My Swing (nevets88)

[nevets88]

More grip pressure at A1, for stability. Intention is shallow, cover, straight arms, extend, get arms behind head. Also working on getting to same position at A4 consistently. Arms get bendy, takeaway too low at A1, 

 

[nevets88]

Getting better at swinging hard with driver. Still learning to get contact away from heel, less hands shooting towards ball at 4.5 ish. 

 

[nevets88]

Same stuff, also working to keep contact away from heel. Better with "covering" this practice session, keeping clubhead behind me, but arms in front of body, in sync with turn. Trusting all the stuff I learned from teacher and just "letting it happen" holistically. More hooks than blocks fading right, which is good. This swing, contact is still a smidge towards the heel, but not that big a deal.

All the stuff I've been learning over the years, shallow, keeping the wrist from overhinging at 4, extending at 4 and at 8, I am internalizing them better and better at blending them.

Need to get to a short game area with the Mevo, still haven't gotten to that yet, but have been improving finesse wedges with on course practice, noticed my head moves forward then back on these shots and also weakened grip, steepened the plane going back, better at utilizing bounce, not getting leading edge stuck in grass. The feel is the wrists are "flipping" way more at impact.

 

[nevets88]

OK, I am this close to calling it quits. Lots of work and scoring still sucks. This may be my last season. I just don't have the knack for this thing.

[billchao]

33 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

OK, I am this close to calling it quits. Lots of work and scoring still sucks. This may be my last season. I just don't have the knack for this thing.

Here's an idea: take a break from swing work. Practice a little to keep the rust off, but otherwise just go play and have fun.

Do you enjoy playing or is your enjoyment of the game tied to improving? Because I don't think that will change if you get better, at least that's how it is for me. I enjoy the game the same now as I did when I was a 20. It's always going to be frustrating at times. I still have rounds where I'll ask myself (sarcastically) why I pay money and wake up early to aggravate myself, yet I still make another tee time when I get home. Hell I did it yesterday during my awful round.

I may never be a scratch golfer. It's a goal, but not the reason I play. Why do you play?

[nevets88]

7 minutes ago, billchao said:

Here's an idea: take a break from swing work. Practice a little to keep the rust off, but otherwise just go play and have fun.

Do you enjoy playing or is your enjoyment of the game tied to improving? Because I don't think that will change if you get better, at least that's how it is for me. I enjoy the game the same now as I did when I was a 20. It's always going to be frustrating at times. I still have rounds where I'll ask myself (sarcastically) why I pay money and wake up early to aggravate myself, yet I still make another tee time when I get home. Hell I did it yesterday during my awful round.

I may never be a scratch golfer. It's a goal, but not the reason I play. Why do you play?

To get as good as I can but apparently that's a low ceiling. I don't enjoy shooting in the 90s or higher. There's no way that score is going down if I don't improve the full swing, which I think I understand better, but I just don't have the talent for this.

[chspeed]

1 hour ago, nevets88 said:

but I just don't have the talent for this

So what? So you don't have a lot of golf talent. Neither do I. Neither do most people on here. You need a lot of golf talent to play competitively. You need a lot of golf talent to get to scratch. But you do not need a lot of talent to improve.

1 hour ago, billchao said:

Do you enjoy playing or is your enjoyment of the game tied to improving?

That's the key question. I enjoy two things about golf. First, I enjoy the Sisyphean task of trying to improve. It's absurd, difficult, filled with ups and downs, obsessive, and frankly, silly. Still, I love it. Second, I like the routine of getting up early to meet my golf buddies, being outdoors in all weather conditions, playing well (rarely), playing lousy (often), and exchanging the same $20 back and forth for years.

I bet you like some things about golf (equipment? practice?) or you wouldn't be here in the first place. Your threat of quitting is only a cry for help. We all know you can't. 😂

[iacas]

Steven, I think you should spend a few months not practicing more than five minutes or so per day, and playing almost exclusively.

