My Swing (saevel25)

[saevel25]

Went up to Erie, PA for a lesson today :)

Set up adjustment

First was adjusting my set up to help me with my backswing and downswing. More axis tilt away from the target at address. Less hands forward at address as well.

Feeling: Left hip is bumped out more. Looking at the back of the ball. Butt end of the club is pointing at my belt buckle. Slowly work in a weaker grip.

Backswing & Downswing

Next was working on my backswing. As @mvmac pointed out in an earlier post. Watch out for that space between my left arm and my chest.

Backswing Feeling: Turn to A2, while maintaining my axis tilt. Chest is pointing down and to the right of the ball at A2. From there, the arms lift up to A4. Maintain axis tilt to A4. Feeling less stretch in right side, hips and shoulders turn more around the spine and less tilt-ish vertical feeling. See green line below for the right hip. At A4 the green line has much more angle than previously.

Downswing Feeling: Getting that right side the right shoulder, seem of right shirt, and right hip to move towards the ball before striking the ball. Move from the top, from A4 to A7 is to move that right side towards the ball. Similar to the stuff I've been working on but much more aggressive with the feeling. This applies to the distanced wedges as well. Similar with the backswing stuff, not a vertical tilt-ish feeling, but a lateral rotation feeling.

For distanced wedges, slower backswing to proper length, swings will be more of just arms raising up for shorter length swings. Then aggressive through the ball with my right side downswing feel.

Pitching

Feeling: Soft arms, Soft Swing. Keep elbows soft. Don't just cock the wrists, but gain depth with the hands as well. Right arm only drill is a good one for me.

Putting: Basically was an alignment issue. I was too far away from the ball so I would end up with to rigid with the arms. Moved closer to the ball, tucked the elbows closer to the body and keep the arms softer. For on the course, be more athletic with the putting stroke. Go from practice putt to hitting the ball sooner so I retain that putting stroke feel I want.

Few things to work on. I foresee a lot of mirror work for the backswing and set up. Slow motion swings for the downswing at the range.

[isukgolf]

Good post!

[mvmac]

Awesome sauce, nice job Matt and Erik.

@saevel25 , did the "chest down" takeaway feel fix the upper left arm gap?

Love this

[saevel25]

Awesome sauce, nice job Matt and Erik. @saevel25 , did the "chest down" takeaway feel fix the upper left arm gap? Love this [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/126753/] [/URL]

It helps alot. Just turning to A2 the lifting the left arm up kept took that gap away.

[saevel25]

Played 18 holes yesterday. Struck the ball as well as I have all year.

55% GIR

29% FIR, the ball stayed close to the fairway on most of my drives. Keep the ball on the course :)

Swing Stuff

Set up, as Erik put it, "Set up for success". Set up square to my target line. I have a habit of aiming way left with the body. Get my axis tilt at address. Don't forward press the handle.

For that round, the feel was just maintaining that axis tilt in the backswing.

A good reference is to kiss the left shoulder. My old backswing I would tilt back, first image. Better backswing my left head doesn't tilt back. So I am facing the ball more at A4. From there, my left shoulder is touching more of my chin than before. Being able to feel that left shoulder at my chin and still being able to see the ball more straight on in my sight is good feedback. It's also a good reference to start my downswing from this feeling. At that point my I've made my turn and I don't need to swing anymore.

Besides that it was just clear the right side through the ball sooner.

[saevel25]

I've been keeping tabs on my strokes gained stats. Given this is compared to what PGA Tour expected strokes are. I found an easy way to get a good reference is to just calculate that then subtract the average. I decided to keep a rolling 10 9-hole average.

Last two 9 hole rounds adjusted Strokes Gained compared to my average. I consider par 3's approach shots.

Tee Shots: +1.95, +0.21

App: +2.04, +2.30, given the 2nd number includes a 3-wood shot on a par 5 that gained my 0.60 strokes ;)

Pitching: -1.15, -1.01

Putting: 0.96, +1.02

My average strokes gained putting for the past four 9 hole round,

3-5 FT: +0.01

6-8 FT: +0.00

9-11 FT: -0.20

12-15 FT: -0.11

25+ FT: -0.33

Distance control is a major issue for me on long putts. Though I had much better distance control last round with the few changes Erik had me due to my putting stroke. My last round my distance putting was a +0.07.

Still the trend is good for my approach shots. I've been under -2.5 strokes for PGA Tour expected strokes gained for the past four 9 hole rounds. When I was struggling it was routinely -3.5 to -5.5.

Need to clean up that pitching and distance wedge stuff. I want to be in the positive for my pitching and distance wedges.

