Jamo's Blog on TheSandTrap

[jamo]

I went to the driving a range again, but it was a really crappy one with grass mats and I was looking directly into the sun. It's disappointing, but I think I took a step backwards with my footwork. I think my real problem is that I just don't have my swing synced up. I haven't been able to get my arms, hips, and feet all moving together. Thus I am hitting a lot of flat footed shots where I don't get my hips through the shot, and I have hitting a lot of crappy fat shots because my hips are ahead and my back foot is way off the ground (ie not banked). The best way to work this out would be to practice more, but that's not really an option. I think a video of my swing would be perfect right now, but that's not really an option. One good thing is that my shoulders have started to become ingrained, and I'm not really lifting my head so much on the backswing. So that's good.

[jamo]

An entire week late but what can I say, I'm a busy man. I played last tuesday (the 12th) at Deerfield Gold and Tennis club, and I putted right handed this time. One of the reasons that I tried lefty putting was to see if it would "rewire" my brain, and I would start putting righty a little bit better. Well, my setup actually seemed better. For some reason I was standing a little taller (good) and the club was flat on the ground rather than sitting on the heel. I was hitting the ball poorly at the beginning, but I hit a stride around the third hole and started playing better golf. At the end I kind of lost my swing though. I stopped hitting greens and fairways, and my swing was just all around awkward feeling. I ended up shooting a 75 (+5, differential of 2.8) from the back tees. Here is my Scorecard.

[jamo]

I went to the range today (really today, the 19th) to hit a bunch of balls, 4 small buckets to be exact. I started hitting the ball pretty well, but as the irons got longer I started fading it, which I hate. My woods weren't quite as bad, and I think towards the end I figured it out. Basically, everything hinges on a few things.

• Keeping my head steady on the backswing. This can get tricky because when I focus on keeping my head steady I tend to stay in flexion (I think I used that word right) too long, and through impact. Also, I tend to fall forward a little bit, as in towards the ball.
• Make my hips go forward, and my head stay back. I really liked where my hips were getting today, but my head was going way forward too. Not good. But that can be alleviated by:
• Making sure I rotate my hips. I have been working on banking my right foot- which I think it actually starting to take some hold in my swing- but when I work on that I tend to under-rotate.

When I do one or more of these things wrong, I tend to do one of two things: I either cut across the ball (and fade it) or close the face down, and pull it. Which brings me to two more things. I am not only trying to make sure that my stance isn't too wide, but I am trying to make sure that I don't grip the club with the face closed, which I tend to do.

[jamo]

I went to the range a few days ago (tuesday the 26th), but I didn't get to hit too many balls, which was disappointing. Anyway, I started with the wedges, moved through the irons, and eventually made my way to the driver. My swing is currently in a weird state of flux. I'm trying to do a couple of things (namely focusing on my hips, head, and right foot), but none of that works unless I get my shoulders/head right. The shoulders were not great this time, but that wasn't the biggest story. Lately, my miss has been a terrible chunk-pull-hook. This time though I was leaving the club open. Now, this could be good or bad. It could be because I was flipping, or because I was simply leaving my hands open. The ball flight was not a flipping style flight, so that leads me to believe the latter possibility was the cause of the ballflight.

I am also having a problem with my hips. Either they don't turn properly or they do everything correctly but my head goes forward to, which causes me to cut across the ball, causing a fade and leaving my hands open. So, that's the state of my golf game. I might practice again tomorrow (friday), or I might not. We'll see.

[jamo]

I went to the range on monday to work some things out. I am just trying to get everything to work together. I want to get my head to stay still (and thus my shoulders to be steeper), my foot to roll, and my hips to turn and push. I can consistently do two at a time, but getting all three together is tough. I did a decent job of it this time, and I can definitely feel my swing getting better.

[jamo]

Hey, it's another overdue blog post! I played about 12 holes on tuesday, but I didn't keep score. I played Deerfield, and started at the 16th hole. I made a good par on the first hole, then a really good par on the second. I three putted the 18th for a bogey, but after that my driver swing left me. My irons were surprisingly good all day, but my driver and my putter were not. So, no different from normal.

I should have a sort of "state of my golf game" up in the next week. It'l be riveting!

