My Swing (Unkynd)

[Unkynd]

Alo, I'm in Mustang (a suburb of Oklahoma City).

[walk18]

Went to the range again today and tried to focus on keeping my weight forward. I can see that I'm still swaying a bit back on my backswing, but I did feel like I was hitting the ball better and actually leaving some divots that weren't 4 feet behind the ball.

Honestly that was probably the biggest improvement over such a short period of time that I've seen on this forum or anywhere. Nice job man.

[RC]

I would agree with the idea of hitting 1/2 swing shots, getting the weight shift forward and keeping the hands ahead through impact and extending through the ball. Forget about hitting it hard, just make sweet contact. Adjust until you are hitting decent little shots fairly straight at your target. Don't worry about distance, worry about solid contact and ball flight. Then slowly amp up your power without adding more lifting on the backswing, just swing in sequence feeling your body move into the shot and turn through it. You actually have the potential to hit a golf ball well, but you need the feeling of the sequencing of a good shot. You are a little like a closing door swing rather than an uncoiling swing. Keep progressing at the rate you are and good things will be ahead.

[Unkynd]

Honestly that was probably the biggest improvement over such a short period of time that I've seen on this forum or anywhere. Nice job man.

Thank you. I haven't recorded myself at the range yet, but I did play a 9 hole par 3 course today and I could definitely tell a difference. All of my shots were arcs (no wormburners) and I didn't have any shots that were complete duffs. I still have to work on controlling direction. Hopefully getting my follow through a little cleaner will help with that. Normally I shoot 40-50 on this Par 27. Today was a 39, woot!

I would agree with the idea of hitting 1/2 swing shots, getting the weight shift forward and keeping the hands ahead through impact and extending through the ball. Forget about hitting it hard, just make sweet contact. Adjust until you are hitting decent little shots fairly straight at your target. Don't worry about distance, worry about solid contact and ball flight. Then slowly amp up your power without adding more lifting on the backswing, just swing in sequence feeling your body move into the shot and turn through it. You actually have the potential to hit a golf ball well, but you need the feeling of the sequencing of a good shot. You are a little like a closing door swing rather than an uncoiling swing. Keep progressing at the rate you are and good things will be ahead.

I tried keeping my swing in the "B Plane" as UTTexas recommended, but I don't quite have the rest of my swing conditioned yet. As a result, I ended up flipping more when I tried to keep my swing flatter. For now, I'm going to stick with 3/4 max swings and practice keeping my weight & hands forward until it comes naturally. After that I might work on the full swing again.

[uttexas]

awesome. good job. sounds like you are really enjoying playing well.

[Unkynd]

Yah, it's a lot more fun when I'm not digging a grave 4 feet behind the ball :) Thanks for all your advice man. You nailed the key parts of my swing that were jacked.

[Unkynd]

Here's my current swing.

[johnthejoiner]

Far better posture.

I posted on your thread without seeing your swing and i'm pleasantly surprised, i said on your thread to work on your short game and putting and if you combine that with the fantastic progress you've made with your full swing, not only will you break 100 you'll be going through the 90 barrier in no time.

Well done big man keep up the good work

[basscat348]

To be honest your swing looks pretty good.A few small adjustments and youre there.I would concentrate on 3/4 swings or what you think is a 3/4 swing and that will help you alot.

Also the feet totally together drill and hit 3/4 shots,I still use this one.It really helps synchrozine atleast my body.

I find it very funny that theres always high handicappers here giving advice to people looking for improvement  LOL.

[Unkynd]

Thanks guys, that's encouraging that neither of you think my swing is a complete disaster :)

I tend to go back and forth between a few weeks of full swings and a few weeks of 3/4 swings.  I wasn't feeling like I was getting enough torque on my 3/4 swings, and that's why I was going full swing mode.  I'll switch back to 3/4 for awhile, because I do think I was hitting the sweet spot a little more consistently on the 3/4 swing shots.

I'll give that feet together drill a shot.  Do you do it at the range and actually hit balls that way or is it something you do with no ball?

[jpd5184]

you club face angle is horrible at the top of your swing. your laid off a ton. you club face is pointing up at the sky.

[basscat348]

The feet together drill I only use at the range hitting balls.I use about 35-50% of my power when doing this keeping both feet on the ground even after you have hit the shot.This drill will really help show if you club face is open or closed when your hitting the ball.You should very easily be able to hit a perfect draw with this setup. Alot of things in golf are trial an error and that goes for everyone because we are all different swingers. My suggestion to you is try all the different things people mention to you here and if you think it works then use it and if you think it doesnt then dont waste youre time with it. I got to where I am at now by just trying all sorts of different things I saw ,heard , or read in magazines.It took me 2 1/2 years to shoot my first par round from the first day I started playing golf . Still even today I am trying new things to try and improve , I think thats just part of the game and why I think its fun. I guess what I am trying to say is alot of this stuff youre really going to have to figure out for yourself . I personally think going and getting lessons are a pure waste of time and money , I had about 3 lessons when I very first started golfing paid the dummy like $400 to help me get going on the right path and I would have been better off going to a casino with the money,pure waste.

