My Swing (Stretch)

[LSU_justin]

That picture makes my back hurt.

New setup looks good though.

[Stretch]

Practicing with "The Condom"*. I made mine out of a piece of camping mat and some surgical tape. Keeps the right elbow from over-flexing early in the backswing, which is key for me to increase my turn rate relative to my tilt. Goal is to have the shoulders at 90 degrees before the left arm is parallel to the ground. If I hit balls with it, also forces me to extend faster in the downswing or I'll stick the club in the ground. Both of these promote a club path more out to the right, which is the main objective.

(* So named by South African pro Garth Mulroy because you never want to put it on, but are always happier by the time you take it off. )

This knowledge, and a whole lot more, courtesy of the always amazing Quint Van Der Berg, to whom I'm now going to listen consistently, because when I do I get better and when I don't I burn months and years going around in ****ing circles. A great coach is a terrible thing to waste!

http://www.q-golf.co.za/qgolf.aspx

[mchepp]

Can you show a swing with the condom on? I am interested to see it at work.

[Stretch]

That sounds kinda wrong.

[iacas]

Dave showed Quint that training aid. We use it a lot.

Just prevents the right elbow from folding much, so you have to get the club back with an increased turning rate.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Practicing with "The Condom"*. I made mine out of a piece of camping mat and some surgical tape. Keeps the right elbow from over-flexing early in the backswing, which is key for me to increase my turn rate relative to my tilt. Goal is to have the shoulders at 90 degrees before the left arm is parallel to the ground. If I hit balls with it, also forces me to extend faster in the downswing or I'll stick the club in the ground. Both of these promote a club path more out to the right, which is the main objective.

(* So named by South African pro Garth Mulroy because you never want to put it on, but are always happier by the time you take it off. )

This knowledge, and a whole lot more, courtesy of the always amazing Quint Van Der Berg, to whom I'm now going to listen consistently, because when I do I get better and when I don't I burn months and years going around in ****ing circles. A great coach is a terrible thing to waste!

http://www.q-golf.co.za/qgolf.aspx

LOL ... I saw this on facebook, wasn't sure who it was, but had a feeling it was you.  Something about that mountain in the background looked familiar.

Seeing Erik's comment about the goal of it being to limit the folding of the right arm, I'd say this drill is currently not for me, as I am consciously trying to fold the right arm right now. :)

[Stretch]

Dave showed Quint that training aid. We use it a lot.

Yeah, he said Dave would get a kick out of it.

Originally Posted by mchepp

Can you show a swing with the condom on? I am interested to see it at work.

All I have, for what it's worth. Lousy size/quality but can hopefully see how it helps the club head stay out more back and through. If you get lazy with the extension pieces, things get chunky real fast as you can see on the second swing.

[TourSpoon]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Yeah, he said Dave would get a kick out of it.

All I have, for what it's worth. Lousy size/quality but can hopefully see how it helps the club head stay out more back and through. If you get lazy with the extension pieces, things get chunky real fast as you can see on the second swing.

And you keep missing the ball about 4 inches to the inside. Lol. When you coming to Florida so I can experience a Stretch beat down? I want to see all this hard work in action!

[MS256]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Yeah, he said Dave would get a kick out of it.

All I have, for what it's worth. Lousy size/quality but can hopefully see how it helps the club head stay out more back and through. If you get lazy with the extension pieces, things get chunky real fast as you can see on the second swing.

That looks like the anti-Logman device. Ha ha!

Amazing what different people are working on. Sort of like most people working on more shoulder turn for more power while I try to limit shoulder turn for more power, and more wrist cock for more power and I work on less (intentional) wrist cock for more power.

Lag...Another story, and I'll take all I can get and the faster I swing the more I have (unintentionally).

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by MS256

Amazing what different people are working on. Sort of like most people working on more shoulder turn for more power while I try to limit shoulder turn for more power, and more wrist cock for more power and I work on less (intentional) wrist cock for more power.

To misquote Tolstoy -- every unhappy golfer is unhappy in his own way.

[Stretch]

Practice today. Half swings. Arms straight in backswing -- faster wrist cock. Arms straight in follow through -- faster recock.

[Savage]

Alright, I'm new to this forum and therefore somewhat reluctant to post advice, but I had a similar club path issue to yours Stretch and think I can offer some insight.

