My Swing (BC-to-MI)

[BC-to-MI]

I've been Playing Golf for:

About three and a half years, but really started to take it more seriously in the last year or two.

My current handicap index or average score is:

This is the first season I have kept a handicap (started recording at the beginning of April). I started out at an 18.4 and have gone to 18.0, 17.8, and now 15.6 in the latest revision.
My typical ball flight is:

Wedges through 7i - generally straight, with occasional slight fade. I range from fairly to very comfortable hitting all of these clubs and having a solid idea of the area they will end up.

6i through 4i - 65/35 fade vs medium slice. Certainly less consistent than the shorter clubs, but misses are playable, for the most part. 4 iron is generally my tee shot because it's the longest club I can keep between the white stakes, but I have trouble with misses when I overdo the swing trying to get too much distance out of it.

3 wood - 20/80 fade vs hard slice; Driver 10/90 slice off the planet. The 3 wood has its days where I can hit it relatively consistently, but it's pretty useless often, and I need to have clearance on the left side of the hole to allow it to start left and work its way back. Driver never comes out of the bag aside from range sessions.

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is:

Hate: most every shot with my 3 wood and driver. Reduce: low hook with short/mid irons and slice with long irons.

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Videos: 

I will work on getting better video in the near future here, specifically for the DTL views -- the friend I had take the videos didn't know what I was using them for, so he didn't really line anything up.

This season I joined the same course membership my friend has, so I have really been trying to take advantage of the free range balls to get consistent practice in for the first time in my life. I have really been working to reduce what was an extremely severe out-to-in action that I had which was forcing a wicked slice on every club. I'm not working toward any specific ball flight - I honestly don't care if I hit a draw, straight, or fade, as long as it is consistent.

I would assume that my backswing could use some taming, as I often find myself overdoing the swing, but I have struggled to find that balance of shortening the backswing vs slowing down the swing and messing up timing. Also, the lower body mechanics are all jacked up from thousands and thousands of muscle memory reps of throwing a baseball before ever swinging a club.

I really want to learn as much as I can about the golf swing so I can make sure that the time I spend practicing is productive. Any input I can get is greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by BC-to-MI

[ladders11]

Regarding the driver issues, you are swinging too hard. Your hands are way ahead of the ball and clubface is open at impact, which is going to slice the ball right. In general your weight should be back on the left foot much sooner and before (yes before) you complete your backswing. If you google step-through drill there are videos around which give a better presentation of proper weight shift that I think will help a lot.

[chspeed]

Congrats on starting swing thread!

If I were you, I'd start with my set-up and then learn how to make a proper pivot so you don't end up in this position. You don't see any pros looking like that at the top.

'

I recommend these two threads:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BC-to-MI]

  On 6/5/2019 at 7:05 AM, ladders11 said:

Regarding the driver issues, you are swinging too hard. Your hands are way ahead of the ball and clubface is open at impact, which is going to slice the ball right. In general your weight should be back on the left foot much sooner and before (yes before) you complete your backswing. If you google step-through drill there are videos around which give a better presentation of proper weight shift that I think will help a lot.

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The overswing is definitely something I struggle with regardless of club. I'll definitely check out those videos. Thanks.

  On 6/5/2019 at 12:33 PM, chspeed said:

Congrats on starting swing thread!

If I were you, I'd start with my set-up and then learn how to make a proper pivot so you don't end up in this position. You don't see any pros looking like that at the top.

'

I recommend these two threads:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I'll give these a read. Thanks for the direction.

Edited June 5, 2019 by BC-to-MI

[billchao]

You're kind of faking Key #1 by overextending your back at the top, then it moves all over the place in the downswing. There's a lot of excess movement that leads to inconsistencies in your ballstriking.

I'd start by flaring your feet out more so your hips can turn more instead of slide back.

You should work on the wall drill:

You obviously don't have a flexibility issue but for you it's about making a centered hip turn. It's probably going to feel like you're sliding your hips toward the target in the backswing.

[BC-to-MI]

  On 6/5/2019 at 3:34 PM, billchao said:

You're kind of faking Key #1 by overextending your back at the top, then it moves all over the place in the downswing. There's a lot of excess movement that leads to inconsistencies in your ballstriking.

I'd start by flaring your feet out more so your hips can turn more instead of slide back.

You should work on the wall drill:

You obviously don't have a flexibility issue but for you it's about making a centered hip turn. It's probably going to feel like you're sliding your hips toward the target in the backswing.

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The flared feet and pivot are something I've worked on in the past, then forgotten as I focus on other stuff. I definitely have a problem trying to fix a bunch of stuff at the same time instead of just giving all my focus to a specific issue each session. I'll check out the wall drill for sure. Thanks.

Had a chance to run to the range yesterday over lunch and grabbed a couple DTL shots with driver and 7i. Didn't have time to work on anything, just wanted to get the video.

 

[billchao]

  On 6/5/2019 at 3:43 PM, BC-to-MI said:

I definitely have a problem trying to fix a bunch of stuff at the same time instead of just giving all my focus to a specific issue each session.

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You gotta work on one thing at a time, and I'm not talking about each session, but just in general. It's hard to ingrain any changes if you're constantly shifting focus and often fixing one piece in you swing will fix other issues without having to specifically work on them.

Everything is connected so it's not like you're going to keep making the same compensations if you only change one movement.

