Dave D's swing thread - Pg 39 new putter & swing update 9th April

[Dave D]

Happy with the shape of my game, got my first tournament a week sunday which is all the club champions in the county so will be some decent golfers there, looking forward to it!

Go low, brother! I'm excited for the tournament season to get started, mid-April for me.

Thanks, you too! yeah looking forward to some comps, have played a fair bit over the winter months and think my game is as good as its ever been coming into the start of the season.

[Dave D]

Came tied 3rd in the county comp which is quite good considering there were about 15 guys with lower handicaps than me, including a few +2s and +3s.

 

shot 72 and finished 3 shots behind the winner who was a +3 hcap, had 2 short putts bobble and miss the whole completely which is v annoying as that would've put me right up there. course wasn't in great nick at all. Didn't hit the ball well on the back 9 and really suffered with leaving the face open and missing right, which is what I worked on in the last lesson, need to focus more on the left hand again.

 

on the bright side my chipping and pitching was superb, distance control was spot on with pitching which it hasn't been for a long time and something I'd suffered with for a long time. I put this down to practice and also a new pre shot routine I was recommended of standing behind the ball face on to the hole and taking 3 swings looking at the hole and where I want it to land and generally picturing the shot, then lining up and hitting it. Really worked well. Think I might give it a go for putting too.

[Dave D]

Highlight of the round for me came on the last hole which is a 283 yard par 4 with OB down the left and trees down the right and bunkers short, it was a little downwind and off the right. People watching around the tee and quite a few round the green, I moosed a 3 wood and landed it on the front and ended up about 20 feet from the pin, I was the only one to pitch it on the green all day. Sadly the eagle putt burned the edge but left a tap in bird.

[SA790]

Came tied 3rd in the county comp which is quite good considering there were about 15 guys with lower handicaps than me, including a few +2s and +3s.

 

shot 72 and finished 3 shots behind the winner who was a +3 hcap, had 2 short putts bobble and miss the whole completely which is v annoying as that would've put me right up there. course wasn't in great nick at all. Didn't hit the ball well on the back 9 and really suffered with leaving the face open and missing right, which is what I worked on in the last lesson, need to focus more on the left hand again.

 

on the bright side my chipping and pitching was superb, distance control was spot on with pitching which it hasn't been for a long time and something I'd suffered with for a long time. I put this down to practice and also a new pre shot routine I was recommended of standing behind the ball face on to the hole and taking 3 swings looking at the hole and where I want it to land and generally picturing the shot, then lining up and hitting it. Really worked well. Think I might give it a go for putting too.

 

What are you working on with left hand?

[Dave D]

Came tied 3rd in the county comp which is quite good considering there were about 15 guys with lower handicaps than me, including a few +2s and +3s.

 

shot 72 and finished 3 shots behind the winner who was a +3 hcap, had 2 short putts bobble and miss the whole completely which is v annoying as that would've put me right up there. course wasn't in great nick at all. Didn't hit the ball well on the back 9 and really suffered with leaving the face open and missing right, which is what I worked on in the last lesson, need to focus more on the left hand again.

 

on the bright side my chipping and pitching was superb, distance control was spot on with pitching which it hasn't been for a long time and something I'd suffered with for a long time. I put this down to practice and also a new pre shot routine I was recommended of standing behind the ball face on to the hole and taking 3 swings looking at the hole and where I want it to land and generally picturing the shot, then lining up and hitting it. Really worked well. Think I might give it a go for putting too.

 

What are you working on with left hand?

 

Shoulder movement has improved since the last lesson, but my hands were moving a bit away from me and my left wrist coming down was a bit 'cupped' and the face slightly open and behind the hands. With everything else I could time the draw, not so with driver. So the answer is to get the wrist a bit flatter and a bit closer to me. Decided the easier way of doing this was to get it in that position at the top of the backswing and maintain it whilst working on hand path. Rather this than try and flatten it on the downswing.

[Dave D]

I have been doing a lot of reading and research into Dr. Paul Hurrion and his putting principles in the last couple of weeks, one of which - a stable base, I have a real problem with, I fall back into my heels and right foot when I putt, in one of his videos he says this is one of the most common reasons people pull putts, which is generally my miss under pressure. Also his prayer grip putting drill made me realise how little my shoulders move and im all arms.

 

I bought a swimming noodle as a cheap alternative to the pro stance to work on my balance and stability, it really made me realise how much I move when I putt!

