BigTerp's swing journey

[BigTerp1524]

2 minutes ago, bortass said:

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.

Yeah, it was definitely a different feel with the irons but in a good way even though some of the results were not ideal. I'm hoping that works itself out as I continue to work on my swing. I've spent all this time swinging my old 7i while working on my swing. Now I'm making a conscious effort to switch up clubs throughout my practice time.

 

I went bogey, double, double, par, bogey, bogey, bogey, double, bogey on the front for a 47. Having zero triples on the front is a HUGE accomplishment for me. Had 2 quads and a triple on the back while managing two pars and a bogey with the rest being doubles. And still had a chance to be in the 90's coming into 16, even after having a quad on 15. But got a triple on 16 which ended my chances. Did come in with a bogey on 17 and a par on 18. Limiting the triples and worse will really help my score. After my last two rounds I've realized that a double is acceptable in small doses. If I can limit or, even better, eliminate the triples+ I'll be in great shape. 

 

Back to back rounds with fronts of 45 and 47. It's definitely there. And with my improvement in chipping/pitching (which I feel I've just scratched the surface of) I'm feeling pretty optimistic that 90's scores are just around the corner.

[bortass]

4 minutes ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Yeah, it was definitely a different feel with the irons but in a good way even though some of the results were not ideal. I'm hoping that works itself out as I continue to work on my swing. I've spent all this time swinging my old 7i while working on my swing. Now I'm making a conscious effort to switch up clubs throughout my practice time.

 

I went bogey, double, double, par, bogey, bogey, bogey, double, bogey on the front for a 47. Having zero triples on the front is a HUGE accomplishment for me. Had 2 quads and a triple on the back while managing two pars and a bogey with the rest being doubles. And still had a chance to be in the 90's coming into 16, even after having a quad on 15. But got a triple on 16 which ended my chances. Did come in with a bogey on 17 and a par on 18. Limiting the triples and worse will really help my score. After my last two rounds I've realized that a double is acceptable in small doses. If I can limit or, even better, eliminate the triples+ I'll be in great shape. 

 

Back to back rounds with fronts of 45 and 47. It's definitely there. And with my improvement in chipping/pitching (which I feel I've just scratched the surface of) I'm feeling pretty optimistic that 90's scores are just around the corner.

A good takeaway is the fact you can have a bad hole aka a quad and still have a good round. If I read that right you had two quads through 15 and still had a shot at cracking 100. I know the day I broke 90 for the first time I was surprised because I had an 8 on the card. It sounds like it's all coming together for you.

[BigTerp1524]

2 minutes ago, bortass said:

A good takeaway is the fact you can have a bad hole aka a quad and still have a good round. If I read that right you had two quads through 15 and still had a shot at cracking 100. I know the day I broke 90 for the first time I was surprised because I had an 8 on the card. It sounds like it's all coming together for you.

Sorry, I got a little wordy and confusing with the back 9 description. Yes, I had 2 quads through 15. On the back I went par, double, quad, double, double, quad. That left me needing to have 2 bogeys and a par on the final three holes to come in at 99. I went triple, bogey, par. 

 

It's tough to not get a bit down after a triple, or especially a quad. But, like you said, you can still shoot a good, or even great, score (for us guys, LOL!!) with a big number on a hole or two.

 

Another thing that sticks out when I go back over my round, is that I 3 putted 5 times each of my last 5 rounds. My lag putting needs some work specifically. But now with a dedicated putting mat at home and a new putter that I'll hopefully have any day now, I can spend time grooving a decent putting stroke to hopefully shave a few more strokes off the scorecard.

[betarhoalphadelta]

A few questions..

• Do you walk or ride? If walking, do you carry or have a push cart?
• What is your pre-round and during-round food plan?
• What sort of weather are you playing in? 
• What's your current fitness level?

I know you're a former athlete, but like all of us, kids / work / life gets in the way, especially as ages start creeping up. A round of golf in summer heat can take a lot out of you. The muscles used in a golf swing may not be muscles you regularly exercise. Fatigue in general can take a toll. Making sure you have enough food (and water) in your system to not falter on the back nine is important. 

 

I usually play in the morning, usually don't eat much in the morning, and almost never eat anything during the round, and I think it might get to me a little bit. I walk with a push cart, and one of the things I recently changed was to buy an umbrella for sun protection because I'm more sensitive to heat and sun that most people. My fitness level isn't where it used to be, but I do think regular golf is helping with that. But I'm trying to work on the food/water thing at the very least to keep me charged up on the back nine.

 

You also mentioned that you hit a large bucket before the round as well... That's 100 balls. That's a lot of fatigue before you even step on the first tee. IMHO when I play a course with a range I'll only hit a small bucket, or even split a small bucket with a playing partner, because I'm not there to practice. Just there to get loose. 

 

Again, I'm not sure that your front nine / back nine issue is physical at all--but it's something to keep an eye on and monitor. 

[BigTerp1524]

16 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

A few questions..