[BC-to-MI]

Did a bunch of mirror work and the aforementioned wall drill this week to hone in on the centered pivot. Got out to the course today and focused on making a centered pivot with flared feet in order to help create rotation without the contortion you can see in the video. Ended up breaking 40 for the first time on 9 holes and posted my best 18-hole score ever with an 81. Going to try to get out to range in the next couple days and get video to see how much of the adjustment is sticking.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[BC-to-MI]

One of my buddies is in town this week, so it's been mostly rounds rather than range recently, but off the course, I've really been honing in on the centered pivot using the wall drill and backswings in front of the mirror. I am definitely guilty of overanalyzing everything, so it has been a bit of a struggle to force myself to just focus on one aspect of the swing instead of trying to fix multiple things at once, but we are getting there. Got some video today before our round.

 

There seems to be improvement when I am consciously thinking about making the centered pivot, but I know I revert back to sliding my hips quite a bit when I'm not thinking about it. I feel like the backswing could probably be reined in a bit too, as I would guess that I am losing consistency at a certain point and not actually gaining any additional power, but I don't want to give myself more to think about right now.

Here's the comparison between my first video and today's:

[billchao]

Looks good. Don't worry about other stuff until this becomes automatic.

[Grizvok]

  On 6/14/2019 at 11:01 PM, billchao said:

Looks good. Don't worry about other stuff until this becomes automatic.

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This. Big improvement in achieving a centered pivot but don't stop there; really make sure you have this ingrained before going forward.

Edited June 15, 2019 by Grizvok

[BC-to-MI]

Really struggled with ball striking this weekend. I tend to overanalyze everything, so I think I'm a little too much in my own head right now trying to make adjustments. Inconsistencies remain with the centered pivot, but still working on ignoring the rest of the swing to focus on getting this down pat.

 

All that said, I've dropped down to a 14.1 handicap from an 18.4 at the beginning of the year. Still pretty inconsistent round to round, but my misses are much more playable, especially since reading the "Stop Aiming at the Pin" thread.

Edited June 18, 2019 by BC-to-MI

[billchao]

Don't slide your upper body forward with your hips in the downswing. 

[Grizvok]

  On 6/18/2019 at 11:37 AM, billchao said:

Don't slide your upper body forward with your hips in the downswing. 

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How is your chest and upper body supposed to “cover” the ball if it isn’t part of the lateral shift towards the target in the later stages of the backswing and early stages of the downswing?

Most videos I’ve seen from the AMG guys about lateral shift always touch on the importance of actually re-centering and moving laterally with the upper body in conjunction with the lower.

[billchao]

  On 6/18/2019 at 5:11 PM, Grizvok said:

How is your chest and upper body supposed to “cover” the ball if it isn’t part of the lateral shift towards the target in the later stages of the backswing and early stages of the downswing?

Most videos I’ve seen from the AMG guys about lateral shift always touch on the importance of actually re-centering and moving laterally with the upper body in conjunction with the lower.

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This isn't a general discussion about the golf swing. My advice is specific to @BC-to-MI.

But to answer your question, you want to fall forward and re-center, but not continue to slide your torso too far forward beyond where it was at address (Key #1). Doing that shifts the low point forward and you have to make other compensations to hit the ball.

[BC-to-MI]

  On 6/18/2019 at 11:37 AM, billchao said:

Don't slide your upper body forward with your hips in the downswing. 

Expand  

 

  On 6/18/2019 at 5:58 PM, billchao said:

This isn't a general discussion about the golf swing. My advice is specific to @BC-to-MI.

But to answer your question, you want to fall forward and re-center, but not continue to slide your torso too far forward beyond where it was at address (Key #1). Doing that shifts the low point forward and you have to make other compensations to hit the ball.

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@billchao, if sliding my upper body too far forward in the downswing is shifting the low point of my swing forward, would this explain why my main issue the last few rounds has been repeatedly topping my irons? Not the extreme 10-yard ones hammered into the ground, but super low trajectory and only traveling maybe 50% of their usual distance -- almost looking like they had top spin.

[billchao]

  On 6/18/2019 at 6:18 PM, BC-to-MI said:

@billchao, if sliding my upper body too far forward in the downswing is shifting the low point of my swing forward, would this explain why my main issue the last few rounds has been repeatedly topping my irons? Not the extreme 10-yard ones hammered into the ground, but super low trajectory and only traveling maybe 50% of their usual distance -- almost looking like they had top spin.

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Yea, an extremely thinned shot is one of the possible outcomes. Or you can just straight up top it, chunk it from releasing the wrist angles too early, etc. Lots of inconsistency of strike from having the ball too far back, which is effectively what you're doing by moving the low point forward so much.

It's likely your good strikes come out low as well, or at least lower than they should.

[BC-to-MI]

  On 6/18/2019 at 6:53 PM, billchao said:

Yea, an extremely thinned shot is one of the possible outcomes. Or you can just straight up top it, chunk it from releasing the wrist angles too early, etc. Lots of inconsistency of strike from having the ball too far back, which is effectively what you're doing by moving the low point forward so much.

It's likely your good strikes come out low as well, or at least lower than they should.

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Yeah, my clean strikes are probably 50/50 regular trajectory vs looking like knockdown shots, which is clearly a pain when trying to hit elevated greens or stay below the hole. That all makes sense. Thanks.