BigTerp's swing journey

[BigTerp1524]

12 minutes ago, bortass said:

Awesome! This is a great round on multiple levels. It clearly shows you are improving. All you need to do is point at that 45 on the front. That's bogey golf which is solid for guys like us. Your ball striking sounded solid as was your game plan.

 

I will mention something because it's missing from your things of note, just in my opinion of course, mental game. It took me two years to break 100 once I made that a goal and worked on actually doing it. The biggest and hardest lessons for me were on the mental side of the house. First was learning to let go of a bad hole. I'd card a triple or quad and think my round was ruined. I eventually learnt how to get over a bad hole and am pretty sure there was an 8 on the card the day I broke 90.

 

Second, is what happened to you on #10. The nerves of a good round! That's a big one too. You get to 18 and just need a double or better to break 100 and you send your tee shot OOB on a par 5.... The problem for me was knowing what I needed to do to break my scoring target. The advice I was given on GolfWRX 12 years ago was to not keep track of my score. Write the number in the box and don't do any math until after walking off the last green of the round. I still do that to this day. I don't want to know exactly how good or bad I am doing. Just play one hole at a time and see what happens. Of course, it's hard to be completely clueless because you'll know if it's a good or bad round. The day I broke 90, I had no idea until I totaled my score next to the 18th green and it was 89. Sure I knew I played well but I had that snowman on the card, so it's not like it could have been a great round right? LOL.

 

Monte's UTB 2.0 is great for short game. Not sure if you have it or not but it's worth checking out. His sand shot is a life saver. I needed to actually learn one since there are bunkers where I play now versus the old home course up north.

 

Great round and can't wait to read about the sub 100 round!

 

Thanks. I was pretty happy with several things yesterday. Very encouraging round for myself. 

 

Agreed about the mental game. Can't really explain it, but after the front everything just felt different. I'm sure it was the self-imposed pressure. Whatever I was doing in my head certainly had a negative impact on the rest of the round. The icing on the cake was the group in front us was REALLY playing slow starting on the 10th. Just gave me more time to get into my own head. Certainly a different experience for me playing a great front and then having to keep it together for the back. I'm pretty good at separating holes, but can get frustrated after a bad shot or two that carries throughout the rest of the hole. Something to work on.

 

I was doing pretty good the first few holes of the back just telling myself "I'll get 'em next hole" or something similar. But after going triple, triple, 5, I couldn't but help start to add things up to see where I was at. Clearly only added to the self-imposed pressure. Once I realized I was out of it needing an eagle on #18 to get to 99, I had the best hole on the back with a par. Makes it clear I need to play each hole, each shot more like it, with the same relaxed attitude like @TheDeanAbides mentioned. 

[BigTerp1524]

31 minutes ago, bortass said:

It's not as much of an undertaking but it'll take some time to get down. However, it should help the rest of your swing. I find that chipping and pitches help my tempo. I don't know what it is but that's what happens for me. Also the part about accelerating through the ball probably applies to all other swings too. Oh, and I find it easier to get my whole body working together, which is likely that tempo thing I mentioned. Things stay in synch easier.

 

 

I'm going to put some work into this. Thanks!!

[BigTerp1524]

23 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Regarding driver going straight left...

 

If you're not aligned to the left to start, it means that you've got a slight out-to-in path and the face is closed to the same angle.

 

Simple physics... Ball curves, it means that your face angle and your path weren't aligned at impact. Ball goes straight, it means that your face angle and path were aligned. 

 

So you were apparently still swinging with a fade pattern (out-to-in path) but closing the face to match it, so they were just straight pulls left. 

 

Tons of potential root causes for why you're doing it, from swing intent (it's driver; I'm gonna KILL this ball!) changing your swing, to ball position, to fit of the clubs (grip size, shaft, etc)... Can't help you figure out WHY. But the ball flight tells you what the path and face were doing...

Yeah, it was a bit odd. Funny thing is I'm finding all sorts of anomalies that I've never experienced before pop up from time to time.  I'm sure it's coming from the swing changes working their way into my swing permanently, but their not quite all there yet. Once swing I might do a good job keeping my shoulders from spinning out but I still get long in the back swing. Next my shoulders might spin out but I keep my back swing short and still get my hands down versus out in transition. All sorts of combinations and varying degrees of those combinations that I'm sure lead to the differing results.

