My Swing (tickbomb)

[tickbomb]

Another great session with my coach.  We got rid of the loop and worked hard on rotation to drive the club.  Still need to work on rotation a lot as I feel my shoulder rotation is a bit steep as well as my follow-through.  I believe I need to focus on getting the lead shoulder to rotate back better.  But I will see what I can incorporate.  Impact is all over the place, but that will come once I lock this down more:

 

[tickbomb]

After working with my coach, I had another great "ball-striking and driving" simulation round.  I say ball striking and driving because it was all for nothing as I couldn't score with wedges.  In fact, I scored worse hitting almost perfect off the tee.  I don't have any wedges calibrated for the 40-100 yard 1/2 shots.

A couple notes in the differences vs the past couple weeks:

1) I was significantly faster.  A couple of examples:  High 180's ball speed drives vs 170's.  150mph ball speed 5 irons.  I had to recalibrate all the clubs distance wise.  For example, I was hitting 7 irons about 25 yards further.  The speed increase was consistent across a couple different sims.  

2) Lower trajectory launch.  The driver was launching at 9.5 vs around 11-13.

Feels:

1) My only swing thoughts were lead wrist flexion at the top + driving the right shoulder down to the ball.

2) My Right elbow was squished more into my belly through transition and the Downswing vs into my right side

3) Left hip flexors, under the hip bone are sore.

4) Impact was very very good.  Especially with irons.

Another realization that I have come to the conclusion of is that my backyard snow setup isn't really ideal as the ground is slippy.  Rotation is much harder.  So yes I can practice some things, but things will be completely different when you have grip.

After playing 18, I took 30-40 mins to do some wedge practice in the sim.  I don't think this is something I can't drastically improve.  With my distance, if I'm striking the ball well off the tee, I think I can improve my scores significantly.  Within that time I was able to at least calibrate a 3/4 swing to some very loose yardages and I will have to work on my swing to get this nailed down with 1/2 swings as well:

60 degree - 60's yards

56 degree - 70's yards

52 degree - 80's yards

49 degree - 90's yards

46 degree - 100's yards

Here is the current wedge swing progression.  Three swings in the first video, improving transition to shallow with a 3/4 swing.  Then a face on view of 2 swings.

 

Front view

 

I am finally ready to start to work on my front view a lot more @iacas.  I focused on behind views and feel like I understand what transition moves get me on a good downswing plane.  I know I need to continue to work on my backswing.  You can see the second swing I get lazy and am inside.

For the front view I am definitely swaying, something that @iacas brought up before.  That tendency definitely affects a lot of things, but I notice it in my backswing at the top, my ability to get on my left side, steep shoulders through follow through, my follow through is limited causing my club to exit more vertically, left elbow out in the follow through, and this is probably the reason (or one of) that I have a large overdraw miss.  I know the feeling to fix it, it will just take time to engrain it.  I can at least say I'm committed to fixing that issue now as I can see its effect on the rest of the swing.

I have a long lesson tomorrow with my coach, so we will see if I can continue to progress.

[tickbomb]

Still working a lot.

Irons are getting more consistent.  Launch is way down now.  5 iron is around 11-12 degrees.  5 iron swing plane is around 58 degrees, which is average for my height (ref https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0m63jlXvHw&t=694s).

This is a really old and not really accurate sim (other than launch and ball speed), so I don't really trust it.  They took off side spin because it was so messed up.  I just use it to work on my mechanics and hit balls after my league game as they let me hit as many as I want afterwards.  But I've been doing some trackman sessions at another sim and my dispersion was really good.  It didn't save for some reason in my profile.  So I'm going to go back and baseline my dispersions (for a decade golf approach).

I think in terms of swing, generally the biggest issue is keeping center contact consistent.  I get in a good grove and then get a little steep, which leads to a toe strike, or a little too shallow and get a heel strike.

I know in terms of my backswing and the top of my swing I come in a bit flat sometimes to the top.  So I'm not sure I want to mess with it exactly.  We are getting closer to the start of the season and you can only make so much progress.

Driver.  Ok so in the trackman my irons have a slight cut or fade that I can play around with by changing my setup.  But as I move to my 3 wood and driver, I tend to hit heel strikes and have a massive over draw.  I'm talking about 9-10 degrees in to out with an open face angle of maybe 2-3 degrees.  Very consistently.  You will see in this sim, there is no side spin, but in real life and the trackman sim, this would be in the next fairway:

So one thing that works in the trackman sim is setting up for a fade really open, say 5-10 degrees open.  I can neutralize the path.  It's not something that I really want to do, but it seems to work.  My swing plan for my driver is on the low end, around 43 degrees, which is pretty shallow, maybe too much.  With camera angles and lens distortion it's really hard to tell, but I don't think it's a dumped under or in to out swing plane issue.  I'm not playing the ball too far back in the stance either that would warrant a 9-10 degree in to out (i'm hitting up about 3-5 degrees on average).  So my theory (I'm open to other theories or views), is I am not counteracting the outward force enough through impact.  This is leading to the heel strikes and an outward path.  With my irons I really pull back with my left shoulder through impact as my right wrist pushes the club downward.  I don't really think about that with 3 wood or driver.

Soooo... next Trackman session I'm going to try some of the stuff the TXG guys were doing to reduce the overdraws.  One is a spoon in the trail armpit, two is a sharpie in the left armpit (get it left to the target), and three is getting the back of the right hand towards the left thigh.  The last one being the feel of slicing the club left across the ball, which I think is what I need to do to neutralize that extreme path.

So I'm open to any suggestions or comments.

Note:  Still working on Wedges and they are getting much better.  

 

 

 

[iacas]

12 minutes ago, tickbomb said:

I think in terms of swing, generally the biggest issue is keeping center contact consistent.  I get in a good grove and then get a little steep, which leads to a toe strike, or a little too shallow and get a heel strike.

Your "shallow" or "steep" stuff is waving around a lot. You're steep, then do things to try to shallow it, all with a shut face. Gonna be tough.

[tickbomb]

14 minutes ago, iacas said:

Your "shallow" or "steep" stuff is waving around a lot. You're steep, then do things to try to shallow it, all with a shut face. Gonna be tough.

I assume you referring to the club being shut at the top?  I agree.  A lot of that is from flexion.  I would say I'm not actively trying to motorcycle throttle the grip to get any flexion or anything.  I just kind of let it happen when I swing back and run out of room to rotate my arms and shoulders.  Relaxing the wrists in the backswing was something I worked on with my instructor, primarily wedges.  The weight of the club wants to keep going, so my wrists flex in that direction.  So I would say from my perspective when I swing, it actually feels like a continuation of rotation and is very square and gets a lot of lag.  I'm able to just feel like I'm rotating my body in the downswing without having to square things up.

I get comments from my group a lot about it, but I never really thought anything of it since I was striking the ball better.  I get a lot more flexion with wedges, but I had to learn to actively get rid of it through impact with my right hand otherwise they would launch very low.

That's the idea we were working on at least.

[tickbomb]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

Your "shallow" or "steep" stuff is waving around a lot. You're steep, then do things to try to shallow it, all with a shut face. Gonna be tough.

Ohh are you talking about the backswing being flat 1/2 way from P2 to P3 to steeper at the top "waving"?  That's 100% the camera lens distortion.  It isn't flat when I film places where the camera can get further back.   My armpits are also not that far past my toes at setup.  Next time when I go to the other Sim, I should be able to film from further back.

[iacas]

7 hours ago, tickbomb said:

That's 100% the camera lens distortion.

No, it's not. I know what I'm looking at.

You're shallow, get steep at the top, then carry your arms out a bunch, so you have to pivot stall to let the club tip back under again.

That's what "waving around" means, and why you're inconsistent with what you noted above.

Look, man, I'm not enjoying this pattern. I've tried to help a few times before and just did again, but you clearly don't want it as you don't think I know what I'm talking about. That's fine. I'll save myself the time.

[tickbomb]

Updated swing:

Had a good winter golf league.  Was shooting consistently in the 60's inside, which you will see doesn't equate to outside obviously.  But was good confidence builder to see how to play the game to shoot under. 

I had some left wrist issues from hitting too many drivers in the sim (De Quervain tenosynovitis).  So my swing has changed since starting to play outside to put less pressure on my thumb.  So far it's feeling good.

I've been purposely adding more front bend at setup and sticking my butt out more.  For three reasons.  One, it gives my right elbow more room through impact.  Two, it doesn't hurt my right SI joint when I swing now.  Three, I'm hitting it really, really well.  My coach teaches more traditional setup like arnold palmer and use leg work/squat/etc to get down and through but I am tired of waking up sore.  My SI joint feels pain free now, other than stiffness that is still working itself out.  Speed is definitely down, but striking is much better.

Last year my scores were anywhere from 89 to 105.  This year every round has been under 90.  Here is my last round I shot 85.  Note the clubs aren't what I actually hit (conditions were cold lots of wind 25mph and wet):

The good: I'm on a good putting streak, draining lots of long puts and making critical 5-10 footers in spite of two 3 putts.  Lots of confidence in putting.

Fairways woods.  Hitting very well.  However on 11 and 13 I hit my 3 wood too far into hazards.  So those were mental mistakes hitting 3 wood vs 5 wood.

Irons.  I hit a lot of good iron shots.  However distances were a guess in the wind + with my swing alterations.

Mental.  I had zero swing mechanic thoughts.  Very target orientated.  Followed a pre-swing routine.  Very relaxed.  Used Decade methodology for targets.

The Bad

3 putts: 2

Driver Hooks: Every time except hole 2.  Pretty sure it's toe strikes + closed face + too in to out lol.  A couple rounds ago I had a very consistent draw that I could play.  But now they are snappers.  

Sand shots.  I probably lost 3 shots to greenside bunker play.  The sand was wet.  So something to practice at least before a round.  I am usually a decent bunker player.  I just didn't know how hard to swing in that sand.

Pitching/chipping under 30 yards.  This probably cost me 6 shots if you ignore the whole strokes gained from approaches etc.

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I play friday and sunday and then have another lesson on monday.  So we will see if the trend continues.  But so far I am focused on:

Driver.  If I doesn't want to work, I'll stick with fairway's off the tee.  But 

Distance Wedges.  I have to go out and figure out all my wedge numbers with my clock system.  I did some, but need to do the rest.

Chipping.  I need to spend time on a real green chipping under 20 yards and understanding the rollout.  I got really good chipping to a set distance, but my rollout judging is lacking.

For now I'll let irons and putting naturally improve through playing and practice before the round.

 

[tickbomb]

Swing Work with coach:  Lots of dedicated work to stop getting across the line at the top, keeping everything connected, and not swaying in my pivot.  When I sway, typically that leads to a hook or push right as it needs some kind of timing to get everything back together.  Worked on trying to focus on hitting the inside of the ball at 630 as a feel.

Swinging something like this now.  I stopped taking so many videos as I was going crazy:

 

My scoring last year 

My scoring this year:

 

Great round yesterday.  Played from the back tees with some really good players.  I'm averaging between 1-2 birdies a round now.  Ball striking was much better.  Driving was really good.  Things to focus on now:

Pitching/Chipping:  I am really good at chips and pitches while I practice, but in a game I forget to pick a specific landing spot as an aggressive target.  Mentally I just think distance in yards and "that direction".  So I just need to take more time and focus on very very specific landing spots and focus on that.  I could probably shave 2-3 strokes.

Sand:  I was in the sand around 6 shots yesterday.  2 fairway bunkers and 4 green side.  I was great out of the fairway bunkers, but only got up and down from one greenside.  So either I need to miss more bunkers or practice.  Although the sand was hard and wet, so I didn't really know how to play out of wet sand in some cases.

Putting:  two 3 putts.  Need to improve distance control.

Driver.  Too much variability in distance and trajectory.  Distance is anywhere from 250 to 295 (wind is a factor, but also just poor striking).  I'm still working on better control, but I honestly think I have inconsistent strike locations.  So I'll just start to track strike location better when I go to the range.

Distance Wedges.  Need to continue to dial this in.  Also I found that on very firm turf my trajectory is very low ultra spinny shots.  Not sure if it's a bounce thing.  

I have another lesson in June.  Goal this year is get to the 70's.

 

[klineka]

1 hour ago, tickbomb said:

Sand:  I was in the sand around 6 shots yesterday.  2 fairway bunkers and 4 green side.  I was great out of the fairway bunkers, but only got up and down from one greenside.  So either I need to miss more bunkers or practice.  Although the sand was hard and wet, so I didn't really know how to play out of wet sand in some cases.

How closely are you following Decade? I get that it's not always possible to eliminate every greenside bunker simply based on where you aim and what club you hit, but surely (without knowing much about the course(s) you're playing), it seems like you're probably either being a touch too aggressive with your target or your shot zone is bigger than you're account for if you're hitting into greenside bunkers 20%+ of the time (Or both).

1 hour ago, tickbomb said:

Putting:  two 3 putts.  Need to improve distance control.

Or improve proximity of approach shots. If your 3 putts came from 50+ feet over a massive ridge or something then that's not necessarily indicative of a distance control problem but rather a proximity to the pin problem. Now if those 3 putts came from inside like 20 feet or something then sure there's a distance control issue.

FWIW, PGA Tour players average over 2 strokes to hole out whenever they are outside 40 feet and the average 90s golfer averages over 2 putts whenever they are outside 20 feet.

The average 90s golfer has a 3 putt percentage of 30% from 40 feet, so if you left yourself like 6 or 7 40 footers in a round it's not that unrealistic or abnormal for you to have two 3 putts.

 

[tickbomb]

44 minutes ago, klineka said:

How closely are you following Decade? I get that it's not always possible to eliminate every greenside bunker simply based on where you aim and what club you hit, but surely (without knowing much about the course(s) you're playing), it seems like you're probably either being a touch too aggressive with your target or your shot zone is bigger than you're account for if you're hitting into greenside bunkers 20%+ of the time (Or both).

Or improve proximity of approach shots. If your 3 putts came from 50+ feet over a massive ridge or something then that's not necessarily indicative of a distance control problem but rather a proximity to the pin problem. Now if those 3 putts came from inside like 20 feet or something then sure there's a distance control issue.

FWIW, PGA Tour players average over 2 strokes to hole out whenever they are outside 40 feet and the average 90s golfer averages over 2 putts whenever they are outside 20 feet.

The average 90s golfer has a 3 putt percentage of 30% from 40 feet, so if you left yourself like 6 or 7 40 footers in a round it's not that unrealistic or abnormal for you to have two 3 putts.

 

Thanks, and I agree.  I have the decade card taped to my bag.  I try to use decade logic for my shots.  But sometimes I just really mess up.

WRT fairway bunkers off the tee, I didn't warm up on a driving range, so the first shot of the day, starting on hole 10, was my worst shot of the day.  An extreme short slice/push to a bunker, then 7 iron out to the greenside bunker, which was struck well.  Probably could have taken more club though. 

Then the last hole (#9) I was aiming well right of the water on the left, but pulled it into the bunkers.  There was a strong constant head wind on that hole.  Trouble for 3 wood left and right.  Lots more landing area with a driver vs 3 wood.  The second shot I actually took a lot of club to get to the back of the green past the bunkers, but I slipped in the bunker as I swung and it ballooned into the wind.  I was actually able to get up and down on the last bunker. 

 

The other bunkers were par 5 greenside bunkers.

Also, for what it's worth, my old miss was a push/hook.  Now with the swing change it's more of a low trajectory heel pull like on 9.  I basically went from snap hooks, so I'm still trying sort out my aim points.  But I 100% think that a decade approach probably turns my rounds from a 90 to a low 80's, but even more important I don't lose golf balls anymore 🙂

Some examples of good drives (these all had basically straight ball flights, no big movement), with hole 17 a heel pull from where I was aiming and the other two were struck well:

On those, I just chose my landing area that was past trouble for a well hit drive and sent it past the trouble.  So if you're not a 100% consistent driver distance wise, does decade have a way to manage that?

WRT 3 putts, they were both under 20 feet that I just didn't hit.  My lag putts were actually pretty good and I'm pretty good within 5/6 feet.

[klineka]

1 hour ago, tickbomb said:

On those, I just chose my landing area that was past trouble for a well hit drive and sent it past the trouble.  So if you're not a 100% consistent driver distance wise, does decade have a way to manage that?

I've not done the subscription or taken any of the decade courses, but any proper strategy should account for mis hits, remember there are two kinds of dispersion that need to be taken into account, the left/right dispersion and the distance dispersion. That applies off the tee as well. Nobody is 100% consistent driver distance wise, there's going to be variance. But a proper shot zone I believe takes 90% of your drives into consideration so that should account for some of those shorter ones in your dispersion pattern.

1 hour ago, tickbomb said:

WRT 3 putts, they were both under 20 feet that I just didn't hit.  My lag putts were actually pretty good and I'm pretty good within 5/6 feet.

You 3 putted twice under 20 feet. How can you say your lag putting and inside 5-6 feet were both pretty good? Clearly one or both of those weren't good if you 3 putted twice inside 20 feet.

[iacas]

44 minutes ago, klineka said:

I've not done the subscription or taken any of the decade courses, but any proper strategy should account for mis hits

DECADE's "Shot Zones" (aiming strategies) are far too small for the average golfer. Heck, they're too small for the average 2 handicapper.

44 minutes ago, klineka said:

You 3 putted twice under 20 feet. How can you say your lag putting and inside 5-6 feet were both pretty good? Clearly one or both of those weren't good if you 3 putted twice inside 20 feet.

Yep.

[tickbomb]

2 hours ago, klineka said:

I've not done the subscription or taken any of the decade courses, but any proper strategy should account for mis hits, remember there are two kinds of dispersion that need to be taken into account, the left/right dispersion and the distance dispersion. That applies off the tee as well. Nobody is 100% consistent driver distance wise, there's going to be variance. But a proper shot zone I believe takes 90% of your drives into consideration so that should account for some of those shorter ones in your dispersion pattern.

You 3 putted twice under 20 feet. How can you say your lag putting and inside 5-6 feet were both pretty good? Clearly one or both of those weren't good if you 3 putted twice inside 20 feet.

So I blew one ~20 footer 6 or so feet past the hole and put one 20 footer > 6 feet short.  I think I only had one long lag put, say 50 feet downhill, which I got within 4-5 feet and then made.  The 10-20 footers I'm more focused on making, so I just don't call them lag putts.  But there seems to be always a couple times a round where my speed is way off on something under 15-20 feet, and I know it right when I hit it.  So definition of lag putt aside, I think I need to lock in distance control better for probably 10-30 footers.  Killing 3 putts would mean 2-3 strokes a round, which would be great.

[tickbomb]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

DECADE's "Shot Zones" (aiming strategies) are far too small for the average golfer. Heck, they're too small for the average 2 handicapper.

That's what I suspected.  At my skill level it's a waste of time to do math to move my target x yards when there is a bunker and y yards when there is water.  I'm just trying to keep the ball in play and avoid penalty strokes.  But it's nice to have a decade mentality to not short side yourself and taking an extra club to avoid trouble, etc.

[iacas]

1 minute ago, tickbomb said:

That's what I suspected.  At my skill level it's a waste of time to do math to move my target x yards when there is a bunker and y yards when there is water.  I'm just trying to keep the ball in play and avoid penalty strokes.  But it's nice to have a decade mentality to not short side yourself and taking an extra club to avoid trouble, etc.

Yeah, but we said it first. 😉

Even called it "The Rule."

[tickbomb]

Progression.  Still trying to figure out hips and legs through impact.  I feel like it's the next puzzle piece.

[tickbomb]

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One and a half years later.