My Swing (Stretch)

[Stretch]

I think you are very much on the right track. Was looking at the model positions in the S&T; book tonight and here's the top of the backswing. Note how closely the left arm line matches the shoulder line.*



And here's me. The hands have actually gone deeper back , but they haven't come up enough. I think that's because, as you point out, they need to do both together.



The other thing that jumps out to me is the ball is relatively far too close to the feet in shot # 2.

(* In real life Mike Bennett is apparently a bit flatter than that.)



Party on dudes!

[Stretch]

Well, I've been working at it pretty hard for three weeks now, and it is still frustratingly slow going. There are good days and bad days as far as ball striking goes, but the basic flaws are still stubbornly ingrained. A little bit of progress in keeping the clubhead outside the hands a bit longer on the backswing (at the expense, I think Iacas may say, of the hands staying out too much themselves), and on getting closer to the proper arm plane at the top. But the wrists are still rotating and letting everything lay off, which means the hands then have to come back inside really tightly to get the head to turn the corner onto the ball. Negative loft, loss of power and lots of straight pulls. On the plus side again, the right knee is working in more, which I hope means the hips are also pushing through more.

Hitting a short iron:

[Stretch]

I'm just going to start watching this comparo 50 times a day and hope something sinks in by osmosis.

[Stretch]

Crap, that didn't work and the edit window has closed. Here we go. Just tried to get start and impact at roughly the same time.





YouTubeDoubler is fun for playing around with this sort of thing, too.

www.youtubedoubler.com/Eq95

[Stretch]

Think I found one big piece of the puzzle today. Been feeling for a while I'm generally much too close to the ball at address and experimenting with changing position. Just hadn't moved back enough .

Here's a week ago versus today. Same club.

--

And here's the result. The club comes back to the ball much closer to the proper plane, I think, properly lofted, and from the inside. Was hitting high draws and overdraws, swinging easier and hitting further.



Compare to earlier this month, where the club lays off more at the top, then the head loops over and comes down really steeply as the hands work back way too close to the body -- and I drill yet another huge pull.

[sean_miller]

  iacas said:

Hmm?

Awesome - thanks iacas!! This diagram was the magic bullet for me this week - my short irons were hit or miss last weekend - had a breakthrough at the range while working on this.

[Stretch]

Check out the Fowler swing sequence photo spread in this month's Golf Digest, then. His hands get way, way, way inside and he stacks like anything!

[JWL1957]

What ever you do Stretch................ keep that sweet azz tempo. I only wish I were that smooth. I'm jealous.

[Stretch]

Haven't had the nerve to work on the driver much since starting with S&T;, but the swing is starting to feel solid enough to give it a go. Working on the "Ricky Hands" with only moderate success so far. Swinging slow, trying to find the middle of the face and just ease it out there with a soft draw.

[Kellfire]

Great thread for someone struggling with his irons of late. I think I'm turning the clubhead in too much and struggling to square it back up.

[Stretch]

Glad to hear it's helpful to someone else, too! I keep it going mainly as a way to organize my own thoughts, and for handy reference. Maybe it should be a blog rather than a thread, but Erik doesn't seem to mind so far?

Today my elbow was too sore to hit balls. Did some chipping and then sat down to think about that driver swing, with a little help from Dean Wilson.

P4:



P5:



P6:



P7:



Almost no lower body rotation at all prior to impact! This would tend to explain why I can't drive my way out of a paper bag.



Got to say, a couple of hundred bucks for a Casio Exilim and a tripod was easily the best money I've ever spent on my golf game. Felt a bit of a tit setting up at the range the first time and getting the "who do you think you are" looks, but am over it now. I'm the guy who's going to actually get something useful out of this practice session, thank you very much!

[Shankapotomus]

Cool, now I know what stretch looks like when I meet him at class next week.

[Stretch]

I'm the one on the left.

[Stretch]

James Hirschfield has been trying to get me much more upright at setup and hopefully the results are starting to show. Less hunched over in second picture, club shaft is more upright, arms are hanging more vertically, wrists arched down, butt of club points at belt buckle rather than mid thigh, angle between forearm and club shaft is less acute.

--

Also took a face on clip to confirm my feeling that I'm stalling out in the middle of the downswing. Seems pretty obvious looking at it. Hips move laterally just enough to get out of the way, then stop. Impact position is so-so and almost all the lower body rotation happens after the ball has already gone on its way. Weak sauce!

[delav]

I gotta ask man... what is with your posture at address? Have you been fit for clubs before? The right image is an improvement (for sure!) but you look cramped and bent over to say the least.

[Stretch]

Still a work in progress, that. My clubs were fit and are lengthened by 1.5", but I'm over 6'7" so there's only so much accommodation you can make I think.

The other big thing David and James both picked up on immediately was my left knee action, with it breaking in way too much and then having to come all the way back before my hips could start to move and turn. Today I think I finally got it right. Which one of these looks like a better position to hit from?

--

As promised, this got the hips into the downswing much more, which felt like, uh, POWWWWWWWWW!

[Shankapotomus]

Stretch, I wish I swung half as good as that right now. Hopefully the "Erie Gang" will be able to help you polish it up a bit more on Sunday. They are going to have their hands full with me on the other hand.

[Stretch]

  Shankapotomus said:

Stretch, I wish I swung half as good as that right now. Hopefully the "Erie Gang" will be able to help you polish it up a bit more on Sunday. They are going to have their hands full with me on the other hand.

Look at it this way, if you get the basics right when you're starting out you won't have to be fixing stupid stuff like mine later on!

Delav, you got me thinking so I tried to find some footage of the tallest pros around. Here are Cink and Quiros setting up at 6'4" or so. Basically, above a certain height, it seems to me that you've got to bend your knees more than normal and/or bend forward more than normal to get to the ball. --