My Swing (mdl)

[mdl]

Looking at this again today.  A couple thoughts.  Maybe keeping my left elbow straighter will help with both ensuring a short backswing and getting on plane at A5 instead of at A5.5?  Also, maybe my feel for the lower body is getting too rotational?  I've been doing that because if I think of driving forward and getting my hips further down the target line I tend to not rotate them much and hit pushes 50 yards right.  But maybe the tip back and sort of armsy look from A5 through A7 is because my weight is forward enough?  Lastly, looks like I may have narrowed my stance a tad too much...

[mvmac]

Overall things look better so nice work.

You're tipping back because the shaft gets too steep on the downswing and tipping back can help you shallow it and swing out to the right. But then there are going to be some timing issues and like you said, not enough weight forward.

So I would recommend feeling the shaft "stand up" more on the backswing. If you had a laser pointer sticking out of the grip you'd want the laser to point just inside the ball at A3. Might also feel like your arms/hands are doing less. Right now your "laser" is pointing outside the ball at 3.

I don't think you need to think about doing  the downswing shallowing yet, just get the backswing steeper and see how that changes things.

[mdl]

Cool.  Thanks.  Funny cause I remember when I was first working on the A2 and A3 positions, concentrating at A3 on not getting the hands too deep, that I already was feeling like my swing must look ridiculous cause it felt like my club was totally vertical at A3.  I wasn't concentrating on that angle and so didn't think about it after seeing I wasn't actually vertical at A3.

Turns out that in fact I'd only changed it from pointing 6-8 feet outside the ball at A3 to pointing 3 feet outside the ball!

I'll try the stand up/laser pointer feel.  Might this also give a sort of Furyk feel as well, at least compared to what I'm coming from?

[mvmac]

I'll try the stand up/laser pointer feel.  Might this also give a sort of Furyk feel as well, at least compared to what I'm coming from?

Yes more "Furyk" for sure. You still want to be turned close to 90 degrees by A3.

[mdl]

Yes more "Furyk" for sure. You still want to be turned close to 90 degrees by A3.

You mean wrist hinge, right?  ~90˚ between arm and club shaft at A3?

[mvmac]

You mean wrist hinge, right?  ~90˚ between arm and club shaft at A3?

Sorry meant more of the torso turn. Just wanted to make sure you didn't steepen the shaft without turning.

[mdl]

Got out to work with this this morning.  Super encouraging!  Had some strings of shots where, for the first time I can remember, I got the club face closed coming from the inside just making a smooth stroke and not feeling at all like I had to force it there (the tip back help it through with the arms move I do to impact feels very force-y).  In fact I'd sometimes default back to that force feeling but from the newer position and yank a pull-draw.  The laser pointer feel worked much better than actively thinking about the Furyk feel, though I was actively feeling like I was taking the club up high and straight then letting it settle in to come through flatter, so maybe technically still some of the Furyk feel.

Only took a couple vids early on in the session.  Was successfully pointing the shaft at the ball at A3 but still a little steep at A5.  Though less so, and was getting on plane at maybe A5.25 instead of A5.5, so small improvement there.  Will keep at it.  Definitely work to do getting flatter earlier and the change in backswing opens up a few other problems I have to learn to avoid.  Feels on the right track!

[mvmac]

Feels on the right track!

Sweet

[mdl]

Alright.  Been a while since I posted.  Still been getting at least a couple sessions a week, all with video, but hadn't achieved what I wanted yet at this stage, so I held off on posting.  Finally liking the DTL view more.  Still some stuff I know I need to fix in the FO view, mainly how my head still retreats back down the target line on the down swing.  Played a round last weekend (this video was shot last week) and on the back nine I had success concentrating on feeling like I was getting my weight/hips further forward.  I'm excited to see whether that helps this issue at my next practice session.  Decided to post this anyway cause I'm excited about the DTL progress and my wife's due today, so I may not be able to get as much filming in in the next couple weeks and I wanted to see what people thought of my progress.

[14ledo81]

Alright.  Been a while since I posted.  Still been getting at least a couple sessions a week, all with video, but hadn't achieved what I wanted yet at this stage, so I held off on posting.  Finally liking the DTL view more.  Still some stuff I know I need to fix in the FO view, mainly how my head still retreats back down the target line on the down swing.  Played a round last weekend (this video was shot last week) and on the back nine I had success concentrating on feeling like I was getting my weight/hips further forward.  I'm excited to see whether that helps this issue at my next practice session.  Decided to post this anyway cause I'm excited about the DTL progress and my wife's due today, so I may not be able to get as much filming in in the next couple weeks and I wanted to see what people thought of my progress.

Congratulations!!

I don't really have any expertise to add to the swing, but I wanted to mention that.  Is this the first one?

[mdl]

Congratulations!!

I don't really have any expertise to add to the swing, but I wanted to mention that.  Is this the first one?

Thanks.  Yup first one

[cipher]

Thanks.  Yup first one

Congrats! Best wishes to you guys.

Swing is looking solid as well.

[mdl]

Congrats! Best wishes to you guys.

Swing is looking solid as well.

Thanks!

