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Posted

Yeah sorry didn't see you on the range. Next time you practice, post a video or send it to me and I'll give you my take.


Will do. Thanks Mike!

"If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf."

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  • 1 month later...
Posted

Well, shot this back in February and haven't had time to post it, but after a pretty disappointing round this morning, thought I'd get these up and see if anyone has any thoughts. IIRC, the first two swings are PW, two 7 or 8 irons, and two 4h.

Thanks in advance...

"If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf."

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Posted

Not from the video, but from watching this morning, one thing I notice (that may be nothing at all) is that you have a really narrow stance.  Granted, we're hitting mostly wedges, but even then it seemed a little narrow.

I think a little wider separation between the feet would lead to a little more stability and balance.

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Posted

Got any face on video?


Unfortunately not at the moment. Will shoot some next time I get to the range.

"If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf."

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Posted

Unfortunately not at the moment. Will shoot some next time I get to the range.

Shoulda mentioned it this morning!  I would have taped a few swings during the round.

Next time. :beer:

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  • 8 years later...
Posted

Posting a quick video in preparation for meeting my 2023 goals. Looking back over this thread, I see a lot of the same issues are still there: too flat a swing plane with the shoulders, too much hip turn. Good news is that it looks like my hands are in a better place, but still a lot of work to be done. Really just leaving this here as a before shot in the hopes that I'm able to improve the picture in '23. 

52 degree wedge from 105, hit it just long and left @ Monarch Dunes Challenge Course #9

"If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf."

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Posted

Wow, okay, so eight years later! Welcome back. 🙂

01.jpg02.jpg

You're gonna wanna do a lot to address the top two images… that elbow gets REALLY far around you, and you spend a LOT of energy just trying to get the ball back to the front.

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Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

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  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

Still working on getting the backswing sorted. Really need to work on the takeaway, but seems like the top is better....Thoughts guys? 

 

 

"If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf."

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Posted

@jefkve, what are you trying to do?

Your elbow is still really far around, and your backswing looks almost the same as before.

01.jpg02.jpg03.jpg

Might I recommend another topic for you?

 

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Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

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Posted
32 minutes ago, iacas said:

@jefkve, what are you trying to do?

Your elbow is still really far around, and your backswing looks almost the same as before.

@iacas I've been drilling on keeping my right elbow more in front of me. It's a very different 'feel', but agreed that the result is not very different. Need  to keep working on takeaway, backswing, and early extension. 

As far as grinding, I do spend what little free time I get working on swing feels, but again, results are lacking...

 

TBC...

"If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf."

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Posted

So I'll be blunt, and I'll trust that you know I'm trying to help you here.

Let's say for this particular thing, your swing is a 1. That's just the starting point, so, it's a 1. Let's say "perfect" is a 5. Just for this piece that you're trying to work on, that is.

I see little to no point in making swings that are 1s, 2s, or even 3s. You need to make almost every swing you make (while working, not while playing) as 4s and 5s. If they were all 5s, you're going too slowly, but a mixture of 4s and 5s is the sweet spot.

That is what the grind is: having the discipline to make swings that produce 4s and 5s until you can go a little faster and still produce 4s.

So, post a swing some time of you doing a 4 or a 5. Let's see it.

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Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

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Posted

@jefkve Thanks for sharing your journey! I wish you the best of luck going forward.

Iacas said two of the most poignant things an instructor could say/ask:

  • What are you trying to do?
  • I see little point in making practice swings that are 1s, 2s or 3s.

I am not an Instructor, but taught tennis for several years.  Did an instructor provide a drill for keeping your elbow in front of you? If not, and you have been working on things yourself, minor feel changes to you often have little to no effect on your swing at your handicap level. The reason why is we personally overestimate the difference in feel on our swings.

If you follow Mike Adams, he believes that your backswing should bisect your shoulder if your wingspan matches your height in golf shoes.  Your backswing is much more shallow, indicating very short arms, which you don’t appear to have. Your takeaway appears to be outside, and then you flatten the backswing.  This forces you to early extend in order to give you room to hit the ball. I suspect you still hit strong draws with shorter clubs, probably through the gap wedge, but push slice your driver because the club is too long and/or flat?

I would defer to an instructor, but one drill I would suggest is the pump drill to eliminate the backswing issues. Take the club to the top of your desired backswing, and we will target the shoulder since that is a neutral position versus your current through your upper arm.  Pump the arms downward once, return to the original position, and then swing away. DJ Tomasi helped popularize this drill and you could find a video.  
 

I wish you the best of luck!

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Posted
9 hours ago, iacas said:

Let's say for this particular thing, your swing is a 1. That's just the starting point, so, it's a 1. Let's say "perfect" is a 5. Just for this piece that you're trying to work on, that is.

"The best drill is doing it right."

