My Swing (saevel25)

[Grizvok]

6 hours ago, mdl said:

Your mileage may vary, but I have the same problem trying to hit shorter than A3 with a "regular" but cut down swing.  I've transitioned over to playing those kind of partial shots only with my interpretation of the quickie pitching video pitching style: float loading, paint brush feel, quieter lower body, etc.  I've found I can use that style/feel swing pretty much all the way up to A3 and hit the ball ~80% of full swing distance with the wedges.  Personally I'm way more consistent that way rather than trying to use a full swing feel but just stopping at A2.6 or whatever.

One other thing I've played around with but haven't really tried to game yet is the Spieth version of distance control.  Instead of Pelz style shifting the back swing length, always take the same 80-90% backswing with the wedges, but control distance with how far your follow through goes.  Like, if you want to truly stop your swing at A8, you have to swing much slower and smoother, and will hit the ball not as far.  That's an option I've been considering for shots more in the 70-90% range, sort of a slightly different way to think about the flighting the ball advice in that very useful thread here.

I like this recommendation. I'm bad compared to you guys but I've improved my pitching immensely by following @iacas pitching video and the relatively early wrist set those techniques promote make it easier for me to be set up better for certain backswing percentages when my normal full swing does include a pretty late hinge.

I think my pitch swing looks a good bit different than my full swing and I'm no sure if that's good or bad.

Edited August 30, 2017 by Grizvok

[iacas]

3 hours ago, GolfLug said:

@saevel25, maybe try a no wrist hinge swing for the 3/4 wedge? Basically have a slight lean in the shaft at set up but don't hinge. Let the arm/chest unit control the arc back and forth. Long term it may not be the best (and look a little silly) but in the short term it may help reduce 'bottom of the arc' confusion by providing a larger shallow range. It might let you come through impact with a bit more assurance and zip. 

Don't do that.

Ball won't go anywhere and low point control is even tougher with a shallow arc.

[saevel25]

Played 9 holes, struck the ball much better. I stopped thinking about the back swing and just focused on the hip turn for the back swing. The swing was much better. 

I didn't make any putts of significant length. I made all the 5 ft and in. 

 

[saevel25]

Played 9 holes this morning. 

Swing thoughts
1. Start swing with right hip.
2. Swing out a the ball. 

Hit the ball petty good. 

[saevel25]

I played in my first tournament in while. 

Driver: C-, I had a few good drives, but most put me out of position. Misses were either a tad over draw, or a big push cut. 

Irons: B+, for the most part I hit some really good shots. I found a feel that worked out a lot for me. I would make sure I have a good hip turn in the backswing, let the right hip go back. Then I would try to feel like I wanted to hit a low shot trajectory. This just seemed to produce a very solid shot. 

Short Game: F, just horrible. I wasted about 7 strokes around the green. Something is off here. Not going to think about technique now. Every shot is a struggle. 

Putting: D, just struggled with the putter. Mostly distance control stuff. 

I then played in the championship match for my work league. Talk about a complete 180. 

Driver: B-

Irons: B+

Short Game: D+

Putting: A, drained them from everywhere. 

[saevel25]

Range Session (09-16-17)

Short Game
Started off bad, then got better. I went with more of a small turn in the backswing. I also started to swing slower, and look for good contact. I still struggle a tad with duffing a shot.

Irons
Struggled start lines. I was finally able to slow the swing down and hit a few good shots on the target line I wanted. I struggle with slowing the swing down because I'll chunk a lot of shots when I do. 

Backswing - Feels like 60-70% speed, feel like the backswing is driven by the hip turn. 
Downswing - I'm still working on this one to produce a consistent start line.

Driver
Not going to talk about it. No degree of slowing down the swing helps. I can slow it down to 50% and direction control is uncontrollable. 

 

[saevel25]

Short game is getting much better again. Feeling like I am making the back swing at 50-60% the normal swing has helped out a ton. Now I'm able to control contact and distance much better. 

The iron game feels much better. Same deal, a slower back swing has helped. 

Distance wedges are a hit or miss. Still working out what produces the best results. I think a bit more swing outward feel. I tend to duff these to much. 

Driver is a mess. Unlike the irons, I have no feel for the club at all. 

[saevel25]

The golf game has hit rock bottom. 

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/saevel25/round/1850409

I guess the main issue is that bad results don't feel different from good results in terms of the swing feels. This is true from Driver to Short Game. 

Today, I have no idea why every other shot was slightly fat. No clue. Not one shot was fat at the driving range beforehand. There was no difference in feel to me.  

Same with Short Game. I make the same backswing I had success with at the practice area, and the results vary tremendously on the course. 

This applies to trying to slow the swing down to get better contact. I practice this shot at the range and had good results, but bad results on the course.  Also shots like punchy/chippy type shots for contact. I had success on the range, and the results vary hugely on the course. 

