My Swing (Golfingdad)

[Ernest Jones]

So you're powering the chip/pitch by dropping your hands...........but why do you want to use the big turn at impact? I would have thought that it could complicate your initial direction if you don't time it right.  yeah, nice threads too!

I was hitting these shots really well and then started to stop pivoting and getting too armsy, disaster, lots of stabby shots that just dribbled a few feet or even screamers that hit my back yard fence! Once I remembered to just pivot thru the shot it all came back to the goodness. The pivot part is pretty key and non-negotiable in my experience.

[Golfingdad]

Played yesterday afternoon and am really happy with how I hit the ball.  The only real mishit of the round was a dead pull - with a 6 iron no less - on the tee of a short and quirky par 4.  The other two missed fairways were just slight pushes with the driver.  (Ironically, the worst miss with the driver was on 18, where I push-cut one into the mountain, but got a luck kick back into the fairway.)  Also, for the most part am really happy with most of my decision making as well.  Hit 4 iron instead of driver 7 times.  Only hit driver 6 times.

Last weekend Erik made a comment to me while we were playing about "my one swing thought" and I was kind of embarrassed to realize I didn't really have one.  At the range since then I discovered that if I concentrated on a smooth tempo with my driver, I seemed to hit it a lot better.  So that is now my current swing thought when I'm on the tee ... smooth tempo.

If I am going to keep swinging like this, I think the next thing on my to-do list is to eliminate sloppy, stupid mistakes.  Two stupid 3-putt bogeys, a botched 75 yard pitch on the first par 5, and a virtual 3-putt from the fringe on number 2 are all things that really should not happen.  There's no reason why this 80 couldn't have been a 76, or even less.

Also very excited to see the handicap dropping and dropping rapidly.  It was 9.6 on March 1, and if I don't play anymore in the next week and a half it will be 8.0 on May 1.  I'm playing with house money right now because not only is it going down, but most of my 10 best are front loaded so all the stuff that's dropping off the end of the card is crap anyway.

[tristanhilton85]

Good work, Drew... good to see things coming around for you. The two of us are going to be dangerous at the next outing.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by tristanhilton85

Good work, Drew... good to see things coming around for you. The two of us are going to be dangerous at the next outing.

Thanks, you too!  (Your post is what prompted mine) We're going to have to lobby Mike to put us on a team together this time and we'll show them all who's boss!!!

[tristanhilton85]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Quote:

Originally Posted by tristanhilton85

Good work, Drew... good to see things coming around for you. The two of us are going to be dangerous at the next outing.

Thanks, you too!  (Your post is what prompted mine)   We're going to have to lobby Mike to put us on a team together this time and we'll show them all who's boss!!!

I like it...

[Golfingdad]

And here are my latest swing videos.  These are both drivers from Tuesday (4/16).  Still have a lot (a lot) of ways to go to keep that elbow from flying around behind me.  In fact, I think my next golf related purchase is going to be a pipoe!  Anyways, here they are ...

PS ... you probably can't tell but I am doing the 'toes up' drill in these swings.  The results of both were solid pushes (pretty typical).

[onephenom]

Chip in on the 17th?

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by onephenom

Chip in on the 17th?

Nope, a putt from about 8 feet beyond the green.

This course is very much what I imagine links courses to be like.  There are no defined fairways and rough.  If you are not in the hazards or bunkers, you are on very closely mown grass.  And there are a lot of holes clearly designed such that if you wanted to play low running shots, you could.  Here's a pic of 17 (from their website - that's not me ;)):

I went 4-iron, 6-iron to just behind the green back left and the pin was back left.

[onephenom]

Nope, a putt from about 8 feet beyond the green. This course is very much what I imagine links courses to be like.  There are no defined fairways and rough.  If you are not in the hazards or bunkers, you are on very closely mown grass.  And there are a lot of holes clearly designed such that if you wanted to play low running shots, you could.  Here's a pic of 17 (from their website - that's not me ;)): [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/73414/] [/URL] I went 4-iron, 6-iron to just behind the green back left and the pin was back left. :-)

Nice! Beautiful course too. Looks like you're improving, keep up the good work.

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

In fact, I think my next golf related purchase is going to be a pipoe!  Anyways, here they are ...

http://thesandtrap.com/b/training/pipoe_review

[Golfingdad]

My latest lesson from Evolvr included some reminders on slowing down during practice, so I am trying to hold the positions for longer periods to help ingrain the feel.  I am very happy with what my A4 looks like during the practice/shadow swings.  (Granted, to a lot of people that might not mean much, but for me, its confidence inspiring just to know that I am capable of reaching that position)  Once I can get that elbow in position on a real swing, it'll go a long way towards shallowing out the shaft on the first part of the downswing and improving my Key #4. :)

Also, FWIW, these were both really solid shots, albeit with a bit of unintended cut on them. ;)

[tstrike34]

*Polite Applause*

Thats a beautiful swing GD. I see how you keep that 90 degree angle. I am still trying to work on getting that way.

