My Swing (Ernest Jones)

[Ernest Jones]

The bold is the story of my season.  Maybe not insane directional variances, but inconsistent ones.  I go about every other round at the moment where keys 4 and 5 are decent and when they are off.  It is so tough to find consistency with path/face.  I think guys that are consistent with those keys they call scratch or sompin' like dat.   The next time you go out, you will probably be just fine.

The pull shank is a very impressive shot to have in the bag BTW.

Thanks, yeah that pull-shank is a great one to pull out at a scramble, really impresses them!

On the days where direction becomes a crap shoot I'd kinda wish contact would take a nose dive too.

If I'm going to hit 7 iron that far off line I'd really rather that it didn't go 160 yards.

[cipher]

Thanks, yeah that pull-shank is a great one to pull out at a scramble, really impresses them!

On the days where direction becomes a crap shoot I'd kinda wish contact would take a nose dive too.

If I'm going to hit 7 iron that far off line I'd really rather that it didn't go 160 yards.

When I am having a day where start lines are bad, I will fairly often(depending on the hole) club down, and play to the front of the greens.  I tend to minimize the amount off line that way and it helps to shorten the swing and control things a little better.

[Ernest Jones]

Thanks. Yeah, I need to have a damage control plan and figure out some "safety shots". And practice more, I really do need more reps so it's easier to find it at the course. I also tend to take 2-3 holes to get into my groove which hurts my scoring potential, especially considering how often I just play 9.

[Jeremie Boop]

Thanks. Yeah, I need to have a damage control plan and figure out some "safety shots". And practice more, I really do need more reps so it's easier to find it at the course. I also tend to take 2-3 holes to get into my groove which hurts my scoring potential, especially considering how often I just play 9.

This is probably one of the most frustrating things I'm going through. I'm making great contact, even gaining some yardage on shots, but I'm not quite sure if it'll be straight, push, or pull rofl. I think I'm starting to get a bit more consistent though, I think about 65% ish of my shots are a push, 25% are a pull, and 10% are straight/slight draw. Give or take 5% on each of those numbers per round.

I find solace in the fact that my contact is good even when I go offline.

[CarlSpackler]

This is probably one of the most frustrating things I'm going through. I'm making great contact, even gaining some yardage on shots, but I'm not quite sure if it'll be straight, push, or pull rofl. I think I'm starting to get a bit more consistent though, I think about 65% ish of my shots are a push, 25% are a pull, and 10% are straight/slight draw. Give or take 5% on each of those numbers per round.

I find solace in the fact that my contact is good even when I go offline.

Me too.

[Ernest Jones]

Just shot my first 9 since carding that 57 on Sunday night. Shot a 42, hit every fairway. Go figure. I have some grip observations I'll post later. Like Rory, I love a soft course.

[14ledo81]

Just shot my first 9 since carding that 57 on Sunday night. Shot a 42, hit every fairway. Go figure. I have some grip observations I'll post later.

Like Rory, I love a soft course.

Not me.  I need all the bounce and roll I can get with the driver.

[Ernest Jones]

I've been slowly drifting to a stronger grip that seems to suit my takeaway better and also allows my to come into the ball on a better path. I'm pretty sure that's what threw me when I scored a 57 the other night, I reverted back to a neutral grip and stated hitting big pushes. The stronger grip leads to some pulls but not really hooks, I tend to have very little curvature regardless of startline, I guess that means my face tends to follow the path. Started intentionally aiming right (hard to do as a semi-reformed push fader) and playing around with stance to get a consistently drawing ball flight. WIP. This is mostly just for my reference ***. Misses today were slightly thin, a groove or two, no real effect on ball flight, just a little clanky feeling. Also a few fats, again, not fat enough to be a disaster, just coming up a club short. Other than that, good round.

[Ernest Jones]

I've been slowly drifting to a stronger grip that seems to suit my takeaway better and also allows my to come into the ball on a better path. I'm pretty sure that's what threw me when I scored a 57 the other night, I reverted back to a neutral grip and stated hitting big pushes. The stronger grip leads to some pulls but not really hooks, I tend to have very little curvature regardless of startline, I guess that means my face tends to follow the path.

Started intentionally aiming right (hard to do as a semi-reformed push fader) and playing around with stance to get a consistently drawing ball flight. WIP.

This is mostly just for my reference ***.

Misses today were slightly thin, a groove or two, no real effect on ball flight, just a little clanky feeling.

Also a few fats, again, not fat enough to be a disaster, just coming up a club short.

Other than that, good round.

More *** for my own reference...