[BigTerp1524]

20 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

I wouldn't worry about hitting a few straight pulls during one nine holes. Forget it - the swing changes. 

 

Just keep doing the work and notice any new patterns that develop over longer periods. Anything else is just chasing shadows. 

Agreed. It's all about getting my swing as consistent as possible. It has definitely improved, and by a lot IMO, but there is still work to do. Looking forward to the day when I can say "my shot shape is...." or "my miss is...."

[BigTerp1524]

One thing I forgot to mention, is I'm noticing a pattern of my driving distance increasing. Not just yesterday, but the last round or two. My average over 5 rounds is 246 yards. Yesterday I averaged 275. I'm not a distance chaser by any means, I'd much rather hit it straight!! Just another encouraging thing that shows my swing is continuing to improve.

[TheDeanAbides]

Dude, you're massive. When your swing is efficient that'll be pretty standard distance. 

[BigTerp1524]

22 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

Dude, you're massive. When your swing is efficient that'll be pretty standard distance. 

HA!! 

 

Efficient is definitely the key. Been working hard at shorting my backswing and making a smooth and synched up swing back through. When everything links up I bomb it. It's being in synch that produces that power, not swinging hard. I can at least feel it when it's good now. Repeating it is the issue.

[betarhoalphadelta]

1 hour ago, BigTerp1524 said:

HA!! 

 

Efficient is definitely the key. Been working hard at shorting my backswing and making a smooth and synched up swing back through. When everything links up I bomb it. It's being in synch that produces that power, not swinging hard. I can at least feel it when it's good now. Repeating it is the issue.

 

Yep. Seems wrong that shortening your swing hits the ball the same distance or farther, but there you go...

[betarhoalphadelta]

2 hours ago, TheDeanAbides said:

I wouldn't worry about hitting a few straight pulls during one nine holes. Forget it - the swing changes. 

 

Just keep doing the work and notice any new patterns that develop over longer periods. Anything else is just chasing shadows. 

 

I completely agree with this...

 

...but when you feel like you have your new swing in a stable space, if you are still having tons of trouble with driver, you may want a driver fitting. 

 

You're multiple standard deviations outside the norm, so whatever driver you have today may be completely wrong. 

 

I just wouldn't mess with it until you're a little more consistent overall. 

[BigTerp1524]

6 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

Yep. Seems wrong that shortening your swing hits the ball the same distance or farther, but there you go...

Certainly seems wrong. Something I've gotten better with, but still struggle at times, is reviving up the swing. Typically only happens with driver and longer irons, but I sometimes find myself overswinging which creates other issues. I'm getting much better with this though.

[BigTerp1524]

7 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

I completely agree with this...

 

...but when you feel like you have your new swing in a stable space, if you are still having tons of trouble with driver, you may want a driver fitting. 

 

You're multiple standard deviations outside the norm, so whatever driver you have today may be completely wrong. 

 

I just wouldn't mess with it until you're a little more consistent overall. 

Solid advice. Thanks!!

[TheDeanAbides]

43 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

I completely agree with this...

 

...but when you feel like you have your new swing in a stable space, if you are still having tons of trouble with driver, you may want a driver fitting. 

 

You're multiple standard deviations outside the norm, so whatever driver you have today may be completely wrong. 

 

I just wouldn't mess with it until you're a little more consistent overall. 

At least get a decent thickness grip on it. 

[BigTerp1524]

2 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

At least get a decent thickness grip on it. 

My driver has a Golf Pride CP2 Wrap in midsize already on it. So we're good there. But good point and it got me thinking. I really like the feel of the MCC Plus 4 on my 7i.....REALLY like it. Once I spend some time with my irons, wedges and hybrid that will all have the same grip, I may swap out the driver grip for the MCC Plus 4. 

[BigTerp1524]

I've still been working on the things Monte and I went over in my lesson last month. The biggest thing I've been trying to correct/improve is my shoulders spinning out during transition to help better synch up the swing. It's been tough though. Although it feels and looks better, I'm still spinning them out a little too early which cause my hands to come more out versus down early in transition. But overall, things are felling really good. I continue to feel like my new swing is getting more and more engrained with the correct moves. I just need to trust it during my upcoming rounds. That made a huge difference last week.