Was successful at the range for a bit, and just lost it.

That swing of yours look so smooth and fluid . Makes me green with envy!! :)  ;)

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by tstrike34

*Polite Applause*

Thats a beautiful swing GD. I see how you keep that 90 degree angle. I am still trying to work on getting that way.

Was successful at the range for a bit, and just lost it.

That swing of yours look so smooth and fluid. Makes me green with envy!! :)  ;)

Thanks tstrike!  I'm by no means where I want to be but I'm pretty happy with my progress so far!  You keep at it, and you'll get there too!  And to be fair, I've been playing for a long time, and I seem to remember you saying that you started fairly recently.

Speaking of envy ... I wish I had your garage setup! :)  Would save me a lot of money ;)

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

My latest lesson from Evolvr included some reminders on slowing down during practice, so I am trying to hold the positions for longer periods to help ingrain the feel.  I am very happy with what my A4 looks like during the practice/shadow swings.  (Granted, to a lot of people that might not mean much, but for me, its confidence inspiring just to know that I am capable of reaching that position)  Once I can get that elbow in position on a real swing, it'll go a long way towards shallowing out the shaft on the first part of the downswing and improving my Key #4. :)

Also, FWIW, these were both really solid shots, albeit with a bit of unintended cut on them. ;)

Yep better, next step with the practice swings is to include the pivot stuff with the arm rehearsals.  So as you turn back you're doing your right arm feel.  Little bit too much stretch, in relation to the amount of turn, from A1-3, I think James talked about this in his last Evolvr.  That ties into the elbow stuff.  Kick in too much stretch, rear elbow will be more prone to slide behind me.  Nice job with the camera angels btw

Pretty good here.  Cuts just coming from the elbows moving further away from each other from A4-5, right elbow staying too high, shaft too steep, effecting the left wrist and how the pressure in the feet works.  Good thing is contact is better, you can play a little cut on the course ;-)

[Golfingdad]

Latest videos ...

So while I have certainly not perfected my elbow positions by any means, I have moved to a few other priority items in the last couple of lessons.

Two lessons ago, I started working on the downswing.  Specifically, trying to keep left shoulder from going up and out, and getting the arms to start down independently of the shoulders.  It's a different feel for sure, but I'm doing a lot of slow practice swings (partial, sort of "pump drill" type swings) to try and get the feel for that left shoulder staying down.

For my most recent lesson, James has my focusing on the pressure points in my feet in the downswing, specifically the front foot.  I tend to roll that foot over and get a lot of weight on the outside of the foot, and I am consciously trying to keep it flat and feel it stay planted throughout the downswing.  Oddly enough, when I think of nothing else but that foot, lately I have been hitting some darn good shots, and most of them have been drawing.  :)

[BostonBrew]

It looks like the club gets a little inside your hands in the backswing? (1st swing) Other than that, it's a solid looking golf swing.

[Golfingdad]

By the way ... public props to Cipher for teaching me how to splice together videos and put them in slo-mo!!!!  Thank you, sir ... now go practice for your big tourney!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by BostonBrew

It looks like the club gets a little inside your hands in the backswing? (1st swing) Other than that, it's a solid looking golf swing.

Yeah, I think you are right.  It wasn't that many lessons ago that I was given the idea (by Mike, no less) to try and feel like I'm picking the club straight up as I go back.  When I do that it keeps the club from getting too deep, but as you obviously noticed, it's not ingrained yet because if I'm not thinking about it, I'm not doing it. :)

And thank you!

[Golfingdad]

I friggin' hate this game!!!  Here is my scorecard from last Thursday ...

I couldn't do anything right.  It was so frustrating.  Thoughts start lingering in my head ... perhaps I should stop taking it seriously, perhaps I should stop taking lessons, perhaps I should just quit altogether (my previous round a week earlier at the same course was an 89, so I was already a bit annoyed at myself)  And to top it all off, I am trying to get ready for a tournament on Sunday.  This is not going to go well ....

Did I mention ...

I friggin love this game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Here is my scorecard from yesterday's tournament ...

In stark contrast to my last two rounds ... I couldn't really do anything wrong yesterday.  I realize I only "hit" 5 fairways, but that is a bit misleading because the fairways are narrow at this course, the "rough" is short, and I was never far enough off the fairway to not have a shot at the green.  And even though I missed 10 greens, I was never too far off there.  Even though I was playing the course for the first time, I was missing in all the right spots, because my up and downs were never terribly difficult.  I started on #10, so I actually made it to the 14th hole at even par.  (I think part of the reason for my "collapse" is a bit of an irrational fear of being labeled as a sandbagger, but thats another story).  PS:  I won my division by 2 shots!

Anyways ... I friggin' love this game!!!!