My Swing (saevel25)

[saevel25]

I do that at the range; I just have been going through a half-assed pre-shot routine. 😇

I just kind of waltz up to the ball and hit it. I catch myself just going through the motions of aiming. Once I started aligning my club to an intermediate target, I felt like I was aligned way open to the target but just trusted it. Like, if the club was aimed at the flag in the middle of the green, then my body was aligned left of the green or more (assuming something like a 100+ yard shot). I think I was more concerned with where my feet were lined up and not the clubface. 

A question on alignment then. 

So, the ball is like what, 3-FT away from the toe target line. So, does that mean if my toe line is aimed at the flag, the club is aimed 3-ft right? Does the perception of the green looking smaller in the distance impact that in terms of how we hit the shot? I feel like the geometry should work that the ball is actually aimed 3-FT right.

 

 

[iacas]

5 hours ago, saevel25 said:

So, the ball is like what, 3-FT away from the toe target line.

Closer to like 22" than 36.

5 hours ago, saevel25 said:

So, does that mean if my toe line is aimed at the flag, the club is aimed 3-ft right?

Why wouldn't the target line (ball) be at the target (flag) with your feet parallel left of that?

5 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Does the perception of the green looking smaller in the distance impact that in terms of how we hit the shot? I feel like the geometry should work that the ball is actually aimed 3-FT right.

Perception messes with a lot of people. Almost all righties tend to aim to the right, because what feels parallel left — particularly given that your eyes are "between" the ball and your feet — feel like they're pointed MILES left even when they're square.

Also, there's no rule that you have to be parallel left of the target line. I like to be slightly open at setup.

[saevel25]

3 minutes ago, iacas said:

Why wouldn't the target line (ball) be at the target (flag) with your feet parallel left of that?

I mean, that is what I figure would be the case. 

My mind is just trying to wrap around the idea that 22" left = feet aiming like 15 yards left visually. It's like in a CADD system, if the flag is the base point when you scale an image, it stays in the same spot as you get closer (scale up) or get further away (scale down). 

I can image how if you have a 10-yard chip, it could look much more like your feet are aimed nearly 22" left of the flag. 

Now I want to try to make some measurements and quantify this 🤣. 

13 minutes ago, iacas said:

feel like they're pointed MILES left even when they're square.

Yes, they do.

13 minutes ago, iacas said:

Also, there's no rule that you have to be parallel left of the target line. I like to be slightly open at setup.

Yea, that is true. 

[iacas]

6 hours ago, saevel25 said:

My mind is just trying to wrap around the idea that 22" left = feet aiming like 15 yards left visually.

They're not, though. Visual tricks is why so many people aim right.

Hold your two arms out with your thumbs up. Put the right thumb at the target. Look at how far left your left thumb feels like it's aiming, yet… it's perpendicular to the target line.

Your eyes are between your feet and the ball just like they're between your two thumbs.

[GolfLug]

Interesting discussion. Consider this; we spend 95% of our open eyed life perceiving everything in a front view. That's what we are/become good at. Our eyes/brain don't develop an accurate  sideways aiming system. Plus our perception 'bends' based on shape of the hole, slope, etc.

Anyway, I pick a spot 5 feet in between the ball and target and set up my toes parallel to it. That's it. From 150 yards out Im off by 2 feet. Big whoop. You can try to compensate for it, but unless you are good at changing aim in 0.01 degree increments, chances are you will overcompensate. 

Edited July 15, 2025 by GolfLug

[saevel25]

I still need to do my pieces better. 

Still a little steep in the downswing. Hands could get better depth earlier in the backswing. 

This shot started left of target and went left. Probably path was out, face was closed a lot. 

 

 

 At A5, it’s probably the best it’s been. 

I need to feel more shallowing from A5 to A6. Hands need to go straight down and club needs to shallow. I need to turn.

I am just way too closed here. Just trying to buy time to lower the arms. Everything stalls from time to time. Timing is highly variable. Not a big fan of the slight EE. 

I am just hanging back at impact. 

 

 

[iacas]

Don't get the club to come down by adding that much right side bend, yeah.

[saevel25]

9 hours ago, iacas said:

Don't get the club to come down by adding that much right side bend, yeah.

Yea, its something I feel happens. I can tell the difference from when I right side bend versus extending my right arm. It just feels like a timing or trigger thing from A4. Then the timing for turning is not consistent. 