• Do you walk or ride? If walking, do you carry or have a push cart?
• What is your pre-round and during-round food plan?
• What sort of weather are you playing in? 
• What's your current fitness level?

I know you're a former athlete, but like all of us, kids / work / life gets in the way, especially as ages start creeping up. A round of golf in summer heat can take a lot out of you. The muscles used in a golf swing may not be muscles you regularly exercise. Fatigue in general can take a toll. Making sure you have enough food (and water) in your system to not falter on the back nine is important. 

 

I usually play in the morning, usually don't eat much in the morning, and almost never eat anything during the round, and I think it might get to me a little bit. I walk with a push cart, and one of the things I recently changed was to buy an umbrella for sun protection because I'm more sensitive to heat and sun that most people. My fitness level isn't where it used to be, but I do think regular golf is helping with that. But I'm trying to work on the food/water thing at the very least to keep me charged up on the back nine.

 

You also mentioned that you hit a large bucket before the round as well... That's 100 balls. That's a lot of fatigue before you even step on the first tee. IMHO when I play a course with a range I'll only hit a small bucket, or even split a small bucket with a playing partner, because I'm not there to practice. Just there to get loose. 

 

Again, I'm not sure that your front nine / back nine issue is physical at all--but it's something to keep an eye on and monitor. 

 

All very good points and I appreciate the well thought out response.

 

I ride when I play and eat very healthy in general. I typically play in the morning and have my normal healthy breakfast and then a decent snack at the turn. I drink plenty of water throughout my round as well. So I don't think nutrition/hydration is an issue.

 

Fitness wise I do work out at a pretty intense level 5 days a week. I'm also swinging a club while practicing at home 30-45 minutes most every evening. For my age (40) I'd consider myself to be at a moderately decent fitness level. I'm not running marathons, but also not getting winded running around with my kids (which is the whole reason I try to stay healthy). But you do bring up a good point about fitness and golf. I hit that large bucket of balls before my round because I wanted to get some ideas about distance with my new clubs and get a better feel for them. I wasn't worn out at all after hitting those and felt fine the first 10 or 11 holes. But now that I think about it, I did feel a bit beat on the 12th or 13th hole. It might have gotten to me a bit this last round. Lesson learned on hitting a ton before a round.

 

But I think the problem in general is just keeping my swing consistent for 18 holes. It has gotten remarkably more consistent lately and my confidence level in it has risen in correlation. But I think as the round goes on and I get a bit fatigued things break down a bit and it snowballs from there. My issue seems to be that I start overthinking the swing when I hit a few bad shots, and we all know that doesn't help. I also need to stop putting pressure on myself to shoot a good round. It's clear to me that worrying about breaking 100 is not helping. After I tripled #16 and realized I had no shot of breaking 100, I bogeyed the #4 hcp #17 and shot par on the #10 hcp #18. So things might even be more mental than physical.

 

With all of that said, the course I played over the weekend is the more difficult of the courses I've played this year (in terms of slope rating). The greens were by far the toughest I've played. Also lots of abbreviated fairways that ended in that 250-280 range with junk or water on the other side that forced me to play less than driver on 4 separate holes. So overall there were still plenty of positives to take away and some very noticeable improvements made versus last round, which was my goal after all. Just need to keep grinding and putting in the work at home. Cannot wait to brag to you guys on here with a score in the 90's. HA!!!!!

[betarhoalphadelta]

Ahh, sounds like your fitness level is well beyond mine lol... I still recommend not hitting 100 balls right before the round, but other than that it sounds like you should have no fitness-related causes. 

 

Maybe you should do like @bortass and not keep track of your score until after the round. Maybe you'll avoid undue pressure on yourself. 

 

I know that's hard for a lot of us with technology. I track my round both on my Garmin watch and my phone (for The Grint and managing our skins game) and that will show me where I am relative to par. My playing partners have no clue of their score until the end of the round, because I'm the one inputting them into the phone. 

 

Maybe try having one of your playing partners be scorekeeper... Don't even look at the card. Just hit ball, find ball, repeat. It might get you out of the "results-oriented" thinking...

[BigTerp1524]

3 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Ahh, sounds like your fitness level is well beyond mine lol... I still recommend not hitting 100 balls right before the round, but other than that it sounds like you should have no fitness-related causes. 

 

Maybe you should do like @bortass and not keep track of your score until after the round. Maybe you'll avoid undue pressure on yourself. 

 

I know that's hard for a lot of us with technology. I track my round both on my Garmin watch and my phone (for The Grint and managing our skins game) and that will show me where I am relative to par. My playing partners have no clue of their score until the end of the round, because I'm the one inputting them into the phone. 

 

Maybe try having one of your playing partners be scorekeeper... Don't even look at the card. Just hit ball, find ball, repeat. It might get you out of the "results-oriented" thinking...

