My Swing (saevel25)

[saevel25]

Played golf in Delaware Ohio today with @iacas , @georgep , and @Slice of Life .

Shot a 90, not very good.

Full Swing: Still need to get the club out of the extreme inside swing path I have. Just need to knock out that quick hook left, and the same miss but just face alignment, the big block to block cut right.

Short game: Just needs A LOT OF REPS with proper technique. Will be visiting the LSW's book for some drills. Just horrible today.

Today I thought I putted pretty well. Never really gave myself a chance for opportunities at birdie. I had some really good lag putts. I almost sank a 50 footer for birdie on hole 9. Ended up about 6 inches too short on speed, dying on the low side.

My gameplanning sucks. It is kinda hard to game plan when the misses are quick hook left and big push right. It would be nice if my miss was a slight pull left. I can plan for that and error on the right. Right now all i can do is aim down the center and pray it doesn't go TOO far extreme right or left. Which is not very LSW!

Erik did give me a tip on the full swing, to feel a bit more teeter totter with the shoulders. I topped a few shots right out of the gate because of my "goat humping" move. I need to drive my right shoulder down more and maintain my spine tilt better. That feeling is not really around, but more vertical. It helped on the drives, had some good drives. I didn't hit any quick lefts, but had some timing issues and ended up pulling a few drives.

Thinks to work on, oh how I love this game!

[CarlSpackler]

Better than sitting around wondering when the golf ball sized swelling in your ankle will subside.

[saevel25]

Well a quick look at Sunday's round!

FIR: 4/12, typically Matt scatter shot!

GIR: 7/18, I was kinda shocked I hit that many!

nGIR: 14/18, I AM REALLY SHOCKED! I thought it would have been much lower!

Scrambling: 1/11, Typically bad!

Extra Shots

Penalties: +3 (Hazards)

Extra Scrambling Shots: +2

Putts: 36

Even with the penalties, I had 10 chances for up and down from inside of 20 yards, and I got one! Take par 71, 11 chances for up and down. If I had 50% scrambling, and even two putting every hole besides the up and down. I am looking at 76 + 3 penalty strokes. So 79! I mean, I basically added 10 strokes to my score outside my long game!

Yep, time to go after that glaring weakness!!

[saevel25]

Well that teeter totter feeling is working much better for me. I struck the ball MUCH better tonight.

Shot a +3 39

FIR: 3/7

GIR: 4/9

nGIR: 9/9!!!

Putts: 16, was on fire from 8-15 feet. 3/3. Lag putting is still hit or miss. Sometimes I can cozy a 25+ foot putt up to 6 inches other times I leave it 8 feet short. Most of those are just miss strikes on the putter face.

Short game is still crap. I averaged 14 feet from the hole on short game shots.

I also STRUGGLE with short left to right breaking putts. I missed two left to right putts from inside of 5 feet tonight.

[saevel25]

Just played horrible tonight!

Driving was actually pretty solid. I only had 2/7 fairways, but 3 out of the 5 misses were about 5 yards from the fairway. Though I had a horrible drive on number 16 that went into the hazard.

Irons were just tonight. Just couldn't make any contact at all. I had 3 heavy shots. I pushed a hybrid about 30 degrees right, luckily it hit a tree and bounced out into the fairway. The best shot of the night was a 3/4 wedge shot to 12 feet on the last hole.

My irons are just feeling flippy and scoopy right now. I am hitting them, fat or thin, and thing not in a good way. Maybe I need to focuse away from the ball more. I just think I want to hit the ball instead of just having the swing happen. Its like, I can get extension, but I just want to flip to whack the ball. My 3/4 wedge shot was great because I just focused on the length of my backswing and finish. I wanted to stick the finish, being in balance.

Short game was tonight again. This wont be fixed for a while. Haven't had time to practice this part of my game yet. First hole I blade a 60 yard wedge over the green into a bunker. The next hold I catch one way high on the clubface and come up about 15 feet short of were I wanted to land the ball. Next hole I actually hold I actually hit a pretty good shot to 18 feet, the pin was short sides and a bunker was between me and the hole. The 13th hole, hit one heavy to about 25 feet, it was a 35 yard pitch. Hole 15 I had 50 yards and left it 15 yards short of the pin.

FIR 2/7

nGIR: 6/9

GIR: 4/9

That's right, SEVEN OVER PAR with 6 nGIR!!! Thought I did have a penalty stroke for a hazard. The first hole, when I bladed the ball into the bunker over the back. I had a down slope lie and the whole green ran away from me. I couldn't keep it on the green. That's pretty much played as a 1 stroke hazard from there. Though the next easy pitch after that was to 12 feet. So yea, awesome short game!

Really I wasted 5 strokes on the course. Should be hitting greens from 60 yards and in. That was 3 extra strokes with in 60 yards on the first two holes. Then the BIG Block right with a hazard right. No way the ball should even be coming close to that. Then the 3 putt on hole 17 from 20 feet.

I make golf way to difficult!!!

[saevel25]

Things to work on!

Full Swing

1) Overswinging issue. Really causes contact issues.