[saevel25]

The only frustrating thing is, I have no clue what type of swing to make on the course to get the ball around well. I just hate having this negative feeling that I am going to play horrible out in Oregon. I have no time to find anything, flying out on Sunday. 

I still can't get the feeling on how to shallow the club. I don't get how to twist the wrist/forearms match into getting the arms down. Sometimes I just freeze at the top of the swing and I have to backoff. My body refuses to turn or I catch myself starting to right side bend a crap ton to get the club down. 

Anyways, back to practicing. 

[iacas]

2 hours ago, saevel25 said:

I still can't get the feeling on how to shallow the club.

It's not shallowing, it's just not letting it steepen.

2 hours ago, saevel25 said:

I still can't get the feeling on how to shallow the club. I don't get how to twist the wrist/forearms match into getting the arms down. Sometimes I just freeze at the top of the swing and I have to backoff. My body refuses to turn or I catch myself starting to right side bend a crap ton to get the club down.

You can always try this:

• During the backswing, you turn to the right.
• To start the downswing, move the hands down and…
• … AGAIN turn a little farther to the right.

(You can be adding weight to the left foot while doing the third bullet point).

[saevel25]

11 hours ago, iacas said:

It's not shallowing, it's just not letting it steepen.

Gotcha

11 hours ago, iacas said:

During the backswing, you turn to the right.

Did you mean this? I assume like turning right with the hips. 

 

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Did you mean this? I assume like turning right with the hips.

Yes. Read it all again. If you want, replace "right" with "clockwise."

And it's not just your hips.

Nothing is weird about the first bullet point. The "thing" is the third bullet point. Start your downswing while STILL or AGAIN turning to the right.

[saevel25]

Man, some really good shots and some horrible. Horrible becomes really bad in 20 sustained and 40 gust. I have issues with punch shots because I tend to leave the club face open and the wind just pushes a 5-10 yard fade into a 20-30 yard slice. 

I got the shanks on the driving range before. So, I spent like 15 trying to stop that. I had it show up once at one hole. 😮‍💨.

I know what I need to do it’s just getting the body to do it. Just major over the top issues. Even on low punch shots, I smother them with a pull draw. It’s timing the turn with my arms down. 

I just need to be more turn only in the backswing and arms down in the downswing. That fricken upper body turn just gets me man.

[saevel25]

I just hate when I make half swings I can’t f***** control face or path. F****** half swing back, arms down feeling and block it 30 f****** yards right with a fade. 
I can’t even join my game out here at least I have nice views

[iacas]

Skill work/clubface control.

And…

[saevel25]

sadly, I don’t have the greens to go in on that.

5 hours ago, iacas said:

Skill work/clubface control.

I will check that out. Not sure how much it will help when the swing path is all over the place

Most time it’s halfway decent. It’s drives me nuts when I avoid divots and hit it skinny, or catch it like 4 inches fat. Not like deep divots, but like skim the ground. A hybrid will go 190-200 instead of 240. 

What drives me nuts is some swings I just send the hozzle out to the ball or I can toe it. Today, 205 downhill into the wind. I shank a 4 iron. Re-tee and flush a 4 iron to about 35 ft from the hole. 

I have no clue or feel to what was different in the two swing. Sometimes I can tell. I can feel when right side bend and look up way early. Other times, I can’t tell what is going on. Between a swing that produces good or bad. 

Like the range yesterday before the round. I spent 15 minutes trying not to shank it. I was trying to keep the hands just stupidly close to the body. I was thinking, I’m F’d. Luckily I only shanked one wedge yesterday. 

I just don’t have a sense for club or clubface. Like, today. I hit a low punch, but fan it out right. So, just a push cut. Not terrible, but just not what I envisioned. It came up short on a false front. Next hole, I thought the same shot would work. So I tried a bit of wrist roll, wringing the towel, to close the face, hit a straight draw left over a bunker. I could tell the difference in what I did with the hands, I could tell you if the swing path was reasonably the same, or I turned the same. The nuances are mostly numb to me. 

 

[saevel25]

Anyways, I’ll keep trying to make 1/2 to 3/4 swings, trying to send the club down and back.

 

[saevel25]

Until I can find some positive things to post about my swing I think it’s about time to…