 

Haven't taken video in awhile, but did as a check in last night. Things are looking pretty darn good, IMO. One encouraging thing I noticed is I'm rotating my hips through impact better and have zero EE. Both are good indications that I'm getting my swing better synched up and probably is resulting in the steady increase and consistency in driver distance that I've noticed the past few rounds. Also indicates I'm doing a better job at keeping my shoulders from spinning out as early as they previously were. I look to be getting a little steep with the shaft coming down which could be me getting adjusted to the longer and heavier 7i I've been swinging. But I feel like I'm getting a little nit-picky here and am not going to stress about it. Still doing a good job of shortening my backswing and loosing flex in my right knee. Both have pretty much become a non thought thing for me at this point. One thing that's always been a glaring fault to my eyes on video is that I look a bit tied up at and through impact with poor extension in my follow through. I feel like that goes all the way back to what Monte called my #1 fault of spinning my shoulders out early. This is something I'm not going to focus solely on. I feel like as I continue to improve that first move from the top with my shoulders everything else down the line will improve as well. Plan moving forward is just to continue the work I've been doing and heeding the advice I got from Monte. Main focus will still be on the shoulders and grinding the drills, feels, etc. that have gotten me the improvement thus far. Planning on getting back together with Monte for another lesson in the foreseeable future as well. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BigTerp1524]

Got my new clubs in yesterday. They are REALLY nice. All Maltby stuff. I got the DBM's 4-PW, TSW wedges in the DRM finish in 50/6, 54/10 and 58/6 and a STh2 hybrid in 21 degrees. They all feel really good in my hands. Was a little concerned about SW's being a little weird since my lengths are quite different from standard, but I don't notice anything odd at all. It's going to take a bit of time to get comfortable with the extra length. The shortest club in my bag is now 36-5/8", a bit longer than a standard 8i. But I think it'll happen quickly. I'm really looking forward to the wedges. They look and feel extremely versatile. I struggle with pitching/chipping so hoping these, along with some dedicated practice, will get me more comfortable around the greens. 

 

[bortass]

Those look great. When is the on course test of them?

[BigTerp1524]

17 minutes ago, bortass said:

Those look great. When is the on course test of them?

I can't get out again until the 26th. But they'll get a good test run then. Playing a really nice course (at least it was the last I played it) that I haven't played in years. Looking forward to it. Hoping to sneak out to the range between now and then. I just ordered a dozen birdie balls, so I'll be able to at least hit those in the yard a bunch to keep me sane. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

40 minutes ago, BigTerp1524 said:

I can't get out again until the 26th. But they'll get a good test run then. Playing a really nice course (at least it was the last I played it) that I haven't played in years. Looking forward to it. Hoping to sneak out to the range between now and then. I just ordered a dozen birdie balls, so I'll be able to at least hit those in the yard a bunch to keep me sane. 

 

Looking forward to hearing the review!

 

Do you have any indoor hitting bay areas near you? This is a time I'd really suggest hitting the birdie balls to get used to the new club and then try to rent the hitting bay for an hour before the 26th. The one thing I can absolutely say is that you right now have ZERO idea what distance each of these clubs will fly and roll out. With potentially different lofts compared to your previous clubs, but MUCH more importantly different clubhead speeds due to the longer length, even an hour on a Trackman will give you the data to prepare you for that round on the 26th. That data is hard to get on a range when you don't know exact distances you're flying--and using range balls of unknown quality. 

 

I think either way you'll be hitting the clubs well on the 26th--getting to swing an appropriate length is going to be much more comfortable. But without getting a basic sense of distances, it could negatively affect your score even if you're hitting the ball great.

[BigTerp1524]

I have one close enough that I've used in the past and it's where I did my iron fitting as well. I actually planned to do what you suggested at some point, and if I can squeeze it in between now and the 26th I'll do that. If not, I do plan to spend some time there at some point to get a better idea of distances with the new clubs. Thanks for the great suggestion!!