[jamo]

Hmm, late again. Well, whatever. I went to the range on tuesday. Unfortunately on sunday I really hurt my right big toe and since then walking, let alone golfing, has been tough. But I stuck it out and went to the range. Oddly enough, it was one of the best range sessions in a while. I think it was because I was really making sure to get my weight on my front foot, to take the pain away from my back (right) foot. My footwork was, oddly, really good because banking my foot was much less painful than putting all my weight on my toe. I should have thought of this a long time ago.

I mentioned last time that i was going to write a sort of "state og my golf game" soon, but that'll probably have to wait until after thanksgiving. I should be able to film my swing then, so I'll have a better view of the future. Or at least the present.

[McGolf-Doggie]

When I'm deep in swing trouble I know it's time for a lesson. Sometimes the coach has an insight that's like a get out of jail free card.

[keb]

By foot to roll do you mean your right foot rolling on the inside of foot?

[jamo]

Yup, that's what I mean.

[jamo]

Practice Sessions 12/24/10

Yesterday, at 24th, I went to Natick to hit some golf balls for the first time in a month. The videos are below, but already I can see A LOT of problems. Impact is blurry because I was indoors, but It's obviously bad. My footwork and leg action were weird (in addition to be right knee being 100% locked), my hips could do with more slide in the downswing, the club was underplane on the takeaway,  and my shoulders were way too flat with the driver (though not all that bad with the 6 iron). It's gonna take some work.

[jamo]

Practice Sessions 1/4/11

Today was my first time using my new Casio EX-FS10 camera, and I was looking forward to record at 210 fps. Because I was indoors, the video was pretty dark, but not enough so that it is unusable. Unfortunately, I might need a faster memory card, as it was skipping quite frequently. Oh well.

6 iron face on

6 iron DTL

Driver face on

Driver DTL

I'll post my detailed thoughts later, but, in short, still a little blah, but slightly better.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by jamo

Unfortunately, I might need a faster memory card, as it was skipping quite frequently. Oh well.

Class 6 or faster, yep.

BTW, just saw this was in the blog category... I hope some of the updates make their way to your swing thread .

[jamo]

Originally Posted by iacas

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamo

Unfortunately, I might need a faster memory card, as it was skipping quite frequently. Oh well.

Class 6 or faster, yep.

BTW, just saw this was in the blog category... I hope some of the updates make their way to your swing thread.

I snooped around the web for memory cards, so that should fix it when I buy one.

I sort of forgot about the swing thread (though I did change the name to My Swing (jamo) at some point), I'll put up a few videos there.

Man, 17 year old me was lame.

[jamo]

Practice Sessions 1/6/11

I went to Forekicks again today, mostly to get some better videos of my swing to have a baseline to work off of for 2011. They aren't really any different from a few days ago, just the videos are better because I got a faster memory card.

As for my swing, the funny thing is that I love my 6 iron from the DTL view (except I am a touch under-plane), and I like (not love) my driver from the face on view, but the other ones suck. From the face on view of the 6 iron, I have a mad flip and annoying chicken wing, and I would like to see more hip push. With the driver, I would like to see more hips push on the face on view, but I don't have much of a flipping issue. From the DTL view with the driver, my shoulder are way way way to flat and my head rises up. So, here are the videos:

6 iron face on

6 iron DTL

Driver face on

Driver DTL

[jamo]

Practice Sessions 1/10/11 and 1/11/11

I forgot to note the last two times I went to the range, monday and yesterday. Monday I went to Forekicks, mostly to test out the Nike Vr Pro Combos, then yesterday I did some pretty extensive work with the lag stick drill at Natick. I'll probably be doing that a lot in the coming few weeks.

[jamo]

Practice Sessions 1/15/11

Just want to note that yesterday (the 15th) I went to Natick to do some more work with the drill. I was also trying to focus on keeping me head down on the backswing, mostly with the driver, and making sure the drill doesn't keep my hips back.

[jamo]

Practice Sessions 1/26/11

I went to Forekicks today to get in some practice. I wasn't expecting much, as I hurt my left ankle a few days ago. I can't really turn a whole lot, and it hurts to put a lot of weight on it, but whatever. For a while I had a bad case of the shanks. I even caught a few on camera, which is weird because they look near identical to a normal swing. Eh. I only got face on video, so I'm not uploading, but it's still the same as normal. My driver face on is really good, but I have a nasty flip with the 6 iron. Both could use a little more hip push, but with my ankle hurting I'm not going to force it.