My Swing (saevel25)

[saevel25]

I went to the range today. I'm still struggling to hit consistent ball flights with my driver when I attempt to shorten my swing. 

1. The big pull draw

2. The slight pull cut

3. The swipey pull slice

4. The slight push cut

They just don't feel solid on the club face as well. 

My irons feel good, and my distance wedges are coming along. 

[saevel25]

Base Swing
1. Over-swinging 
2. Not keeping up turn rates
3. Club could be more umbrella at A3

 

I spend most of the bucket on trying to just get my swing shorter. I would take about 2-3 slow back swings trying to feel where the club is at. I really want to get this back swing under control

Shorter Attempt
1. Backswing is a bit better going back. I could get a more hand depth with the turn. 
2. Hands could be more infront of the body at A3. 
3. It's a tad shorter, but not where I want it. 
 

Shorter Attempt 2
1. A tad shorter than the 2nd video above. I still would like to stop when the club is short of parallel. 
2. Hands still can be more in front of the body at A3. 
I got super steep in the downswing. 

Driver - SLICE :)
1.Though the swing isn't really shorter. When I try to shorten it I hit a big slice. 
2. I could stay in my axis tilt better into impact. I stood up on this shot. 

 

Conclusion
Same old stuff for me. I need to keep plugging away at that back swing and mix in some downswing stuff. I feel like 50/50 right on the amount I should be working on with both. 

As for shortening the swing. I posted this before. A really really slow methodical back swing helps a lot. Still, even when I think I feel like it's shorter the club just likes to start tipping past parallel and pointing right at the A4. 

[amoline]

For what it's worth I battle an overswing just like this. I'll keep an eye on your swing thread and see how it goes -- maybe you can share a successful feel or two that you use as well! 

Awesome looking swing though. :) 

[saevel25]

Just now, amoline said:

For what it's worth I battle an overswing just like this. I'll keep an eye on your swing thread and see how it goes -- maybe you can share a successful feel or two that you use as well! 

Sadly I have not found a feel that works. Even when I try to feel it shorter it doesn't get where I want it to be. It's really a struggle more with the longer clubs than the shorter ones. I can more easily swing shorter on short irons and wedges versus long irons and woods. The driver swing was me trying to feel my 7 iron feel. I went way past where my 7 iron went. For me it's not an overturn issue. I get plenty of turn. It's just the club likes to travel more than I want.

I'm able to hit proper distance wedges, which require me to break up my swing into 4 points that define my yardages. I was able to drop at 25/50/75/100 and nail those yardages. 

[iacas]

14 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Sadly I have not found a feel that works. Even when I try to feel it shorter it doesn't get where I want it to be. It's really a struggle more with the longer clubs than the shorter ones. I can more easily swing shorter on short irons and wedges versus long irons and woods. The driver swing was me trying to feel my 7 iron feel. I went way past where my 7 iron went. For me it's not an overturn issue. I get plenty of turn. It's just the club likes to travel more than I want.

I'm able to hit proper distance wedges, which require me to break up my swing into 4 points that define my yardages. I was able to drop at 25/50/75/100 and nail those yardages. 

You just have to do it, Matt.

You've never gone several weeks in a row (not sure you've gone several days in a row when an innocent ball is sitting there on the ground) with a shorter swing, so you're always going to revert to the habit.

[saevel25]

6 minutes ago, iacas said:

You just have to do it, Matt.

I figured as much. 

6 minutes ago, iacas said:

You've never gone several weeks in a row (not sure you've gone several days in a row when an innocent ball is sitting there on the ground) with a shorter swing, so you're always going to revert to the habit.

Probably not. 

[saevel25]

I didn't shoot the best tonight. My short game was crap. I wasn't at all assertive with my short game shots. 

My goal is to make a B or better backswing. This means, making sure my backswing is shorter than parallel. This has been causing me some timing issues with my turn rates. I am use to my hip turn rates stopping at A4, with my swing continuing to A4-Over. 

My best swing came with my driver on the last hole. The backswing felt like a B or better. I flushed a push draw when all night I was hitting nasty pull cuts and heel drives. 

I did hit 5 out of 9 greens. My putting was C Grade. 

I rather just suffer a big now and focus on my backswing so I don't relapse into my bad tendencies. 

[amoline]

I tell you I think we are the same person! At my practice today I felt like I couldn't assertively hit any short game anything. It's so difficult to learn how to stop your swing where you want it, and it's three times as worse learning to fire from that shorter position if you get there. 

Something I found really helpful for both stopping and firing correctly was feeling like my right arm stays ramrod straight. It never does and never will but it has had some good results with my own swing, so if it's something you haven't tried or haven't looked at in awhile, maybe consider it again! Following to see how your progress goes. 

[saevel25]

I played 9 holes in some dreadful heat. 90 degrees with a 99 heat index 

Driver: Most all of them were slight cuts. None of them were big pull cuts. Most were straight to slight push cuts. Though a few had too much curve than I wanted. The path is getting less inward.

Approach shots: Most were pretty straight. The best part of my game. 

Distance Wedges and pitching: I really suck at this. I think I duffed 3 of these tonight, I thinned one, I hit one good one. Another I blasted 10 yards over the green. I just have no confidence to give any speed. When I try to give speed I still end up duffing a few of them. I am just not good at controlling the low point. I had one pitch where I placed a lot of weight on my front foot and still duffed. 

Putting - Pretty decent. 