 

I booked a lesson with a Hurrion trained guy who has the Quintic software for this coming Saturday, since seeing Willett win and how good his putting was (he's a hurrion guy) im sure its definitely the right way to go.

 

Get some constructive and decisive goals to work on in my putting, rather than just guessing.

[Dave D]

Grabbed a couple of videos at the range last night. Haven't videoed for ages and wanted to see what it looks like. I kinda wished I hadn't because I can see so many things that aren't 'perfect', yet its getting the job done. working on the left wrist and arms coming down more and boom the baby draw was there. So it was nice to get some good shots on camera, but before I would start tearing every piece to shreds thinking its not perfect, but im not going to. The flight is good and I know if I get my arms and left wrist working properly the shot will be good, so that's what im going to stick working with. There is no point in me over analyising every bit of the swing.

 

At the start of the 6 iron vid you can see the arm movement im working on, closer to me with a flat left wrist vs hands further away, club behind me and left wrist slightly cupped.

 

6 iron:

 

 

Hybrid:

 

[Dave D]

Putting lesson was an eye opener on Saturday, the quintic capture software showed that I was putting too much hook spin on the ball, which is also why subconsciously I had starting aiming a little right. video showed that I was shutting the face a bit going back, this was due to my shoulders turning too vertically. In an attempt to 'rock the shoulders' , I was actually turning them too vertically in relation to the top of the spine. When this happens the spine tilts and head moves. as you swing back the spine and head move to the left, then through the putt spine tilts right and head moves right. which I knew I did and as I said I tried to address a couple of posts about by standing on a pool noodle to try and work on balance. But he said that would never work without fixing the shoulder motion.

 

This video gives a pretty good idea of what I was doing vs need to do

 

with this movement, I would close the face and also struggle with distance control as sometimes I would just rip one as the spine tilted back.

 

A really simple drill to work on. alignment stick across chest and get setup over a putting mirror, and need to turn my shoulders about 15* flatter, if I do this correctly my head doesn't move. if too vertical then my head will move and likewise if I turn them too flat. So instant feedback which is great.

 

Work on this for a couple of weeks then go back to get the putter itself looked at and fitted, as there is little point changing the putter now with the bad shoulder motion.

 

something so simple yet can make such a difference.

[Dave D]

I've also ordered the original Game Golf system to start tracking my stats. Anyone else use it? how do you get on with it?

[Dave D]

Hello.....

 

 

[Daniel Eason]

GG looks good, i'm just always baulking at the price though. do you plan to use it in comps?

[Dave D]

GG looks good, i'm just always baulking at the price though. do you plan to use it in comps?

I got it off ebay for £72 which I thought was pretty darn good, wasn't going to pay £140+

 

yeah I do

[QMany]

How's the game holding up, Dave?

[Dave D]

Solid so far thanks Q. Won my singles match at the weekend 5 and 4 giving 12 shots. Scored well although didn't hit the ball all that wonderful.

 

Worked on my age old problem of lack of depth in the backswing and voila back came my striking tonight. Think that is the backswing issue I am always going to fight so I'm glad I'm in a position to realise it and fix it. The feel is replace the forward bend with left side bend at the top and therefore fully extended right side.

 

I think I maybe need to translate this body feel going the opposite way in the downswing too?

 

Camera is aimed a little left unfortunately

 

 

[Dave D]

Driver

 

 

I'm really tempted to pick up an xr pro driver with the project x 6.0, I can hit a little draw with ease with the 3 wood and hybrid but the optiforce just feels different and a lot lighter in comparison

[Dave D]

All thoughts as always are welcome

[spider]

swing looks good to me!

[AndrewKaleta]

I've had a GameGolf for two years now and I like it just for the simple fact of going back through my round at the end of the day and just seeing what good and bad things happened out there. I really like the new feature on the website though where it compares your strokes gained to other handicaps. I have it compared to other scratch golfers and it shows that I lose strokes off the tee, short game and putting, while I'm actually gaining strokes with my approach shots. It's just nice seeing all of the information in a graph instead of having to figure it out yourself.

[Dave D]

swing looks good to me!

 

thank you

[Dave D]

I've had a GameGolf for two years now and I like it just for the simple fact of going back through my round at the end of the day and just seeing what good and bad things happened out there. I really like the new feature on the website though where it compares your strokes gained to other handicaps. I have it compared to other scratch golfers and it shows that I lose strokes off the tee, short game and putting, while I'm actually gaining strokes with my approach shots. It's just nice seeing all of the information in a graph instead of having to figure it out yourself.

good to hear you have got good use from it over such a long period!