2) Teeter Totter feel, getting that right shoulder driving towards the ball, to help maintain spine tilt at impact.

3) Hips more open at impact, get the right foot to bank and right knee to stop kicking out towards the ball.

Short Game

1) Pitching Technique

2) Distance control drills

[saevel25]

Shot a +7 42 tonight FIR: 1/7 (4 bad shots, 2 average, 1 good) GIR: 1/9 nGIR: 7/9 (6 bad shots, 3 average shots) Scrambling 2/8 (1 bad shot, 5 average, 1 good) Approach Proximity: 60 feet 1-20 yard proximity: 11 feet (getting better) Putts: 16 Swing feels bad. Driver was decent till I developed big blocky right. Irons were still flippy and just clanky feeling. The best shot was when i clubbed up and swung easy on a par 3. Though I PUSHED it about 10 yards right of the green. It was flush contact. I was pin high! So I decided to go to the range tonight. I just need to find contact again. For the first 20-30 golf balls everything was THIN. I was not even touching the ground with the shot. Just picking the ball clean. When I did hit the ground i hit the ball heavy. So, I got tired of it and went to trying to hit 7 irons less than 100 yards. I just wanted some sort of contact. When I got good contact that way. I worked my way up hitting longer and longer shots. The goal was to keep a smooth swing. Then I just started to add more speed till the swing became unstable again and I backed it down. So, right now a good shot for me feels like 80%. That 80% is probably my 95%. I am guessing my problem is trying to hit things at 115%. I also worked on my pitching. I paced off to the front of the range box, which was 7 yards. I hit 7 yard pitches. Then I doubled that and hit out to 14, then to 21, then to 30, then to 50. Then I would go back to 7 and try to hit each spot in consecutive order. I found I actually could hit yardages pretty well when I actually focus on it. I also need more body rotation, and less flippy on my pitching. So right now I think that is something I need to add to my pre round routine. Just hitting 7 or 6 irons short and working my way up to were I want it to be. Then drill that feel into my swing for the course. I need to get this overswinging, and swinging way to hard out of my game.

[Jeremie Boop]

We shot the same score!

[saevel25]

Took a look at my stats and were I am bleeding strokes. My last 5 rounds I am averaging a 9.3 differential on my handicap.

All these are based on PGA Tour Averages and are per round. These are rough calculations. The numbers should be higher on some things like, GIR, when you can hit a ball into a hazard. Even still, if I hit 1 hazard, on an approach shot, over the course of 9 rounds that is a very insignificant amount of strokes added. I am assuming 2 putts per hole to simplify things.

Full Swing

FIR: Hard to tell how many strokes my FIR cost me. I don't play many tight courses. I get away with a lot of shots off the tee. I average 27% FIR, not good.

GIR & nGIR: +4.7 strokes (0.7 strokes of that is from my bad short game)

Scrambling

1-20y scrambling: +2.5 strokes

Greenside bunker: +0.3 strokes

20-60y scrambling: +0.2 strokes

Putting

0-3ft Putts: +0.0 strokes

3-5ft putts: +1.2 strokes

5-10ft putts: +0.6 strokes

10-15ft putts: -0.6 strokes

15-25ft putts: +0.01 strokes

Lag Putting: I am 57% getting the ball with in 10% of the distance of the putt and the hole. Need to put less stress on my short putting. Though I need to work on hitting my target line better on short putts.

Need to keep working on the long game. Need to work on the 1-20 yard scrambling, and my short putting.

[saevel25]

Me Pitching the ball. I had a decent night of practicing my pitching. No thing or chunks. Pretty much all the balls were hit solidly. I was quickly gaining some good distance control as well. I was able to get 4 and 5 out of 6 balls with in 10 feet of the pin from 1 to 20 yards out. I also went 5 out of 6 from the bunker inside of 15 feet. For me the feel that works is just rotate the body through so it faces the target at the finish. Don't worry about the hands or the club, just rotate.

Also took some putting video. Things are looking better. Set up is good, the club is flat on the ground. No toe up or heel up. Club doesn't push out to the right as much as it use to through impact.

Face on look. I still think I get too Zach Johnson in the set up, hands behind the ball, shaft vertical. Length of the stroke looks good. Wrist not too firm through out the stroke.

Overall I am liking the putting stroke. I just need to let it do the work on the course, instead of trying to guide the ball to my target.

[saevel25]

Shot a +1 37 tonight,

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/saevel25/round/96835

Firs time using Game Golf. Very easy to use on the course. Though the GPS was off a bit in some spots. The course I play has two 18's and it thought I was on the other courses 18th hole (they share a tee box), so I had to go in and manually add the last hole.

Off the tee I was terrible. Look at my tee shots, I had a lot of other Fairway in Regulations

Iron play was so-so, wedge play was pretty solid. Pitching was really good.

5 GIR, and 9 nGIR

15 Putts

Thought my pitching was pretty good. Had some tricky pitch shots. Overall, besides the tee shots, I was happy with the round.