Overall I am getting a bit more comfortable with the shorter umbrella feel for the full swing. 

 

[Hardspoon]

Just now, saevel25 said:

Distance Wedges and pitching: I really suck at this. I think I duffed 3 of these tonight, I thinned one, I hit one good one. Another I blasted 10 yards over the green. I just have no confidence to give any speed. When I try to give speed I still end up duffing a few of them. I am just not good at controlling the low point. I had one pitch where I placed a lot of weight on my front foot and still duffed. 

This is - by far - the part of my game that's the most inconsistent from round to round, and I don't know why.  Maybe it's easier to get away with faulty technique, so I can "Band-Aid" it for a round or two before the wheels fall off.  Anyway, I'm sure you'll get it worked out.  Good to hear the long game is getting back to where you want it to be.

[iacas]

14 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Distance Wedges and pitching: I really suck at this. I think I duffed 3 of these tonight, I thinned one, I hit one good one. Another I blasted 10 yards over the green. I just have no confidence to give any speed. When I try to give speed I still end up duffing a few of them. I am just not good at controlling the low point. I had one pitch where I placed a lot of weight on my front foot and still duffed.

As everything else is coming around, we're going to hammer this the next time you're here.

I have some creative ways to do it, too. Well, one creative way.  You'll see.

Are you and @georgep heading up soon, possibly with @Jeremie Boop?

P.S. By "soon" I just mean "in July."

[saevel25]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

I have some creative ways to do it, too. Well, one creative way.  You'll see.

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Are you and @georgep heading up soon, possibly with @Jeremie Boop?

P.S. By "soon" I just mean "in July."

I have no idea. I will shoot of a PM about it. 

 

[saevel25]

I got about 5 holes in this evening then the rain saturated the greens. 

Driver was decent for these most part. I had one bad heel cut shot.

Irons were meh, I kept hitting push and push cuts. 

I had one good distance wedge. My pitching was one really good and one really bad. 

Putting was decent.

 

[saevel25]

I am working on some feels for my backswing. I want to try to figure out something that can help me feel the shorter backswing better. 

One thing I am exploring is feeling where my right elbow is. I know in previous lessons that I worked on feeling the club flatter at A4, more pointing left of the target line. In these two images my right elbow is more inline with the side of my heel rather than the back of my foot. 

This was from my previous range session. 

This could be also related to getting into a better umbrella position as well. I wonder if feeling that right arm position would help with achieving what I want in my back swing? I feel like I need to keep my right elbow closer to my right chest, more in front of me.  

---

I do like this position here at impact (on the right), though the result was tad heavy. I probably could get a bit more extension on this. My hips look level at A7. The right arm here is still a bit behind me. I could focus on getting my left hip more up and behind me. 

---

The good thing is my hands don't push outward towards the ball. They don't gain much depth from A1 to A3. 

The green lines are the hand path from A3 onward through impact. The hands get up to A4 and then they drop out towards the ball. Then they dive inward really fast after impact.

The cyan line is my back swing path from A3. The magenta is the downswing path. It stays outside the hand path on the backswing then get's inline with the hand path on the downswing. The club at A5 is only 4 degrees steeper than at A3. 

The path looks to be zero to slightly inward at A7. 

Things I need to work on

1. Figuring out this backswing feel and keeping it shorter
2. Shallow out the club better
3. Raise the handle more through impact

 

 

[saevel25]

Range Session

DTL

Practicing hips more open at impact

Just trying to feel more hips open, more extension. Trying to feel the club head sending outward as the body keeps turning. 

Trying out shortening the swing by starting the downswing sooner. 

I just tried to feel the shoulder/upper body turn only with the backswing. I tried to start my swing when my left shoulder turned just to my chin. Something like 70-80 degree shoulder turn feel versus my full turn.  It might be a combination of both. Slightly shorter turn with arms stopping at A2. 

I kinda like how this looks more than trying to feel were to stop the arms at. My over-swinging was never an overturning problem, well maybe a tad. I can turn past 90 degrees with the shoulders. It was more the club and arms continue past when my body stops turning. 

As typical, if I try to feel the backswing length I struggle with keeping up the downswing turn rates. If I try to work on the downswing turn rates I tend to overswing. #NoMultiTasking 

Even with a better A4, and I thought the backswing was one of my better ones. The hands didn't kick out. The club was on a pretty decent path. I still get this in transition. 

I really hate this transition where I yank my hands downward, steepening the swing. 

Face On View
This was one of the rare ones I kept the swing shorter. I hit this one pretty well. Maybe a slight push cut. 

 

[Jeremie Boop]

I like your idea of using the position of your shoulder as a key for stopping the backswing/trigger to start the downswing. I may have to try that when working on shortening my swing. I thought the very first video showed a pretty good length for your backswing as well.

[saevel25]

Another Range Session - "How to hit a ball to the right"

DTL - Shorter and Better backswing
These two swings are much better on the backswing part. I struggle dearly trying to get the hands to go outward towards the ball in the downswing. 

 

 

 

FO - Iron
Ball too far back in the stance for a 7 iron. 

 

DTL - Driver
I kept the driver swing shorter today. Though I am hitting massive slices

 

 

FO - Driver

 

 

DTL and FO - Pitching

 

 

 

[billchao]

@saevel25 I don't know how it relates to your piece, but you're not really getting your hands deep. Hard to get the path out if your hands don't get in, right?