My Swing (Th3R00st3r)

[Th3R00st3r]

The golfshot app and website.

[Th3R00st3r]

New DTL and FO. Man, I am all over the place. It feels like I am doing what I am supposed to be, but it's amazing how I am not.

DTL:

At the top of the backswing, the right arm is bent past 90°. This is causing my left arm to have a pretty good bend at the top. When I make the shoulder turn for the down swing, it puts my hands in an OTT position that I have to correct before impact. I feel pretty cramped at impact and follow through. I am not getting any extension after impact.

Any suggestions? I am going to try to get the feel of my right arm staying straight (even though it won't, but it won't be as drastic a bend as it is now). I am hoping this will not allow my shoulders on the down turn to move my hands to an OTT position.

FO:

I feel like I am sliding the hips, but maybe not enough. I feel like the follow through is more around my body than it should be. Again, any suggestions would be helpful!

Thanks!

P.S. Can't wait for my RocketBallz 5 iron to get here. I won it from TM. :-)

[Th3R00st3r]

Shot my best round ever this morning. Played Upland Hills CC, it's a par 70, and shot an 83. My lowest on a course to date was a 91 on a par 72, and an 84 on a par 70. I contribute it to shortening my back swing to what I felt was around 70-80%.

Kept my left arm straight as I was not over swinging the club like I normally do. Took a tip from the rotary swing where I only move my right shoulder blade a few inches. it helped keep my club under a bit more control. I also was practicing the swing plane drill with the coat hanger that I saw on a golf fix video.

I posted this in the "What did you shoot today thread, but thought I would post it here too!.

[BigT]

I think im going to send you my video and give me lessons, great job

[Th3R00st3r]

HA!, Thanks BigT!. I don't think I am quite there yet. After reflecting on the round a bit, I know of a few holes where I got a little squirrely. All in all it was a good round. I have a tournament next week and hope I can take what I did on that round with me. If I shoot anywhere like I did on that round with my 23 hcp, I will crush the net scores.

[Th3R00st3r]

Well Crap! That was short lived. Went to the range to work on a few things (shoulder turn and a straighter follow through) at about 80% swing as to keep my lead arm straigher at the top of the back swing. I now seem to be hooking everything. Short irons weren't too bad, 5 iron was horrible. 3 wood was OK, and driver was complete shit.

Will have to post up some new videos to see what I am now doing to try to correct this.

[Th3R00st3r]

Work in progress for two monhs.  Here are some comparison videos. Still feel like I could be improving more. I have a hard time with the sliding of the hips, and I think the shoulder turns are better\steeper. Any comments or suggestions??

and two DTL.

[Th3R00st3r]

anyone? Would appreciate some comments. thanks!

[A good hack]

Hi Rooster -

I can see that you have shortened your swing a little bit and that it is helping in that you aren't casting your hands/breaking the plane quite as much as in the past, hopefully leading to more consistent contact.  I used to have to the same issue, and like you, worked hard on cutting down my swing, especially with the irons, to help keep it more consistently on plane and remove the hand/wrist compensation action that would cause the sprays.  Others have commented on the hip/weight issue at contact, and I won't comment on it in particular, as you are already getting a lot of info.

I am by no means a pro, just a decent self-taught low capper, so please take any advice with caution.  I think I can help with the plane/hands issue a little, and will outline my experience/drills accordingly.

About 6 months ago I made a conscious effort to reduce the wristy action as much as possible.  I started by hitting a lot of 40-50 yd pitch shots with a PW, focusing on driving through them as opposed to flopping them and keeping the left arm nice & straight throughout.  I would try and key in on the good 'pinch' feeling that would occur with a nicely compressed shot.  I think you should notice that you will naturally have to lag the club a little bit on these shots to get the same driving action.  I would my start my range sessions with these shots, doing so up a 5I.  I would then start hitting 3/4 shots, again focusing on the left arm and reproducing the slight lag & pinch feeling at impact.  At about 80% of my old swing I noticed I would struggle to keep the left arm straight, so rather than take yoga to get slightly better rotation to compensate, I just cut off the swing there.  Distance went down a lot at first, but with better contact over time I've given up about a club on the irons, and about 15-20 yds on the woods.  I then promptly bought the Rocketballz driver & hybrids and gained that lost distance back, at least for those clubs :).

Some side benefits of the above routine - you will hopefully stay down at impact more consistently/effectively (some others had mentioned this as a possible issue in your swing), and you might naturally develop a little more weight effective transition to your left hip.  I say might, because your mind will naturally want to still hit the ball as far, even with a cut down swing, and this may force you to instinctively develop better timing on the above.  Or it may have you do other bad things, so be watchful.

Going back to your swing - I know in your mind your thinking 80%, but from your videos it looks to my eye it looks more like a 5-10% cutdown.  For a true 75-80% backswing I'd take a look at Camilo Villegas or Tony Romo face on.  Look at how short their backswings are by comparison.

That may not be comfortable for you, and may require too much of a swing re-creation.  And as a final side note, KJ Choi comes OTT a little, and Bubba Watson breaks plane on his backswing, so it is possible to hit fine with 'non-standard' hitches.  So don't get too overboard with trying to get all technically perfect - I think it is the balance of technical & comfort that will get you best result at this point.

[Th3R00st3r]

Wow, thanks so much for the reply. I have shortened the back swing and am keeping the left arm straighter than I was before. I am also working on lag, in a sense, trying to keep the hands before the club head at impact. When I hit great shots, it feels effortless and I don't feel the ball come off the club face, like hitting a marshmallow. I have also been using contact tape (masking tape) to help in striking the ball in the same area of the club face consistently.

I am getting my HCP to come down but need to start having some good rounds. I have also been working on chips and pitches around the green to try to help reduce strokes.

I will have to try the pitch shot routine you mention above the next time I am at the range. If I do that routine, it may help in the lag and making better contact.