Be Better, Brad! (Update 4-11-2024 with new swing videos)

[betarhoalphadelta]

Wedges due to arrive tomorrow!

[bortass]

41 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Wedges due to arrive tomorrow!

That's great, when will you get a chance to test them? oooo and pics too!

[betarhoalphadelta]

TBD... I'm hoping to hit the range tomorrow morning, but that'll be before they're here. I wonder if I can sneak out for a quick 9 at the exec course Friday AM... Not like I'll have a clue of my distances lol.

 

Trying to schedule a higher end course for next weekend around my birthday, which is hard because I don't know the distances on any of my irons or wedges now. And then in mid-Aug I've got my wife's stepdad in town so we're going to play a fancy course...

 

I need to book a Trackman session to figure out how far these clubs go...

[bortass]

I think you'll figure it out fairly quickly on the course if you can't get on a simulator. I'd say you might see 10 - 15 yard gain but I'm no expert and you have a decent length change. 

 

There may be an adjustment period to the new irons as well. For me, I had some issues with blading the ball off to the right when I got the new irons. It just took some reps to get used to the added length and shaft change. The more you can swing them the better IMO to get used to things. It'll still be different on the course since you'll be on grass.  How was the range session?

 

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I got on the range but the wedges haven't gotten here yet, so I hit everything except them. 

 

I really feel like the changes from my lesson with Monte are starting to click. The first thing I was finding was that I was getting hips open at impact, but I was still early extending and I don't think I was getting into right side bend. I'm starting to feel that when I get weight back to the left side, get the left hip back, and get the right side bend, I'm not only getting better impact but I'm getting more distance. It also tends to temper some of my draw/hook tendencies when I do it right. I think that's getting my hands out away from my body more and reducing the severity of my in->out path. One of the first things that Monte showed me was where my hands were at P6 and said "it's not going to be possible to get open like that", and although we focused on a different feel when I was in my lesson, I've never forgotten that bit.

 

Need to take some video to see if the feel is real. Thinking I'm going to try to get another range session tomorrow, and will take some video.

 

As for the clubs, I'm getting a lot more comfortable with them as well. I was a little worried the first range session that I wasn't getting the distance with the 4h and 5i, and was seriously concerned that I was going to have issues with compressed gapping at the top of the bag... Today that was definitely not the case, especially when I got the above-mentioned motion correct. The ball was getting out there!

[BigTerp1524]

19 hours ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

I'm starting to feel that when I get weight back to the left side, get the left hip back, and get the right side bend, I'm not only getting better impact but I'm getting more distance.

This sounds like it's really synching up your swing. Such a good feeling!! 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Wedges didn't arrive yesterday. Grr. 

 

UPS says sometime today.

 

I did get to the range again this morning, and it went well. This motion is definitely starting to feel "right", and the ballstriking agrees...

 

 

 

 

 

[BigTerp1524]

Dude, looking good to my eyes!!

[bortass]

 

 

1 hour ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Dude, looking good to my eyes!!

Damn, looking real good to me as well.

 

Hope your wedges arrive soon!

[betarhoalphadelta]

UPS says tomorrow...

 

Gonna try to play 9 with my son Sunday AM. Will be... interesting... with wedges I've never swung before lol...

[betarhoalphadelta]

[BigTerp1524]

On 7/17/2021 at 8:04 PM, betarhoalphadelta said:

Those are sharp!!!

[betarhoalphadelta]

Played 9 at the exec course yesterday to dial in my wedges... I'll give an abbreviated recap. Stuck to the 52 all day because I plan to make it my primary pitching club, so I wanted to get as many swings as possible.

