My Swing (Jetfan1983)

[JetFan1983]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iacas

You just texted that you're having a good session now, right hip staying high, hips sliding downhill, so I'm not saying anything until you post that. That's what you had to do .

Yep stick with that. Overall looking better.

Thanks, Mike… and Erik. Yea, I can definitely see how I'm on only, say, chapter 2 of a 5 chapter story with this particular change. Will continue to do this.

[JetFan1983]

OK range session tonight. I overdid it by practicing for too long. Working on the current piece: right hip high, slide hips downhill, keep head steady. Hit some nice ones.

I shot an 82 at Abacoa yesterday, and the differential came out to 7.something. The index dropped to 8.7 as a result. I still feel like I'm terrible, but I'm surprised the 'cap is so low (for me). Honestly, when I joined this site, I would've been thrilled to be an 8.7. Now I'm greedy for it to go lower. Baby steps though. Hopefully I can at least maintain what I've got, but we'll see. I can shoot a 150 in my next round and the cap won't go up at all, so I feel like I'm free rolling right now.

This FO 6iron was a really, really nice result. Very high and solidly struck. I was happy to get this on camera.

It's annoying to be so steep at 5, but I don't want to put the cart before the horse here. Anyway, I'll keep chipping away at this piece every day. This is just a simple progress report.

I think I'm doing okay with it?

[iacas]

It's annoying to be so steep at 5, but I don't want to put the cart before the horse here. Anyway, I'll keep chipping away at this piece every day. This is just a simple progress report.

I think I'm doing okay with it?

Set up with the driver with your hips a bit more forward and your head back a bit (more SAT), then let the hands go IN and UP, not UP and then IN. Remember, like I'm standing right behind the ball a few feet…

And yeah, you're a TEENY bit steep at 5. Don't worry about it right now. Keep doing what you're doing.

[JetFan1983]

---

I shot a lifetime best 75 today at the Palm Beach Gardens Municipal this morning. 6504 yards, 71.4, 133 for a differential of 3.1. My handicap will be an 8.4 on its next revision. This is only the third round of golf I've played this month because I've been hitting the range 6 days a week this month, electing to work on my swing rather than play.

But it's amazing I played this well today because my swing is still absolutely horrendous. I hit a banana slice all day long that only went about 235-240 yards. I sliced every single club. I just aimed way left every single time, and along with a really good short game and putter, I managed to shoot 3-over.*

I have fully committed to "slide hips downhill, keep head steady," so much so that I think of nothing else when I practice or play. Doing this makes me swing severely over the top though, so I've lost a ton of distance and can only play slices, with every club. Normally, I would think about keep the club from tipping out so much, but now that I'm just letting it do whatever it wants, I just swing severely over the top. Oh well. I guess I showed to myself I can still get around the golf course if I just club up and aim way left every time.

But yea. I'm done going off on my own, doing my own thing, trying to figure this out for myself. @iacas and @mvmac have full control of any changes I make from here until the end of time. Anyway, just watch that Million Dollar Baby clip to understand exactly where my head is at now.

I shot 88 yesterday, so I know I still suck. I mean, just look at my swing. It's so bad. I can't believe I shot a 75 with it.

I'm not even doing it enough really. My head is still moving forward and my hips aren't sliding forward enough. So I'm just going to keep doing it until it's right. These were all filmed after the round.

Swing thought: Slide hips, keep head back.

As I got deeper into the round, and the nervousness of a good round kept creeping into my head, the thought "slide hips, keep head back" got louder and louder. The more the thought of screwing up would enter in, I would just block it out by thinking "slide hips, head back" over and over and over again until that was the only thought I had in those moments from address to and through the actual swing. I also used "enjoy pressure" during the drive to my next shot, more so on the final two holes.

Everything went shorter, as I said. 235-240 yard banana slice drivers, and 180 yard 5-irons, 159 yard 7-irons. I'm hitting it really short. Plus I even hit two balls into the hazard today.* 9/18 GIR, six bogeys, nine pars, three birdies for 39-36: 75.

I did not do the most recent @iacas advice above about my backswing -- the same stuff we worked on during my lesson back in January -- but only because I was playing today and wanted to think as little as possible during the round, but I'll incorporate that too during practice.

It sucks I'm swinging so over-the-top and so short, but I still shot a career low round today, so F it. I'm sticking to the game plan. I only worry about what I'm told to worry about.