 

I have a pretty good idea of how far I hit my new 7i after 2 rounds with it and a lengthy range session (170ish), so worst case I'll base my distances with my other clubs from there. 

 

I use Golf Pad GPS as a shot tracker during a round. It's been extremely accurate for me comparing it to a laser rangefinder. I'm going to exclude all the shots with my old clubs from distance statistics. Will help me dial in my true distance with my new clubs quicker.

[betarhoalphadelta]

One thing I haven't done well is track shots and distances. I've been thinking of Arccos but didn't want to do it until I get new clubs. And then it's one of those things where I feel like Arccos will be a 3-month thing to learn my distances and then I'll get bored with it lol...

 

I use my Garmin watch for distances to front/middle/back, as I don't have a rangefinder at this point, but simply haven't bothered either with the watch or with my Grint app on the phone to track shots. But it's a Fenix 5X, not a golf-specific watch, so it doesn't automatically ask me what club I hit when it detects a shot. My buddy's Garmin golf watch does that.

 

I suppose I've been more focused on hitting the ball well than worrying about that lol...

[BigTerp1524]

58 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

One thing I haven't done well is track shots and distances. I've been thinking of Arccos but didn't want to do it until I get new clubs. And then it's one of those things where I feel like Arccos will be a 3-month thing to learn my distances and then I'll get bored with it lol...

 

I use my Garmin watch for distances to front/middle/back, as I don't have a rangefinder at this point, but simply haven't bothered either with the watch or with my Grint app on the phone to track shots. But it's a Fenix 5X, not a golf-specific watch, so it doesn't automatically ask me what club I hit when it detects a shot. My buddy's Garmin golf watch does that.

 

I suppose I've been more focused on hitting the ball well than worrying about that lol...

 

I have a Samsung Galaxy Active 2 watch. Got it initially for working out but found it works with the Golf Pad Gps app. The ONLY reason I initially bought the app ($20/year) was for getting accurate distance stats. It has worked great for that. Eventually it'll suggest what club to hit based on your history, elevation, etc. That's been pretty accurate for me as well. Not sure if it'll work with your watch, but with a watch synched up to your phone is pretty intuitive. I'll walk to my ball, check the distance on my watch and with two taps on my watch I select the club I'm going to hit. I didn't want to have to keep pulling my phone out for this, so something that synched with my watch was a must. After a round or two I realized it keeps a ton of stats so I started trying to keep more accurate records and it's been pretty helpful. As I (hopefully) get better, I think these stats will be pretty informative.

 

Here's what looking back at your round looks like.

Scored 101 at Black Rock Golf Course (Hagerstown, MD) http://www.golfpadgps.com/round/RCMAJEVB #GolfPadGPS

 

And a few examples of the stats it tracks.

[BigTerp1524]

I've come up with a super scientific way to help me get comfortable with my new clubs🤣 I hit even number clubs one evening and odd number clubs the next. Last night I hit my 4h, 4i, 6i, 8i, PW and 54 degree wedge. Tonight I'll hit my 5i, 7i, 9i, 50 and 58 degree wedge. Before, I spent all of my swing work time swinging my 7i. Definitely time to get comfortable with all my other clubs while still continuing the work on solidifying my swing.

 

Purchased Monte's UTB 2.0 today. With a discount code it was only $16. No brainer!! Anxious to start digging into the videos. Based on my strokes gained stats from above, I clearly need the work here.

[bortass]

1 hour ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Purchased Monte's UTB 2.0 today. With a discount code it was only $16. No brainer!! Anxious to start digging into the videos. Based on my strokes gained stats from above, I clearly need the work here.

 I think you'll like UTB 2.0. The troubleshooting videos are good too for the edge cases like you're in deep rough or on hard pan etc.

[BigTerp1524]

Still working on my swing. Lately it's mostly been going through all my irons, wedges and hybrid hitting foam balls inside to get comfortable with the new clubs. I'm still working on the drills Monte suggested and trying to keep things in check. But at this point it is a lot of just getting reps in with full swings. I seem to say this every time, but things are feeling pretty good and consistent. I think the continued work on drills and just getting reps in is slowly engraining all the changes more and more. It has definitely been a process, but I feel l am finally in a pretty stable place with my swing where not NEARLY as much thought has to go into the swing. Still plenty of things to work on/out, but it's now more a sense of fine tuning everything versus major changes. Great feeling!! 

