My Swing (mvmac)

[iacas]

4 hours ago, mvmac said:

Thanks! 

He's just calling you short, Mike.

[mvmac]

8 birdies, 66 today. This was a 183 yard, hard 6-iron to 4 ft. Made the putt to go -7 thru 12 

One of the guys I was playing with, same dude that beat me in the playoff for the club championship, took the video and did the graphic, I had no idea he was filming.

Couple swings from earlier in the week when I was in the desert with @DaveP043

Putting has sucked the past several months so I've been doing a lot of gate drills lately which helps reduce my loop. Finally saw some putts roll in today, actually made a last minute grip change on the practice green before the round. 

At my home course we've been on matts the last month, so when I was in the desert I did some practice hitting shots out of the back of the divot, something my instructor recommended. Tendency for me is to get shallow and flippy, which you can't do with this lie and hit it solid. Forces me to get more dynamic with the downswing.

"Flippy" swing.

More what I'm working towards for better contact and start line control.

[Mr. Desmond]

Wow - Congrats. You do everything well that I'm working on. Tight to body going back, Swing left on downswing.

[mvmac]

On 1/22/2018 at 3:27 AM, Mr. Desmond said:

Wow - Congrats. You do everything well that I'm working on. Tight to body going back, Swing left on downswing.

Thanks.

Funny thing is I'm not actually trying to do any of that.

On the backswing I'm just trying to keep the right arm above the left with a dynamic pivot. I have more "width" than I did a couple years ago, butt of the club is further away from me on the takeaway and mid-backswing.

Might look like I'm swinging more left on the downswing with that drill but generally it looks more like this.

(Backswing/takeaway is a bit deliberate on purpose)

 

[mvmac]

Just sharing some practice at home that I sent my instructor to check in. Got a thumbs up 

The feeling of the hips pulling back or going APT in transition never quite connected with me. What I'm rehearsing is here is working a lot better (fingers crossed ). Feeling is basically like someone is pushing my left shoulder down from about 3.8 to 4.5. This helps me steepen the shaft via the orientation of my left arm which helps create the proper "bends" on the downswing and room for my arms to work into impact My goal is to try and get the shaft standing straight up at 5 without any independent wrist manipulation. I'm never going to steepen in a real swing, just have it shallow less or be more "planed out". 

For me it's going to help lessen my dynamic loft, continue to improve contact and start line control. Finally got to the point where I’m comfortable on the course feeling the left shoulder lower or increase in the torso tilt in transition. Amazing what a difference that has made. Especially for the mid to short irons and full-ish swing wedges.

I'm weird with my tendencies. The "steeper" I can get the better I rotate and thrust through impact. Normally I shallow too much early and l'll stall and scoop. Typically players that get steep will goat hump to shallow and the pivot will stall as a result.

My goal is to do 50 reps a day like this, which I've done for the last week and a half, except for days where I'm playing. I'll do 25 in the morning (excuse to take a work break) and then 25 at night. I want to go slow but keep most of the reps continuous, no stopping. I don't want to "hit positions", I want to blend the motion and get my body more and more familiar with these movements. This is basically how I changed my backswing, haven't made a laid off swing in 2.5 years now.

 

[saevel25]

3 hours ago, mvmac said:

My goal is to do 50 reps a day like this, which I've done for the last week and a half, except for days where I'm playing. I'll do 25 in the morning (excuse to take a work break) and then 25 at night. I want to go slow but keep most of the reps continuous, no stopping. I don't want to "hit positions", I want to blend the motion and get my body more and more familiar with these movements. This is basically how I changed my backswing, haven't made a laid off swing in 2.5 years now.

I really like this idea. Signing up for the @mvmac 50 reps a day routine

[nevets88]

I did a lmgtfy for those who might not know (like me, lol) - APT/PPT. APT is anterior pelvic tilt. PPT is posterior. 

[iacas]

3 hours ago, saevel25 said:

I really like this idea. Signing up for the @mvmac 50 reps a day routine

Right here…

 

[mvmac]

Following up to my last post with an actual swing. Little practice after today's round (-2 today).

Feel vs real 

Better knee and pelvis motion as a result. "Lowering" helps the right knee not kick internal so early, have a better chance to get the arms down and "push off" rather than sag and slide.

My instructor's comments, "Yes. When you start dropping COM a bit in transition more, you’ll see p6 a few more inches in. Just need keep amping the feels up. Eventually want that right leg completely polished."

[iacas]

But Mike, you're always going to early extend. I was there when you were told that at a dinner in the SW US.

[mvmac]

5 hours ago, iacas said:

But Mike, you're always going to early extend. I was there when you were told that at a dinner in the SW US.

Ha, right.

As we've talked about I'm always going to have some amount of goat humping, it's more about when it happens. I'm never going to be a golfer that maintains my "tush line". I'm ok with early extending, I just don't want to early, early extend 

The better I can get at lowering the level of my belt buckle/not level out the torso in transition the more room I can give my arms and get the handle down. Rather than having to over-flex my knees to get the club down to the ball.