* On the 546 par-5 18th, I hit my second shot (a 3-wood from the right rough) off of someone's roof of their golf cart, and it ricocheted into the hazard. I took a drop, hit an 85 yard sand wedge onto the green, then two putted for bogey. When I was getting my clubs cleaned at the clubhouse, the kid cleaning my clubs told me he saw someone from that group take my ball and throw it into the hazard! I already had posted the 75 onto my GHIN through my phone, so I can't change it. But it's still a career low round.

[mvmac]

Nice round, congrats!

[JetFan1983]

Nice round, congrats!

Thanks, Mike!

[iacas]

No need for you to have that little OTT move.

Do this in a large mirror. When your hips start sliding forward your hands and the clubhead should fall down more than go out and over.

Head going forward encourages the OTT little mini move too.

[JetFan1983]

No need for you to have that little OTT move.

Do this in a large mirror. When your hips start sliding forward your hands and the clubhead should fall down more than go out and over.

Head going forward encourages the OTT little mini move too.

OK, very much appreciated, Erik. I'm going back to practicing and will take another break from playing rounds for the time being.

"Slide hips, steady head, arms and club head fall down (not out and over)."

Will work on that today on the range with slower, controlled swings.

[iacas]

OK, very much appreciated, Erik. I'm going back to practicing and will take another break from playing rounds for the time being.

"Slide hips, steady head, arms and club head fall down (not out and over)."

Will work on that today on the range with slower, controlled swings.

Do it in the mirror. See what it feels like. Then do THAT on the range.

Hips sliding downhill while the head (feels like, doesn't really) tips back should help you get the club more from the inside.

Do it in a mirror to get the feel first.

You still coming this-a-way this month?

[JetFan1983]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

OK, very much appreciated, Erik. I'm going back to practicing and will take another break from playing rounds for the time being.

"Slide hips, steady head, arms and club head fall down (not out and over)."

Will work on that today on the range with slower, controlled swings.

Do it in the mirror. See what it feels like. Then do THAT on the range.

Hips sliding downhill while the head (feels like, doesn't really) tips back should help you get the club more from the inside.

Do it in a mirror to get the feel first.

OK, yep been doing it off an on this morning. Got a nice mirror set up at my place for this. Initial feels are that "I'm sort of losing leverage of the club head." I dunno, maybe that's a bad way to describe how it feels… definitely also a feeling of "I'm not sure what to do once I get to six." But I figure these are just newbish thoughts. I watch a ton of pro swings, and as a follower of Dana and some other pro golf related profiles on Instagram, I get bombarded by incredible mini-tour/PGA tour level DTL swings that clearly demonstrate what you're telling me to do with the arms and club head, so there's certainly some "theoretical" awareness of this movement and how important it is. I dunno, I'm rambling now. I'm just gonna do it with drill swings, and a few full swing attempts today for an hour or so, then I'll post some swing video here.

You still coming this-a-way this month?

Yes, that's the plan. My dad keeps pestering me to do it. I haven't left Florida in almost three years, so I'm probably coming up north for two or three weeks… lots of stuff I have to get in order… kind of being lazy and putting off setting specific dates, but I will very soon. I'll be in touch with that, so yes, I'm coming up… possibly post Newport Cup? Is that okay? Mid-September? I'm definitely coming up, I won't flake out on that. My dad won't let me back out of this anyway, he really wants to go too.

[boogielicious]

It was the beard Constantine that made the ladies toss the ball. If you were clean shaven, they would have improved your lie and asked you to lunch. :-)

[iacas]

OK, yep been doing it off an on this morning. Got a nice mirror set up at my place for this. Initial feels are that "I'm sort of losing leverage of the club head." I dunno, maybe that's a bad way to describe how it feels… definitely also a feeling of "I'm not sure what to do once I get to six." But I figure these are just newbish thoughts. I watch a ton of pro swings, and as a follower of Dana and some other pro golf related profiles on Instagram, I get bombarded by incredible mini-tour/PGA tour level DTL swings that clearly demonstrate what you're telling me to do with the arms and club head, so there's certainly some "theoretical" awareness of this movement and how important it is. I dunno, I'm rambling now. I'm just gonna do it with drill swings, and a few full swing attempts today for an hour or so, then I'll post some swing video here.

That's not to say you can't get to scratch with a slight OTT move, btw. Just want to minimize it enough that you're not hitting wipey cut slices.

