My Swing (tristanhilton85)

[tristanhilton85]

New videos again... working on doing the downswing drill that Erik posted above on pretty much every swing. Also focusing on feeling my head not move... I think it's getting a little better. I hit the ball really well at the range today so hopefully that'll continue.

[iacas]

Good. Now do it 500% more. :)

[mchepp]

Is that the range at Rancho Mirage? Man, they have such a nice range, I am jealous.

[tristanhilton85]

Originally Posted by mchepp

Is that the range at Rancho Mirage? Man, they have such a nice range, I am jealous.

That's over at the Shadow Ridge Marriot, which I live right next too. It's an amazing practice facility. In addition to the range they have a great short game range and practice bunkers. The only problem is that it's $25/day and I can go to my usual place pretty much free... however, I still go to Shadow Ridge occasionally due to the convenience of it.

[Beachcomber]

(a.) Your head moves forward on the transition... I believe that is a pivot breakdown.

EDIT: I think your head moves forward because your address position is off - your upper axis is tilting right at address - get it centered more... Being right of center - is forcing your head to move forward in the transition.

(b.) Then you stand up on the down swing.... I believe this is due to the right elbow/scapula traveling too far behind you - and on the downswing your right arm is out of place which forces you to stand up to give your arm a path to travel on to make contact with the ball.

I'd say you need to fix the back swing from A3 to A4 - to ensure the elbow can hit the proper slot on the downswing.

This sounds like my swing thread...

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by iacas

Good. Now do it 500% more. :)

Yeah good stuff.  More "karate chop", flash those arms down.  I've got a drill or a feel for this that I'll have to film in the next few days.

[tristanhilton85]

Originally Posted by mvmac

Yeah good stuff.  More "karate chop", flash those arms down.  I've got a drill or a feel for this that I'll have to film in the next few days.

Looking forward to seeing this. I'm going to incorporate that downswing drill as part of my pre-shot routine. It seems like every time I do it I hit a good shot... when I don't the results vary much more.

[tristanhilton85]

Originally Posted by mvmac

Quoting this here for reference so I remember to do it!

[Ernest Jones]

Just went through this whole thread. Pretty awesome scores you're shooting now. I find it very encouraging as I have very similar head (key 1) issues as you have, I've mostly fixed it on the BS but am having a helluva time keeping it back on the DS.

After seeing how well you are playing with this issue it gives me hope that my approaching season isn't doomed! Still working to fix it but happy to see evidence that it's not the end of the world!

Good work and kudos on breaking 80!

[tristanhilton85]

Originally Posted by Ernest Jones

Just went through this whole thread. Pretty awesome scores you're shooting now. I find it very encouraging as I have very similar head (key 1) issues as you have, I've mostly fixed it on the BS but am having a helluva time keeping it back on the DS.

After seeing how well you are playing with this issue it gives me hope that my approaching season isn't doomed! Still working to fix it but happy to see evidence that it's not the end of the world!

Good work and kudos on breaking 80!

Still not shooting those scores consistently. Right at the mid to high 80s right now, but I'm hitting the ball much better working on the drills that iacas and mvmac suggested. Basically when I get "locked" in and have the timing down, I'm golden, but when it's bad, it's BAD. However, like I said things are getting better with the drills and they are bad less often. Right now I'm only playing once a week or so but when the summer rolls around and I'm playing more than that I'd be surprised if my scores didn't fall into the lower 80s consistently.

[tristanhilton85]

Like Golfingdad, I was able to attend the 5SK school that Mike and Erik did on Friday in Riverside. As great as the info is on here it was really awesome to work with Erik and Mike in person. In a very short amount of time they had made significant improvements with my swing... Have a look...

These photos speak to the effectiveness of the 5SK system. While lessons are great, I was turned off by the idea of having to get worse to get better sort of thing that so many instructors talk about. Not the case here, I saw immediate improvement. Thanks again to Mike and Erik for this.

[LSU_justin]

Whoa, good stuff. Really nice changes.

[logman]

Just a little something. In the videos above your top hand grip seems to be very "strong". Just a personal observation. When I played a more conventional style my grip would get stronger and stronger to the point where there'd be no rotation of hands and clubhead. Just looking at the swings it seems like you're getting to that posi. It's a very easy posi to get into because it makes the connection between your top wrist and handle feel "strong" with lots of leverage. However I always felt that what ended up happening was my concentration was on my top hand .....to the detrement of my bottom hand. So the more I played the more my top hand became dominant and my bottom hand became passive. The result was a swing where I would "pull" with my top arm/ hand and my bottom hand would just go along for the ride. = slicing and weak flicky fades!