[iacas]

Yeah.

[mvmac]

Started the month as a .6 and ended it as a +1. Lowest I've been since college. Combination of my swing is in a good place, putting was much better than Nov/Dec (it was a glaring weakness) and I've been playing about 3 rounds a week. 13 rounds in Jan and 5 were under par.

Five minutes before my round when I shot 66 and I got fed up with my putting and just went to a claw/saw grip. I figured I couldn't putt any worse and the switch worked that day. Whether it was a much needed "shock" to my system or if it's actually better, time will tell. Four rounds since then, two under par with the highest being a 73. 

Here's the stroke. I basically feel like I'm hardly gripping it with my right hand. Start lines have been much better and that's a big goal for me this year is to be better from 5ft and in. I think the loop is reduced, path is more "down the line" than across it, I'm spending less time over the ball, little bit better "flow" to the motion. 

Shaft is close at impact to where it started, this is better for me.

Pitching has been a little streaky lately. I think part of that the inconsistencies you can get in the dormant bermuda (still kinda new to me) and some of my full swing practice got into my pitching. So I've been working on feeling the wrists a little more uncocked at address (compared to my full swing) and keeping the right arm closer to my side so the club can rotate more "toe-up" and more around me. Basically doing the same feels up to 65 yards.

First shot is a medium high 25-30 yard pitch. Second shot was a 55-ish yard longer pitching motion. Both with my 60 degree.

A3.5 backswing (feeling) 55 degree swings, goal was to hit it around 65 yards.

A3.5 backswing 60 degree swings. Trying to keep them in that 50-55 yard range. I can have a tendency to get too "pitchy" with these and they'll come off too floaty. 

[iacas]

Two quick notes…

1. I'd like to see less axis tilt in your putting setup. It may not be too possible with the claw grip, but a bit less tilt and a bit more weight left than right.
2. If that's a pitch pitch, and not just a 3/4 swing… a little shallower and a little more rolling the toe up (or even open) to expose and use the bounce/glide just a hair more. You can see the leading edge is still turned down a little bit.

[mvmac]

6 minutes ago, iacas said:

Two quick notes…

1. I'd like to see less axis tilt in your putting setup. It may not be too possible with the claw grip, but a bit less tilt and a bit more weight left than right.
2. If that's a pitch pitch, and not just a 3/4 swing… a little shallower and a little more rolling the toe up (or even open) to expose and use the bounce/glide just a hair more. You can see the leading edge is still turned down a little bit.

Thanks. For sure agree.

1. Always a struggle for me, maybe because I'm left eye-dominant? Not sure. Anyway yes when I've been playing I try to remind myself to feel like my weight is more left.

2. Yes the first swing was a pitch pitch. I filmed it a couple weeks ago and amazing how far off I was. This is actually 70% or so better. I'll keep working towards what you suggested.

[iacas]

1 minute ago, mvmac said:

1. Always a struggle for me, maybe because I'm left eye-dominant? Not sure. Anyway yes when I've been playing I try to remind myself to feel like my weight is more left.

Generally people who putt with an open stance or side tilt are right eye dominant. I'd forgotten which one you were but that setup made me think you were RED.

1 minute ago, mvmac said:

2. Yes the first swing was a pitch pitch. I filmed it a couple weeks ago and amazing how far off I was. This is actually 70% or so better. I'll keep working towards what you suggested.

Yep. Cool.

[mvmac]

Practice from today. Takeaway was getting a little "quick" with the right wrist extension off the ball so I was working on that along with the transition feel. Still doing most of my "mechanics" work at home with 50 reps a day.

 

Notes from my instructor on the putting video I posted a few days ago.

"Putting stroke quite good. Need to not let right elbow move as much in backstroke. Claw works best when the pivot is left shoulder and right elbow. It’s ok to feel right forearm move back but try and keep elbow quieter.

Tendency is to get a small loop of the elbow and hit some pulls. Allow forearm to move a bit. Allows better flow of putter."

So here's an updated stroke along with what @iacas pointed out with too much axis tilt and weight right. Shoulders feeling level at address, weight slightly left and right elbow is closer to my side so right forearm can "pivot" around my elbow. Really cool how I'm seeing little to no loop, obviously a big reason I'm seeing more putts start online.

Camera angle is off on the caddy view so the ball looks more forward than it actually is. 

With pitching, allowing for more "toe up" on the backswing (could do it more), like @iacas said. Also feeling like I'm more open at impact, shirt buttons keep moving through the shots and like the club is "lagging" behind the pivot. If I'm being picky it'd be better if I had less width on the backswing but overall I'm hitting these shots solid and I like the little "float load" action in transition. Also wouldn't mind seeing the sternum more over or a little in front of the ball.

 

 

[iacas]

@mvmac, good changes, and nice to see that The Loop is now just a reversible course in Michigan.

On the pitching, good changes, maybe a bit more to go… and I'd set the ball more forward and let your head be more forward, too. Don't do one without the other, as you know. If you do put more weight left, the ball will start to be/feel "back" even though it's middle of your feet.