1. First time ever hitting a ball with my 52, and I struck it PERFECTLY--20 yards past the hole. Oops. Gotta learn distance control. Pitched back on also with the 52 and two putted for bogey. 
2. Hit the 52 and was perfectly pin-high at about 100 yards, not more than 15 feet from the hole. 2-putted for par.
3. Hit the 52 at about 80 yards, and was pin-high about 12 feet left of the pin. 2-putted for par.
4. This is a tiny hole (about 45 where the tees/pin were yesterday), so it was a little swing with the 52. Rolled it up to 4 feet right of the hole, pin high. Missed the birdie and two-putted for par.
5. This is the short (190 yesterday) par 4. I got greedy and went for it with a 6i, which I proceeded to top 50 yards for my only mis-hit of the day. From 140 hit the PW to the fringe ~35 feet from the hole. Hit my putt too far, but made the 8-footer coming back for par.
6. Another tiny hole, playing about 55. Little swing with the 52, rolled it up pin-high about 15 feet from the hole. Three-putted for bogey. Oof.
7. Often PW or GW, but the tees were up and it was playing 100, so the 52. Hit the 52 a little past the pin distance into the rough right of the green. This is a narrow green so it was still a pretty decent shot. Got a little too much turf and grass on the chip, and left it 15 feet short. And then three-putted for double. Oof.
8. Playing about 100 to a back pin, hit the 52 a little past pin high and right, on the back of the green. Had about 20 footer for birdie, which I left an inch below the hole. Par.
9. The par 4 over the ravine. Hit 9i off the tee. Caught it a bit low on the face, but overall good, and drew it into the center-left of the fairway. With 100 left to go, again pulled the 52. Also seemed to catch it a little low by the trajectory, and thought I'd be over--but it hit and grabbed the back of the green and stopped dead. I guess I "flighted it down" lol! 25 feet, and I... Three-putted for bogey. 

So I got around in a 34 (+5), which is a good score, but I know I left a lot of strokes out there based on my performance with the putter. I could have been close to even just by avoiding those three-putts, and I still don't know how I missed a 4-footer for birdie. Just terrible. 5 pars when you have 6 GIR and one on the fringe, and 20 putts overall (counting the fringe putt on 5) when you put a lot of balls close to pins on small, slow, greens? Not my best day.

 

The 52, though, was GREAT. I was worried that the wedges would feel a little heavy with the longer shafts and staying in the Modus 120, but it just felt like a scalpel in my hands. Seemed like it knew exactly what I wanted (once I got past the first hole, anyway). Extremely happy with the choice.

[bortass]

On 7/17/2021 at 8:04 PM, betarhoalphadelta said:

Did you go with a low bounce 60?

[bortass]

4 hours ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Played 9 at the exec course yesterday to dial in my wedges... I'll give an abbreviated recap. Stuck to the 52 all day because I plan to make it my primary pitching club, so I wanted to get as many swings as possible.

1. First time ever hitting a ball with my 52, and I struck it PERFECTLY--20 yards past the hole. Oops. Gotta learn distance control. Pitched back on also with the 52 and two putted for bogey. 
2. Hit the 52 and was perfectly pin-high at about 100 yards, not more than 15 feet from the hole. 2-putted for par.
3. Hit the 52 at about 80 yards, and was pin-high about 12 feet left of the pin. 2-putted for par.
4. This is a tiny hole (about 45 where the tees/pin were yesterday), so it was a little swing with the 52. Rolled it up to 4 feet right of the hole, pin high. Missed the birdie and two-putted for par.
5. This is the short (190 yesterday) par 4. I got greedy and went for it with a 6i, which I proceeded to top 50 yards for my only mis-hit of the day. From 140 hit the PW to the fringe ~35 feet from the hole. Hit my putt too far, but made the 8-footer coming back for par.
6. Another tiny hole, playing about 55. Little swing with the 52, rolled it up pin-high about 15 feet from the hole. Three-putted for bogey. Oof.
7. Often PW or GW, but the tees were up and it was playing 100, so the 52. Hit the 52 a little past the pin distance into the rough right of the green. This is a narrow green so it was still a pretty decent shot. Got a little too much turf and grass on the chip, and left it 15 feet short. And then three-putted for double. Oof.
8. Playing about 100 to a back pin, hit the 52 a little past pin high and right, on the back of the green. Had about 20 footer for birdie, which I left an inch below the hole. Par.
9. The par 4 over the ravine. Hit 9i off the tee. Caught it a bit low on the face, but overall good, and drew it into the center-left of the fairway. With 100 left to go, again pulled the 52. Also seemed to catch it a little low by the trajectory, and thought I'd be over--but it hit and grabbed the back of the green and stopped dead. I guess I "flighted it down" lol! 25 feet, and I... Three-putted for bogey. 