[Abu3baid]

I've been keeping tabs on my strokes gained stats. Given this is compared to what PGA Tour expected strokes are. I found an easy way to get a good reference is to just calculate that then subtract the average. I decided to keep a rolling 10 9-hole average. Last two 9 hole rounds adjusted Strokes Gained compared to my average. I consider par 3's approach shots.  Tee Shots: +1.95, +0.21 App: +2.04, +2.30, given the 2nd number includes a 3-wood shot on a par 5 that gained my 0.60 strokes ;) Pitching: -1.15, -1.01  Putting: 0.96, +1.02 My average strokes gained putting for the past four 9 hole round, 3-5 FT: +0.01 6-8 FT: +0.00 9-11 FT: -0.20 12-15 FT: -0.11 25+ FT: -0.33 Distance control is a major issue for me on long putts. Though I had much better distance control last round with the few changes Erik had me due to my putting stroke. My last round my distance putting was a +0.07.  Still the trend is good for my approach shots. I've been under -2.5 strokes for PGA Tour expected strokes gained for the past four 9 hole rounds. When I was struggling it was routinely -3.5 to -5.5.  Need to clean up that pitching and distance wedge stuff. I want to be in the positive for my pitching and distance wedges.

Can you elaborate a little on what this means? I'm assuming the + means you are gaining strokes on the average field on tour right? So, that means if you get your pitching in the + you would basically be gaining strokes on the average tour in all categories?

[saevel25]

Can you elaborate a little on what this means? I'm assuming the + means you are gaining strokes on the average field on tour right? So, that means if you get your pitching in the + you would basically be gaining strokes on the average tour in all categories?

Strokes Gained compared to my average. I consider par 3's approach shots.

The putting numbers are actually related to PGA Tour averages because I'm actually a half way decent putter.

As for my other numbers, like approach shots,  the +2.04 means above my average strokes gained for approach shots. It just helps me see how well my ball striking was for that day compared to some recent rounds I played.

[Abu3baid]

The putting numbers are actually related to PGA Tour averages because I'm actually a half way decent putter.  As for my other numbers, like approach shots,  the +2.04 means above my average strokes gained for approach shots. It just helps me see how well my ball striking was for that day compared to some recent rounds I played.

LOL.. Yeah, not sure how I missed that.. Thanks for the clarification. It looks like your game is turning around just in time for the big tourney.

[saevel25]

Shot a 38 on the crappy course. Putts: 14 GIR: 4/9 nGIR: 3/9 Scramble: 3/5 No time to warm up. Havent hit a ball since Sunday, stupid weather. Hacked it around for the first 4 holes, then went -1 the next 5.

[saevel25]

Played in a scramble today. Our group shot a -19, we had three mulligans (two were used). We also had a three foot string that could be used to count puts by cutting off the distance from the hole to the ball of the string. We had four skirts, were each of use could hit from the front tees once. We just drained putts. A lot of times our fourth guy never putted. My swing. Had some good shots, but the swing got out of control on some shots. My pitching and distance wedges were horrible. My putting was really good. I need to practice that downswing piece much more. I need to stop trying to guide pitch shots.

[saevel25]

Face On Current

Set Up

Pretty good, grip could be weaker and hands could be less forward press.

Ball position too far back?

A4

Staying in spine tilt. Could shorten the swing. Head tilts a bit towards the target a bit. In Erie, I was looking at the ball more at A4.

Downswing

Right side doesn't get through enough.

Face On - Slower and shorter

Ball way too far back in the stance for a 6 iron. Time to start putting down a club perpendicular to my target line for reference.

Could still do the right side more.

Overall I was struggling not tilting back versus getting that right side through sooner.

[saevel25]

A1- Set Up

Could be a tad more inclined. Hands are decent. Ball position is too far back.

A4- Top of Swing

Backswing is a tad too long. Pretty good staying in that spine title. Head tilts a tad.

A7- Impact

Head has titled back a tad too much. I think that might be more due to the ball being too far back in my stance. Still, decent positions here. Right side could be more forward. Again, not sure if I was reacting to the ball position more than anything. It's a good 1-1.5 ball widths from where it was in Erie, PA.

Still need to work on set up. It will feel like a lot of tilt, probably more than I think. Be mindful of ball position. Don't let it slip back in the stance because of how use I was to my former forward press of the hands.

Make a good backswing, drive that right side through impact.

[iacas]

Yup. Do all the things "more." Particularly the downswing stuff.

[saevel25]

I hope I am not coming down with a bad cold. Developing a nasty sore throat today. No other cold symptoms have developed yet.

Dayton got another downpour of rain a few hours ago. Like the area needs anymore rain

The weather looks great for the next week or so. Finally going to be able to get on the course and range.

[Golfingdad]

I hope I am not coming down with a bad cold. Developing a nasty sore throat today. No other cold symptoms have developed yet.

Could be smallpox.  Or the plague.  Or Ebola.  Stay safe.

I would recommend, as a precaution, don't practice or play golf for about 57 days.  Just stay in bed.

[saevel25]

Could be smallpox.  Or the plague.  Or Ebola.  Stay safe.

I would recommend, as a precaution, don't practice or play golf for about 57 days.  Just stay in bed.

Still won't help you ;)

[iacas]

I would recommend, as a precaution, don't practice or play golf for about 57 days.

It might actually be a bad thing for the West Coast team if he did that…