By maintaining the "straight arms" feel I'm encouraged to make a fuller shoulder turn to get to the top. The fuller shoulder turn allows me to get ample power without over swinging, losing connection or trying to kill the ball. Yesterday I made a very controlled feeling swing with my 3H on the first tee and got so much distance I almost accidentally brought a bunker in to play. That's something I rediscover every couple rounds and play very accurate and easy feeling shots with effortless distance, and then I start thinking this game is easy! Unfortunately I inevitably start to get more aggressive and swing harder and lose that nice structured, controlled swing. The difference in my play is night and day. One makes golf easy and fun, the other makes it frustrating and a struggle.

Another benefit from these feels is that I tend to get a slight "loading onto the right side" feel which makes the weight shift forward more natural and intuitive.

So, my personal checkpoints for now are:

• grip strong enough to match my intended take away plane
• axis tilt and hips forward to match angles set-up by grip
• stance wide enough for stability but narrow enough to facilitate weight transfers (shoulder width up to long hybrids)
• take away controlled by a straight feeling right arm, very wide arc
• take away stops before "straight arm feel" breaks down
• transfer forward with exploding lead shoulder feel while maintaining "long arms"
• let whole body flow and react to arm feels, be athletic

Now, obviously, these aren't all swing thoughts that race through my head on every swing, just reference points to keep me on track when things get sloppy (every third or fourth round it seems)

[Jeremie Boop]

Funny enough, the straight arms is part of feel that is helping me with my flip. Nice!

[Ernest Jones]

Funny enough, the straight arms is part of feel that is helping me with my flip. Nice!

Well, that is a feel that really helps with my key#3, "Long Arms" through impact is good feel for me too.

[Jeremie Boop]

Well, that is a feel that really helps with my key#3, "Long Arms" through impact is good feel for me too.

I think that's probably why it helps me with the flip because it's hard to have long arms when I flip because I end up with a chicken wing. And while chicken wings are delicious food, they make for horrible swings!

[Ernest Jones]

Back to Back 48 for a 96. Not great but it was night golf. I'm starting to think I may not like night golf. Really screws with your depth perception, which is one of the more useful perceptions when one wants to smash a golf ball. I also lose balls that have no business vanishing and Holy Hell that pisses me off.

Started refocusing on what I call my Erie piece. The backswing stuff is starting to be pretty well ingrained so it's time to shift focus a bit. Hit some really booming, dead on balls accurate tee shots tonight. I hope I can keep the backswing and my A4 solid, really feel like the gold is in my Erie piece. When I get it right it gives me sweet spot contact and crazy power. Impact feels like heaven and that sound! Oh my, I love it when you hit one on the screws. Nothin' finah!

[Ernest Jones]

grip strong enough to match my intended take away plane

axis tilt and hips forward to match angles set-up by grip

stance wide enough for stability but narrow enough to facilitate weight transfers (shoulder width up to long hybrids)

take away controlled by a straight feeling right arm, very wide arc

take away stops before "straight arm feel" breaks down

transfer forward with exploding lead shoulder feel while maintaining "long arms"

let whole body flow and react to arm feels, be athletic

This is all great stuff for my notes on set-up stuff and backswing, but for my own reference I want to highlight this part:

transfer forward with exploding lead shoulder feel while maintaining "long arms"

It's really important for me to work on this piece now. It was the single most important piece or priority identified in Erie. I've gotten away from it a bit to fix my backswing which had gone off the rails a bit. Now it's time to get back on this. When I execute my backswing properly, using the feels listed above, I can get into a position at the top where firing into the Erie piece really produces some serious goodness. So, note to self, start working on this again. Spend the same time and attention to this as you did with the backswing stuff. Being able to bomb the ball is a huge advantage and it's fun as hell.

***

[boogielicious]

Don't over think it on the course @Ernest Jones .  I do that sometimes and it messes things up.  One swing though during the round is the most I can handle.

[Ernest Jones]

Don't over think it on the course @Ernest Jones .  I do that sometimes and it messes things up.  One swing though during the round is the most I can handle.

Totally agree. To be clear these aren't swing thoughts I'm using on the course, lol, that'd be a few too many. These are more just observations post round, or things I noticed while playing. On course my current swing thought is backswing based because if I blow the backswing nothing else really matters because I'm already screwed. I'm slowly getting that to be pretty automatic and I'm hoping to transition to a downswing thought soon. These are my ramblings as I work towards that.

[iacas]

I'm just *** gonna start doing *** in random places now that *** Jason let us know what his secret *** was.

***

P.S. ***

P.P.S. Your last note is very *** good @Ernest Jones .

[Ernest Jones]

I'm just *** gonna start doing *** in random places now that *** Jason let us know what his secret *** was.

***

P.S. ***

P.P.S. Your last note is very *** good @Ernest Jones.

Funny. I friggin' knew one of you AssHats® would do that, but my money was on @Golfingdad . That's ok, I have a backup notebook were I keep my swing thoughts and my list of mortal enemies.