So, I reckon , back off on the "strong" top hand grip......get more clubhead rotation and let you're bottom hand punch more than being led by your top hand.

[tristanhilton85]

Originally Posted by logman

Just a little something. In the videos above your top hand grip seems to be very "strong". Just a personal observation. When I played a more conventional style my grip would get stronger and stronger to the point where there'd be no rotation of hands and clubhead. Just looking at the swings it seems like you're getting to that posi. It's a very easy posi to get into because it makes the connection between your top wrist and handle feel "strong" with lots of leverage. However I always felt that what ended up happening was my concentration was on my top hand .....to the detrement of my bottom hand. So the more I played the more my top hand became dominant and my bottom hand became passive. The result was a swing where I would "pull" with my top arm/ hand and my bottom hand would just go along for the ride. = slicing and weak flicky fades!

So, I reckon , back off on the "strong" top hand grip......get more clubhead rotation and let you're bottom hand punch more than being led by your top hand.

Erik worked on my grip a little bit. That part is done with now and I think that there are more important things to work on at this point.

[onephenom]

Congrats on all the improvements! Backswing looks great. with regards to having trouble with the arms not coming down on the downswing... I've had a lot of trouble with that, recently worked it out. My back swing is very connected with my lead arm angle with the shoulders not becoming more narrow... and at 90* degree turn, I feel like my arms and hands "let go" and the lower body takes over, and my arms fall into position.

Also, as others have noted, the weight seems to be messed up a bit. Your weight looks like it's well on your left side, causing you to tilt away from the target, when the weight should be more even.

Your post 5sk school impact position is near professional like! Good job

[tristanhilton85]

Everything is starting to click. I played Oak Valley yesterday and carded an 85 (White tees, 6300 yards, 71.0/131). I shot 46 on the front with a triple on one hole. I'd never played there before and didn't realize how little room there was behind the green and ended up screwing up that hole. The 39 on the back was really great though! My thoughts on the swing were just to stretch my right side on the back swing and then "crush it" on the down swing. I've never hit better shots. Even when I missed the green, the new pitching technique that we learned at the 5SK school really paid off. I'm still getting use to it and learning to trust it, that also led to some extra shots on the front side as I'm not use to hitting short shots with so much speed but by the back side I was trusting it and it paid off. I also went the entire round without a three putt and never left myself more than 3 feet for a second putt. I'm getting better with AimPoint and I'm seeing the results... Also, I think I'm getting use to the putter and am not making the compensations in my stroke that I was having to with my previous putter. All in all a great round.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by tristanhilton85

Everything is starting to click. I played Oak Valley yesterday and carded an 85 (White tees, 6300 yards, 71.0/131). I shot 46 on the front with a triple on one hole. I'd never played there before and didn't realize how little room there was behind the green and ended up screwing up that hole. The 39 on the back was really great though! My thoughts on the swing were just to stretch my right side on the back swing and then "crush it" on the down swing. I've never hit better shots. Even when I missed the green, the new pitching technique that we learned at the 5SK school really paid off. I'm still getting use to it and learning to trust it, that also led to some extra shots on the front side as I'm not use to hitting short shots with so much speed but by the back side I was trusting it and it paid off. I also went the entire round without a three putt and never left myself more than 3 feet for a second putt. I'm getting better with AimPoint and I'm seeing the results... Also, I think I'm getting use to the putter and am not making the compensations in my stroke that I was having to with my previous putter. All in all a great round.

LOL, this is exactly where I'm at too.  When I'm practicing at the range this technique seems so easy and effortless.  On the course yesterday, I had a couple where I just let a little bit of doubt creep in and was afraid to swing with enough speed.  I also had one on a slightly uphill lie where it didn't work out too well.  Sadly though, I am the only one to blame there.  Erik had a similar shot last week and pointed out to me that it was one situation where you would still be better off with a chip type shot.  And I even thought that right before I hit it, and still hit it.  I am a stupid!

Great to hear about the putter though ... you weren't as happy with it after that first round.

[iacas]

All good stuff Tristan. Keep it up. :)