My Swing (Jeremie Boop)

[Jeremie Boop]

Well, went to the course last night. It wasn't pretty and after playing the front nine I really started taking extra to really utilize it as practice by hitting multiple shots off the tee and on approaches. I tried focusing on bringing my right elbow in towards my side on the downswing. This was probably the biggest struggle of the night, but got better as the night went on. I was getting frustrated however, that it seemed like I was hitting a lot of pushes but.... One thing specifically that I didn't really pay attention to until the 16th hole is that I'm not doing a good job of picking a target line for my shots. I tend to let the tee area point me in a direction that's not where I need/want to go and/or I start lining up to compensate for a pull which has been my normal shot for a long time. What I keep thinking are straight pushes are most likely just straight shots. Even more frustrating is I think part of why I hit some of the big pulls is because my mind knows I'm aimed too far right so I subconsciously (over)compensate and come way across. So, on 16 I stepped back and found something on the ground between my ball and the line I wanted. I lined up to it and hit 3 drives directly down that line. One ball had a bit more draw than the others but they all started right where I wanted. The next shot I did the same thing with my 4 iron from the fairway and hit another shot that had a nice little draw and landed almost dead on the target line I set up to. On 17 I struggled a little finding something to use to line up to but once I found one I put 4 3 woods on the fairway and 2 just off the left edge. On 17 I quickly found a good reference for aiming and hit an absolutely pure 8 iron. Unfortunately it was a bit too pure, only had about 2 yards of draw, and ended up a little long. Tried hitting a few 9 irons but not surprisingly it wasn't enough club, but the still helped solidify that using the reference point was working. So, even though the night started out bad I forced myself to keep focused and use the time to really work on things.

[iacas]

5 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

I tried focusing on bringing my right elbow in towards my side on the downswing.

Why?

[Jeremie Boop]

1 minute ago, iacas said:

Why?

I have been hitting a lot of really really big pulls and thought this would help. And by big pulls, I mean I hit two balls across the road at the driving range that was probably 125 yards left of where I was hitting.

[Jeremie Boop]

Ok, so range work tonight wasn't horrible. I did notice a slight backslide in keeping my left hip on the wall. But I think it was a pretty slight move, even so I'll work double hard to make sure I get back to not moving off.

I didn't notice until I got home that the camera was a little too close when recording FO Driver swings.

Was a really good drive, push draw that carried to the top of the hill. Other than small move off the wall and long swing I'm pretty happy with the swing.

This drive was almost exactly the same as the face on drive. Push draw to the top of the hill in the distance. I may be crazy, but it looks almost like I didn't go shallow to steep on this swing. I don't have good software to check that though.

 

Not bad other than the slight move off the wall and swing lengthened a little.

No real insight on this swing either. Swing could have been shorter.

But now, something completely different!!

Have I mentioned how much I love the pitching technique I learned in Erie?? 

[iacas]

12 hours ago, Jeremie Boop said:

I have been hitting a lot of really really big pulls and thought this would help. And by big pulls, I mean I hit two balls across the road at the driving range that was probably 125 yards left of where I was hitting.

I wouldn't get too distracted by other things, particularly if you want a certain simian to join your profile…

1 hour ago, Jeremie Boop said:

Ok, so range work tonight wasn't horrible. I did notice a slight backslide in keeping my left hip on the wall. But I think it was a pretty slight move, even so I'll work double hard to make sure I get back to not moving off.

Not bad other than the slight move off the wall and swing lengthened a little.

[Jeremie Boop]

10 hours ago, iacas said:

I wouldn't get too distracted by other things, particularly if you want a certain simian to join your profile…

I understand, that was something I was trying so that I could have a functional swing on the course because hitting a lot of shots that far to the left would have had me out of golf balls before I finished 9 holes. Thanks for the reference points on the pictures. I noticed I drifted a couple inches but did not notice I straightened out the spine angle. This is just another reminder to me that I need more practice time over time on the course. When I go play on the course I start losing some of what I worked on because I adjust based on how I'm scoring... Just a bit frustrating. Also frustrating is how well I was striking the ball and how good I felt about the overall range work last night only to see that I actually regressed instead of progressed.

[Jeremie Boop]

Went back to the range to get back to where I was before slipping again.

Comparison between first recorded swing and last recorded swing.

First swing my hip stayed pretty decently in place but lost the spine angle at the top. This definitely shows in difference where the shaft stopped at the top of the swing. Second swing is pretty much right back to where I was the other night when I was hitting solid positions.These two swings were just about 40 minutes apart. I was at the range for around 1 hour. Spent about 10-15 minutes warming up before recording.

2 swings about 10 minutes apart. Not bad. One thing to note, for the most part if I didn't catch it heavy then I was hitting big pushes. Even though I am trying very hard not to let these things influence me when I'm on the range I have to admit I got very frustrated and had to take a break.

Edited July 28, 2016 by Jeremie Boop

[Jeremie Boop]

Forgot to upload a DTL swing.

Not really much to say. Just posting for reference for later.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Jeremie Boop said:

One thing to note, for the most part if I didn't catch it heavy then I was hitting big pushes.

That's fine. Eventually you'll need to work on the left wrist condition. You are an "underflipper".