For years I struggled with a "flat" swing plane similar to yours (there are many ways to be flat), where the early wrist set flattens your plane from about waist high and from there you pick the club up maintaining that flat position (ultimately causing a laid-off position at the top.) Now in my case, I didn't even feel as though I was setting my wrists, let alone so early. It turned out this position was caused by me trying to pick the club up with my arms, more specifically by bending my right elbow. Here is how I fixed this:

1. A) One piece takeaway. Allow the traps and shoulders to drag the club head back. Now, I'm a big proponent of "you don't hit the ball with your back swing," so take the club back on a path that feels comfortable to you. I.e. straight back, outside the ball, or inside the ball (don't be too dramatic).

1. B) Tip: Make sure your right arm stays on-top-of (or above) your left as you take the club back. This insures you do not flip it to the inside. Another visual is to keep the back of the right hand pointing down the target line (backwards obviously) so as not to roll the wrists over.

2. If you follow this takeaway technique you will reach a point where your right arm can no longer stay straight (a point where your hands just pass your right leg), at which point you would naturally bend your right elbow. This bending flips your club head over your hands, which will still leave you in that early-set flat position. INSTEAD of bending this elbow as your means of picking the club up, LIFT UPWARDS WITH THE SHOULDERS (at the point where your right arm can no longer stay straight). Your right arm will naturally fold but the club will no longer flip over your hands at about waist high. Doing this will also cause some separation of your right elbow from your chest. Controlling this elbow position and distance from your chest will allow you to alter the club position at the top and the position of the left wrist. Any additional position you are trying to achieve can be built on top of this basic technique.

Sorry for the long email, or if this was more then you were requesting. Hopefully it helps.

[sker]

Hi Stretch.

Compliments on keeping track of your swing changes the way you have over the years, and allowing us all to follow the progress. You have obviously done plenty of analysis at home to make the improvements you have and I'd like to do something similar for myself.

If you get the time can you briefly give an outline of the software and other tools that you use (and maybe have used) over the years that has helped with this.

The image above is particularly intriguing for me because of all the data it shows. Was this taken with data from a launch monitor or another piece of equipment/software?

Many Thanks,

sker.

[Stretch]

Thanks. I've done a lot of dumb things along the way. Still doing some of them, in fact. But it's been a fun learning experience.

I have a Casio FH100 camera and use Analyzr (http://analyzrgolf.com) for video analysis. The screenshot is from a FlightScope X2 radar launch monitor (http://www.flightscope.com/index.php/FlightScope-X2/flightscope-x2.html), which we've just started using at my club. Looking forward to playing with it some more.

[sker]

Half decent camera next on the list. Doesn't look like there is a launch monitor within an hour and half of me so will have to make a special effort to get to a session but something I'd look to do before I get lessons to see where I am starting from.

Unfortunately, I don't have a Mac so analyzr is also out at the moment, but Kinovea gives me the real basics for now.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Stretch]

Have been working on raising my driver angle of attack and am getting some decent results. Averages from 20 shots on the range today today. Sub in proper golf balls and ball speed would be around 144 mph for 235 yards carry, which is good for me.

Happy with the pattern, too. I was down and left for a long time and believe me -- up and right is better!

[poser]

Your iron swing is a little rightward and shallow.  Is this something you are working on too?  I had same issue our club just got the trackman and I was pretty similar to your numbers when I first started.  Last session was the first time I was actually able to swing left -4 I usually stay around zero to 2 right now.  This also helped me hit down around 5 now instead of 2 like I was before.

BTW how do you like the flightscope?  I been debating picking one up.  I was going to get the GC2 for a golf simulator at the house but, saw you can pick one of those up for around same price.  Not sure how accurate they are indoors I've heard mixed reviews.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by poser

Your iron swing is a little rightward and shallow. Is this something you are working on too?

Definitely. Ideally, I'd like to be swinging about two degrees right and two degrees down with a mid iron, for a resultant path of three-and-a-bit right.

After some head scratching over the last few weeks and some chats to Quint -- realized I've been setting up with my club face quite a bit too open at address. Pretty easy fix (although the new position still looks profoundly wrong to me) which has really helped my ball striking. Playing nice, boring golf again!