My Swing (saevel25)

[Golfingdad]

what's to dislike about any of them?

The blue shirt.

[saevel25]

The blue shirt.

I'll wear the green one I bought from linksoul next time. ;)

[saevel25]

Practiced tonight. Worked on backswing length and keeping my head steady. Hit some pretty solid shots.

Right now my shot patter is a straight fade to a slight push fade.

[saevel25]

Ok time for me to start practicing what I need to do now. Swing is getting a bit hard to repeat. Played yesterday and struck the ball pretty shitty. 

Driver: Pull Hook, Straight Fade, Pull Hook, Straight Draw
Hybrid: Push Slice, Straight Fade
3-Wood: Toppy thin
Irons: Thinny Push, Thinny Push, Thinned, Solid Slight Push, Solid Straight
Distance Wedges: Very solid
Pitching: Very Solid
Putting: Decent 

After pull hooking my ball into a water hazard on hole #7. I don't know why but I get these "aha" moments where I remember something. I happen to remember a note posted in my previous lesson with Erik when we worked on turning around my title more. 

The sequence was. Turn from A1-A2 with out moving the arms much and then the arms just lift up because the depth has been created by the turn. 

- "Turning in flexion to 2 (not quite to 2) keeps the hands tracking in. Just "drag" them back or "carry" them back with your turn."

- "Turn staying bent over or maintaining the initial axis tilt, particularly from 1 to 2. Head drifts behind the ball, left shoulder travels back towards the right knee. Chest points down toward the ground."

I remember one feel from that lesson where my right hip going backwards more. After taking my drop from the hazard. My next swing I focused on tucking the right hip back more. I just nailed my 8 iron flush. I did it again on the next hole, a par 3 and hit a really solid iron. My drive on the last hole was very solid as well.

Backswing: Tuck the right hip back more to maintain in tilt.  Shorten the swing
Downswing: Feel solid. 

 

[saevel25]

Played 7 holes before it got dark. Shot 5 over. I have a big cut issue right now. I had one of those big miss moments. Hit a 4 iron from a slight above my feet lie 20 degrees right of my target line with a slice. It felt like I just slapped at the ball. 

Going to be hitting the range the next few days and see if I can work something out.

[saevel25]

Ok no more playing till I practice. It's a sad day when my pitching is the best part of my game. I almost wiffed on a drive. Putting feels horrible.

Is my lesson time with Erik here yet.  :b

[saevel25]

Refresh what I need to do. Some comparisons between those last two drives and the rest of the round. 

Good Drives I did the following
I got into a good set up and grip. I made sure I wasn't on my heels. I shortened the swing, swing felt more in control and compact. 

Bad Drives
These drives just felt very fast and out of control. Backswing felt fast. Downswing felt super fast. I was hitting either low on the clubface or low and heel on the clubface. One I almost topped the ball with the heel. 

Putting
-I am just hitting the heel of the putter a ton. I also apparently can't aim my putter. I keep aiming way right. I just don't feel comfortable making a stroke right now. The putter just feels horrible in my hands right now. 

I plan on practicing from now on. I haven't really hit the range in a few months. 

 

[iacas]

What's your practice setup this winter, again? And, realistically, how often will you do it?

[saevel25]

I'm not sure how late the driving range stays open at Beavercreek. 

There is a covered and heated range open till 7pm during th winter. Not sure how snow effects  there ability to get the balls. I think they close when they can't get a day to go pick up the balls. 

There is Yankee Trace which has a indoor hitting area. Basically it's just netted hitting stalls. I called and the guy said its $7 each visit. Im thinking of asking for a discounted practice pass till march. You can gain access if you have a membership or year round practice pass. 

I got some options. Baring crazy ass weather I am willing to practice 4-6 times a week. 

[iacas]

 

I got some options. Baring crazy ass weather I am willing to practice 4-6 times a week. 

Well, 4-6 times is a lot, but not if you include some days where you don't leave your house and do some mirror work.

[saevel25]

 I've heard conflicting reports on weather this year. Typically I-70 is the ice line for Ohio. Typically Dayton can get mix of rain/ice/snow. Weather.gov has winter for the north half of the USA being a slightly above average for temperatures with below average precipitation. 

Then the Farmer's Almanac is saying colder with drier than normal. Yet they say above normal snow fall.

 

[Mike Boatright]

You have a good swing make a nice turn and the only thing I can see is that your grip on your left hand must be a tad to strong. The face of your club going back in really shut down and literally facing the sky at parallel. Hey Dustin Johnson does this and smokes it but your not him so maybe?  I think your consistency level would improve if your clubface was only slightly closed going back and more parallel to the target at the top. This is all grip related and not swing related you path is good and your coil is solid.

 

 

 

[saevel25]

You have a good swing make a nice turn and the only thing I can see is that your grip on your left hand must be a tad to strong. 

I agree on this. It's something I am working on. My grip can get a bit too strong. I added a process to my preshot routine that is helping me make my grip change more consistent to where I want it to be. It's seemed to help a lot. 
 

The face of your club going back in really shut down and literally facing the sky at parallel. Hey Dustin Johnson does this and smokes it but your not him so maybe?  