 

Something I've been working more on is my chipping/pitching. I finally sat down the last few days and really dug into Monte's UTB 2.0. I found two major faults in my chipping/pitching that left me terribly inconsistent results. Not allowing the right arm/humerus to follow through which lead to a lot of chunks and shots going WAY short, and setting up correctly with my weight forward but getting my spine angle towards the target versus away from the target. Both of the above lead to a more steep angle of attack which a lot of the times resulted in the club digging into the turf versus the bounce engaging the turf and letting the club slide through. I FINALLY got a good understanding and feeling of truly using the bounce. Seems so simple once the light bulb went off in my head, but it took me quite a while to get it figured out. Plan to keep working hard on this as my short game is the worst part of my game. Monte's bunker series in UTB 2.0 has also been eye opening. Hoping to see some improvement in my bunker play and short game after working on the above. Pretty optimistic about it.

 

I have a round scheduled for this Saturday morning. We'll see how it goes. 

[BigTerp1524]

Continued working on my chipping/pitching last night. The things that Monte teaches in UTB 2.0 is really starting to make sense. Just need to continue to work on it, like my full swing, so it becomes second nature. 

 

My full swing was feeling REALLY good last night. To the point I thought to myself "I've got this figured out". Which made me immediately pause and question what I was feeling. So I broke out my phone and took some video. Things do look pretty good. I seemed to have sorted out my right knee issue in the backswing, I've shortened my backswing to what I consider acceptable, shallowing the club nicely and doing a little better job of keeping my shoulders from flying out so drastically. I read something yesterday that seemed to click in my head. It was detailing how we use centrifugal and centripetal forces in the golf swing. I don't really feel like I was doing anything in the downswing and transition much differently, but just this thought seemed to make things feel a little more synched up and efficient. 

 

On video I did notice one thing I need to work more on. I'm getting back into the habit of getting the club too much inside on the takeaway resulting in it being far too deep and laid off on the way back. This was something I did drastically when I started this swing rebuild. After watching video I went back and worked on more of a  straight back from the ball takeaway and getting steeper on the way back to get the butt of the club pointing at least no further out than the ball (something @TheDeanAbides said to me months ago). This made everything feel even more synched up and efficient. I didn't video after working on this, but I feel like getting this one move (takeaway) back in order will be one of the final pieces to really getting things synched up. My main fault is my arms trailing my body. This is another thing that contributes to that. I've been doing a decent job with keeping my shoulders closed better, but wasn't getting that good synched up feeling with the arms. This definitely helped with that. It's almost ridiculous how many things have to work together properly in the golf swing to make it efficient, but explains why it's such a difficult skill. 

 

Anyway, here I am at P3. Too deep. My hands should be more inline with my chest or right pec here. They are so deep they are completely outside my body line. Camera angle probably makes it look a bit worse than what it actually is, however I'm still getting far too deep here. Makes sense that this will start my hands behind as well as force me to come out with them versus down. It probably also contributes to me spinning my shoulders out early.

 

P5 I look to have the club in a decent position coming back down, but you can see I've already started rotating my shoulders out too much. Something I have to do to get the club in that good position, but it leaves my arms behind the rest of the way.

 

Good reinforcement for me that, as Monte says, feel isn't always real. So important for me to continue checking in with video. More half swing work and focusing on my takeaway will hopefully get this back in order quickly. 

 

[TheDeanAbides]

Yeah, it's important to check in regularly to make sure we haven't slipped. 

[BigTerp1524]

Was able to spend some time the other evening outside hitting Birdie Balls (I'm really enjoying these things by the way!!). When I got the takeaway more straight back and kept from getting too deep on the way up, the swing synched up nicely and felt great. From that better position at the top it was much easier to drop my hands down, shallow the club and get everything synched up nicely. Need video to confirm here, but it was a noticeable difference just going by feel. The cool thing about the Birdie Balls is I'm able to hit my driver fully. I've been working mostly with irons this entire time, so getting some swings and feedback with my driver is helpful.