[riddenhard]

Dear Unkynd, I did not lookat the old swing but your 2/13/11 swing is much better than most 18 handicappers. It must be the chipping as much as the putting that has hurt. So to get back to the original topic, is it short game, long game? Of course we all agree it's all phases,so keep practicing, if you don't work on things nothing gets better. The Weather is warming up this week so get out there.

[Unkynd]

Thanks Ridden.  My main problem with my long game is consistency.  I tend to have 2-5 shots per round where I hit way behind the ball and end up with a fat shot that goes 1/4 of the normal distance.  My main problem with my short game is judging distance on chips.  When I practice, I'll know that a 7:30 chip with my LW will go about 12 steps.... 9:00 with LW is about 24 steps, etc... but when I get on the course, it seems like my 7:30 goes about 8 steps, so I end up screwing those chips up a lot.  I also don't spend a lot of time practicing chipping/pitching inside 30 yard.  Obviously something I need to work on.

I also give away a lot of strokes putting.  Obviously based on the 47 putts I had on 18 a few rounds ago.  I went to the range today and got a face on view.  I'll post it when I get home.  I can see from the video that my right arm never fully extends through impact.  Not sure how big of a problem that is, but when I force myself to extend my left arm through impact I tend to hit the ground behind the ball and end up with those fat shots.  I'm also severly overswinging on my backswing.  That's something I tried to work on a little bit at the range today, but it's going to take more than 1 session to fix.

[updated with face on vids] [sorry about the audio on the first one... 16 MPH winds... ]

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Unkynd

Thanks Ridden.  My main problem with my long game is consistency.  I tend to have 2-5 shots per round where I hit way behind the ball and end up with a fat shot that goes 1/4 of the normal distance.  My main problem with my short game is judging distance on chips.  When I practice, I'll know that a 7:30 chip with my LW will go about 12 steps.... 9:00 with LW is about 24 steps, etc... but when I get on the course, it seems like my 7:30 goes about 8 steps, so I end up screwing those chips up a lot.  I also don't spend a lot of time practicing chipping/pitching inside 30 yard.  Obviously something I need to work on.

I also give away a lot of strokes putting.  Obviously based on the 47 putts I had on 18 a few rounds ago.  I went to the range today and got a face on view.  I'll post it when I get home.  I can see from the video that my right arm never fully extends through impact.  Not sure how big of a problem that is, but when I force myself to extend my left arm through impact I tend to hit the ground behind the ball and end up with those fat shots.  I'm also severly overswinging on my backswing.  That's something I tried to work on a little bit at the range today, but it's going to take more than 1 session to fix.

[updated with face on vids] [sorry about the audio on the first one... 16 MPH winds... ]

Sorry about my insistence in your other thread that short game and putting are your main issues.

1.) stop reading any book or post that contains the words "Ben Hogan" (get your right elbow unwelded from your body)

2.) get your body involved - lead with your hips

3.) get your hands ahead of the ball through impact

Basically it looks like your having trouble clearing your body out of the way of the handle.

[Unkynd]

Finally started working on my driver.  Been trying to keep a flatter swing plane since the main problem I had before with my driver was coming over the stop and slicing the hell out of the ball.  In the face on, it's pretty clear that I'm still flipping.  Does my swing plane look okay though?  Figure I should tackle this 1 step at a time.

As an update to my other thread, I shot 100 (my lowest score so far) at a tougher course than I normally play in 25 MPH winds :)  If it had of been the easier course that I normally play on a mild day, I think I would have easily broken 100.

[johnthejoiner]

In the face on video the ball position is in the center of your stance if not further back, there is more of a chance that your pushing the ball out right rather than slicing. Practice playing with "the same swing" the ball closer to your left heel and it will give the club a better chance of squaring itself up naturally

[Unkynd]

Thanks for the response John.  I normally do play it off of my left heel, but had moved it back because the ball was slicing from my front heel.  I know it's a compensation thing to move the ball back, but I was desperate to hit some drives that actually landed in the same area code of my target :)

I can play it off my front heel if I move my front foot toward the ball 1/2", and my back foot back 1/2".  Again, compensating for what's probably a swing path issue, but it seems to work for me (sometimes).