My Swing (saevel25)

[saevel25]

some video of pitching and distance wedges.

Bad pitch then a better pitch

Face On Pitching - To much straight arm retention in the finish?

Face On Pitching 2 - Little more relaxed finish. I think this helps out a bit. The pitching motion feels a bit more natural and automatic with this, less forced.

Distance Wedge First Take - Not enough hip turn. To long backswing compared to what my distance is marked on the club.

Distance Wedge More Hip Turn. A little shorter, more hip turn. Just felt like I had less likely chance to thin a shot this way. Felt more automatic, less forceful. Club could still be a bit more upright, or the left arm more up and less around?

[Stretch]

Hey Matt, just commenting because we have some similar tendencies, not because I'm any kind of expert!

I know that for me I don't like to see the club going inside and under so quickly from A1 to A2 as this takes the loft and bounce off and sets you up to return to the ball too shallow and with too much leading edge in play. I know when I'm doing it by the strikes -- which tend thin -- and the turf interaction -- gets "sticky".

My focus when practicing is to hinge the club up much faster from A1 on the backswing -- feels like it's way outside the hands even though it isn't, on film  -- then be quicker opening up the hips on the downswing. Feels like everything (shoulders, torso, hips) goes around in synch together and just drags the sole of the wedge along the turf. Will also feel more "left" from where you are now. You'll have more descent into the ball and won't have to overtake so fast, so you'll have a better chance of presenting the correct loft consistently. And the flexing/softening of the left elbow will shallow you out at the right time and create a nice flat spot at the bottom to give you more margin for error.

Mike's face-ons show this well:

And I'm practicing a slightly longer one here, just focusing on keeping the club head "out":

Hope that's of some use to you.

[saevel25]

Full Swing , just keep struggling with not standing up a bit. Head keeps going way from the ball and hips go slightly forward.

The strike isn't to bad. The ball flight was pretty good. So it is very playable for me.

Chunky - Trying to hit one softer. Not pretty.

Shorter Golf Swing - This seems to work out better. I think swing length might be the key for me in syncing my hips better. Still doesn't look right though.

[mvmac]

Shorter swing is definitely better. Less "run on" with the arms, allows for things to be more in-sync. Also watch that you're not back on your heels at A1.

Hips are a little more open

[saevel25]

Shorter swing is definitely better. Less "run on" with the arms, allows for things to be more in-sync. Also watch that you're not back on your heels at A1.

I think I get into trouble when I want to get the left arm more up, it can get long.

[iacas]

Been out of town for a bit but am just now catching up. I agree with @Stretch and @mvmac .

On pitching in particularly you want to roll the FACE open more, not just roll the clubhead inside more.

[saevel25]

DTL Full Swing

Backswing thought - Almost 3/4 distance wedge swing length, and slower backswing. Started to get this to happen more often now. I spent a good amount of time training myself what feels I want for backswing length. If I go quick backswing then it has to be almost 1/2-2/3 backswing distance. If I go slower its 3/4 backswing length distance. A very good feel is like my hands are far away from my right ear. This also helps me feel the right arm away from my body.

Downswing - Fire the hips more.

The only thing I am not liking is the little squatty bouncy move I do. Hands still move to vertical in the downswing. Also my head moves away from the ball in the downswing. Not sure how to stop that. Am I still to close to the ball, to much weight on the heels? That is a 6 iron I am hitting.

FO - Full Swing

DTL - Pitching

More fanning the clubface open? Not sure I am getting this to happen correctly. I think I do more shove the clubhead behind the hands then roll over.

Overall the quality of contact was much better on the full swing and distance wedges. The swing thought on just controlling the backswing length, then just turn the hips really helps promote good quality of contact. Yea, what I needed to be doing for a while now. Still, this is one of the first time I really got a good feel for a good backswing length and getting solid contact consistently. Feeling good the ability to actually hit the ball solid now.

[Stretch]

Still too inside. Concentrate on keeping as much cup as you can in your left wrist and taking your hands out away from your toes. Will feel like a monster loop from out to in, but won't be on the film. Ernie always says that if there was a mirror on the face of your wedge, you'd want to see your self in it all the way back. And he can pitch a bit!

[Stretch]

Just to illustrate the sort of spectrum we're talking about. You and I tend to be too far on the left (least) and need to feel like the extreme right (most) in order to come out somewhere in the middle.

[iacas]

Still too inside. Concentrate on keeping as much cup as you can in your left wrist and taking your hands out away from your toes. Will feel like a monster loop from out to in, but won't be on the film. Ernie always says that if there was a mirror on the face of your wedge, you'd want to see your self in it all the way back. And he can pitch a bit!

I don't agree with that much at all. Roll the toe while keeping the clubhead on or just under the plane. Hands too - not above the plane and then looping under.