I might have to give that a try. I'll be honest though, it's going to be tough. I love having all the data after a round to go over and the shot tracking is something I need right now to help dial in my distances with the new clubs. But I need to just get over myself and stop worrying about my score. I did a pretty good job of that on Saturday until I went double, quad, double starting on #11. I knew I was getting into my own head and getting frustrated, which compounded the problem(s). I've settled in on a pretty consistent pre-shot routine. I stopped doing it around those holes and that's what made me realize I was getting frustrated. Something I certainly need to work on. I watched Stewart Cink on Saturday take 3 chips to get on the green on #7 at the Travelers and then 2 putt for a triple. He went to the next tee and the commentators were saying how he needs to let that horrendous performance on the last hole go. The next hole was a 202 yard par 3 that he made par on. I watched it live after my round. I was saying to myself "pay attention dummy, that's how it's done". 

[bortass]

1 hour ago, BigTerp1524 said:

I might have to give that a try. I'll be honest though, it's going to be tough. I love having all the data after a round to go over and the shot tracking is something I need right now to help dial in my distances with the new clubs. But I need to just get over myself and stop worrying about my score. I did a pretty good job of that on Saturday until I went double, quad, double starting on #11. I knew I was getting into my own head and getting frustrated, which compounded the problem(s).

{snip}

It's a skill I highly recommend. I'm a broken record because I keep saying it but the biggest challenge for me breaking 100 was all mental. Assuming you play an appropriate course, you don't need a good swing to break 100. You just need to be able to advance the ball a reasonable distance in the right direction and keep it mostly in play. You need a mix of okay short game and putting - I say a mix because as long as the two areas combined average out as okay, you'll be fine.  This is IF you stay out of your own way.

 

My average drive the day I broke 100 on a 6300 yard course was 171 yards. I had 13 chips on 11 holes and 35 putts with four 3 putts. Shot a "smooth" 48/49 97. Only 1 par on the card and 1 triple and quad, everything else was bogey/double. Not what you would call stellar by any means but it was one of the best feeling rounds of my life.

 

I'm mostly laid back but highly competitive and critical of myself. I like to win ( but learned how to not be a jerk about it but that took a while too, lol). I'm just saying this to provide context for the following BTW. Golf, for the most part, is just me against the course. A bad hole would sent me into a tailspin of doom and gloom when I played. The round was ruined, no way I could break 50(9)/100(18). I would get mad at myself and since I'm not an optimist, the self talk in my head, was not pretty. So I first had to learn to not let something bad snowball out of control. 

 

After that I had to learn to try to control the nerves of playing well. Like others, I'd be near the end of the round and know I just need to shoot X, which was realistic, to break Y. I'd fall off the rails. Start getting butterflies and slice or hook my drive into the trees.... LOL. I can laugh about it now but at the time it was rough. " All I needed to do was be +3 on the last 2 holes..."

 

So someone on GolfWRX told me to not add my score until after the round. It was the advantage of my Quest to Break 100 thread. People here offered me solid advice. So I started to do that and it became a habit. I still do it to this day. I don't care what I shot on the front when I make the turn. I know if it's good or bad just by the kind of numbers I'm writing down.

 

So while doing the  mind tricks, I was keeping detailed stats of my round by hand. Score, drive distance, fairway hit or direction of miss, playable or not. Approach distance from green and club hit, green hit or where's the miss. # penalty strokes. First putt distance, last putt distance. Number of chips, number of putts. No Arccos back then, just a golf GPS and a scorecard to write everything on, lol.

 

Dunno if any of my rambling helps or makes sense but it is what I went through. I had some of the same struggles trying to break 90 and even now, I can lapse into some old patterns but it's not as common. Much better at letting go these days, lol.

[TheDeanAbides]

I haven't read all I've missed, but one thing I can offer that's essential. Don't start playing golf swing after a couple of bad shots. Just stick to your swing thought for the day and take dead aim. Everyone hits bad ones. 

[BigTerp1524]

14 hours ago, bortass said:

It's a skill I highly recommend. I'm a broken record because I keep saying it but the biggest challenge for me breaking 100 was all mental. Assuming you play an appropriate course, you don't need a good swing to break 100. You just need to be able to advance the ball a reasonable distance in the right direction and keep it mostly in play. You need a mix of okay short game and putting - I say a mix because as long as the two areas combined average out as okay, you'll be fine.  This is IF you stay out of your own way.

 

My average drive the day I broke 100 on a 6300 yard course was 171 yards. I had 13 chips on 11 holes and 35 putts with four 3 putts. Shot a "smooth" 48/49 97. Only 1 par on the card and 1 triple and quad, everything else was bogey/double. Not what you would call stellar by any means but it was one of the best feeling rounds of my life.

 

I'm mostly laid back but highly competitive and critical of myself. I like to win ( but learned how to not be a jerk about it but that took a while too, lol). I'm just saying this to provide context for the following BTW. Golf, for the most part, is just me against the course. A bad hole would sent me into a tailspin of doom and gloom when I played. The round was ruined, no way I could break 50(9)/100(18). I would get mad at myself and since I'm not an optimist, the self talk in my head, was not pretty. So I first had to learn to not let something bad snowball out of control. 