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Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

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Note: This thread is 1265 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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    • Day 610 - 2026-06-03 Got some work in between lessons today. Rare late day, teaching until 7:30pm.
    • Let's continue on… Cool. The thing is, nobody's claiming par is "reliable" and par's inclusion piggy-backs in the course rating, which is awfully close to par and, thus, brings par in to make it make sense. Once again, for those in the back… (CR - Par) just makes it really easy to know what kind of score you need to shoot to best, match, or play worse than your handicap index. Yes, when par is different, the players from the higher par tees get an extra stroke (72 vs. 71, the 72s get an extra stroke. That makes sense and is a small complication (more info at https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/handicapping/roh/Content/rules/Committee%20Content/USGA/LG_R6d.htm). However, most of the time, this adjustment will not be needed, as many courses play to the same par for the same genders from all sets of tees. And, the rare times it is needed, par (measured in whole numbers, integers) and strokes (also whole numbers/integers) map easily and the idea is easily grasped. Dean seems to be unaware of the fact that most every golfer carries something orders of magnitude more powerful than the highest end desktop computers available the last time he consulted with the USGA in their pockets. While it is quaint that his club puts printouts by the first tee… get with the times, Dean. Look up your handicap index and course handicap in the GHIN app and get on with it. It's a better system than the one that didn't account — at all — for a difference in the playing conditions (via an algorithm, not a judgment). Dean's assertions about the "less precise system because of par" continues to make absolutely zero sense. Right, it still changed tee to tee. Now it just changes differently… and in a way that more accurately reflects the score you need to shoot to play to your handicap. Previously, a 1.1 index would get 1 stroke on a 66.7/122 par-72 course. Now they give four strokes back to the course and must shoot 68 to play to their handicap. This makes way more sense. The 18-shot difference is a pretty extreme example. Maybe a long course that also offers a par-three set of tees could play that long, but… man, that's not going to be super common. Sensationalistic much, Dean? Also, once those unhappy (complete assumption) golfers realize a) what the change shows them (playing to net par = playing to your index) and b) realizes that their differential is going to be the same… I think they'll get over their initial questions. No. And yet… if he shoots the same scores, he'll get the same handicap index he has now. But he'll know on each course what score he needs to shoot to "play to his handicap." Sheesh, Dean. This stuff isn't that hard to figure out. Enough with the sensationalistic stuff. I don't find it "unacceptable" at all. Then again, I'm not nearly 80 and seemingly incapable of doing basic math these days. No. This literally makes no sense, as that part of the differential calculation and the course handicap calculation remains identical. Good! No. Categorically wrong. They should have been adjusting their handicaps all along. Previously it was by subtracting the course ratings. Which… is still basically what's done, with the addition of the course rating being "baked in" to the course handicap calculation. Dean is wrong here, or doing some math heretofore unknown by the world. When par is the same, what determines the difference in handicaps? The course rating, which Dean loves! Sheesh! You had to things when players were in situations like this before, too. This is getting exhausting. He keeps using words like "less precise" and "unfair" but does not seem to understand what they mean. This is like the Princess Bride meme: "you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." The caps reduce upward movement. Committees have reign to reduce a player's handicap, and there's still an automatic Exceptional Score Reduction. I'm going through these more quickly now because… well, it's silly how badly Dean misses the mark with this blog post. Dean is literally confusing the upward movement (with the soft and hard caps) here with the exceptional score reduction which is used when lowering handicaps due to an exceptionally good score. The creators of the WHS are handicap experts. They know more about the current state of handicaps/handicapping than the Pope Emeritus. It's been shown to have almost no effect across all handicaps. Yes, some 36s under the old system are now 35s under the new system. Yawn. He should have stopped there. It's easier to apply and makes more sense. This makes no sense. It's "not complex" but players will have to guess? And, for men or women, the stroke index of each hole doesn't change because they play a different set of tees. They get a different number of strokes, but it's always been true that when you get 14 strokes you apply a stroke to stroke index holes 1-14, and when you get 11, to just holes with a SI of 1-11. Objection, your honor. Assumes facts not in evidence. Dean's just out here continuing to make shit up about "the inaccuracy of par" and ignoring that with Par (an integer) came the Course Rating, which he agrees is precise and accurate. No. No, this is inaccurate. Also, as noted, you can randomly assign stroke indexes, and so long as all the low numbers or all the high numbers are not clumped together at the beginning or ends of the 18 holes, matches generally work out the same. This is inaccurate. It is an algorithm that looks at scores. That's it. Also, this is better than a system like the prior one where no such thing existed at all. Wildly inaccurate and off-base. Did they do actual testing? No need. They have millions and millions of rounds and ran many, many, many simulations. 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    • Day 3 (3 Jun 26) - More work on keeping arms connected today - hard foam balls with 7i and 5w…..
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