Yes, that's the plan. My dad keeps pestering me to do it. I haven't left Florida in almost three years, so I'm probably coming up north for two or three weeks… lots of stuff I have to get in order… kind of being lazy and putting off setting specific dates, but I will very soon. I'll be in touch with that, so yes, I'm coming up… possibly post Newport Cup? Is that okay? Mid-September? I'm definitely coming up, I won't flake out on that. My dad won't let me back out of this anyway, he really wants to go too.

Okey dokey.

[JetFan1983]

It was the beard Constantine that made the ladies toss the ball. If you were clean shaven, they would have improved your lie and asked you to lunch.

It's to hide my blossoming double chin. Just be glad I didn't trim it into a chin strap douchebag beard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

OK, yep been doing it off an on this morning. Got a nice mirror set up at my place for this. Initial feels are that "I'm sort of losing leverage of the club head." I dunno, maybe that's a bad way to describe how it feels… definitely also a feeling of "I'm not sure what to do once I get to six." But I figure these are just newbish thoughts. I watch a ton of pro swings, and as a follower of Dana and some other pro golf related profiles on Instagram, I get bombarded by incredible mini-tour/PGA tour level DTL swings that clearly demonstrate what you're telling me to do with the arms and club head, so there's certainly some "theoretical" awareness of this movement and how important it is. I dunno, I'm rambling now. I'm just gonna do it with drill swings, and a few full swing attempts today for an hour or so, then I'll post some swing video here.

That's not to say you can't get to scratch with a slight OTT move, btw. Just want to minimize it enough that you're not hitting wipey cut slices.

Haha good to know… and I can see that now. As long as the shot is predictable, fairways and greens can still be hit consistently. But yea, we definitely want to minimize this move I'm making

---

Today's practice was fun, with it's usual ups and down (mostly down hehe). But still fun. Here's some DTL mapping from today. "Slide hips, steady head (feel like I'm tipping it back slightly), arms and club down and not out."

Here's a face on drill swing:

And another drill swing from face on, but in real time:

Then some time later, I tried a full swing out… good result, but yikes. This is gonna take a while to make this picture change on a full motion hehe:

And here's a full swing from face on. Another good result (meaning, playable pull fade), but same stuff. Sooooo, definitely need to keep practicing at the edge of my ability with shorter, slower swings.

Then I got bored with hitting so many drill swings with my 7-iron, so I hit a driver hehe. Massive pull-fade. Whoopsies.

Good times. Methinks I have a lot of mirror work and many drill swings in my future hehehe.

I was drawing the drill swings (not all the time though). Pull-fading the full swings (all the time).

I'll keep doing it this way unless instructed otherwise. I'm mentally prepared for how long this will take to change probably, so frustration levels are extremely low right now.

[iacas]

Good work @JetFan1983 . If you didn't deserve your Stupid Monkey badge back the other day, this would have gotten it for you.

A pull fade is a perfectly playable shot so long as it's not a wipey pull fade. You should be able to keep playing some decent golf as you work on this.

Plus, now you don't need much instruction while you're here in Erie, and so you can do an Edel wedge fitting, play some golf, and have some supervised practice.

[JetFan1983]

Good work @JetFan1983 . If you didn't deserve your Stupid Monkey badge back the other day, this would have gotten it for you.

A pull fade is a perfectly playable shot so long as it's not a wipey pull fade. You should be able to keep playing some decent golf as you work on this.

Plus, now you don't need much instruction while you're here in Erie, and so you can do an Edel wedge fitting, play some golf, and have some supervised practice.

Haha, awesome. I'll keep chipping away at the ol' proverbial block of marble this way then.

A set of Edel wedges sounds interesting hehe.

[JetFan1983]

Is this too extreme what I'm doing here with this drill swing? Club and hands are staying way in here. Not sure if this is a feel I want to keep cultivating or not. This 60 yard shot is clearly push-drawing though. The club is really in at six, but I'm noticing I can level that out if I just open my shoulders more.

I tried this feel again with a full motion (6-Iron). I hit the ball like a nano-meter from the hosel, but the picture looks okay? Same question though: I'm wondering if this feel is something I should stick with.

I get the sense that these feels are probably fine since when I just focus on sliding my hips and keeping my head back, and just letting my arms do whatever they want, this picture always ensues lol:

****in stupid ass iMovie ruins these videos for analysis… really zooms it in too much, but the essential idea is there (swinging way over the top of the plane). Still a playable pull-fade at least… albeit one with not much of a ceiling for index potential haha.