I think that's more of a grip thing as well. If the hand is strong then the clubface at the top will not look parallel to the left wrist. I believe Rory has more of a neutral grip. Yea just checked, the V's in his grip point more towards his chin.  If you look at Zach Johnson, he has a super strong grip and his clubface is pointing more towards the sky. 

The clubhead is fine in the backswing. I am not worried about it.  There are a lot of good golfers who have the face more square to the swing path than others. Look at Zach Johnson, clubhead is square to the path on the backswing. 

One of my old faults, and still working on it, is getting the club too inside on the backswing. I rather not have any sort of thought regarding the rotation of the club in the backswing. Honestly it's not something I need to worry about right now or ever. 

 

 I think your consistency level would improve if your clubface was only slightly closed going back and more parallel to the target at the top. This is all grip related and not swing related you path is good and your coil is solid.

My consistency issue is how long my swing is. When I shorten it up I can hit a lot of great shots. When I over swing it almost makes my head point 45 degrees away from the ball. I honestly don't know how I hit some good shots from that position. There are a lot of good golfers who have square clubface to the path at A2, and a clubface pointing towards the sky more at A4. Not really something I am going to worry about. Thanks for the comments. 




 

[Mike Boatright]

Well ok here is something to think about though and it's my number one grip key. First take your grip the way you do then take your left hand off the club and see if it's actually possible to hit the ball square with your right hand. By this I mean just look at it don't try to hit balls. With a stronger grip the right hand is sometimes off the club or so far underneath that if it weren't for the left hand the face would stay wide open I mean you literally have 3 fingers on the club with the right hand the palm has to square it up which is almost impossible with a strong grip. I would not in any way worry about over swinging unless it's causing a reverse pivot which it isn't. I over swing and gain 12 mph,and when I was younger I did it even more with a better coil and still hit a draw 300 yards with balata balls. Look at Daly here the classic overswing but his grip is good and so is his face at the top and impact. Your heel hits and slices are probably caused by leaving the face open at impact and not using your right hand at all. Zach Johnson is a great wedge player and plays well with his strong grip the only way to make a grip like that work it to counteract the left hand and place your right hand on top of the club,but ideally you want a grip that's not using competing forces. 

 

Edited October 13, 2015 by iacas
embedded videos

[saevel25]

With a stronger grip the right hand is sometimes off the club or so far underneath that if it weren't for the left hand the face would stay wide open I mean you literally have 3 fingers on the club with the right hand the palm has to square it up which is almost impossible with a strong grip.

I already said I was working on my grip. Still, my grip is not that strong that my right hand is off the club. The V on the right hand is pointing towards my right shoulder. I have an interlocking grip so the pinky finger is not really on the grip. Honestly the pressure in the grip is typically in the last three fingers of the left hand and the first two in the right hand. You never really utilize all 10 fingers in holding the club. 

 

I would not in any way worry about over swinging unless it's causing a reverse pivot which it isn't. 

 

I would worry about over swinging. It has caused me issues for a long time. Actually I can get into a reverse pivot issue from time to time. Yes it's something I need to fix. Honestly it doesn't hurt my power at all. I hit my clubs just as far with an over swing as I do with a proper length swing. The reason being I make a full turn if I stop where I need to anyways. I am not cutting my power short by over swinging. 
 

 Your heel hits and slices are probably caused by leaving the face open at impact and not using your right hand at all. 

I will not take any advice regarding releasing the club. If you want some correct information on that check out this thread. 

Zach Johnson is a great wedge player and plays well with his strong grip the only way to make a grip like that work it to counteract the left hand and place your right hand on top of the club,but ideally you want a grip that's not using competing forces. 

You ideally want both hands to be aligned the same. A strong left hand matches a strong right hand. Zach has both a strong left and strong right hand. 
 

 

Here is where I am warning you. I will not respond any more with regards to talking about my grip, my over swing, and releasing the club. I am considering those discussions closed. I appreciate your insight. I have a current instructor who has gotten me from shooting in the mid 80's to being a 5 handicap. He is a very good instructor. As of right now I have other things I am working on. 

 

[saevel25]

FACE ON

  

Looks like I fall towards the target at A3.5 - A4. Then I stay there and really get my weight forward and really shift a ton. Also the head dips a ton as well. Swing needs to be shorter. It's getting tough to do so. I try to feel like half swing and I video tape it and I might shoulder turn less but my shaft still falls past parallel because I can't keep my wrist from collapsing. 

DTL VIEW 

Just swiping at the ball. Steeply and inward. BLAH! Not sure there's much I can do but do that when the club is across the line like that at A4. It's really hard to direct the clubhead about 1 foot away from the ball from A4 to A4.5 to get the club tracking from the inside. 

 

 

 

[iacas]

DTL VIEW 

Just swiping at the ball. Steeply and inward. BLAH! Not sure there's much I can do but do that when the club is across the line like that at A4. It's really hard to direct the clubhead about 1 foot away from the ball from A4 to A4.5 to get the club tracking from the inside. 

You'll be familiar with the lesson you get when you come up here. Look at the DL view more. You'll see it. 

[saevel25]

If I had to guess it would be something like this. Clubhead inside the hands at A2 leads to clubhead on the right side of the hands at A4. Current on the left versus previous lesson on the right. 

 

Edited October 14, 2015 by saevel25