 

After that I had to learn to try to control the nerves of playing well. Like others, I'd be near the end of the round and know I just need to shoot X, which was realistic, to break Y. I'd fall off the rails. Start getting butterflies and slice or hook my drive into the trees.... LOL. I can laugh about it now but at the time it was rough. " All I needed to do was be +3 on the last 2 holes..."

 

So someone on GolfWRX told me to not add my score until after the round. It was the advantage of my Quest to Break 100 thread. People here offered me solid advice. So I started to do that and it became a habit. I still do it to this day. I don't care what I shot on the front when I make the turn. I know if it's good or bad just by the kind of numbers I'm writing down.

 

So while doing the  mind tricks, I was keeping detailed stats of my round by hand. Score, drive distance, fairway hit or direction of miss, playable or not. Approach distance from green and club hit, green hit or where's the miss. # penalty strokes. First putt distance, last putt distance. Number of chips, number of putts. No Arccos back then, just a golf GPS and a scorecard to write everything on, lol.

 

Dunno if any of my rambling helps or makes sense but it is what I went through. I had some of the same struggles trying to break 90 and even now, I can lapse into some old patterns but it's not as common. Much better at letting go these days, lol.

All makes perfect sense. Thanks for the well thought out reply!!! I'm going to see if I can hide my scores on my Golf Pad app while still being able to keep score, if that makes sense. I did a better job this past round of not letting bad shots and bad holes get to me AS much as before. But it happened without me even thinking about it. Once I realized I was getting frustrated with myself, I quickly got myself back on track. But it was too little too late. I need to do a better job of realizing this and getting myself to refocus. I'm very capable of doing this, just have to me more aware of it. 

[BigTerp1524]

2 hours ago, TheDeanAbides said:

I haven't read all I've missed, but one thing I can offer that's essential. Don't start playing golf swing after a couple of bad shots. Just stick to your swing thought for the day and take dead aim. Everyone hits bad ones. 

You couldn't be more accurate. I'm doing better with this each round, but need to really dial it in next time. I've been using your swing thought of "hit through the ball" or "finish the shot" my last 2 rounds. Seems to be working pretty well.

Edited June 29, 2021 by BigTerp1524

[BigTerp1524]

My new putter will be delivered today. Pretty excited about it. I'll have a new practice routine now that I have a properly fit putter and putting mat. One evening will be full swing practice with my irons, hybrid and driver (if I can get outside with it) and the next evening will be putting and chipping on my putting mat. The mat is 12' and comes with a chipping mat. So I can work on chipping inside up to a distance of about 25' or so. I really want to hone my chipping/pitching skills. I'm pretty much just hitting pitch shots at this point, which is fine. But there are times when a chip or bump-n-run type shot would be more beneficial. It's just a matter of working on ball position and club selection for a chip versus a pitch, but I need to get comfortable with both. Monte has a lesson on bump-n-run shots that I need to go over and decide on a club to use for this. I was really encouraged with my short game improvement this past round. It was a night and day difference. If I can further hone my skills here, it'll be the best part of my game by far. 

[BigTerp1524]

I seem to have found my miss and it's a straight push right. I've been noticing the last few round that I hit this shot a good bit, mostly with my irons and occasionally with my hybrid. But it really shows up in my iron play. It's not a slice, but a straight push right. So it would seem I'm coming in to out with an open club face. Part of the problem I realized last night is I set up a bit closed. I squared myself up better last night while practicing and just that tiny adjustment felt pretty uncomfortable. Simple fix here, but something I'm going to have to work on. There are 2 other possible issues. One being that I'm shallowing the club too much and coming too much in to out. I do feel like I overdo cast A a bit at times or cast a bit too much past 8 o'clock. I went back through some of the drills for the NTC and in particular cast A and things seemed to get a little better. I'm going to go back through the NTC video series as a refresher, which I haven't done in a long time. Will be good to go back and work on the fundamentals again. I do not think the above is my issue though. I'm obviously still leaving the club head open at impact somehow since I never get a draw or hook with my irons. I do occasionally get a baby fade, especially with my driver. So this tells me my swing path is probably pretty good (which my latest video seems to confirm) but with a slightly open club face.  My main issue seems to be a block. My arm's are still trailing behind causing me to have to stall hip rotation through impact to give my hands/club time to catch up leaving the club head still a bit open at impact. Makes sense!! Combine that with a decent in to out swing path and you've got a straight push right. This is my main fault and ALL goes back to what Monte pointed out in my lesson about my shoulders spinning out at the start of transition. It's funny the more and more I analyze things as I'm working on my swing, it literally ALL comes back to what Monte pointed out as my fault. Spinning my shoulders out early which leaves my hands/arm/club trailing my body from transition on. That SOB knows what he's talking about!!!

