeanAbides]

When you've experienced a synced up swing nothing is ever the same again. 🙂

[BigTerp1524]

Just now, TheDeanAbides said:

When you've experienced a synced up swing nothing is ever the same again. 🙂

I'm telling ya, it was like an epiphany. I was only doing super slow swings getting to that good position at like P5/P6. Then swinging through. It literally blew my mind how good, easy, smooth, efficient (I could go on and on) it felt. Need to really keep it slow and deliberate to get this engrained. I know it's going to take awhile, a long while, but it'll be so worth it. This is honestly the single most encouraging swing fix, feeling, whatever, I've had since starting this journey.

[TheDeanAbides]

This is why we all say "Get a lesson with Monte" so often on the forum. 🙂

[BigTerp1524]

8 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

This is why we all say "Get a lesson with Monte" so often on the forum. 🙂

Good advice indeed.

[BigTerp1524]

Did a good bit of work last night working on what Monte and I went over during my lesson. Getting a good feel for keeping my shoulders closed already which seems to naturally force my arms down rather than out and better shallows the club. Mostly did a lot of the Justin Rose drill as well as slow waist high swings and slow half swings. My thoughts were mainly just keeping my shoulders closed. Monte had me make some swings imagining he was holding my shoulders from behind so I couldn't spin them out. I tried to emulate this feeling a lot.

 

Here is one of my "half swings" working on the above. This is exactly what Monte showed me the other night and why he stressed I needed to work on my body/hand awareness. My feel of a half swing is really a full swing. Need to work on this a lot. For now, my feeling of a full swing is simply going to be half swing.

 

Monte is going to kill me, but after doing a good bit of drill work I took some full swings just to see where I was. I see much better shoulder position in that I'm keeping them closed longer and better shaft and hand position on the way down. It's still a bit wonky keeping my shoulders closed, which is why all the slow motions half swings and drill work needs to be stressed, but you can see the difference and improvement already.

 

Compared to my swing just a week or 2 ago you can see my hands aren't coming out over the ball as much, the shaft is in a better position and my shoulders aren't flying open as much. Based on what Monte went over with me, this is a definite improvement.

 

One thing I did notice that I'm not too sure about is I seem to be brining the club down too far behind my body. This is video from one of the really slow motion swings where I'm concentrating on keeping shoulders closed, bringing arms down versus out, keeping right elbow tucked into body, and cast A, so it may be from over emphasizing the feels of the all of this and the Justin Rose drill. Which is fine and what these drills are for. But I don't want to be this far behind in a real swing, correct? In the first picture I look to be laying the club back too much coming down?

 

In this picture I'm at like P6 where the shaft should be lined up more or less down the line. I have it behind me.

 

 

[TheDeanAbides]

Just keep on doing the drills. 

[BigTerp1524]

36 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

Just keep on doing the drills. 

That's definitely the plan. I know drills can over emphasize certain things and that's what it takes to make even small changes sometimes. If that's what's happening above, which I believe it is, then perfect. I just want to make sure I know what to be looking for moving forward and have a good understanding of what my swing should look like. I know my feels are WAY off, so video is the best way for me to check in from time to time. 

 

I'm definitely going to go with a month of Monte's improvement plan next time. I can get a lesson and have some periodic check ins to make sure, as he says, I'm not screwing it up. LOL!! Then get an additional lesson to progress even more versus using the next lesson as a sort of check in.

Edited April 29, 2021 by BigTerp1524