So I got around in a 34 (+5), which is a good score, but I know I left a lot of strokes out there based on my performance with the putter. I could have been close to even just by avoiding those three-putts, and I still don't know how I missed a 4-footer for birdie. Just terrible. 5 pars when you have 6 GIR and one on the fringe, and 20 putts overall (counting the fringe putt on 5) when you put a lot of balls close to pins on small, slow, greens? Not my best day.

 

The 52, though, was GREAT. I was worried that the wedges would feel a little heavy with the longer shafts and staying in the Modus 120, but it just felt like a scalpel in my hands. Seemed like it knew exactly what I wanted (once I got past the first hole, anyway). Extremely happy with the choice.

This is great! I can relate to the missed putts after the kick in the teeth I had this weekend. I definitely feel like there's some solid improvement in your game from the recaps I have read. This is just projection on my part but I get the feeling you are more confident out there as well.

 

I may be in the market for another wedge since I think I'm playing with 12 clubs right now, so I'm very curious about how you like the wedges as you use them more.

[betarhoalphadelta]

6 minutes ago, bortass said:

Did you go with a low bounce 60?

 

Yes, 60/6.

 

Picked because I hated my Ping Glide 3.0 60/14. SoCal muni courses are basically scrub grass over hardpan in what they call a "fairway", so there are a lot of tight lies on hard ground. I don't think 14 degrees of bounce helped me much. I actually found myself using it more in the sand and in fluffy rough, because it was so hard to hit off the fairway.

 

I think this will help. 

 

1 minute ago, bortass said:

This is great! I can relate to the missed putts after the kick in the teeth I had this weekend. I definitely feel like there's some solid improvement in your game from the recaps I have read. This is just projection on my part but I get the feeling you are more confident out there as well.

 

I may be in the market for another wedge since I think I'm playing with 12 clubs right now, so I'm very curious about how you like the wedges as you use them more.

 

Yeah, I really feel like I'm on the edge of turning a corner. I think all the work on the range has helped, and my contact has been much more consistent across the board. 

 

I'll try to update on the wedges as I play more. What specifically are you looking for in your wedge setup that you're missing today? That's how I picked mine. Set PW and GW are basically 10i and 11i clubs... Full-swing clubs to hit specific distances. The 52/10 will be my pitching/chipping workhorse. I wanted to have one club that is my "go-to" since I don't have enough time to practice every shot with every wedge. 56/10 will be primarily for sand, and 60/6 will be when I absolutely need the loft. I don't plan that the 56 and 60 will necessarily fit "yardage gaps" but rather they'll fit "shot types" instead. 

[bortass]

21 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

Yes, 60/6.

 

Picked because I hated my Ping Glide 3.0 60/14. SoCal muni courses are basically scrub grass over hardpan in what they call a "fairway", so there are a lot of tight lies on hard ground. I don't think 14 degrees of bounce helped me much. I actually found myself using it more in the sand and in fluffy rough, because it was so hard to hit off the fairway.

 

I think this will help. 

 

 

Yeah, I really feel like I'm on the edge of turning a corner. I think all the work on the range has helped, and my contact has been much more consistent across the board. 

 

I'll try to update on the wedges as I play more. What specifically are you looking for in your wedge setup that you're missing today? That's how I picked mine. Set PW and GW are basically 10i and 11i clubs... Full-swing clubs to hit specific distances. The 52/10 will be my pitching/chipping workhorse. I wanted to have one club that is my "go-to" since I don't have enough time to practice every shot with every wedge. 56/10 will be primarily for sand, and 60/6 will be when I absolutely need the loft. I don't plan that the 56 and 60 will necessarily fit "yardage gaps" but rather they'll fit "shot types" instead. 