 

I need to get some video to confirm all of the above. I just wasn't feeling it last night. But I'm pretty sure my hypothesis is going to be proven. I guess we can call this encouraging. Everything up to transition is pretty solid. I'm doing a much better job of bringing my takeaway straight back, not getting deep with my hands on the way up and not laying the club back as much at the top. I'm also shallowing the club nicely on the way back down. Just really need to work on my transition, specifically my shoulders, which is obviously the toughest part. 

 

I'm going to schedule an hour session on a simulator this weekend. Hoping to accomplish a few things with this session. First is I want to get a decent idea of distances with my new clubs and look for any glaring gaps. Secondly, I want to check the dynamic lie of my wedges and irons. Not sure I'm ready to make any lie adjustments even if the numbers say I need it. But it'll be informative to have a starting point as to what they currently are. I also want to see what my club path is as well as delivered face angle and impact position. This last bit of information should help me determine what my issue is with my miss of a push right. I'm not concerned with things like spin rate, AOA, launch angle, ball speed, etc. Just want the information that can help me analyze my swing. The place I'm going uses a GCQuad launch monitor. So it should be capable of providing me with all of the above information. Should be interesting!!

Edited July 1, 2021 by BigTerp1524

[betarhoalphadelta]

Note that there might be two club conditions contributing to the open clubface.

 

One is the larger grips. Larger grips are known to somewhat slow down the rotation of the arms and that can lead to a slightly open clubface. Especially if you're coming from standard grips, that might just be an adjustment thing to the clubs.

 

The second issue might be a too-flat lie angle. A too-flat lie angle can cause shots hit with a square clubface to start right, a too-upright lie angle can cause shots hit with a square clubface to start left. Most tall guys are fit into more upright lies, so pay attention to the dynamic lie and if it's off, that might be an easier fix than fixing a swing that's not broken. 

 

Oddly enough, with my clubs I went with the larger grips and I'm starting with standard lie specifically because my miss is the opposite--closing the clubface too much with an in-to-out path, which turns my nice beautiful draw into a pull hook 50y left of target lol...

[BigTerp1524]

8 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Note that there might be two club conditions contributing to the open clubface.

 

One is the larger grips. Larger grips are known to somewhat slow down the rotation of the arms and that can lead to a slightly open clubface. Especially if you're coming from standard grips, that might just be an adjustment thing to the clubs.

 

The second issue might be a too-flat lie angle. A too-flat lie angle can cause shots hit with a square clubface to start right, a too-upright lie angle can cause shots hit with a square clubface to start left. Most tall guys are fit into more upright lies, so pay attention to the dynamic lie and if it's off, that might be an easier fix than fixing a swing that's not broken. 

 

Oddly enough, with my clubs I went with the larger grips and I'm starting with standard lie specifically because my miss is the opposite--closing the clubface too much with an in-to-out path, which turns my nice beautiful draw into a pull hook 50y left of target lol...

I thought about the grips causing some issue, but I also had this miss with my previous clubs with standard grips. I'll keep an eye on this though.

 

Interesting observation on lie angle. Based on the sharpie test, my 7i is about perfect. I should be able to get a much better idea with all my other clubs using the GCQuad. I'm hoping they are OK, but like you said, if they are too flat than an adjustment might just be the ticket.

[BigTerp1524]

After reading @betarhoalphadelta post earlier about lie angles, I went ahead and did some testing in my rec room using my son's baseball net. Was rather nervous hitting real balls inside, but it worked out fine. I did hit the very top of the net (twice) with my 54. This was even with being as close to the net as I could without hitting it in my follow through. So my 58 stayed in the bag, LOL!! I realized the GCQuad requires stickers on each club and some other stuff to record club data. Not sure if the simulator I'm going to even has the add ons nor did I want to waist a bunch of time applying stickers to my clubs.

 

Here was my setup. Not something I'll be doing regularly as one errant shot could cause a lot of damage. But it worked really well.

 

I hit my 54 up through my 5i. Was too nervous to swing my 4i into the net. I used a sharpie line on the ball that transferred to the club face to show delivered lie angle. Every club was perfectly perpendicular. I already did this with my 7i and it was perfect as well. My 54 was the only one that was tilted a bit towards the heel meaning I might be sightly too flat. I'll do some more testing with the 54 the next time I'm on the range. The obvious takeaway though is my consistent hitting off the toe. Not sure if this is contributing to my push right or not, but something I need to figure out and then work on.