Backswing thought - Almost 3/4 distance wedge swing length, and slower backswing. Started to get this to happen more often now. I spent a good amount of time training myself what feels I want for backswing length. If I go quick backswing then it has to be almost 1/2-2/3 backswing distance. If I go slower its 3/4 backswing length distance. A very good feel is like my hands are far away from my right ear. This also helps me feel the right arm away from my body.

Downswing - Fire the hips more.

The only thing I am not liking is the little squatty bouncy move I do. Hands still move to vertical in the downswing. Also my head moves away from the ball in the downswing. Not sure how to stop that. Am I still to close to the ball, to much weight on the heels? That is a 6 iron I am hitting.

I had some comments, and made some pictures, but you need to keep doing this for awhile now, and anything else I could say would distract you from that.

Keep doing this more. The only picture I'll add is this one to answer your question about your head:

It doesn't have to be perfect. It is getting better. You can play great golf from those positions. With your speed, though, it's going to be beneficial to keep improving this more, though. So keep on this.

P.S. Mess around with feeling the left knee extending while you stay in your tilts (toward the ball) to help kick up the rotational rates. Or try this: stand with your butt against the wall, make a backswing, and feel what you need to do to push against the wall while you pivot around on the downswing. I think that once you get from 4-5 or 5.5 or so, the left knee extending to help kick the left hip around and "through" the wall is going to be helpful.

[saevel25]

It doesn't have to be perfect. It is getting better. You can play great golf from those positions. With your speed, though, it's going to be beneficial to keep improving this more, though. So keep on this.

I am getting to realize that. I played pretty good for the first 7 holes today.

Though my driver and 3-wood off the tee were really bad. I skied 2 of my 3-wood drives. 60+ yards in the air high, whats up with that? Those swings did feel a bit head falling back type. So I might have gotten really flippy and actually catching the ball high on the clubface with a lot of upward angle of attack. Oh well, I'll forget about those swings and move one

On the range before the round I was hitting great shots. I think I just lost that feeling of what was producing those shots as the round progressed a bit. I liked I could string together a lot of good golf together. I just need to expand on that more.

P.S. Mess around with feeling the left knee extending while you stay in your tilts (toward the ball) to help kick up the rotational rates. Or try this: stand with your butt against the wall, make a backswing, and feel what you need to do to push against the wall while you pivot around on the downswing. I think that once you get from 4-5 or 5.5 or so, the left knee extending to help kick the left hip around and "through" the wall is going to be helpful.

So from this spot here, the left knee should start to extend as the left hip goes around?

[iacas]

Though my driver and 3-wood off the tee were really bad. I skied 2 of my 3-wood drives. 60+ yards in the air high, whats up with that?  Those swings did feel a bit head falling back type. So I might have gotten really flippy and actually catching the ball high on the clubface with a lot of upward angle of attack. Oh well, I'll forget about those swings and move one

Actually you probably hit down on them more than you are used to. Most pop-ups are from a steeper AoA, not a shallower one. You're probably "staying in" the shot more/better. Make sure the ball position is forward enough with the 3W.

So from this spot here, the left knee should start to extend as the left hip goes around?

There or slightly after it. When you have to "feel" that you're doing it is going to be up to you, but yeah, do the bit against the wall and you'll see what I mean. Extending that knee will help "kick the hip around."

[saevel25]

Some slow motion work getting the hips more open, while maintaining spine tilt, and experimenting with straightening that left leg.

[iacas]

Some slow motion work getting the hips more open, while maintaining spine tilt, and experimenting with straightening that left leg.

Looked good. How'd it feel? What do you think?

And your arm won't be that far out with your clubface that closed, of course, on the range/course.

[saevel25]

Looked good. How'd it feel? What do you think? And your arm won't be that far out with your clubface that closed, of course, on the range/course.

Good, trying to figure out the overall feel of the movement. Wondering if it needs to be hip or leg driven. I can see how it helps with getting the hips more open, or sooner. If that hip doesnt go up and around then the hips stall or slide a ton laterally. The leg has to straighten when the hip moves like that.

[mvmac]

It doesn't have to be perfect. It is getting better. You can play great golf from those positions.

Good take home for @saevel25 and anyone else following this thread.

[saevel25]

DTL view of working on my downswing piece. Working on that straight left leg. Impact looks better.

DTL & FO Pitching. Still struggling with with this motion. Especially fanning the clubface open in the backswing

DTL - Distance wedges. First is more of what I was doing. Longer than needed backswing with little hip turn. Second video is much better. Shorter, tighter turn with more hip turn through impact. I found out I was losing a lot of distance on my wedges because I was all arming it.

[iacas]

DTL view of working on my downswing piece. Working on that straight left leg. Impact looks better.

Much.

DTL & FO Pitching. Still struggling with with this motion. Especially fanning the clubface open in the backswing

Softer elbows.