Thanks for the info.

 

My wedges are all Sim2 Max, +0.5 inches. Lofts are 43.5, 49, and 54 respectively. AW and SW are 9* bounce.

 

My wedge usage is pretty simple right now. I use my PW, AW, and SW for partial shots. I don't think I have hit a full shot with any of them since I got the new irons. I may have hit some full PW shots in the last year with my old sets but it's rare. I use the SW for all of my chipping, pitching, and bunker shots. What I'd be looking for is something to use for partial shots below the SW. My SW partial shot is about 70 yards right now and it used to be 60 with my old SW. I'd like another club for the same partial shot that would help when I'm 50-60 yards out. Not sure if another wedge would help or if it's time to learn a smaller partial swing....

 

Also wondering if a low bounce 60 would help when I land in one of our bunkers that has less than an inch of sand on top of clay/hardpan. Tired of skipping my SW off the clay and into the ball when i get that type of lie...

 

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

5 minutes ago, bortass said:

Thanks for the info.

 

My wedges are all Sim2 Max, +0.5 inches. Lofts are 43.5, 49, and 54 respectively. AW and SW are 9* bounce.

 

My wedge usage is pretty simple right now. I use my PW, AW, and SW for partial shots. I don't think I have hit a full shot with any of them since I got the new irons. I may have hit some full PW shots in the last year with my old sets but it's rare. I use the SW for all of my chipping, pitching, and bunker shots. What I'd be looking for is something to use for partial shots below the SW. My SW partial shot is about 70 yards right now and it used to be 60 with my old SW. I'd like another club for the same partial shot that would help when I'm 50-60 yards out. Not sure if another wedge would help or if it's time to learn a smaller partial swing....

 

Also wondering if a low bounce 60 would help when I land in one of our bunkers that has less than an inch of sand on top of clay/hardpan. Tired of skipping my SW off the clay and into the ball when i get that type of lie...

 

 

 

Ahh, got it. If you're looking for specific distance gaps, yeah a 58 or 60 would work to fill that gap.

 

I personally look at it more that it's a specialized tool, for example your description of hard bunkers, or my example of when I have a short-sided pitch that I need to get a lot of loft and land soft to avoid run-out. 

 

For example I picked the 52 on holes 4 and 6 yesterday, which were playing 45 and 55 yards, respectively. I could have used the 60 on 4, because the green slopes slightly away from the tee. If it had been a front pin, I would have done so, but I figured I had enough green to allow it to roll, and used the 52. On hole 6, the green slopes pretty strongly back to front, so I had no concern about the pitch stopping with the 52. 

 

Neither of them were chosen based on the distance of the shot, rather they were based on what I wanted the ball to do when it landed.

[bortass]

13 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

Ahh, got it. If you're looking for specific distance gaps, yeah a 58 or 60 would work to fill that gap.

 

I personally look at it more that it's a specialized tool, for example your description of hard bunkers, or my example of when I have a short-sided pitch that I need to get a lot of loft and land soft to avoid run-out. 

 

For example I picked the 52 on holes 4 and 6 yesterday, which were playing 45 and 55 yards, respectively. I could have used the 60 on 4, because the green slopes slightly away from the tee. If it had been a front pin, I would have done so, but I figured I had enough green to allow it to roll, and used the 52. On hole 6, the green slopes pretty strongly back to front, so I had no concern about the pitch stopping with the 52. 

 

Neither of them were chosen based on the distance of the shot, rather they were based on what I wanted the ball to do when it landed.

Regarding specialized shots, I have used a 60 in the past for those where I need to get high and soft. I could flop my old 56* SW if needed though. I almost never use that shot but I know how to do it and my results tend to be decent with it. My chips already tend to be high and don't run long distances, probably a technique issue, lol.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Rough day today. Went from +9 last time I played this course to +31 today.

 

One birdie, two pars, and a lot of crap.

 

A lot of sand problems, a lot of balls curving left, and a lot of weakness in the short game.