 

Also did some chipping in the yard really trying to use the setup and techniques from Monte's UTB 2.0. What a difference. Not nearly as many mishits, chunks, etc. And the mishits were still decent enough chips versus a complete chunk before. Obviously my technique was subpar with chipping. Something I want to really work on as the short game is where I'm loosing the most strokes. The new wedges made a difference as well. The lengths I went with just feel so much more comfortable from a pitch/chip setup, and the heads are great. 

 

Got my putting mat delivered yesterday. Went with a Big Moss Original V2 in 12'. It's really nice. Spent a little time on it last night. I'm still waiting on Golf Works to finish building my putter. Should have it any day now. New putter combined with a mat that I can spend plenty of time practicing on will hopefully help me grove a decent putting stroke. I'm averaging 2.2 putts per hole and loosing .24 strokes per hole with putting. Statistically this is the strongest part of my game. Realistically though, it's like lipstick on a pig. HA!!!  

 

Tee time scheduled for 8:40 am tomorrow. Goal, as it has always been, is to show improvement from my previous round(s). Whether it be more consistent off the tee, better ball striking with my irons, improved short game, etc. All of the above would certainly be accepted, but just looking for some things to reinforce that I'm still moving in a forward trajectory. I'm cautiously optimistic!!  

[betarhoalphadelta]

How was the round?

[BigTerp1524]

5 hours ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

How was the round?

Thanks for asking. I carded a 101.... AGAIN!!! LOL!! 47 on the front and 54 on the back. Didn't feel like as much of a crumble on the back 9 as last round, but I definitely faltered after 10 for whatever reason. My approach game, and iron play in general, was the worst part of my game today. I hit a lot of iron shots off the toe causing a lot of misses right. I'm chalking that up to getting used to the new clubs. I hit a large bucket of balls before my round to try and get an idea on distances with them and that was my miss then too. I hit a lot of good shots with them too, but the toe hits are something I hope works itself out as I get comfortable with the new irons. A lot of guessing on distances with them today as well, which wasn't helpful.

 

The thing that saved me today was my short game. It was phenomenal!! By far the best I've ever pitched and chipped and it's all thanks to Monte's UTB 2.0. I just used the setup and technique that he teaches, not trying to get cute with anything, and it worked great. My chipping was so atrocious before and so remarkably better today that after 6 holes my cousin (who I typically play with) wanted to know what I've done. Needles to say, he'll be picking up UTB 2.0, HA!! 

 

I'm REALLY liking my new wedges. They just feel good in my hands. I'm sure that's helping a bit with my short game as well. Had my second shot from the fairway 94 yards to the pin on the #4 par 4. Hit it to 5 feet and the damn thing spun back 25 feet, LOL. First time I've ever spun a ball back. But that shows that I'm starting to strike the ball well at least. Also going to have to get used to the non worn out groves on my pervious decades old wedges. The ball checked up SO much better today while chipping.

 

I felt really comfortable with my driver today. It's starting to get fairly consistent. My shape with it is turning into a baby fade and I'm not going to fight it. I'm still getting some weird straight pulls at times, but I didn't slice it once today. So it's getting there. I only had 1 penalty stroke with it and it was from one of those pulls that I crushed. Even hit two a tad over 300 yards today.

 

Overall all I was disappointed with my round. I missed a lot of opportunities to lower my score today. I also felt like I let my swing work get into my head a bit, which never helps. But after typing out the above I'm rather encouraged. I'm slowly but steadily improving. Sub 100 rounds are right around the corner.

 

Here is my improvements today statistically. You can see how bad my approach game hurt me. My putting didn't seem that great today, I 3 putted 5 times but also had 1 putt 5 times today (mostly because of good chipping). 36 total putts which is my lowest. But I guess in strokes gained I putted well.

 

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by BigTerp1524

[bortass]

I'm not surprised about the irons being off. It took me a few weeks to adjust to my new ones and they weren't as big of a change as yours are. Once you get used to them I expect that you'll start seeing some good things. 

 

You're putting together some solid 9s on the front. Eventually that will start to bleed into the back as well and then poof, you broke 100. Sounds so simple, lol.