My Swing (MikeLowry5)

[MikeLowry5]

Ok well hopefully I didn't offend you with the title :).  The title says it all.  I have actually started aiming right (I'm left handed) but as you know if you are blocking alot of shots your path is off pretty bad and all it takes is a flip of the wrists to send the ball going just as far in the other direction.  My natural shot is a push (natural miss should I say) so I have tinkered with playing the push a bit like a Trevino or Fred Couples however.... I look at it kind of like a belly putter in that it seems like a band aid on a fixable issue.

Thoughts?  I am a cause and effect type of learner so an explanation of what is going on in my swing and how it translates to the block would help immensely.

Here are a few videos to help as well

[yetanotherbogey]

Hi Mike,

Its hard to tell from the frame rate of the video but i do recognize some positions that i can relate to my own swing and i struggle with this sometimes. when you begin your backswing it looks like you are starting it back with just your hands and then letting your shoulders follow. For me if i do this this it makes me come too far inside on the backswing. From there there are only two things my body does to compensate.. the first would be lag my turn and slide forward and cause the clubface to be open at impact giving that i hip blocked it but in reality im just sliding forward instead of turning. The other option is that you make a turn but the cast the clubabove plane and come across the ball with a closed clubface. i could be wrong though you cant pause the video and see the shaft.

if that is the problem a drill i do....  home depot or lowes etc have these orange sticks landscapers use to mark yards for plows. stick those in the ground outside of your normal stance and practice rotating within the sticks. if you have any old club shafts those work good too... hope that helps.

[delav]

Mike,

I've downloaded your videos and I'm looking through them in Analyzr right now.  You've got a great single-plane swing and a ton of speed.  How in the world do you play to a 12?

Non of these looks like big blocks to me.  In the DTL driver shot, you're ball starts and continues on a path that is almost exactly parallel with your toeline.  Not bad there.

It's hard to see things around impact on the face-on view because the camera you're using does a poor job capturing clear high-speed video.

Where are your 'blocked' shots ending up?  Where to they start relative to your target, and are they moving left or right much once in the air?

[MikeLowry5]

Thanks for the complement, but I am probably not even a 12 right now.  I do not keep a handicap but usually shoot from mid 80's to low 90's (last year before these swing changes).  This year I have played (3) nine hole rounds and (1) full round with scores of 47, 45, 44, 44, 89.  I played my best round yesterday in a 2 man scramble where we scored a 72 (2 over) on a course I had not been on before.  My playing partner was my best friend who is not a good player at all and we used a combined 4 of his shots for the round!  Needless to say I was very pleased with my play.  I even played well enough to drive two short par 4's (310 & 335 both downhill) and make all 5 of our birdie putts!

My biggest issues (at this stage of the game, all of facets of my game are weak) are blocking drives (46.4% fairways hit), poor scrambling (12.9%), and poor approach shots (GIR 41.7%).  Not to be too hard on myself, but I do not keep the ball in play enough and my approach shots tend to be offline more than they should.  In addition, my chipping last year was terrible.  It is better this year but the small sample size is not enough to reflect this.  If I could keep the ball in play and hit more greens I think my improved putting alignment will show off in a big way this year.  I have a good feel for how greens break but have never been taught how to properly hit a certain line until recently.

The blocked shots are extremely high and start left immediately.  I have been working on firming up the front leg at impact to limit the shifting of my body at impact.  I understand the hips move laterally, however I know from the feeling and from the videos of some blocked shots that I am swaying back and forth during the swing which forces me to block it or flip at it and hit a big hook.