Edited July 2, 2021 by BigTerp1524

[TheDeanAbides]

On 7/1/2021 at 2:32 PM, BigTerp1524 said:

I seem to have found my miss and it's a straight push right. I've been noticing the last few round that I hit this shot a good bit, mostly with my irons and occasionally with my hybrid. But it really shows up in my iron play. It's not a slice, but a straight push right. So it would seem I'm coming in to out with an open club face. Part of the problem I realized last night is I set up a bit closed. I squared myself up better last night while practicing and just that tiny adjustment felt pretty uncomfortable. Simple fix here, but something I'm going to have to work on. There are 2 other possible issues. One being that I'm shallowing the club too much and coming too much in to out. I do feel like I overdo cast A a bit at times or cast a bit too much past 8 o'clock. I went back through some of the drills for the NTC and in particular cast A and things seemed to get a little better. I'm going to go back through the NTC video series as a refresher, which I haven't done in a long time. Will be good to go back and work on the fundamentals again. I do not think the above is my issue though. I'm obviously still leaving the club head open at impact somehow since I never get a draw or hook with my irons. I do occasionally get a baby fade, especially with my driver. So this tells me my swing path is probably pretty good (which my latest video seems to confirm) but with a slightly open club face.  My main issue seems to be a block. My arm's are still trailing behind causing me to have to stall hip rotation through impact to give my hands/club time to catch up leaving the club head still a bit open at impact. Makes sense!! Combine that with a decent in to out swing path and you've got a straight push right. This is my main fault and ALL goes back to what Monte pointed out in my lesson about my shoulders spinning out at the start of transition. It's funny the more and more I analyze things as I'm working on my swing, it literally ALL comes back to what Monte pointed out as my fault. Spinning my shoulders out early which leaves my hands/arm/club trailing my body from transition on. That SOB knows what he's talking about!!!

 

I need to get some video to confirm all of the above. I just wasn't feeling it last night. But I'm pretty sure my hypothesis is going to be proven. I guess we can call this encouraging. Everything up to transition is pretty solid. I'm doing a much better job of bringing my takeaway straight back, not getting deep with my hands on the way up and not laying the club back as much at the top. I'm also shallowing the club nicely on the way back down. Just really need to work on my transition, specifically my shoulders, which is obviously the toughest part. 

 

I'm going to schedule an hour session on a simulator this weekend. Hoping to accomplish a few things with this session. First is I want to get a decent idea of distances with my new clubs and look for any glaring gaps. Secondly, I want to check the dynamic lie of my wedges and irons. Not sure I'm ready to make any lie adjustments even if the numbers say I need it. But it'll be informative to have a starting point as to what they currently are. I also want to see what my club path is as well as delivered face angle and impact position. This last bit of information should help me determine what my issue is with my miss of a push right. I'm not concerned with things like spin rate, AOA, launch angle, ball speed, etc. Just want the information that can help me analyze my swing. The place I'm going uses a GCQuad launch monitor. So it should be capable of providing me with all of the above information. Should be interesting!!

Watch that you're not dropping your right shoulder when you do cast A. That's the classic reason for getting too inside. 

[BigTerp1524]

7 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

Watch that you're not dropping your right shoulder when you do cast A. That's the classic reason for getting too inside. 

Thanks. It looks like I might be a little guilty of that, but hard to tell. I'm definitely still tied up at impact a bit, which would obviously have me pulling the club in some and hitting the toe. But when I compare my hand position at setup to impact it's pretty much in the same spot. Has me a little confused. Maybe I should try setting up a hair further away from the ball? 

 

Impact position. Still doing a poor job of getting my hips rotated through, but you can see how my hands look pulled into my body.

 

Setup position versus impact position.

 

Impact position again. The red X is where my hands are at setup. Interesting that they come back through right where they were at setup, but look pulled into the body.

 

And here is some video from 2 weeks ago.

 

 

I'm going to hook back up with Monte for another lesson shortly. I'm sure he'll get me squared away. I've just got a pretty busy next 2 months coming up though, so gotta find some time to fit one in.

[glk]

Yes get another lesson.  I see arms getting too deep with left arm coming across chest - on downswing rms have a lot of distance to travel out versus down - shaft gets steep relative to backswing - arms too far behind so brain says stall body or else will hit it way out right - and to shallow right shoulder start to drop after p5 and right arm extends.   
 

keeping arms in front will go along way to improve sequence - for you I imagine this could feel like your left arm stays parallel to the target line and doesn’t come inside at all - a possible feel.

 

a possible drill.  When I do this I think my arm has to be parallel to the target line but if I put my right ha d on the club and look at it from dtl my hands are in great spot right across from my right pec.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2021 by glk

[BigTerp1524]

7 minutes ago, glk said:

Yes get another lesson.  I see arms getting too deep with left arm coming across chest - on downswing rms have a lot of distance to travel out versus down - shaft gets steep relative to backswing - arms too far behind so brain says stall body or else will hit it way out right - and to shallow right shoulder start to drop after p5 and right arm extends.   
 

keeping arms in front will go along way to improve sequence - for you I imagine this could feel like your left arm stays parallel to the target line and doesn’t come inside at all - a possible feel.

 

a possible drill.  When I do this I think my arm has to be parallel to the target line but if I put my right ha d on the club and look at it from dtl my hands are in great spot right across from my right pec.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks. 

 

I noticed I was getting too deep on the way back when I took this video 2 weeks ago. Something I've been working on since. Here was my thoughts on it then. You seem to be on the same page, which has me half believing I'm starting to understand the golf swing a bit. HA!!!!