Swing feels way better too.  Shot an 83 on Sunday, but the full swing felt fantastic, especially on the back.  Back nine was 41 but full swing felt like a 36.  Dumb 3 putt (still not comfortable with super long lag putts with the full pendulum, let it drop feeling from the other thread, banged one way past), one perfect drive followed by a 60˚ I lost grip on with a sweaty left hand and chunked, another perfect drive followed by a 60˚ where a fly landed on my eye right in the transition and I flared it out right, an in between 54˚ that I'd choked up on significantly but stood up on too much, back to more normal inclination, and skulled way over the green, and a 4i to a front flag on a 210 par 3 where I made a total mental error and thought I'd hit a long 4i (my 200 club) cause I wanted a short uphill birdie putt to make up some of those strokes.  Hit a good shot but a tad off the toe and hit it maybe 198, short but very close to my target line.  Didn't get up and down.

[mdl]

Possible new feel from practice this morning.  Didn't get any video though (tripod broke in the trunk).  A feel I've been working with the hands is out and up and steep on the back swing to deep and flat on the down swing (with ultra tight together feeling elbows throughout).  But I've been struggling with sometimes getting steep on the down swing or flaring it out right with decent flatness.  I realized this morning that part of the problem is that I've often been going for the flatness part by dropping my right shoulder and raising my left near the start of the down swing, something like overdone secondary axis tilt only in the upper back.

I realized this morning that if I concentrate on finishing that sort of circle feeling with the hands, adding low to deep and flat for the start of the down swing following the out and up and steep back swing, I can keep a better shoulder line, get the shaft flat (I think, like I said, no video this morning), and still have the club head close naturally and not flare it out after dipping my back shoulder.  The feel I was using was simultaneously rolling the forearms (but no dipping the back shoulder) for a flatter shaft and dropping the hands low, feeling like I'm not starting the real drive and rotation until after the hands are low and deep, right elbow almost driving into the low shirt seam or hip. Got a bunch of strings of nice tight draws on target this way feeling very natural, whereas recently my good shots have been mostly dead straight, on target or pulls, or baby fades, starting on target or slightly right.

Will get up a video of this as soon as possible if it turns out it actually looks different.

[mdl]

Still no new video. Daughter was born on June 10th, so not a ton of practice time. But I have done lots of dry swings, often the pump drill and especially the weight forward, don't let the wrists roll half swing drill, both inspired by @bplewis's swing thread. These lead to a major new thing. On the weight forward drill I realized my hands need to be significantly more under plane at impact in order not to be toe down (I'd forgotten that I learned at a fitting a while back that I'm toe down no matter how upright they bend the club!). And being in that position makes all sorts of other changes to the swing! So after no rounds for five weeks and nothing but dry swings for 3-4, I made it out last weekend with grandma around to help with the baby. +8 for the first five holes knocking off the rust and getting used to the lower hands at impact. But then I figured it out a bit and shot +7 over the last 13, including two bogeys on par 3s where I airmailed the green. One nice big draw with the 9i right over the pin to ~165 (it's my 150 club), and a big booming draw with my 19° hybrid that carried right over pin to ~240 (that's my 220-225 club off the tee). Ended up screwed both times and did well to bogey. Four of the other five strokes came on just two holes, OB and hazard teen shots for doubles. Point is, it felt awesome except for only two shots for 13 holes. Hit the most controlled draws through the entire bag that I ever have. Hit a few over draws or straight pushes and was able to correct it easily. And I don't think it looked super pretty, but I could feel more of a flatter swing from A5-A7. With some video work I'm pretty sure I've found a feel that's really going to help me. Pretty pumped with how well the round worked out given the long layoff!

[mdl]

So, it's been a while...

Kid (see last couple posts), new job, new city without 70+ and sunny weather, and how much I get to play and practice is significantly down, and definitely not enough time for dedicated practice/improvement to make it worth posting my (infrequent) videos here.

But I'm still obsessed, play and practice as I can, and have purposeful dry swing sessions pretty much every day, even if only for 5 minutes.  In those sessions, I've been thinking about my ever present big push miss.  Forever I've been trying to ingrain having more the back of my hand drive through impact, rather than the heel of the had instinct I've never lost from baseball, but it's never really solved my problem.  But I remembered recently that one of the first comments I got in this thread was about how I cupped my left wrist, and working through my dry swings, I realized I had heel of left hand towards the target, but also a bit of a cupped wrist at impact.  Thought back to rev the motorcycle feel I learned here, and started my dry swing sessions going all the way with it, starting my takeaway with a start of the rev, and then trying to finish the top swing with more rev, to keep it from getting cupped and also because that helps me not start my down swing as steep.

Got in 9 holes at dawn today, first time playing since November (it's been dark and rainy with miserable course conditions and not enough sun for pre-work golf since then).  Only been to the range maybe 5-6 times since then too, none since working on rev the motorcycle.  Shot a 42 with two 3-putt bogeys, 5 fairways, 9 nGIR.  Yeah just 9 holes, surely lots of work to do, but it felt just great.  Super excited for the coming season!

I'll have to get some video in my next range session and post it up here, see what people think I should be working on...

[mdl]

I've been Playing Golf for: 13 years

My current handicap index or average score is: 9
My typical ball flight is: straight or fade
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: spray

It's been so long since I've worked on my swing, my old swing thread doesn't exist! Taking advantage of the pandemic, got a net. The thing I'm working on in these videos is getting flatter at A5.

 

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Videos: 

 

 

 

 

 

[iacas]

5 hours ago, mdl said:

It's been so long since I've worked on my swing, my old swing thread doesn't exist!

It still exists and a moderator merged it for you.

5 hours ago, mdl said:

Taking advantage of the pandemic, got a net. The thing I'm working on in these videos is getting flatter at A5.

Why?

I'd be more concerned with this:

P.S. Mind your camera angles, and I don't just mean how crooked that angle is above.