My Swing (Ernest Jones)

[FooFader]

Shot an 87 on my little par 64 executive in the dark. New, high-lumen tactical flashlight helps.  Tons of fun but didn't get home till 1 am so I skipped this morning's round. I'm getting old, need my beauty sleep.

I could not imagine a stranger feeling than being on the golf course at midnight! I'm assuming it is floodlit?

[Ernest Jones]

I could not imagine a stranger feeling than being on the golf course at midnight! I'm assuming it is floodlit?

@FooFader

Yes, floodlit. It's a blast and very fast! I play at least a dozen rounds of night golf per year.

These are from Tuesday night:

Here's a no fog one from last year

[saevel25]

That is cool. I remember there is this par 3 course in Myrtle Beach that has lights up for night golf.

[FooFader]

That does look awesome! Do you find it harder to find your ball when it's dark though?

[Ernest Jones]

That does look awesome! Do you find it harder to find your ball when it's dark though?

Yep. I carry a decent hi-lumen flashlight which helps.

I also play a different strategy at night, better to be a little short on approaches and pitch on then risk over shooting a green. Behind the green is usually dead because there's basically NO lights there. That last round I missed a par 3 to the left, pin high but under some trees in wispy, native grass type lie. Had to lay the flashlight on the ground beside my ball to have any chance of playing out of there. Had to keep it low because of the trees and didn't get any spin because of the lie. Saved a bogey. I general expect to shoot a few strokes higher at night so I was pretty happy with the 87.

The biggest issue for me is depth perception in the darker areas, you can still see your ball fine but it messes with you and hitting fat happens often. Night golf is great if you have kids because you can go after they're in bed.

[boogielicious]

Night Putting.  Putting at night.  With the 15 year old daughter of the Dean.

[Ernest Jones]

Alright, I gotta get back into practice mode and get off my ass and submit something to Evolvr. Shot a 46 last time out and I'm going crazy with these freakin' penalties.

Par 3 - Straight pull which may have been livable but I also thinned it so it hit the far left edge of the green and kept going. Even without the pull I probably would have been dead, that sucker was a rocket. Dropped 2 strokes.

Par 5 - hit a great tee shot, 3W about 240 or so, just off the short grass in med rough. Dug it out with my 4h, great contact but hooking, hooking, hooking...one hop and dribbled into the tree line. Should have been findable but wasn't. Dropped 2 strokes.

Par 4 - Fatted my tee shot but still got a reasonable result, just popped up a bit and ended up a bit short. Lots of water right and a pretty narrow gap to the green so I laid up with an 8 iron. Another pull, another lost ball. Dropped 2 strokes.

6 totally wasted strokes on 9 holes . When I can keep the same ball I'm in solid bogey golf territory, but God damn it, it seems like every time I goof on a shot it's a penalty. I can't even remember the last time I got a favourable kick off a tree. If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all.

---

I think I need to start keeping stats again, I stopped mid season because my game was in such a shambles that there didn't seem to be much point in keeping stats but I'm at least playing something that resembles golf again.

I also need to start practicing again, playing golf and practicing are not interchangeable and I'm suffering a bit because of the lack of practice.

On the bright side, there is no denying that my game has indeed evolved. I've gone from a chronic slicer, to a chronic pusher, to my current incarnation of hooker with occasional pull tendencies. Basically my old fade/slice bias is now a consistent draw/hook bias which feels like I've climbed a mountain, still a lot of mountaineering to be done to get back home but the hard part is done.

Putting is excellent and when I drastically screw up a putt it's due to a brain fart, not a technique issue. Give me GIR and I'll give you par or better almost every time. Aimpoint and distance control FTW. Ocassionally mess up my start line but the distance control is so spot on that I can usually recover easily on the second putt.

Pitching is OK, but I'm not using the bounce and getting the high, floaty ones. Need to work on that but I was having issue keeping the face from being wide open at impact. Right now I'm pitching with more of a leading edge technique that has the clubface feeling slightly closed on the BS, I get good results and have a lot of confidence in this method but I know it's inferior to using the bounce and rolls out more than I'd like but until I get these OB/Lost Ball/Water swings out of my game the pitching isn't really an issue.

Chipping is rarely used, but when required I use @mvmac 's putting stroke method with anything from an 8 iron to LW depending on the desired fly/roll ratio. This method works great when combined with Aimpoint.

I have trouble focusing at the driving range, I went to hit a small bucket the other day and mishit about 80% of the bucket. Pulls, hooks, cold tops and even one epic slice with the last ball. Hit the course the next day, a little freaked out by that range session, and shot a 42 with no real issues. I think I practice much better with a "net" because it's so much easier to keep process oriented. On course I have no problem getting focused and target oriented but driving ranges just feel so "vague".

Anyway, long winded post with no real point, just waxing philosophical.

[Ernest Jones]

From the Best Shot of the Week thread: Quote: Originally Posted by Ernest Jones View Post Par 4 dogleg right with lots of water all down the right side. Water is ringed with tall native grass and bullrushes. This is a nemesis hole that always gives me trouble, its often the blow up hole that sinks my round. My usual miss is a pull off the tee, probably let the water get in my head too much. Today I purposely took an aggressive line and told myself YOU WILL NOT PULL THIS GOD DAMN TEE SHOT. So I pushed into the lake.:doh: Took a drop where the ball crossed into the hazard and considered my options. 125-130 yards to the pin. Every inch of it forced carry. Can barely see the tip of the flag because of the bullrushes and native grass. Now, in these situations I usually chicken out and lay up because I know even a slight mishit and its back in the drink but I was in a good mood so I said eff it, going for the hero shot. Belted a PW as high as I could, great contact, looks good...hopping up and down trying to see over the bullrushes to see if I make. Hop, hop, no splash. Hop, hop, still no splash. And then I heard it, that glorious sound, the soft thump of a ball hitting a green with perfect trajectory and I know I've hit the green and held it by that heavenly thump. Trek my way around the hazard till I can see the green and I'm good. :dance: And made the 18 footer for par. It's the little things in life...

