My Swing (RPMPIRE)

[RPMPIRE]

I signed up for Evolvr a couple of weeks ago and got my first analysis from James last Monday, who recommended turning my hips more. It's amazing what one little piece of helpful information does to your swing. I got a hitting net at home about a month ago and also used some green masking tape to mark my impact on my clubs. Before the analysis, I was hitting it closer  to the hosel - some were shanks - and also really high on the face (the mat I got is pretty plush so my club doesn't bounce and fat/steep shots usually show pretty high on the club face). After I started implementing more hip turn, my contact was more towards the center of the face, which I was really happy to see I think it's because the sequence and timing is better.

It got a lot better after introducing more hip slide from reading the "Sliding you Hips" thread and Erik's camera tripod drill. Also, after looking at some other pro swings to help with my outside takeaway, I just tried to keep my club face close to the ground as much as possible at the start of the back swing. This actually made the club start move towards the inside and it has helped a lot as long as I don't let the club go too far inside.

However, my lower back injury has reared it's ugly face again and now I'm sidelined for the next 2-4 weeks. I can't even bend at the waist without it hurting. So I'm back to taking meds and possibly more physical therapy, but it's a lot less severe than what I had a year ago. Either way, I'm excited with the progress I made in just one week's time after 1 analysis and I can't wait to get back after I recover. What sucks is I just got the Nike Covert and now it's just sitting in my bag teasing me. Just gotta stay patient.

[buckshot4227]

Originally Posted by tomvk77

what i see is that your takeaway goes to far from your body outside, this is the first reason you can get fades or slices clubhead moves on an outside in plane.

Second at he top off your backswing club face is pointing straight up to the sky, so clubhead is way open at that point. What you should try is take a pencil and put that at the closing of your glove, this should reduce the wrong wrist action at the backswing, as for takeaway try to keep de clubhead more on the target line.

I really love your tempo in the swing, balance is great to.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isnt a club face that is pointing skyward at the top of the backswing considered closed?

[RPMPIRE]

Originally Posted by buckshot4227

Correct me if I am wrong, but isnt a club face that is pointing skyward at the top of the backswing considered closed?

Yes, a club facing up is shut.

[RPMPIRE]

It's been a couple of weeks since I've been able to work on my swing, but now my back is better so I can continue again.

The last few days, I've been watching more of the 5SK videos on youtube. In addition to the Evolvr lesson on turning my hips more and raising my right hip higher than the left, I also implemented another drill for Key #1 by "Doing the Limbo." This drill particularly caught my attention the second James said "back pain." It did help my back after trying the drill but it also kept my weight moving towards my front foot. So with both drills, I've been keeping my head steady, getting my weight forward and got a diagonal sweet path. It's still early but that's 3 keys.

I've been keeping track of my impacts the last few days and it has improved a lot. It started on the heel but last night after a few days of working on the drill, my impacts have been going towards the middle. Here's some pics of the clubface with some masking tape.

8 Iron

Wedge

[RPMPIRE]

Here's videos of the range session I had on Friday. The push-slices have turned into push draws. It didn't get to a good push draw back to target until the end of the range session, though. It started out as a straight-hook about 20 yards. Still trying to fix the clubface at A4 though.

8 Iron - DTL

8 Iron FO

[RPMPIRE]

I'm starting to see good improvement at my A4 position after my latest range session. I started feeling like I'm taking the club back slowly and relaxing my arms a little. Before I would tense up just before starting my backswing and felt like I was too quick. The club is starting to look less laid off at the top and the feel off slowing down allows me to turn my hips all the way. Below are a bunch of 8 irons swings DTL and FO along with a couple of driver swings. Any thoughts are welcome

8 Iron DTL

8 Iron FO

Driver DTL

[RPMPIRE]

Here's more random shots from the last session starting from 56* wedge to 8 iron and the last two shots with 4 iron. Need to work a little bit when it comes to the long irons but I was able to launch them in the air this time compared to the usual ground burners.

[mchepp]

I think the swing is looking really good.

[RPMPIRE]

My back has been feeling a lot better so I'm now taking full advantage of the driving range 5 minutes away from work and I'm happy to say I got my distance back. The last two weeks, I've been working on maintaining the pressure point under my left armpit to help bring the club swinging back inside on an arc instead of going outside. I started progressively hitting low hooks with a fairly low ball flight.

Got up to my hybrid and woods and was hitting really low stingers, almost ground burners, which I didn't like. I did notice I tensed up at the downswing, so I tried refraining from doing that and BINGO...nice high lofted drives with all three clubs. Moved that into my irons and got nice high baby draws that landed softly. Here's the carry distances on full swings for the clubs I used just today at the range.

56* wedge - 105 yds

PW - 135 yds

9 iron - 148

8 iron - 164

7 iron - 175

The driving range had some elevated mounds that marked the distances and used my range finder to get the exact yardage. Also, worked on my shots within 100 yards using the "quickie pitching video" method by Erik. It's going well as long as I maintained the pressure under my left armpit throughout the swing. I would highly recommend that method for chipping and pitching to anyone.

[RPMPIRE]

I suffered another setback two months ago with my lower back, got an epidural steroid injection in my back and have been working hard at the PT exercises. So far, I can do full swings, but still trying to take it easy just work on getting back into it again. I'm getting good distance and a nice high ball flight, but there's still a lot of 5-10 yard pushes. Still working on trying to raise my right hip more and earlier at the start of the swing. If I can fix that, hopefully my club path from A4 - A6 should improve because it still looks a little steep.

8 Iron

3 Wood

[mmoan2]

I really like the balance and rhythm in your swing. It looks very controlled and effortless. I always cringe when I see my clubface pointing to the sky like that, but I'm not sure if that's just me or not. Also, how is a clubface pointing to the sky "closed?" I thought it was the opposite.

[JetFan1983]

I know some people get criticized for saying "how are you a X.X handicap with a swing that good?" but seriously... your swing looks better than a 12.2. Of course, I haven't downloaded it, but to the naked eye it looks better than that.

Sorry to hear about your recurring back issues. Hope you can figure that out very soon so you can get back to and stay at 100%. Good luck to you, bud. Injuries suck.

[theworldengine]

maybe the camera is playing tricks but you are standing a little too close to the ball from what I can tell. get the hands more perpendicular to your chin from the dtl view imo.

[RPMPIRE]

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

I know some people get criticized for saying "how are you a X.X handicap with a swing that good?" but seriously... your swing looks better than a 12.2. Of course, I haven't downloaded it, but to the naked eye it looks better than that.

Sorry to hear about your recurring back issues. Hope you can figure that out very soon so you can get back to and stay at 100%. Good luck to you, bud. Injuries suck.

Thanks JetFan. To be fair, I haven't posted to my GHIN in over a year. Two babies back-to-back in a year (unfortunately, my wife wasn't thinking about golf at 3am like dsc123) and recurring back injuries really put golf down on my priority list. I think my handicap is where it should be and in all honesty, it should be higher around 15 or so. The good thing, with the injury and the kids, I've only been limited to chipping and putting at home so that part of my game is getting stronger.

Once you look at the swing in slow motion, there are a good amount of things I need to work on. My hands at A6-A7 are too far in front of me compared to A1, clubface is shut and maybe laid off, my right foot lifts up too high with my 3 wood at A6, etc. My past Evolvr lessons with James always had my hip turn rate be much quicker and I think I haven't been doing that in these videos because it seems my hips outrace my hands (don't really know if that's really what's causing my pushes but I think it's a logical guess). Just watched another video on youtube of Mike and James kind of summarizing hip turn and the downswing and it does contribute a lot of what I should work on.

Injuries do suck. Hope your wrist is holding up well. Your swing is making a swift comeback.

Originally Posted by mmoan2

I really like the balance and rhythm in your swing. It looks very controlled and effortless. I always cringe when I see my clubface pointing to the sky like that, but I'm not sure if that's just me or not. Also, how is a clubface pointing to the sky "closed?" I thought it was the opposite.

Thanks. My clubface pointing to the sky is something I'm trying to straighten out. If you close the clubface at address and swing to the top, you'll see the clubface pointing at the sky. Conversely, if you open up the clubface and do the same, the toe is more down and the clubface is facing in front of you. And believe me, I cringe all the time when I see my clubface is like that.

[mmoan2]

Originally Posted by RPMPIRE

Thanks JetFan. To be fair, I haven't posted to my GHIN in over a year. Two babies back-to-back in a year (unfortunately, my wife wasn't thinking about golf at 3am like dsc123) and recurring back injuries really put golf down on my priority list. I think my handicap is where it should be and in all honesty, it should be higher around 15 or so. The good thing, with the injury and the kids, I've only been limited to chipping and putting at home so that part of my game is getting stronger.

Once you look at the swing in slow motion, there are a good amount of things I need to work on. My hands at A6-A7 are too far in front of me compared to A1, clubface is shut and maybe laid off, my right foot lifts up too high with my 3 wood at A6, etc. My past Evolvr lessons with James always had my hip turn rate be much quicker and I think I haven't been doing that in these videos because it seems my hips outrace my hands (don't really know if that's really what's causing my pushes but I think it's a logical guess). Just watched another video on youtube of Mike and James kind of summarizing hip turn and the downswing and it does contribute a lot of what I should work on.

Injuries do suck. Hope your wrist is holding up well. Your swing is making a swift comeback.

Thanks. My clubface pointing to the sky is something I'm trying to straighten out. If you close the clubface at address and swing to the top, you'll see the clubface pointing at the sky. Conversely, if you open up the clubface and do the same, the toe is more down and the clubface is facing in front of you. And believe me, I cringe all the time when I see my clubface is like that.

Hey, congrats on the kiddies! My wife and I have been married for 10 years and never were blessed. The reason I have too much time on my hands to worry about golf is that we only have two cats! Anyway, I actually did a little experiment and found that the only way I could get my clubface to point skyward if I closed it at address was to ROLL my wrists sideways, not cock them. You know how if you've ever taken a lesson with any pro in history the first thing they usually say is "never move your wrists side-to-side, only up-and-down?" That kind of wrist action. Maybe I'm not understanding something, but if your skyward clubface is truly the result of this kind of wrist action, I think it may warrant some attention. The fact that your swing analysis is pretty advanced compared to the average Joe means to me that you've probably considered this pretty glaring aspect, but it's my two cents. Good luck!

[RPMPIRE]

Originally Posted by mmoan2

Hey, congrats on the kiddies! My wife and I have been married for 10 years and never were blessed. The reason I have too much time on my hands to worry about golf is that we only have two cats! Anyway, I actually did a little experiment and found that the only way I could get my clubface to point skyward if I closed it at address was to ROLL my wrists sideways, not cock them. You know how if you've ever taken a lesson with any pro in history the first thing they usually say is "never move your wrists side-to-side, only up-and-down?" That kind of wrist action. Maybe I'm not understanding something, but if your skyward clubface is truly the result of this kind of wrist action, I think it may warrant some attention. The fact that your swing analysis is pretty advanced compared to the average Joe means to me that you've probably considered this pretty glaring aspect, but it's my two cents. Good luck!

I do appreciate the feedback. The clubface the way it is has always been a bothersome piece for years, but since I started taking Evolvr, I'm just trying to focus on that one piece of just turning my hips faster at the start. That would eventually improve the club path to go more around me on the backswing and hopefully lead to a better clubface position at A4. It's one of those things that I'm expecting to get better with a better foundation.

[RPMPIRE]

I feel like a broken record but I'm still trying to turn my hips more and get my hands a little deeper. Also, trying not to lift up my f***ing right foot up on the downswing.

On some swings, I do feel like the clubs lays down at the top and looks very shut. When I make a full shoulder turn and extend my arms, I can get it to a good position, but when I try to make a full swing, it doesn't feel right. The downswing feels jerky and I end up coming out of it. I like what I'm doing now because on good hits, the entire swing feels very fluid and transitions nicely. I also get a nice little push draw and high ball flight.

It's really frustrating when you're trying to be a "stupid monkey" but every time, you hit all types of bad shots in the book and regression starts happening. In the end, my swing ends up looking the same.

[iacas]

I feel like a broken record but I'm still trying to turn my hips more and get my hands a little deeper. Also, trying not to lift up my f***ing right foot up on the downswing.

On some swings, I do feel like the clubs lays down at the top and looks very shut. When I make a full shoulder turn and extend my arms, I can get it to a good position, but when I try to make a full swing, it doesn't feel right. The downswing feels jerky and I end up coming out of it. I like what I'm doing now because on good hits, the entire swing feels very fluid and transitions nicely. I also get a nice little push draw and high ball flight.

It's really frustrating when you're trying to be a "stupid monkey" but every time, you hit all types of bad shots in the book and regression starts happening. In the end, my swing ends up looking the same.

Your swing looks good though. Don't be too hard on yourself.

Have you tried feeling like your hips START your backswing? It looks as though your hands and arms almost start, and the hips don't move much until later. So your hands get forced out and up a teeny bit more than you'd like. What if you feel your hips almost "dragging" your hands in by turning to start the backswing?