[saevel25]

Shot a +1 37 tonight,

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/saevel25/round/96835

Went to the Lowest Score Wins website and used that assessment sheet to rank my shots. Just a summary of my round in terms of ranking the SV skills. Just some averages of the skills from yesterday's round.

SV (4)

Driving: 2.0, Results were average, actual shot contact was pretty crappy for the first 5 holes.

Approach: 2.11, Really good from 125 yards and in, averaged about 20 feet proximity to the hole.

SV (3)

Greenside Shots: 2.25, Really happy with the short game. 50% scrambling, my average is about 35%, 3 out of 4 were inside of 6 feet.

SV (2)

Short Putts: 2.14

Long Putts: 1.5, I still suck at lagging putts

Long Shots: 2.0

SV(1)

Tap-Ins: 2.0

Medium Putts: 2.5

So pretty good round with the irons, especially from inside 125 yards. Which on this course is big for me. Most of my approaches should be with in 125 yards. Short putts were good. Short game was really good for me. I had one three putt.

[saevel25]

Played halfway decent for 6 holes. The 3 holes I didn't were HORRIBLE!!!

First three holes averages

Driving: 1.33

Approach: 1.5

Short Putting: 2

Greenside Bunker: 2

Long Putts: 2

20-60 yard: 1.33

Penalties: 3

GIR: 0

nGIR: 1

FIR: 0

Last 6 holes

Driving: 2.25

Approach: 2.33 ( I had a 6 iron to about 20 feet on a 190 yard par 3, and I stuck a 3/4 wedge to about 12 feet on the last hole. For me those are 3's)

0-20 yd shots: 2

Short putts: 1.6

Long Putts: 1

GIR: 4

nGIR: 6

FIR: 2

NEED to start practicing some more.

[saevel25]

Played in a shamble this afternoon. Nice 20-30 mph gusty winds.

We used 5 of my tee shots. I had 8 GIR and 9 nGIR.

I averaged about 15 feet from the pin on my approach shots.

4 Birdies

3 Bogies

2 Pars

I 3 putted 3 greens.

What was working good for me was just keep it more compact. I took more club on majority of my shots and just hit them easier. My swing thought was "wide to wide". Meaning I wanted to get the right arm away from my body in the backswing. That feels like my hands are going wider than they would have before. Then I would just turn and keep them wide to the finish.

Was a really really good ball striking night for me.

[saevel25]

Back swing is better, still need to get the hands more out in front. Same old same old. More important now is impact, and my turn rates through impact.

Impact is looking a tad better, not big strides. Hips can still be much more open. This piece is going to take a while. I think the feeling @mvmac had me do in Erie, with getting my right foot to bank and squeezing my thighs together sooner helps. I just can't seem to get the feeling of really opening up the hips sooner with out major contact issues, specifically my head tilting away from the target. Maybe a combination of right shoulder down towards the ball as well might help.

Just because it is fun to throw in a crappy shot. Here is me topping a ball trying to fit in a feel into a full swing.

I like to work on short back swing feels. I really would like to stop my swing just short of parallel. I just get much better contact from that position. Honestly I think it makes it easier to get the hips open if I don't over swing.

I just can't help post a video of the driver swing. I can shorten a 6 iron swing, but the driver swill will take much more practice to get the feel of a shorter backswing. Just very tough for me to actually match the actual swing to the practiced shortened swing.

That drive was #BOOM!

I also practice my pitching around the green. I am horrible at trying to figure out what to do with different lies. Sometimes I get heavy rough and I catch a flier, and other times I will just barely get the ball on the green. Just confuses me why I can't get consistent from the same lie. I mean I dropped a ball, and made it the exact same lie, and the ball goes flying across the green like the rough didn't bother the club.

I swear I can duff a chip with my weight forward, turning my body round my left leg. It is frustrating, I have no clue why that happens. Heck I was doing the right foot back drill, keeping the weight all on my front leg. I duffed little pitch shots around the green. No clue.

[iacas]

Shorter please. Go back to the March stuff. You've lost your place a bit.

[mvmac]

Yes shorter for sure. One thing that stands out to me is how shallow the shaft loads on the backswing and then "steepens" on the downswing. You still get a decent A6, club head just inside the hands, but you achieve that by staying closed for a long time and tipping the upper center back.

I think the position at A3 below looks good (elbow location, hand path, torso inclination) except for the amount you've rotated your left forearm. I think if that left arm rotates less, might feel like you don't roll it at all, it'll make the shorter backswing, and eventually the opening piece, much easier.

[saevel25]

Yes shorter for sure. One thing that stands out to me is how shallow the shaft loads on the backswing and then "steepens" on the downswing. You still get a decent A6, club head just inside the hands, but you achieve that by staying closed for a long time and tipping the upper center back.

I think the position at A3 below looks good (elbow location, hand path, torso inclination) except for the amount you've rotated your left forearm. I think if that left arm rotates less, might feel like you don't roll it at all, it'll make the shorter backswing, and eventually the opening piece, much easier.

Ok, so better to go from steep to shallow than shallow to steep, even if the position in the backswing isn't that bad.