 

Not my best outing. Not even something I can blame on new clubs... It was all me.

[berndgeurts]

On 7/16/2021 at 8:39 PM, betarhoalphadelta said:

Wedges didn't arrive yesterday. Grr. 

 

UPS says sometime today.

 

I did get to the range again this morning, and it went well. This motion is definitely starting to feel "right", and the ballstriking agrees...

 

 

 

 

 

Looks Nice, I'm not a pro and nowhere near someone like Monte, but why are you tilting your head? Like laying down your right ear on your shoulder?

Shallowing looks better.

 

Enjoy your new wedges. Tip: play a par3 course and play 3 balls and use all the wedges on all distances. You Will be forced to hit halves and 3/4, high and low, spinny and floppy etc

[BigTerp1524]

14 hours ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Rough day today. Went from +9 last time I played this course to +31 today.

 

One birdie, two pars, and a lot of crap.

 

A lot of sand problems, a lot of balls curving left, and a lot of weakness in the short game.

 

Not my best outing. Not even something I can blame on new clubs... It was all me.

Such a tough game. Stick with it!!!

[betarhoalphadelta]

8 hours ago, berndgeurts said:

Looks Nice, I'm not a pro and nowhere near someone like Monte, but why are you tilting your head? Like laying down your right ear on your shoulder?

Shallowing looks better.

 

Enjoy your new wedges. Tip: play a par3 course and play 3 balls and use all the wedges on all distances. You Will be forced to hit halves and 3/4, high and low, spinny and floppy etc

 

Good question re: tilt... I don't know? Just feels natural... Once I work through this change and go see Monte again I might ask him. He didn't mention it in my first lesson.

 

Re: the par 3, that's a good idea. I'll need to get out there on a weekday morning when it's not busy to do that, but that'll be a good way to start understanding my wedge distances more effectively. 

 

1 hour ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Such a tough game. Stick with it!!!

 

Yeah, it was just a rough one. With a couple of exceptions (the 4h), I was doing a pretty good job of putting the clubface on the ball--it was just almost always left of the green. I only made 3 GIR, and those were my 3 par-or-better scores. I was in the sand 4 times--it took me 6 strokes to get out total.

 

Putting was rough. Lag putting was good, and I actually made two difficult long putts (including on my birdie)... But I 2-putted from 3 feet a total of three times, and had a couple of mid-range putts to save par that I just couldn't make. I even 4-putted one hole...

 

Definitely need to spend some time on the putting mat before my next round...

[bortass]

16 hours ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Rough day today. Went from +9 last time I played this course to +31 today.

 

One birdie, two pars, and a lot of crap.

 

A lot of sand problems, a lot of balls curving left, and a lot of weakness in the short game.

 

Not my best outing. Not even something I can blame on new clubs... It was all me.

I wish I could say I do not know the feeling but I do. It's frustrating, at least for me, but it looks like you have an idea on a couple areas to do some additional work on, sand and short game. I think you may be able to fix your sand game fairly quickly. By fix I mean, get out in 1 without blading it over the green the majority of the time, not hit it to 5 feet all the time. This is just based on my experience but it only took a handful of range sessions where I hit a dozen or so balls out of the practice bunker to see an improvement on the course. I recall you said the practice bunker at one of the places near you is bad but it may be better than nothing. The caveat is if the practice bunker is crappy and the sand traps you are in on the course are more like what you see on tour. I run into this problem at times because home course has bad bunkers with no sand and I hit a sand shot based on that, sister courses just redid all their bunkers and have inches of sand in them like a beach. Still you need to have some sort of sand shot IMO unless you regularly play a course without many bunker like I did in Maine.

 

Was it a particular type of short game shot that gave you issues or is it a mix?

 

You've read my thread and know I've been resistant to dropping my full swing work to focus on short game and putting. I think full swing needs to be our long term focus because that's where most high HCP players are bleeding strokes unless the person in question is actually the exception that proves the rule. Shoring up the short game in the mean time is worth it. Mine's getting a bit better just from hitting chips and pitches on the range as part of my warm up. It still is bad since I am more likely to blade it still but even a small improvement pays off. I'm not devoting much time to it but it's something.

