My Swing (Darkfrog)

[GolfLug]

In my experience lifting a suitcase by it's horizontal handle from the ground is a great image. Functionally if you are able to waggle the club side to side like Jason Dufner and hinge the club up and down without disturbing hanging forearms then there is a great probability that you have a good grip.   

[Darkfrog]

@iacas, is this screen capture from the long thumb video what would be considered ideal?

If yes, I think I can do that, and I think I understand what I was doing wrong. Is the image below on the right track?

[iacas]

7 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

@iacas, is this screen capture from the long thumb video what would be considered ideal?

If yes, I think I can do that, and I think I understand what I was doing wrong. Is the image below on the right track?

Yes that seems fine.

[Darkfrog]

4 hours ago, iacas said:

Yes that seems fine.

Ah, good. I understand where I was getting mixed up. I will post later when I have some free time, just in case anyone else who is having a similar issue happens to come across my My Swing thread.

Now I need to swing the club and see how long it takes to find the ball after the change.

[Darkfrog]

6 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

I will post later when I have some free time, just in case anyone else who is having a similar issue happens to come across my My Swing thread.

This post is meant to help anyone who happens to get mixed up in the same dumb way I did.

I've read the "good grip commonality" thread (the main post at least) on this site many many times, and also have watched Erik's long thumb and ultimate grip video several times before yesterday too. Yet I still managed to not grip the club correctly.

I was thinking grip in the fingers, meaning only the fingers should grip the club, sort of shown here:

I actively tried to keep any portion of my palm off the grip. When I tried to add a long thumb, at the same time I would also try to keep the palm from compressing toward the grip to keep the grip in finger, palm off the grip, and the long thumb. This was extremely uncomfortable, trying to maintain a gap in the red circle below, with a long thumb, while still holding the club securely.

So what I did was grip with a shorter thumb, and put as much pressure on the grip as possible with my thumb to pinch the grip against my index finger to secure the club. In addition to not really holding the grip securely this way, the force applied by the thumb is levering the butt end toward the palm. The club must have started sliding palmward as soon as the backswing started.

I was putting so much pressure with my lead hand thumb that I wore off part of the grip, and from the butt end sliding in my palm, that part is worn too. I also think as a compensation, my trail hand thumb must have also been pressing too hard, as the wear marks on the grip show this (this is my 7-iron). Those of you who play Pure grips know how durable the rubber is, and I have worn out the texture in 3 spots on the grip.

Anyways, maybe this enlightens someone else doing something similar.

 

[Darkfrog]

Spent some time in the evening learning to “find” the ball with my 7-iron after working on the grip adjustment. Started with short, chippy swings to see and feel where the clubface was through the swing. Once I felt like contact was good, I moved to half swings, and then again to 3/4 swings, but no full swings today.

Measured 20 swings of ball flight data with Mevo+ and I’m surprised to see a fade as the predominant ball flight. I’ve always wanted a fade as a stock shape so if it sticks that’s cool I guess. Smash average was 1.40 so I think that means contact was decently centered most of the time. Launch was in my target window too, average 17.2.

[Darkfrog]

Daylight hours are changing and I need to adjust my practice time so there is enough light to get decent video feedback.

Been working a lot on grip, maybe a bit too much as I keep inflaming the remnants of a blister, to the point where I purchased my first glove in several years to use until the skin fully heals. I think the solution is to grip the club tighter, but because of the torn skin, gripping tight is a little uncomfortable (the glove helps). I am planning to record some swings in the next few days to see if the grip practice translates to a full swing.

Contact quality has not been good over the last few weeks, and seems to be getting worse. I started chasing different feels and thoughts while practicing trying to get something to work, but it wasn't helping, so I took a few days off practice to clear my head. My instinct tells me I have started overdoing my backswing feel to prevent inside takeaway to the point of creating a domino effect of compensations.

Last night I hit some balls with no feels or thoughts, just doing my best to make an athletic swing. Contact was good; couldn't visually judge the start line because it was too dark to see where the ball was hitting the net, and even though I was using the Mevo+, it was too dark for the camera alignment. I think for the next week or two I am going to keep up grip work, stick with making an athletic swing, and drop my backswing feel (unless video shows bad inside takeaway).

[Darkfrog]

In my last lesson, I found out my setup/address had gotten way over to the lead side (about 75-80% on pressure plate thing), and my lead shoulder was out over my lead foot too much. Fixing this resulted in some immediate improvement in contact and ball flight. There was dynamic stuff too, mostly working on not flipping/shoving. The feel is holding the clubface open, but unfortunately I haven't been able to get much practice in since the lesson, so haven't really worked on this at all. Had a minor muscle tweak in my back, so for about a week and a half I limited golf to static stuff and weekend play. Also had a pretty big painting project going on in/around the house. Then I got a series of colds thanks to my kids in elementary school. Recently some storms making the yard too wet for dynamic ball stuff.

Grip work has been a challenge. I can do it fine walking around the house holding onto my PVC pipe. But swinging a club I unconsciously revert to old grip. What works is taking a good grip, and then forcing myself to be aware of grip pressure the entire swing, which is the challenge. I'm going to try and get this to a point where I don't have to consciously think about it during the swing.

Forecast says weds-sat this week is going to be dry, so I am looking forward to getting some practice in before the week is over.

I did get in a round at Pasatiempo on 10/17, which has been the golf highlight of the year so far.