What Are You Working On? - Page 45

My ball striking is brilliany now. Posture and mechanics feel great as well. So just working on not getting so sore after a round and aching pains in back.

Hopefully it's a fitness thing and not a poor form thing.

 

I putt from my upper body, rotating around my spine with my elbows glued to my sides and my hands and arms out of the equation.  Works well for me in terms of speed hitting the target I'm aiming for.  Once I've picked my target and my swing length I don't move my head until well after contact and I focus on accelerating through contact, striking the equator of the ball with a slightly upward swingpath which gives it a little topspin.

• Staying down through the shot until impact.
• Swinging on plane, as my swing has been far too vertical and I've been taking huge chunky divots and not much else.
• Cleanly hitting soft chip shots instead of knocking them 10 yards or more on the other side of the green.
• Fully transferring my weight, especially with the driver.
• Keeping my eyes on the ball... This really shouldn't be so hard for me, but I have to very actively remind myself to do this!

 

Lately I have been taking the nicest looking divots in front of the ball and feeling so good about my iron swings. However, many of these shots are somehow mishit and the ball goes only a little bit in the air before nosediving. I assume this is due to top spin, but what causes it? It is very frustrating to think that you've hit a brilliant shot and then have to watch it bounce a short way down the fairway.

Things i am working on:

 

- Eliminate early extension (keep tush line). Easy to train with chair at my backside. Warning, as the muscles are not trained before this, the lower back can get quite sore (and i'm not getting younger)

 

- Over swinging. Feel sure isn't real here, but less is certainly more in my case.

Working on trusting that my swing to right field will produce the shot I want. It works, I know it works and I witness it working. Just need to keep working on it and not let that outside-in swing creep back in.

i got a net and a grip/weight stick and I've been working on:

 

proper grip

not decelerating 

and i don't know what you call it, but basically i would never open the face on my back swing i would just try to stick with the face the same throughout the whole swing. I'm working on opening my wrists going back and closing them at the ball and through.

 

it's hard to explain, but the weighted grip thing kind of forces you to keep your wrists loose and flip/release at the bottom.

 

i can feel that I'm striking with more power and making good solid contact and hitting down through the shot, i just have to take it to an actual range or course to see where the ball is going.

 

but there's no way i could have figured it out as quickly at the range, where i would have been obsessed with repeating a good shot even if the mechanics were absolute garbage.

Shaft lean and turning the right shoulder down and through impact.  I think the latter has been missing from my swing for the past several weeks.  

-keeping my hands in front of my chest throughout my swing(not getting stuck)

-alignment, I think I have pretty much always lined up right and pulled it to a certain extent

-smooth transition-I have a tendency of jumping at the top

-I changed how I hold the putter so that's new too

Swing is gelling nicely.  As far as ballstriking goes, only working on one thing right now:  keep face square by swinging handle up and left i.e. maintain connection with left pectoral at >P5.  When I do, perfect shot, dead online, maybe a baby draw, but it's hard to tell sometimes.  When I don't, slight block.  Simple as that at this point.  Always working on maintaining good rhythm and balance though.  Chipping technique is solid.  Just practicing a bunch of different shots.  Putting is also requiring very little work right now, but pretty much focusing on quiet hands and quiet eyes.  Biggest focus for me right now is course management, shot commitment, and focus.  Not letting myself get nervous when I'm -3 after 3 holes, learning how to go low, stuff like that.

A few setup fixes and streeeeeeeeeeeetch my right side.

I've been working on power since I can remember. I know they all say you put for dough etc. but I want to be very close to the pin when I put for dough because I'm a greedy SOB. This of course inherently means hitting the ball further. I have a small site with a few choice articles on hip power up while I'm working on a bigger golf site. The little one's at www.golfswingu.com. I've got a good power article there for anyone who wants to check it out.

 

Ty

I have a question and don't really know, but I was thinking of starting a thread on it - HOW do you "practice"?

I bring this up due to my present situation which is: I have a weekly $25-$30 to put towards golf, usually this comes in the form of 1 round(18) w/ cart or 2 rounds walking. Out of the 2 courses in my town, 1 has a driving range, but you have to call before you go to see if they have balls to hit.

I have about 7 dozen used balls that I've collected in a bucket along with some of those wiffle ball things.

I have seen through playing the 2 courses in my town that after my tee shot I will have about 120 into the green.

So what I'll do when I "practice" is I'll step off various yardages (usually 60,80,100 yards) and set markers in a big field near my house, then practice distance control. At the same time I'll be focusing on accuracy and ball striking (ball then divot).

In my back yard I have 10, 20, 30 yard markers and I'll do the same thing.

I usually use my 52*, but sometimes I'll switch to my 48* or 8 or 9 iron.

What do you do? Any suggestions....Thanks

Working on eliminating my hook and pull-draw. I started by weakening my LH grip and using a more vertical swing plane, and it worked for a while, but the lefts started creeping back in. Now I have also weakened my RH grip and I'm concentrating on swinging down the line with a somewhat vertical plane. I am so conditioned to swinging in-out that my 'down the line' thought is actually producing a slight in-out path, so last few times out I have been hitting consistent baby push-draws. Let's hope it sticks...

I have to eliminate pulling the ball left with my shorter clubs. So many times I'm hitting it solid, end up pin high but in the bunker left or a lousy position instead of putting. Costs me a lot of strokes. Saw an instruction video that suggests improbably have a bit of an over the top move on the ball(?).

I'm working on my posture, and here's how:  inbetween each shot i walk away from the mat a few yards and back to it, walking with good posture....and as i then set up to the ball i look to keep the same sort-of upper body posture.  It produced pleasing results yesterday at the range.

Ball Striking and Accuracy are always on my list of things to work on. Tuesday night I was working with my 48* on 100 yard distance. Found that if I take back to an 8 o'clock position then go to the 2 o'clock position with partially full acceleration, I'm right there. I believe the actual carry is 90 but with the roll it comes within 5 feet of my marker. I asked my wife if she wouldn't mind coming to help by sitting close enough to see where it lands and rolls to, and with some walkie talkies she can relay the results. (She said she would bring a hard hat....)

 

You have a keeper.

Working on getting my swing to be second-nature to me. Haven't swung a club for about a week.. went to the range.. and felt so lost [after hitting well last time I went out]

 

That plus 90+ degree heat just killed my stamina and technique.. and after a few hits I just lost all ability to control my swing, arms, etc and was so inconsistent.

 

I want to continue to practice tomorrow and get things back in rhythm and control.. but I don't think the heat will allow that.

 

I think I forgot how far away I stand from the ball as well, ha. What a mess.