 

 

[bortass]

7 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

[snip]

Yeah, it was just a rough one. With a couple of exceptions (the 4h), I was doing a pretty good job of putting the clubface on the ball--it was just almost always left of the green. I only made 3 GIR, and those were my 3 par-or-better scores. I was in the sand 4 times--it took me 6 strokes to get out total.

 

[snip]

Sorry for the spam, but you replied as I was typing my prior post.

 

I take this as a good sign actually. A consistent miss. Is there a particular ball flight you and Monte are working towards? My previous pro and I set out with the goal of me hitting a draw since I was a chronic slicer. I eventually started to almost always lose the ball left as I improved, so we adjusted things as time went on. Nowadays, I don't care if it's a fade or draw but I'd like to eventually miss mostly in one direction. It makes life easier on the course.

 

Also getting a birdie and two pars on the GIRS you had is a great thing. You had three opportunities to score and did so each time. To me that's very positive.

[BigTerp1524]

20 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Yeah, it was just a rough one. With a couple of exceptions (the 4h), I was doing a pretty good job of putting the clubface on the ball--it was just almost always left of the green. I only made 3 GIR, and those were my 3 par-or-better scores. I was in the sand 4 times--it took me 6 strokes to get out total.

 

Putting was rough. Lag putting was good, and I actually made two difficult long putts (including on my birdie)... But I 2-putted from 3 feet a total of three times, and had a couple of mid-range putts to save par that I just couldn't make. I even 4-putted one hole...

 

Definitely need to spend some time on the putting mat before my next round...

I agree with @bortass that you've identified the areas you need to work on, so it's just a matter of sorting that out (putting and sand). I struggle in the sand as well. I spend a good bit of time in the practice bunker hitting probably 25 or 30 balls 2 rounds ago. Started to get an OK feeling for it, using the tips from Monte's UTB 2.0. But didn't find myself in the sand until the next round, which I proceeded to hit it thin to the other side of the green. The sand intimidates me more than anything. Just another mental hurdle to get over.

 

And just like @bortass also said, you seem to have found a consistent miss. That should be encouraging. Not only does that indicate consistency in your swing, but if you're consistently missing left you can play that shot with a lot more confidence than if you're spraying it all over (like my driver, LOL!!!).  

[betarhoalphadelta]

@bortass Honestly I don't think it was necessarily my short game that was the problem (outside of the sand, of course). I actually made some really nice chips/pitches to get me into position for a save, but didn't make enough putts. I finished with 38 putts for the round.

 

There were just some holes where that left miss put me in really bad places where my short game isn't good enough to get up and down reliably. Areas where I had very long pitches, areas where I was in the sand, and two water penalties. 

 

And carding a 9 on one hole didn't help lol...

 

@BigTerp1524 Yeah, I know where my miss is going to be... I'm still trying to figure out how big it's going to be on any given swing... I can hook a 9i 50 yards left when it starts at the pin lol. My hands get too inside on the downswing so my in->out path can be pretty severe. 

 

When I shot the +9 a few weeks ago, I was aiming right and the result was mostly a draw back to the center. All 3 of my GIR were like that yesterday, but I had quite a few holes where I aimed right yesterday and the hook ended up well left of the green. It's too big of a miss to just compensate for, so I need to fix it in the swing.

 

What I've noticed on the range is that if I get both rotation and pull the left hip back on the downswing like we're supposed to in order to avoid early extension, it helps route my hands a little more outside and centers the path. It also helps my distance without adding additional swing effort. I feel like it's the final piece of the puzzle. I've been working that on the range but just couldn't bring it to the course yesterday...

[BigTerp1524]

9 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

What I've noticed on the range is that if I get both rotation and pull the left hip back on the downswing like we're supposed to in order to avoid early extension, it helps route my hands a little more outside and centers the path. It also helps my distance without adding additional swing effort. I feel like it's the final piece of the puzzle. I've been working that on the range but just couldn't bring it to the course yesterday...

