My Swing (Zeph)

[Zeph]

It's actually gotten worse lately, I had it going much better earlier last year. It's simply a result of many things I think.

• My right foot kicking in, causing the hips to open too quickly and get forward too fast. Everything moving towards the target.
• Trying desperately to get the hands in front of the ball.
• Old habits. It's a move very similar to my very first recorded swing.
• Not thinking about it.

I've got the feeling down and I'm confident I'll be able to get it back into my swing. Here is a quick picture of a practice swing which shows how the head has stayed perfectly still. First time I recorded a swing when focusing on the head. My feelings are to keep the head still, legs more quiet and swing the arms faster. A big part in getting the hands in a better position at impact lies in not kicking the right knee in, but keeping the heel on the ground longer and let it roll in through the shot.

I honestly haven't paid attention to the upper body movement in a long time, so I haven't struggled with fixing it really. Of course, I haven't recorded anything since last year either, so I've been unaware, plus I've been really focused on getting the hands ahead of the ball. I know that I can keep my head still and I hope that I've found some good feelings for getting the hands forward without having to move the upper body forward. Now I have to practice and get it into my muscle memory.

If I can speed up the arms a bit more and get a little bit more shoulder tilt and secondary axis tilt, I'm right where I want to be. This is the closest I've ever been. I could probably push the left knee more forward, but as long as my hips get forward, I think it's good.

If someone went through my PC, they would be thinking I'm obsessed with Charlie.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Zeph

Trying desperately to get the hands in front of the ball.

If someone went through my PC, they would be thinking I'm obsessed with Charlie.

I don't think they'd need to go that far.

Take this for what it's worth, but have you ever considered emulating a really good player? Like this guy for example?

Or this old guy:

Maybe try one of these?!?

[Chief Broom]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Take this for what it's worth, but have you ever considered emulating a really good player?

Oh Snap!

[Zeph]

What I'm working on here.

• Posture. Less knee bend at address, finding a good distance to the ball. Arms hanging down or 5-10º out.
• Straightening the back knee in the backswing. It felt like I locked the knee, but most of the swings had less straightening than this one. I'm thinking about separating the knees. Back knee going back, front knee going forward (towards the ball, not the target).
• Keeping the back foot on the ground longer (at least on the FO swing).

Hit the ball really well today, soft and nice contact.

I get the leg straightened out more, but it start flexing again before the club has stopped moving back. Shorter backswing will help, but there are some sequencing issues when the hips and knees start working forward and in soo quickly.

Not too bad.

I'm using different models by popular demand.

[uttexas]

You are definitely getting your hands in front of the ball at impact.  I'd love to have your right elbow connection to torso and forearms together in the forward swing.

I think if you work on glut, quad, and hamstring strength, you'll be pushing hips more powerfully into impact creating more room to prevent the mini flip after impact.

Lunges, stair climber, leg press recommended.  You look like you are in great shape and running up those hills/mountains in Norway and skiing them in the winter will build up your proximal leg power.

[jamo]

I have to say man, I really like your backswing there, and your downswing is getting better and better by the day.

[Zeph]

Well well, it's been a long time. I have barely practiced at all the last 5 months, but I have played some. The summer has been abysmal though. We had some good weeks in April, but the summer has been one of the worst the last decade. I've also been preoccupied with lots of other stuff. Not a whole lot to see here really. My game is pretty much the way it has been; inconsistent. One shot is perfect, the next dead fat, though those are becoming more rare. Ball striking is very much up and down. One hole I hit my PW 130 yards, the next I hit it 110. Most common issues are fat shots and overdraws or pull-draws. As you can see from the video, my arms are rotating like crazy. My head is still a bit out of order. Managed to get it somewhat better during the practice session. [VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VpW59180J4[/VIDEO] [VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv3A8nSVDXU[/VIDEO]

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Zeph

Not a whole lot to see here really. My game is pretty much the way it has been; inconsistent. One shot is perfect, the next dead fat, though those are becoming more rare. Ball striking is very much up and down. One hole I hit my PW 130 yards, the next I hit it 110. Most common issues are fat shots and overdraws or pull-draws. As you can see from the video, my arms are rotating like crazy. My head is still a bit out of order. Managed to get it somewhat better during the practice session.[if IE]>

[Zeph]

Yeah, you're right, some things have improved. Looks like the backswing is a tad shorter, and I do hit the little ball before the big ball far more often today, so my hands get down faster. The hand depth thing is something I need to work on. Never tried before, so it'll take some time I suppose. I'll be looking at what you did in your swing some time ago. IIRC, you worked on some of the same stuff this year. Just gotta find out where and when the hands should get up.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Zeph

Yeah, you're right, some things have improved. Looks like the backswing is a tad shorter, and I do hit the little ball before the big ball far more often today, so my hands get down faster.