[boogielicious]

13 hours ago, nevets88 said:

To get as good as I can but apparently that's a low ceiling. I don't enjoy shooting in the 90s or higher. There's no way that score is going down if I don't improve the full swing, which I think I understand better, but I just don't have the talent for this.

I feel the same as you do a lot of the time because I put a lot of pressure on myself. But I seem to play and score better when I clear my head and just focus on the ball when I play. I also am clubbing up and swinging less than full with better results. I practice a lot, but I also seem to do better with short, very specific practice on most days. I see the changes in my swing over time. 

Let's talk more on Saturday if you want.

[nevets88]

I've been playing more, a lot more than previous seasons, but I agree I could play more than that and I plan on doing that this season. This game is a struggle.

 

[billchao]

17 hours ago, nevets88 said:

To get as good as I can but apparently that's a low ceiling. I don't enjoy shooting in the 90s or higher. There's no way that score is going down if I don't improve the full swing, which I think I understand better, but I just don't have the talent for this.

So let's say you hit your ceiling (and I don't believe for a second that you have). Can you enjoy the game as it is? Is shooting a better score really the only enjoyment you get out of it?

What about golf made you interested enough in it to pursue improvement in the first place?

[iacas]

3 hours ago, nevets88 said:

I've been playing more, a lot more than previous seasons, but I agree I could play more than that and I plan on doing that this season. This game is a struggle.

Like Scott said, play golf to play golf. Just get the ball to go in the hole quickly. Don't think or obsess about your swing on the golf course - be an athlete on the golf course. Athletes aren't thinking about technique.

You probably are, if you admit the truth, more than you should.

[nevets88]

OK, I'm back at it, decided to go give it another go, will try and play as much as possible. Changed things up as I was near Bethlehem and had Eric Cogorno look at my swing he said the same thing Erik and Bill did, play more and skills vs mechanics. Wanted to go out to Erie but didn't have time. Mechanically, working on not coming in so shallow from 6 to 7, as you said @billchao. Pulled the crap out of this one, but Key #4 is better.

 

[iacas]

Good post, good update, good stuff.

[nevets88]

Oh yeah, another change I made is every practice session, hit 5 draws, 5 fades, 5 low punch shots. As per Eric's recommendation. I'm beginning to see why he recommended this, gives me more feel for the swing.

[boogielicious]

14 hours ago, nevets88 said:

OK, I'm back at it, decided to go give it another go, will try and play as much as possible. Changed things up as I was near Bethlehem and had Eric Cogorno look at my swing he said the same thing Erik and Bill did, play more and skills vs mechanics. Wanted to go out to Erie but didn't have time. Mechanically, working on not coming in so shallow from 6 to 7, as you said @billchao. Pulled the crap out of this one, but Key #4 is better.

 

Great to see you back and healthy! I’m in the play more mode too. I think you and I are similar in critiquing our swings a bit more than we should and not just focusing on the course and just playing. Have fun!

[billchao]

Good stuff, @nevets88! Play golf, learn to score. Embrace the game, not just the swing.

4 hours ago, boogielicious said:

I think you and I are similar in critiquing our swings a bit more than we should and not just focusing on the course and just playing.

Been there, too, for many years. I've been approaching things from a different perspective and it's liberating. It's still frustrating to hit bad shots but I'm not frustrating myself over the minutiae of my swing. Mis-hits happen.

[nevets88]

Another thing Eric Cogorno mentioned was my hands were a little too far from the body at 1 so I moved them in a touch. The big mechanics piece he showed me  which really helped was how to pivot the hips, it felt extremely like I was a top spinning about a vertical axis. Also less hand depth at the top and then a little more down with the hands than out from 4. Played for the first time in a month, shot a 49, still shanked a wedge but parred the last three holes, with a dodgy but recovering back.

Wobbly finish but Key #4 is improving.