Really there is nothing I can go to right now to ensure good contact. 

It's probably in my head, but that still doesn't help me. The same issues keep popping up. I guess I'll just keep practicing and hope it gets better. 

 

 

[iacas]

@saevel25, what was the advice I gave you last?

It's the same I'd give you now.

Either that, or take two weeks completely off… but that's gotta be tough this time of year, so I don't expect you to choose that one.

[boogielicious]

10 hours ago, saevel25 said:

The golf game has hit rock bottom. 

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/saevel25/round/1850409

I guess the main issue is that bad results don't feel different from good results in terms of the swing feels. This is true from Driver to Short Game. 

Today, I have no idea why every other shot was slightly fat. No clue. Not one shot was fat at the driving range beforehand. There was no difference in feel to me.  

Same with Short Game. I make the same backswing I had success with at the practice area, and the results vary tremendously on the course. 

This applies to trying to slow the swing down to get better contact. I practice this shot at the range and had good results, but bad results on the course.  Also shots like punchy/chippy type shots for contact. I had success on the range, and the results vary hugely on the course. 

Really there is nothing I can go to right now to ensure good contact. 

It's probably in my head, but that still doesn't help me. The same issues keep popping up. I guess I'll just keep practicing and hope it gets better. 

 

 

Matt,

Reading your post feels like you are expecting a bad result on the course. Don't focus on the expectation of a bad result. You will get a bad result. Listen to Erik's advice and clear everything else out. Be the ball Danny. Be the ball.

[saevel25]

11 hours ago, iacas said:

@saevel25, what was the advice I gave you last?

Probably this,

On ‎7‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 10:27 PM, iacas said:

Make the longest/fastest swing you can make where the ball is hit solidly and has a good flight.

Don't worry about the mechanics that much.

 

21 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

Matt,

Reading your post feels like you are expecting a bad result on the course. Don't focus on the expectation of a bad result. You will get a bad result. Listen to Erik's advice and clear everything else out. Be the ball Danny. Be the ball.

No specifically, but the overall confidence level is probably low.

 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

Probably this,

Yep.

Your mechanics are not that bad. They're easily good enough, given your swing speed, to shoot in the 70s the vast majority of the time.

If you want to do something else, then set up normally and have a buddy tell you "left, right, or straight" mid-backswing. Or "slice, hook, or straight" mid-backswing.

But not at higher speeds until they're solid.

---

I mean, you're always welcome to come over for a visit and some work. It's been many months, but again, I'm trying to simplify for you as you've gotten in a bit too deep, generally speaking.

[saevel25]

28 minutes ago, iacas said:

 

---

I mean, you're always welcome to come over for a visit and some work. It's been many months, but again, I'm trying to simplify for you as you've gotten in a bit too deep, generally speaking.

I agree, I'll make a trip up after the golf season.

 

 

[saevel25]

"Make the longest/fastest swing you can make where the ball is hit solidly and has a good flight. Don't worry about the mechanics that much."

Well, I need to learn how to do this better. Lots of mixed results in trying this. 

 

 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

"Make the longest/fastest swing you can make where the ball is hit solidly and has a good flight. Don't worry about the mechanics that much."

Well, I need to learn how to do this better. Lots of mixed results in trying this.

I don't understand.

If that's a 10% swing and your 7-iron goes 25 yards, do that if a 15% swing does not meet the "ball hit solidly with a good flight" criteria.

The goal here is not to swing fast. It's to swing as fast as you can so long as the bold is true. As soon as the bold is untrue, you back off.

[saevel25]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

I don't understand.

If that's a 10% swing and your 7-iron goes 25 yards, do that if a 15% swing does not meet the "ball hit solidly with a good flight" criteria.

The goal here is not to swing fast. It's to swing as fast as you can so long as the bold is true. As soon as the bold is untrue, you back off.

I know the goal isn't to swing fast. I have to work on not swinging fast. It takes a lot of concentration for me to slow the swing way down. Even when I slow it down, its still not something I am accustomed to doing. I have no experience in the timing for this type of swing. 

 

 

[iacas]

21 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

I know the goal isn't to swing fast. I have to work on not swinging fast. It takes a lot of concentration for me to slow the swing way down. Even when I slow it down, its still not something I am accustomed to doing. I have no experience in the timing for this type of swing.

Huh?

Hit a chip shot Matt. If you can do that and hit the ball solidly with a good flight, make the swing a little longer.

I'm not telling you to make a full-length swing at 10% speed. That would be awkward to sequence, awkward to hit a ball… etc.

One of the "S" in the 5 S of Practice is "Short."

[saevel25]

10 hours ago, iacas said:

I'm not telling you to make a full-length swing at 10% speed. That would be awkward to sequence, awkward to hit a ball… etc.

I was trying to find the slowest I could swing (full backswing length) and make good contact. I was working my way from top down not bottom up.