What Are You Working On? - Page 43

What I'm working on:

After filming my swing yesterday, I noticed a slight motion at the top of my backswing that shouldn't be there. It's at the exact moment that I start shifting my weight forward, my shoulders tilt a little which moves my hands out away from my body ever so slightly which in turn moves the club head away from my shoulders at the top of my swing. If you translate that into my downswing, keeping on the arc, the club head comes down inside-out and turned out which should give rise to a push fade/slice. That's exactly where my shot is right now, way right and going more right.

I'll be trying to work that out as well as keeping my hands in (left bicep against chest) and making solid contact with the ball. I'm really only 3 weeks into golf but I'd rather start out on the right foot than develop some terrible habit that will come back to bite me down the road.

I took a lesson on Sunday after having some back issues and being away from the game for a year.  Basically, I had always taken zero divot with irons, any iron.  Picked it clean. 

I hit a pretty high ball, slight pull draw most times.  Distance wasn't hurt too much, stock 7i was 170yds.  When I came back to the game this year, gave me time to assess things.  Hitting my driver extremely well (for me), but still missing a ton of greens, averaging 3-4GIR while hitting 75% of fairways the few times I played this year.  Ridiculous.  Same deal in years past, just no accuracy. 

Forward to the lesson, instructor immediately had me working to get the hands in front, more weight on the left side, and basically just practice half swing impacts.  Got the feel for hitting down into the ball.  Felt VERY odd to me, but I know from playing with better players, I need to come down on the ball more.  Worked up to full 7i and was blown away, first time I've ever felt like I was "compressing" the ball.  I've definitely hit irons that felt flush, but never felt it squeeze off the club face and then take the divot.  Ball flight is a bit different but still plenty high, which confuses me seeing as how I was flipping before, but I won't argue.  Distance looks to be there as well on well struck shots.  I'm very happy, I thought this would be an impossible transition. 

Played on Sunday and shot best 9 of my life, hit a bunch of shots fat as I adjust to the swing, but the good ones were very solid and I had a huge gain in accuracy.  I'll keep working the impact drill for a few weeks. 

Working hard on takeaway wrist action....wrists a little flatter, not so much cup at the top, grip just a tad weaker than it has grown over the last month.  Also trying to keep from loading the right side too much on the backswing.  Combined with my overswinging tendency, the result is a hang-back flip with the left shoulder moving up too quickly.  Fix is stay centered, feel the head stable and left shoulder work down on the downswing, then hit it hard with the arms from A5.5-6.  Trying to be patient on my downswing for better sequencing.  Currently 70% is about all I can sequence properly.  Anything more breaks down.
 

Shoulder turn and making solid contact. I am all over the place as I work on this. I concentrate on the keeping the left arm straight, the left shoulder coming in and down towards the ball (steeper), and the club takeaway one piece. For the down swing, I imagine the shaft coming down to the same 9 o'clock position on the take away. The problem I have know is determining the distance I have to stand from the ball. With my shorter clubs, it's not an issue. For the 7 + most everything is flying off to the right. Also since I am coming down steeper, it feels like i am grounding the club sooner. So I am going to work on distance from the ball at address to see if it straightens this out.

I am currently working on power and distance control. I have set up an elevated "chipping green" in the park in my hometown. The area is desert with alpine mountain backdrop. So I get cooler temps but have to play in the sand. The park I use is not the best park as far as landscaping, but it gives me a great oportunity to practice sand trap shots.

The "green" is on a small hill with a narrow top with the hole located towards the back of the "green" with a small drop off immediately behind the cup (bought a flagstick and cup at Dick's). My goal is to land the ball right on top of the narrow ridge of the green just infront of the hole hopefully rolling into the cup. (approx. 70 yds.) I use a 56 deg. wedge that I bought used recently to practice with, and have been hitting the shots from a sand pit that I made. My goal is to make the shots stick to the top of the narrow ridge, hoping that the balls don't roll off the back side of the hill.  

I have been using golf club weights to warm up and do my practice swings, and really focusing on a smooth back swing, and a sraight and square forward swing. at first I was hitting the ball way behind the hill, then too short. I adjusted my grip and my posture (had my feet too far apart, and my left foot was turned out properly but I had it too far back throwing me off balance. After getting a good prpoer grip and posture I was landing the balls within 20 inches from the stick.

Being very new to the sport, I am working on 'keeping it in play'.  At this point I am not focusing on distance, but more on making it straight.  I have my more them my share of topped balls, hooks and slices. As of this moment, I would be happy to hit it straight down the fairway, even if it were only 100 yards.