The hand depth thing is something I need to work on. Never tried before, so it'll take some time I suppose. I'll be looking at what you did in your swing some time ago. IIRC, you worked on some of the same stuff this year. Just gotta find out where and when the hands should get up.

Yeah, it's basically this. This is the "feel" that works for me. May not work for you, so take it for what it's worth.

My backswing consists of taking my hands "up" and turning my shoulders. Nothing more. "Hands" includes the clubhead, as I can always stand to cock the wrists a little sooner (helps prevent them rolling). I mix in a little feeling of dorsiflexing the left wrist too.

So another way to put it is that my backswing is:

1) TURN the shoulders

2) Dorsiflex/cock the left wrist.

And that's it. If I turn my shoulders my hands get their depth (because the shoulders turn in a circle), and the cocking helps them not get under plane quite so early.

I plan to film a swing inside today.

[Zeph]

That should work. Pretty much the same stuff I did when I was working on hand depth and clubhead position on the backswing. It's not a big difference I'm looking at either, just a tad higher. Always enjoy watching your swings Erik. Judging by your avatar, it's getting pretty good by now. I'll need more time to work on the leg thing, which has proven itself a difficult task. I did make some headway earlier, so hopefully I can find some of that again. Combined with the increased hand speed, I might just end up with something decent.

[Zeph]

There has been some improvement since I started this project... [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/image/id/180191/width/533/height/533][IMG]http://thesandtrap.com/image/id/180191/width/533/height/533[/IMG][/URL] (Lost my ball here by the way. Was hitting right into the sun and never saw it. I clubbed up due to strong headwind, which turned out to be tailwind when I got halfway to the hole (par 3) If you don't count all the lost balls and bogies due to 30mph winds in every possible direction, I hit it pretty well today, better than in a long time. Got the speed of the hands cranked up a bit I think, perhaps slowed down the hips too. The swing thought I was going to work on was to open the hips on the backswing, which worked sometimes and sometimes not. But whatever I did, something made me hit the ball a lot more solid. The ball was flying a long way too, even without the wind. Have to work on some stuff here and there, but with today's swing, I can probably shoot some good scores. Some head stuff, arm stuff and leg stuff mostly. Still no sign of my secondary axis tilt (thank you head). My putting also seems to be somewhat "fixed". Doesn't mean it's great, but it's loads better than some time ago.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Zeph

There has been some improvement since I started this project...

Nice! Good to see. The guy on the left can play decent golf, as you know.

[bunkerputt]

Zeph,  buddy, I think your main problems are threefold:  you are too flexible giving you too many mobility options, your country is too beautiful making it hard to concentrate, and finally a general lack of hot giraffes in Norway.  I don't have anything really constructive to offer except maybe post a video in the tour striker contest thread and see if you can win.  You've definitely got the understanding in there, you just need some key to unlock it for you.  There's a lot of progress in your recent video and I just wanted to encourage you to not get discouraged.

[mchepp]

What about moving your ball position up a bit? My thought is that your upper center could be more behind the ball. It will help you hit it a bit higher and avoid the over-draws.

[Zeph]

I'm in some trouble here. After one day in a trip to Spain, my swing went out the window. Shot 77, then karma kicked my ass. I can manage the scores inside 90, but got no control over the swing. A month ago I was hitting big push-draws, today I'm pull-fading or slicing everything. Didn't find a definitive answer after two hours on the range. Still got 4 days of golf here, so I'll try to get it fixed. I know there are stuff to work on, but I just want to get rid of the out-in path right away. It's there from wedge to driver. Only got DTL camera video for now. Can someone tell what the problem is? I've tried tempo, hands depth, hips forward, sequencing and other stuff. I managed to hit some straight shots, but I think I can count the number of draws the last two days on one hand. I'm not able to figure i out. This is a 3 iron. [VIDEO] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3N2ERe8Y_M&feature;=youtube_gdata_player[/VIDEO]

[bunkerputt]

Video is private.

[Zeph]

Thanks. My best bet from looking at the video is lack of hip turn/straightening back knee, which results in late arms. The best results has come from trying to swing the arms faster, but still no draw.