 

im excited to get more rounds under my belt with it in the next couple of months to start getting a better idea of areas I need to work on more, I mean have an idea but always good when you have the proof in front of your eyes.

[Dave D]

Callaway XR Pro 9* Project X 6.0 will be here tomorrow hopefully :D

[MMB1500]

Looking god Sir. Very nice swing.

[Puppetmaster]

Swing looks good, you just need to find a place to hit drivers with the ball not 2 feet above your feet. Just kidding.

 

Worked on my age old problem of lack of depth in the backswing and voila back came my striking tonight. Think that is the backswing issue I am always going to fight so I'm glad I'm in a position to realise it and fix it. The feel is replace the forward bend with left side bend at the top and therefore fully extended right side.

 

I think I maybe need to translate this body feel going the opposite way in the downswing too?

 

That could work. I've had a little success, depending on the day, feeling as if my right side is stretching or expanding, and then through the ball feel as if the left side is doing the same (while the arms are still going down the target line or close to it). Seems to keep me turning around my spine.

[Dave D]

Swing looks good, you just need to find a place to hit drivers with the ball not 2 feet above your feet. Just kidding.

 

Worked on my age old problem of lack of depth in the backswing and voila back came my striking tonight. Think that is the backswing issue I am always going to fight so I'm glad I'm in a position to realise it and fix it. The feel is replace the forward bend with left side bend at the top and therefore fully extended right side.

 

I think I maybe need to translate this body feel going the opposite way in the downswing too?

 

That could work. I've had a little success, depending on the day, feeling as if my right side is stretching or expanding, and then through the ball feel as if the left side is doing the same (while the arms are still going down the target line or close to it). Seems to keep me turning around my spine.

lol

 

yeah I am very aware of the feel of the stretched right side and left bend at the top in the backswing and nothing coming down or through the ball, judging by the way I stand up a bit on the downswing this could definitely be something to feel.

[Dave D]

New driver has turned up, can't wait to give this a hit. It's a little longer than my optiforce so will see if that affects it.

 

 

[Kuuuch]

Love the all Callaway set! we have pretty similar sticks

[Dave D]

Love the all Callaway set! we have pretty similar sticks

*thumbs up*

 

yeah I'm a proper callaway fan boy now, just really like the way their stuff looks and feels and most importantly performs!

[Dave D]

The XR Pro will be in the bag for my match on Monday. Much more consistent flight and dispersion than the optiforce has been producing with me swinging it. Will have to see if there's any distance differences til I get on the course.

 

 

[Dave D]

Had a discussion with my instructor before I practiced last night and he agreed swing looked good getting the right hip deeper on backswing, a problem I have always fought and always will. He agreed that the hips are moving out to the ball a little and should work on their movement in transition/downswing. He had me do a few drills where I swung to the top and then feel like the right hip doesn't move and the left hip moves back and behind it, it feels like I am increasing my forward tilt at address but in reality I wont be. Feels odd but looks good on video :D

 

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He said this will also help in what we worked on of the left wrist and club position coming down, and he was right:

 

 

 

left wrist not cupped at all, face a little 'closed', which suits hitting a draw, the club not behind the hands and the hands a little closer to my legs.

[Dave D]

Had a follow up putting lesson last night, the work I've been doing on getting the correct shoulder motion has really had an affect, on video in the studio my head hardly moves a mm now so very happy with that. still have a tendency to move back on longer putts and under pressure which is obviously something I need to monitor and bare in mind, will obviously take a while to ingrain fully.

 

We fine tuned my setup by working on eye perception. With my eyes over the ball and my perception sees a line of balls curving slightly to the right when tested. I need my eyes about 2 inches inside the ball to target line, this position enables me to see a straight line. so on my mirror I need them on the thin black shoulder line.

 

 

 

When I was setup and aimed perfectly at the centre of the hole and I looked up from the ball I felt like I was aiming at the right edge or just outside. This is due to the way I was looking up at the target, instead of swivelling my head keeping my eyes working on a parallel line, I was tilting and moving my head so my eyes were looking at my target at / sort of angle rather than ---.

So I need to practice swivelling my head to the left.

 

This also helps explain why I prefer right to left putts than left to right, as on right to left I am playing a little more break than I realised and on L to R im not playing enough and often find I miss low.

 

In this setup it means the length of my putter needs to be 34", so my works 1w which I had been using gripped down on the last 2 rounds is staying in the bag but at full length.