 

 

Thanks for the tip(s) and the drill. Getting that first little part of the takeaway good will go a long way to helping me get to the top in a better position. 

[glk]

21 minutes ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Thanks. 

 

I noticed I was getting too deep on the way back when I took this video 2 weeks ago. Something I've been working on since. Here was my thoughts on it then. You seem to be on the same page, which has me half believing I'm starting to understand the golf swing a bit. HA!!!!

 

 

Thanks for the tip(s) and the drill. Getting that first little part of the takeaway good will go a long way to helping me get to the top in a better position. 

One of my swing dna I need to watch is arms too inside - that drill is from a dd lesson - I use it often - intent is to have left arm go down parallel to target line - I even feel I’m parallel  but reality is I’m in great position with hands across from right pec.  Feel isn’t real.

 

hereis what I think I’m doing

Not me but here is where I really get from the drill. Biggest difference is in how my right arm works in backswing.

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2021 by glk

[BigTerp1524]

3 minutes ago, glk said:

One of my swing dna I need to watch is arms too inside - that drill is from a dd lesson - I use it often - intent is to have left arm go down parallel to target line - I even feel I’m parallel  but reality is I’m in great position with hands across from right pec.  Feel isn’t real.

 

hereis what I think I’m doing

Not me but here is where I really get from the drill. Biggest difference is in how my right arm works in backswing.

 

 

 

Makes sense. What caught my eye to this was an AMG IG video where they addressed this very issue. They also felt the hands being somewhere around the right pec was ideal. Definitely not outside the body like my hands are getting. When I get it right I can definitely feel the difference in how my arms are able to synch up with my body MUCH easier. They drop down versus out and everything just feels much better. I've effectively shortened by back swing, which helped with keeping my arms from trailing, but this deep move to the top is essentially putting me in the same position. It all makes total sense. Getting it fixed is the tough part, just like most of what I've been working on throughout this entire process. Just need to keep at it!!

[TheDeanAbides]

15 minutes ago, glk said:

One of my swing dna I need to watch is arms too inside - that drill is from a dd lesson - I use it often - intent is to have left arm go down parallel to target line - I even feel I’m parallel  but reality is I’m in great position with hands across from right pec.  Feel isn’t real.

 

hereis what I think I’m doing

Not me but here is where I really get from the drill. Biggest difference is in how my right arm works in backswing.

 

 

 

This is a great drill I use too. I set a club/stick in the hands at address line and feel like they stay on that until P3. They don't quite, but it's a good feel to stop the sucking inside.

[BigTerp1524]

9 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

This is a great drill I use too. I set a club/stick in the hands at address line and feel like they stay on that until P3. They don't quite, but it's a good feel to stop the sucking inside.

I'll definitely give this a try. I mentioned this earlier, but another thing I noticed is I setup ever so slightly closed which, in theory, would force me to come inside. I've been working on it, but I think getting this part of my setup correct will also help my takeaway.

[TheDeanAbides]

20 minutes ago, BigTerp1524 said:

I'll definitely give this a try. I mentioned this earlier, but another thing I noticed is I setup ever so slightly closed which, in theory, would force me to come inside. I've been working on it, but I think getting this part of my setup correct will also help my takeaway.

Only being closed with the shoulders will really do that. The foot line has very little to do with it. 

[BigTerp1524]

47 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

Only being closed with the shoulders will really do that. The foot line has very little to do with it. 

Makes sense. Hard to tell if my shoulders are also slightly closed or not. My feet are just slightly closed. But making the adjustment to getting them more neutral is a drastically different feel. It's amazing how a slight adjustment here or there can feel so drastic!!! 

 

I feel like, at this point, I've nailed down a lot of things I've been working on. Monte said the hardest thing to correct for me was going to be keeping my shoulders closed longer in transition. Even said I may never get it fully. It's very encouraging, however, to come across things like this that I can work on to keep progressing. I really think getting the inside takeaway and deep hands coming up sorted out is going to be a game changer. I'm certainly going to put in the work to find out!!

[BigTerp1524]

Spent an hour on the simulator over the weekend. Goal was to dial in my distances with my irons and wedges and to come up with some distances for half/shorter swing wedges and short irons. I hit it OK. Was a little tough getting things consistent hitting off a mat into a screen. Just an odd kind of feeling. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I don't seem to be hitting things as far as I thought. Probably 10 yards or so shorter. Not an issue at all, but good information to know. My gaps seem pretty good. 15ish yard between my longer irons and it goes down to around 10 yard gaps between my short irons and wedges. No glaring gaps that I found that need addressed. Could probably use another hybrid or wood to fit the gap between my 4h and driver. But that's not something that needs any sort of immediate attention. I did not mess with club path, delivered lie angle, etc. as I would've had to sticker each individual club to get that information. Didn't feel like I had the time to do that. The majority of my misses were right again. Some just plain bad hits, but most were that push right I've been talking about. At least I now have a consistent miss that I can have addressed with Monte once I find the time to have another lesson.