You've got it figured out then. Just going to take time to get it engrained, like everything else with this game. I've finally got a semi-consistent miss with my irons. The first thing Monte asked me during my last lesson was what was my miss. My answer was "everywhere", LOL. But it was true. This time around I'm hoping that bit of information will help him fine tune some things for me.

 

As far as pitching/chipping goes, have you watched any of Monte's UTB series? His UTB 2.0 really helped me start to solidify a solid technique around the greens. It paid off immediately with my next round. It's simple, to the point and makes a lot of sense (just like all his other teachings). He even has videos within the series of various "specialty" shots (bump 'n run, hybrid chip, hard pan chips, etc.). I've only went over the basics and the bunker part of the series myself, as that's what I need the help with. Good stuff though.

 

 

 

 

[BigTerp1524]

29 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

What I've noticed on the range is that if I get both rotation and pull the left hip back on the downswing like we're supposed to in order to avoid early extension, it helps route my hands a little more outside and centers the path. It also helps my distance without adding additional swing effort. I feel like it's the final piece of the puzzle. I've been working that on the range but just couldn't bring it to the course yesterday...

 

In regards to hip rotation, I watched the following video the other day. You saying "pull the left hip back in the downswing" reminded me of it. The video made a lot of sense, to me at least, in terms of how we should be using the ground and how the hips should rotate. Personally I feel like my lower body is very passive, especially in the downswing and coming into impact, and this video sort of lit a lightbulb for me. I haven't messed with any of it though, as I have a lesson with Monte in 2 days and want to get his thoughts on it first. My issue may very well be something further back in transition or the downswing itself that causes my lower body to have to be passive. So I'll wait and see what Monte has to say before I start messing with anything. But it sounds like it might be a good feel(s) for you?

 

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

@BigTerp1524 Thanks. That's a pretty good video and sums up where I get it wrong and right... 

 

My issue was a stall/flip where at impact my hips were parallel to the target line and although I wasn't one of those folks with the egregious hands 4-6" behind the ball at impact, I was often only getting even with the ball... I also have a bit of a sway towards the target on the downswing which made the stall look less egregious, but a part of it was that my body had moved towards the target so my flip didn't look as much like a flip--but it still was one. 

 

Prior to seeing Monte I worked on the backswing, and got to the point where I was gaining right hip depth and getting the weight onto the right heel. But I was losing all that depth (and more) on the downswing and still stalling/flipping.

 

I then incorporated Monte's teaching of "keeping the back to the target longer" and that allowed me to sequence things properly. I definitely saw improvement as I got more the hips more open at impact. Everything has been getting better and better.

 

But on video, I can see that I'm still early extending, just not as badly as before. At best I'm getting the left hip to the depth that I had at address, when it should be deeper. 

 

What gets me is that I'm never getting my weight all the way back to the left heel. It gets about centered in my left foot and to the very outside of the left foot, but getting that good base to be able to drive into the ground just doesn't happen if I can't get that depth and get the weight on the heel. I think, much like the video that you show, I get too much slide and that allows the hands to drop too far inside and gives me that in->out path. 

 

One of the first things that Monte highlighted was this:

 

 

Essentially he had pointed out that my hands over my feet at P6 is way too deep. A lot of what I was trying to do is damn near impossible from that position at P6. 

 

When I get it right, I take a very slightly more deliberate start to the backswing. I don't think my tempo changes much at all (I haven't checked video and counted frames), but it seems to allow me to have just ever so much more time that I'm feeling my weight "fall" to the left foot at the end of the backswing and into transition. From there I feel like I have the base on that left leg to drive that left hip backwards and the weight actually gets on the heel. 

 

As for what this does to my hands?

 

 

When I do that, my path is much more neutral, and my "feel" is that left hip getting back. And I get to this impact position:

 

 

Which I think looks a lot better than my old ones...

 

And the ball freakin' explodes off the face too... Which is nice lol!