[Ernest Jones]

New video, and it's about Gdamn time!

Trying to work out the pulls, hooks and (gulp) pull hooks. Seems to help quite a bit if I just open up the face at address. Scary though, because I've hit some epic pushes in the past.

Some would say I'm coming too far inside here but I'm not sure if that's the case. I'm thinking it may have more to do with my wrists and may not be an issue. I'm hoping @iacas , @mvmac or @cbrian will weigh in on that.

Quite happy that my shoulder pitch has levelled out reliably and is repeatable. This was a major issue that Brian had me working on.

Still need work here, but who doesn't? Possibly the hardest piece there is...

I think I recover pretty well but it sure would be easier if A5 was prettier.

Camera didn't catch a perfect frame of A6 but I think it's pretty clear I'm in good shape here.

SMACK!

This 6 iron carried about 175-180 (no GPS, just going by markers so...it is what it is... ;-)) and bounced out some more. Best 6 iron of the session.

Hit a lot of great shots, certainly the majority, but the misses were huge hooks and pull hooks. I really want to keep my strong grip because I find it really helps my backswing plane and I didn't hit very many pushes even with the open face at address, and the ones I did hit were much more manageable than the pull-hooks, so I think that's the way to go. I was a little rushed and didn't get a FO or I'd submit to Evolvr.

[14ledo81]

Swing is looking good.  You have come a long way.

[Ernest Jones]

Swing is looking good.  You have come a long way.

Thanks. I've regressed many times, lost it and found it again and will no doubt lose it again at times. I really feel that the bad times have played a necessary role though, I feel like I know my swing better than ever before and that makes it harder to lose and easier to get back. Great, now I'm probably calling an epic slump down upon myself!

Like you, I still don't see as much progress on the scorecard as I feel I should. I see lots of swings that are way crappier than mine with lower handicaps or at least better scores...which can be frustrating but I know that if I keep at it the ratio of good shots:bad shots will flip and the consistency will develop on the other end of the spectrum.

[Jakester23]

Thanks. I've regressed many times, lost it and found it again and will no doubt lose it again at times. I really feel that the bad times have played a necessary role though, I feel like I know my swing better than ever before and that makes it harder to lose and easier to get back. Great, now I'm probably calling an epic slump down upon myself!

Like you, I still don't see as much progress on the scorecard as I feel I should. I see lots of swings that are way crappier than mine with lower handicaps or at least better scores...which can be frustrating but I know that if I keep at it the ratio of good shots:bad shots will flip and the consistency will develop on the other end of the spectrum.

Do you keep track of your inside 50 yard shots (basically up and downs) and putts?  Your scoring could have leveled off despite your swing improving and it has improved a ton.  Maybe take a good look at your short game and your course management.  I have no doubt your hitting the ball significantly better than you were.  Maybe you have to look at why your not scoring better.  Id love to have that swing in that video^^^^^^^^^^^

[14ledo81]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 14ledo81

Swing is looking good.  You have come a long way.

Thanks. I've regressed many times, lost it and found it again and will no doubt lose it again at times. I really feel that the bad times have played a necessary role though, I feel like I know my swing better than ever before and that makes it harder to lose and easier to get back. Great, now I'm probably calling an epic slump down upon myself!

Like you, I still don't see as much progress on the scorecard as I feel I should. I see lots of swings that are way crappier than mine with lower handicaps or at least better scores...which can be frustrating but I know that if I keep at it the ratio of good shots:bad shots will flip and the consistency will develop on the other end of the spectrum.

No doubt.  Haven't we all?

You know scoring (to me) is only part of the game.  I actually get a lot of enjoyment out of hitting solid shots.  Those are definitely (especially with the shorter clubs) coming more frequently for me.  I also have not had a really bad score in a while either.

[Golfingdad]

Like you, I still don't see as much progress on the scorecard as I feel I should.

Yeah, I've gone through stretches like this too.  I take better swings, hit the ball more solid, but it goes from being 65% of perfect to 75% of perfect.  I'm not necessarily hitting more greens, just missing slightly closer.  Or I'm getting it closer to the hole, but still 25' away and it's still a 2-putt.  Stuff like that.

It'll get there though. :)

[iacas]

I have nothing to add, because I respect the process, and to say anything now would jerk you out of the things you're working on now. Keep at it.

And yes, point the clubface a bit to the right at setup. If you hit a little push, that's still A GOOD SHOT. If you hit a pull-hook, that's not. :)

[Ernest Jones]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the comments. [quote name="iacas" url="/t/54175/my-swing-ernest-jones/900_100#post_1047870"]I have nothing to add, because I respect the process, and to say anything now would jerk you out of the things you're working on now. Keep at it. And yes, point the clubface a bit to the right at setup. If you hit a little push, that's still A GOOD SHOT. If you hit a pull-hook, that's not. :) [/quote] Thanks Erik, that's all I needed. Just a check up to make sure I'm not doing anything incredibly stupid. I won't worry about the grip or the inside looking takeaway. I'll keeping working with the feels that I'm using and continue to experiment with pointing the club face a touch to the right. Makes total sense, the path is good(ish) but the face is pointing left of centre which creates the pull which then hooks a bunch because I have a draw path now. By leaving face a bit open at address and keeping everything else the same those push draws will be easier to hit. Just talking it out myself.

[Valleygolfer]

Swing looks much better. Keep up the good work!

[Ernest Jones]

Swing looks much better. Keep up the good work!

Thanks @Valleygolfer :beer: