My Swing (rehmwa)

[rehmwa]

I've been Playing Golf for: 1 year (but I played a ton as a teenager - 25 years ago)

My current handicap index or average score is:  11

My typical ball flight is:  slight fade on woods and long irons, straight on 6i and shorter

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is:  would like to take divots = cleaner contact.  would like to turn that slight fade into a slight draw = they go farther.

I'm pretty much self taught and plan on lessons soon.  Been working on more of a turn on the backswing to load up more.  Working on releasing my wrist turn a bit later but harder - for head speed.  Seems to be working, but, of course, that means my timing needs to be better for control.  So more turn, more snap.

Three typical hits here only.  It's a 6i or 7i.  Seems that I'm moving forward ok, but it's an afterthought and needs to happen with the swing more - I believe that will help me hit down through the ball and not flat through.....  Minimal reverse C - I'm ok with that.

Apparently, the video takes a bit to load.  recommend letting it load and then hitting play after a few seconds.

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Videos:

[Jhwarren]

Hey Rehmwa,

Swing looks pretty good. I would suggest trying to get more weight/pressure on your left side at impact. You finish in a nice position, but it looks like you are "faking it" a bit. At impact, it looks like that you have about 50% weight/pressure on your left side. This is why you are finding it hard to take divots. We would really like to have that number more like 80-90%. Here's a drill that I love:

http://thesandtrap.com/t/61376/5sk-video-thread        Post #6

You could also practice this move without a club in a door jam, so that you can get the feeling of moving your weight forward while keeping your head relatively steady. Hope this helps. Keep us posted.

[rehmwa]

yup - that's one of my comments.  A drill is exactly what I need to put it in place and this good thread has two drills for weight forward.  I like the first one - essentially....if you want to get weight forward, PRACTICE getting weight forward.  THANKS - I didn't know that that the transfer was that much (80-90% on finish).  It's like I'm getting permission to do what seemed right.  I'll try it and see how it goes.  (maybe throw some talc on the turf to track my contact and sweep.

I also wonder if maybe I could initiate more and more with my legs and hips so that the start of the swing is less arms - then my upper body rotation is an effect,,,,not the cause of the swing.  i.e., first little bit of the swing up top can be a bit slower/smoother, it'll catch up just fine on its own.  That would help me get my center moving forward better (rather than the trade off of upper vs lower hindering that weight transfer.)

[Casey]

Originally Posted by rehmwa

I also wonder if maybe I could initiate more and more with my legs and hips so that the start of the swing is less arms - then my upper body rotation is an effect,,,,not the cause of the swing.  i.e., first little bit of the swing up top can be a bit slower/smoother, it'll catch up just fine on its own.  That would help me get my center moving forward better (rather than the trade off of upper vs lower hindering that weight transfer.)

Yes. Take a club and stand in front of the mirror. Get to the top of your backswing and hold it there. In slow motion, exaggerate the feeling of getting your lower body/hips moving towards the target, the start of a good swing. You will see that this movement causes rotation to start in your upper body, your hands will begin to move down without you feeling like you moved them at all. Your lower body should start the swing in this manner, not the arms.

[Jhwarren]

Yep. Here's a quick video demonstrating Casey's point. [VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ05VCTP5r8[/VIDEO]

[Ernest Jones]

Wow, I really like that Andrew Rice drill. Good stuff.

[rehmwa]

So a couple lessons later, the weight transfer is MUCH better.  (Gary Player drill, starting with my setup weight back, just plain thinking about it and correcting)

Some Trackman time (i like it a lot) - numbers look really good and on a good day I can induce fade and draw, etc etc just with minor tweaks to my set up.

I've decided I'm happy with positive swing path (around +2-3), and slightly positive face angle (+1.0 or so) - that's a good ball flight.  The other metrics aren't a surprise also.

I'm nailing the swing path pretty consistently.

When I'm missing, though, it's pretty much getting the face angle to dial in.....too much variation vs what I would find acceptable....

Can anyone recommend drills to tighten my face angle (at impact) control?  as far as full swing mechanics, this is my biggest bang for the buck.

(plan to post updated vid at some point, but this is a pretty specific need).

[iacas]

Do you have a newer video?

[rehmwa]

THANKS for checking back. I'll see about getting some new ones uploaded. My swing is completely different from that old vid now and I'd really like to get new input.

A buddy and I plan to take both angle vids within the month - he's messing with the V1 Golf app - so will be taking some soon anyway just to play with it.  It likes my swing but says I'm an 'upright' stance - (which I am)....whatever that means....

As for my last post, you already recommended a few face drills before and they were exactly what I needed.  we'll see how it's progressing.

I suspect you'll note I've gone from not enough pressure transfer forward to it being a bit over-exaggerated.  One thing I do like is the trackman numbers are MUCH better for path, face, and impact angle.......I'm actually hitting down through the ball instead of sweeping.

[rehmwa]

Haven't pulled new vids lately - and my swing is much different.  Will soon (apparently the check is in the mail.....)  mea culpa.

However, I've set up a Trackman account and am excited about it.  I get an hour each month through Oct.  and here's my first half hour.  Apparently I'm shutting my face on the woods, the rest is 'ok', it wasn't a terrible session so I'd say it's representative of recent performance.

What can I draw from this info for my personal use?

I not ever really happy with the left/right distribution, but I'm hitting my distances ok for now.  With my distance spread, I'm not even sure why I use more than just every other club.....

however, clean contact was pretty representative.

(I've really lost a lot of control over my face angle and club path lately, amazing how quickly you lose something when you stop doing the drills ).  These stats are a great wake up call on that.