Lost my speed - What do you see?

[RandomTY]

Hi,

 

So I've seen there is some great help to get on this forum.

 

My issue is, that I seem to have lost 5-6MPH on my swing. And instead of trying all kinds of things, I thought a potential help could be for you to analyze differences you see from swings back with my old speed and current ones with the slower speed.

 

Just to add some context before showing different swings. I began taking golf more serious at the beginning of 2021 at which point I was a 15 HCP - I ended that season with a HCP of 12,4, and then I practiced a lot during the winter (Nov-Marts) in an indoor Trackman facility. So as soon as the season started I played my best golf ever and within 11 rounds I was at HCP 8,7 (don't know how it works other places, but here HCP is a result of the 8 best rounds of the last 20 played). So I improved A LOT during the season and winter and went from hitting weak spinny slices to coming from the inside and hitting up on the ball. During the winter my general swing speed with driver was 112-116, swinging more than 110 required very little effort. Then all of a sudden my speed was gone, and I was more in the 107-111 range, where 110 and above required lots of effort. The video I will show is from April, which was after I lost my speed, but had a period, where something just clicked and I created lots of speed without effort - and this is what I would like to try and get back to. My current normal swing is probably around 107 and then with lots of effort around 111 as you will see, so something definitely changed. Fitness or strength is not part of the equation since I haven't worked out for 5 years. 😄

 

Swing from 15-03-2021: This swing is just for you to see the starting point. At this point I was swinging 5-6 from the outside and hitting down 3-6 degrees as well, terrible slices and not a fun time at all.

 

 

Swing 1 from 21-04-2022: This is a high effort swing, but still within control - would say 9/10. Trackman numbers: 118,6MPH SS, 174,7 BS, -0,5 attack angle, 1,9 from inside, 3.2k spin, 264m carry and 279,8m total.

 

Swing 2 from 21-04-2022: Same day as above, but on this one I tried to hit up on it a bit more and hit a draw. Effort here is lower so maybe 7/10, and this is the swing I would like to get back to - would be awesome to bring on the course. Trackman numbers: 114MPH SS, 168,7 BS, 2 attack angle, 3,2 from inside, 2,3k spin, 268m carry and 288m total.

 

Swing from 31-07-2022: This is what I consider my current swing - I feel like I'm going hard at this one, so effort 9/10 (like the 118,6MPH swing above), but the speed is just not there. Trackman numbers: 111,9MPH SS, 4 attack angle, 4,2 from inside.

 

I hope that some of you are able to analyze and help me - wouldn't hurt with an answer from Valtiel 🙂. A final comment is that I feel like with the 7/10 effort I had on swing 2 from 21-04-22 currently that would result in 108 MPH instead of the 114 I get in that video. Further when I mention effort it is within control, my all time max is 122MPH, but that would be 11/10 effort 😄.

 

Sorry for the wall of text and thanks!

[Valtiel]

@RandomTY Thankfully there is a pretty noticeable difference in your backswings between the faster and slower ones that explain the speed discrepancies:



Across all of these "newer" swings (which are overall better sequenced and more powerful than where you started, good job there) you have a bit of an inside/flat takeaway the reroutes slightly over the top in transition. The new "slower" swing however has this inside/flat problem dialed up a bit and it's leading to an overly flat and less powerful position at the top:



Faster swing first, slower swing second. The slower swing has these main differences:

Setup - Slightly more upright at address (about 5*)
Takeaway - Significantly flatter and more "around" you (too much). Shoulder turn is 5-6* flatter and the shaft plane is full 10* flatter approaching P3.



Arriving at the top we see that the faster swing has you picking up your hands more to arrive at an arguably more "neutral" position, whereas the slower swing sees much less of this with you arriving at a much flatter and less powerful position. Pay attention to the last frame as well where you start your downswing. In the faster swing your initial "bump" towards the target into your lead side sees the club starting down and arriving in a similar position that your slower backswing finished in. That is to say, the slower backswing is about one tick shorter than the faster one, likely because it got so flat that you couldn't turn any further, and this is robbing you of a little extra hip drive/clearance time.

IMO the two goals here would be to first correct the issue that has sapped some of your speed by getting the club and your shoulder turn both working steeper in the backswing. You want to feel like your left shoulder is turning more down underneath your chin as opposed to across it and that your hands/wrists/arms are working more up in the backswing and less around behind you. There are a handful of other things that can be worked on after that to further increase power and efficiency, mostly related to lower body fundamentals, but I think getting your "old" speed back is the first thing to worry about.

Hope that helps!

Edited August 18, 2022 by Valtiel

[rbpwrx]

On 8/18/2022 at 4:50 PM, Valtiel said:

@RandomTY Thankfully there is a pretty noticeable difference in your backswings between the faster and slower ones that explain the speed discrepancies:



Across all of these "newer" swings (which are overall better sequenced and more powerful than where you started, good job there) you have a bit of an inside/flat takeaway the reroutes slightly over the top in transition. The new "slower" swing however has this inside/flat problem dialed up a bit and it's leading to an overly flat and less powerful position at the top:



Faster swing first, slower swing second. The slower swing has these main differences:

Setup - Slightly more upright at address (about 5*)
Takeaway - Significantly flatter and more "around" you (too much). Shoulder turn is 5-6* flatter and the shaft plane is full 10* flatter approaching P3.



Arriving at the top we see that the faster swing has you picking up your hands more to arrive at an arguably more "neutral" position, whereas the slower swing sees much less of this with you arriving at a much flatter and less powerful position. Pay attention to the last frame as well where you start your downswing. In the faster swing your initial "bump" towards the target into your lead side sees the club starting down and arriving in a similar position that your slower backswing finished in. That is to say, the slower backswing is about one tick shorter than the faster one, likely because it got so flat that you couldn't turn any further, and this is robbing you of a little extra hip drive/clearance time.

IMO the two goals here would be to first correct the issue that has sapped some of your speed by getting the club and your shoulder turn both working steeper in the backswing. You want to feel like your left shoulder is turning more down underneath your chin as opposed to across it and that your hands/wrists/arms are working more up in the backswing and less around behind you. There are a handful of other things that can be worked on after that to further increase power and efficiency, mostly related to lower body fundamentals, but I think getting your "old" speed back is the first thing to worry about.

Hope that helps!

Yup! Saw the same thing. Glad I didn't have to write any of that 🙂

[RandomTY]

@Valtiel Thank you very much for the feedback - exactly the kind of help I was looking for.

 

I went to the trackman facility and tried to feel more of a steep backswing, but I just kept having my right elbow too low and close to the body. What did however work was having a feeling of hitting af fade (which was still a slight draw, coming 1-3 from the inside instead of 5-8), but this was mostly effective with irons, where I really hit some great, straight and efficient shots. However it didn't really translate to woods and driver - I did seem to gain some speed, but efficiency took a hit.

 

Do you maybe have a player that is a good reference for the backswing, and some drills that might help?

 

Once again thanks!