 

Cannot fit in another round until the 18th. But I'll have 2 rounds scheduled for that week. Will be out of town this week and will get a solid week break from swinging a club. My body needs it. Have had a sore wrist for a few weeks now and a bit of biceps tendonitis. Nothing terrible by any means, just a bit annoying. Both probably from hitting off the mat in my rec room. Hopefully a week off will calm things down.    

[BigTerp1524]

Got back to it last night after nearly a week of not swinging a club. The break was nice, honestly, and it felt more productive last night. Not sure if it was the physical or mental break but either way it seems to have been needed. Lately I've been working on 2 things. The first is my takeaway and concentrating on getting it straight back from the ball and not sucking the club in on the way up. The second corresponds to the first, but it's keeping my hands from getting too deep at the top. This one seems to be really helping me keep my shoulders closed in that first part of the transition and allows me to easier get my hands down versus out and shallow the club. It also gets me a little better width at the top without even having to think about it. These are all feels and I need to get video to confirm, but I feel like things have been synching up much better since I've been working on the above. Makes sense to my mind because if I'm getting too deep at the top I HAVE to spin my shoulders out early and bring my hands out to get the club in a decent position on the way down. Even with doing those compensations, by starting too deep from the top my arms and still behind. Something that's been helping to engrain this is SUPER slow motion swings sort of pausing and pumping at different positions on the way up and back down to impact and then taking a full swing. Was hitting foam balls into a net, but the initial ball flight is now a bit left of center versus a push right. So something is obviously changing. 

 

Another thing I've been working on is half swings, particularly with my short irons and wedges. This is something that has been feast or famine for me on the course, just not consistent at all. I've found that working on cast B here is the key for me. Sometimes when doing a half swing I don't release the club at all (cast B) and leave the face wide open sending my shot 45 degrees to the right. This is something I'm really going to work on moving forward as these type of approach shots are extremely important and the difference between a makeable putt and having to pitch/chip from off the green.

 

Now that I have a putting mat, I've been separating my practice time into full swing work one day and then putting and pitching/chipping the next. Breaks up the monotony nicely and gives my body a break from beating balls of a mat on a concrete floor daily. 

 

I've got 2 rounds scheduled for next week. The first is Sunday at a course I've played quite a bit. It's narrow and OB everywhere. I don't play particularly well at this course, but haven't played it in 6 weeks. I feel like I've made some strides since then to beat my personal best of 110 at this course. The second course I haven't played in probably 10 years. But it's long and pretty open, which I should be able to take a bit of advantage of. Hoping to see some continued improve!!

[betarhoalphadelta]

1 hour ago, BigTerp1524 said:

 

Another thing I've been working on is half swings, particularly with my short irons and wedges. This is something that has been feast or famine for me on the course, just not consistent at all. I've found that working on cast B here is the key for me. Sometimes when doing a half swing I don't release the club at all (cast B) and leave the face wide open sending my shot 45 degrees to the right. This is something I'm really going to work on moving forward as these type of approach shots are extremely important and the difference between a makeable putt and having to pitch/chip from off the green.

 

 

I've found that one of my misses on partial swings is getting lazy about closing the clubface and blocking a shot to the right. It's just a mental block where I'm taking a partial effort swing and don't finish it.

 

One of the things I do on the range is to take a lot of partial PW/SW/LW shots aiming at a specific target, trying to land the ball at an exact distance. At our range they've got 55-gallon drums out at short distances (50-60 yards). It's a good way for me to focus not only on distance but on getting the clubface closed and not blocking the shot. 

 

Just need to keep practicing and working this one, because it's not a mechanical "swing flaw" that's causing you to block them right--you just need to focus on completing the swing but at less speed/effort. 

[BigTerp1524]

16 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

I've found that one of my misses on partial swings is getting lazy about closing the clubface and blocking a shot to the right. It's just a mental block where I'm taking a partial effort swing and don't finish it.

 

One of the things I do on the range is to take a lot of partial PW/SW/LW shots aiming at a specific target, trying to land the ball at an exact distance. At our range they've got 55-gallon drums out at short distances (50-60 yards). It's a good way for me to focus not only on distance but on getting the clubface closed and not blocking the shot. 

 

Just need to keep practicing and working this one, because it's not a mechanical "swing flaw" that's causing you to block them right--you just need to focus on completing the swing but at less speed/effort. 

Yeah, you nailed it pretty good. I'm trying to "finesse" the half swing shots and don't finish them. I've been doing some work on this to get it engrained, and really working on cast B here forces me to finish and hit through the ball rather than slowing up at the last second because I'm trying to finesse it. Similar to what happens when you slow down through a chip shot and end up digging the club and chunking the chip. @TheDeanAbidesgave me the idea of having a single swing thought of "finish the shot" or "hit through the ball". It's worked well for getting all the other crap out of my head with full swings and with half swings it's actually what I need to do. Going to continue with that type of swing thought for everything. When I think about it, half shots and even pitches and chips I've got too much going on in my head.