This

To make it look like this.  So, no rolling of the joints, shaft feels very steep on the backswing.   

i am currently working on my mid iron contact, i have played golf only four times this year, but have went to the range close to ten in a attempt to re gain my consistent contact with my irons. During the last two or three games i've played i notice a would blade the ball and/or hit it off the toe of the club, so at attempt to fix this problem i purchased the stickers that you put on the face of the club that tells you where contact was made. If this does not solve the problem i may resort to video taping my swing and if only may talk to instructor on solutions to the problem.

Progress- I did attend a range this morning in between finals and notice that I'm pulling my head and some times incorrectly shifting my weight making me blade the ball, yet I'm still curious on why I'm unable to hit my 3/4/5 irons worth a lick.... I may invest in some new clubs (i know, i know its my swing not the clubs)since I'm still using the same irons i used in middle school(golf smith generic brand).

**** if you have any ideas on how to improve my swing feel free to shot me a personal message*** thankyou 

My backswing is killing me on 5-8 shots per round resulting in extreme blocks. I am trying to to not let it go inside. I just don't have the time to practice it that much right now. I have to have my buddy (he is scratch) watch my swing, because for some reason I cannot feel it when its happening, but know immediately from the results.

not swinging the club so damn flat,.....aarrrggghhh

As my teacher and mvmac told me, I'm trying to regain spine flex at the start of my backswing and get my elbows closer together
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by divot dave 

I'm working on hitting the driver straight. I'm new to golf, and relatively speaking, my irons are fairly decent. I have a respectable amount of accuracy and distance hitting them. My objective is to get out on the golf course for the first time and not lose all my balls... however, the way i hit the driver, that doesn't seem likely.

 

So I was at the driving range last night and a gentleman offered me some great advice to help establish a feel for my swing that would generate more consistent results. The drill he suggested was to practice hitting balls starting from position where the club is parallel to the ground, toe up, and pointing to the target line. From there, take the club back and swing thru the ball trying to return to that same starting position during the down swing. 

I tried it out during lunch today and I went from consistently slicing the ball out of play to slightly pulling the ball but overall hitting it much straighter. 

 

I plan to take a couple lessons soon, and i'm hoping I don't develop any habits too severely before then. In the mean time, this little drill may help push me over the hump and try out an actual golf course... lol

So, update to the above... I made it out yesterday (memorial day) to the local golf course for the first time. As anticipated, my irons were friendly to me. I mostly hit 7-9 iron and the pw of course. Also as anticipated, I lost quite a few balls hitting my driver... but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be my first time out. I played 9 holes and shot mostly double and triple bogeys with a couple nightmare holes (but never 10).

The biggest reality check for me was the short game. I knew going in that I had no real idea how to play the short game, but I still underestimated how challenging it would be. My biggest issue was over-shooting the hole either chipping or putting, so I will be spending a great deal of time practicing those things. I was so bothered by it that later in the day I drove out to the nearest pitch-n-putt and did 2 rounds using 3 balls lol. 

After that I stopped by the driving range on the way home to hit a small bucket while the feel of the morning's failures was still fresh. I had somewhat of an epiphany while out on the course and wanted to try out the adjustments. Here's what happened: I choked up on the driver ever so slightly (I normally grip the club near the butt end too far) and also I deliberately took notice of the club-head path during my practice swings. The blurry trail of the club-head looked like an out-to-in, and with just a couple more practice swings, the path resembled more of a well rounded semi-circle. 

The result??? consistent shots straight down the middle of the fairway with absolutely no slice. 1,2,3 in a row... then 8 or so out of 10... perfectly straight and far... 250 + (which is good for me). Anytime I would hit a slice, I would check those two things... choke up a little, and observe club head path and correct during practice swings... sure enough the next swing would be right back down the middle. This represents a HUGE breakthrough for me, hopefully it will stick with me on my next trip to the course. 

Working on my ball striking. Mostly keeping my hands in front of the ball. Been hitting a lot of 1/2 shots to really get the feel of keeping my hands forward. I've seen great results. Now I just need my short game to come back because I have no clue where it went. 

For me it's all about not hitting it fat!

I've moved to  a S&T swing so we'll see how that works out.

Still working on the backwswing, and the swing path through impact. Its getting better, slowly.. There are more solid shots per round. I still need to dedicate my time to my short game. My putting has went down hill a bit now. Its tough to keep all aspects of the game solid.

Quote:

Originally Posted by keeps21 

For me it's all about not hitting it fat!

 

I've moved to  a S&T swing so we'll see how that works out.

well i played tonight... only hit 3 fat shots (still shot 113)

Losing balls off the tee is killing me

I recently twisted my back, so I am re-learning how to swing again....