---

Good practice today overall. Just worked on the priorities: slide hips forward, steady head (slight tip back feel), don't let arms and club head shift out as much. It's tough to juggle all those pieces at once, but I try to do it for these drill swings. For full swings, I usually just go with one or two pieces: 1) slide hips, head back or b) slide hips, arms straight down.

This face on swing focused on sliding my hips downhill and keeping my head from shifting forward:

The weather was getting reaaaaallllyyy ominous (there was actually a tornado that started to develop like two minutes after my last filmed swing (the over-the-top six iron), and I ended the session just swinging some full swing drivers before I high-tailed it outta there, leaving several unhit balls behind.

Focused on not letting my arms shift out, and it significantly reduced the amount of slice curve on those full driver swings. Still a pull-fade but a much smaller one that probably had 10 more yards of carry on it than what I was getting the day I shot 75. One less club into greens would certainly help things.

Overall, it was a tough but productive session I think. Keeping my head more stable was leading to some chubby contact, but hopefully I adjust gradually to having my head in a better spot on the downswing.

I'd post some more swings, but my stupid camera says "Sorry, *******, but this file doesn't support this function" when I attempted an in camera edit. Annoying when that happens. I had to edit these with stupid iMovie.

[JetFan1983]

It's truly amazing how difficult this game is. The past week I've hit the ball as poorly as I ever have in a while, and this is coming off the best round I've ever had. Still, I know whatever it is I'm doing is fixable, and using the five Ss, I should be able to get out of this funk eventually. It's amazing how off plane I swing. I work so hard in the mirror to not swing like this, and yet it just stays bad. Shrug. I'll keep doing mirror work and slow motion work in the hope that one day I won't do this downswing crap anymore. It's like I have no clue what to do from the transition onwards. But of course, as always, I'll just do as I'm told and work within that.

Obvious misses here are pulls, slices, terrible contact, and loss of power.

This next clip would be hilarious if it wasn't me:

Ok it's still hilarious even though it's me. But it wasn't hilarious at the time.

It's amazing that even with these slower swings I have a horrendous downswing plane. I find that to be very disconcerting. No wonder I'm hitting it so terribly. I dunno, I can do it when the ball isn't there. Unfortunately, golf has to be played with an actual ball however, and therefore, I'm screwed.

My primary focus really is slide hips, head back (is my shoulder getting too high, arms not coming down enough when I practice keeping my head back?). And I'll throw in keeping my arms in and the club behind me too, but alas, it's not working.

Yea, I'm not an instructor. I don't know what to do.

[Abu3baid]

It's truly amazing how difficult this game is. The past week I've hit the ball as poorly as I ever have in a while, and this is coming off the best round I've ever had. Still, I know whatever it is I'm doing is fixable, and using the five Ss, I should be able to get out of this funk eventually. It's amazing how off plane I swing. I work so hard in the mirror to not swing like this, and yet it just stays bad. Shrug. I'll keep doing mirror work and slow motion work in the hope that one day I won't do this downswing crap anymore. It's like I have no clue what to do from the transition onwards. But of course, as always, I'll just do as I'm told and work within that.  Obvious misses here are pulls, slices, terrible contact, and loss of power. This next clip would be hilarious if it wasn't me: Ok it's still hilarious even though it's me. But it wasn't hilarious at the time. It's amazing that even with these slower swings I have a horrendous downswing plane. I find that to be very disconcerting. No wonder I'm hitting it so terribly. I dunno, I can do it when the ball isn't there. Unfortunately, golf has to be played with an actual ball however, and therefore, I'm screwed. My primary focus really is slide hips, head back (is my shoulder getting too high, arms not coming down enough when I practice keeping my head back?). And I'll throw in keeping my arms in and the club behind me too, but alas, it's not working. Yea, I'm not an instructor. I don't know what to do.  [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/130337/] [/URL]

Hang in there.. I have a suggestion and it has worked for me a little bit. Take 2 alignment stickers and have them point 45* from your target line and the ball in the middle of the two.. Then starting with just slow swings, chip shots get the club going back and fourth along that path. Then hit a ball until you start getting the ball to draw back.. When you go to hit the ball the club is coming across as you can see, that's why maybe with the above drill you can start ingraining the our path without having to think about laying the shaft down on the downswing.. Take it for what it's worth, just my experience.