[Jeremie Boop]

8 hours ago, iacas said:

That's fine. Eventually you'll need to work on the left wrist condition. You are an "underflipper".

Hmm... underflipper, that sound suspiciously like "underachiever"

 

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

Hmm... underflipper, that sound suspiciously like "underachiever"

Nope. Just a thing with your wrists.

[Jeremie Boop]

43 minutes ago, iacas said:

Nope. Just a thing with your wrists.

I see, that's the first I've ever heard that term. When I get to the point of working on it, I'll be interested to hear what exactly that means. I have to admit, no matter how good the rest of my swing looks, that impact position staying basically the same /#bad/ is a very large thorn in my side. However, I'm taking comfort in the fact that I've been successful making the picture change with what I'm currently working on so I hold out hope that when we finally get around to fixing the flip I'll actually have lasting improvement there.

Edited July 28, 2016 by Jeremie Boop

[iacas]

I just made it up.

Your impact position doesn't look the same. Stop being overly hard on yourself.

There's an order to things too and the next piece is big, but couldn't really have been moved up to before this one.

With no axis tilt you were going to be steep and then attempt to shallow (by flipping).

P.S. Under = underneath.

[Jeremie Boop]

36 minutes ago, iacas said:

I just made it up.

Your impact position doesn't look the same. Stop being overly hard on yourself.

There's an order to things too and the next piece is big, but couldn't really have been moved up to before this one.

With no axis tilt you were going to be steep and then attempt to shallow (by flipping).

P.S. Under = underneath.

It's in my nature to be hard on myself. I've never been able to be objective when it comes to self criticism. Part of that is because I know if I had just stuck to the plan years ago I'm pretty sure I'd have been a solid single digit HC by now. When I look back at my swing after the lesson back in Oct of 13 compared to what I recorded last night I definitely see progress, however because I didn't follow through on what was given to me it's taken 3 years to get here instead of the month it's taken since the most recent lesson.

It's 100% my fault too, there's no way around it. I basically threw away 3 years fighting a working process by fiddling around with other things in my swing, not working on my swing during the off season, or just not working on my swing at all and expecting it to change. I still struggle with staying the course, when I'm on the range and hit fats/thins/lefts/rights/tops/pop ups it's so hard to not get angry. That's not even to touch on how it feels to try to play a round doing the same things. This is the mental struggle that I have to conquer in order to stay the course.

**I'm posting this mostly for my own benefit, to remind myself that the process to fixing the swing is more important than the temporary frustrations and anger that come from the bad shots that occur while working to improve. Also, as a cautionary tale to not repeat my previous tendencies and throw away more time by getting distracted, bored, or lazy. Focus is key, determination is a must, and results will come.

[Jeremie Boop]

Pretty good night at league tonight. 2 lost balls and still was able to shoot +6. First lost ball was a legit horrible shot, 150 yard par 3 ball shot straight off the toe to the right gone. Recovered well, hit second ball to 10 feet and made the putt.... Nice recovery but a kick in the nuts to have a bogey that was a birdie. 2nd lost ball was par 4 17th and was just unlucky. Straight drive up the right side just didn't draw but I blasted it. I was sure I knew where it would be because it's wide open on the right side of the trees. Unfortunately I hit it too good and it must have made it passed the clear area. Per league rules and because there were people already on the tee waiting because the other two guys had hit their balls in places that we spent close to 10 minutes looking, I took a drop at the edge of the long grass area where my ball must have went. So technically my +6 isn't legitimate, since I didn't follow the rules for that hole. I'm pretty confident that I would have actually been in a better spot if I had retee'd though, so it hurt me more than helped.

Either way, I am really happy with how I played. My preshot routine was 2 slow motion takeaways focusing one keeping torso tilt and hip on wall then full swing. I had to play solo against two guys because my dad wasn't feeling well enough to play tonight. One guy was the same league HC as me and the other was a stroke better, I beat both of them. This is the second time I've played solo and beat both opponents and both times they were the same or better league HC than me. I did let myself down a bit on putting, speed control was bad but my lines were good.

[Jeremie Boop]

So the next couple of days is going to be spent travelling and I won't be able to do anything golf related. I wasn't able to spend money on going to the range or course Friday or Saturday, but I just couldn't go almost a full week without golfing at all so I found a hot deal for $11 *really ended up being just under $15 with the fees* for 18 with a cart at a course that I haven't played before that is 35 minutes away. I had a few issues, one major one was just not knowing the course, another was I started not turning properly but I fixed that as soon as I realized it, third was someone started texting me right after I fixed my turning issue and royally pissed me off which ruined my next 3 holes.... Regardless of all those things I was actually super happy with the results. Looking forward to being able to get back to my regular swing work after I get back from my trip.

SW approach from 105 yards over some trees. Just missed the putt, a tad more break than I anticipated and lipped out on the low side.

PW stuck in the green on the next hole which was a par 3... Needless to say the greens were a bit soft and that ball came down at a very steep angle

Edited July 31, 2016 by Jeremie Boop

[Jeremie Boop]

I should have gone to the range instead of played, but after being stuck in a car or plane for 2 days previous I really just wanted to be out and about and be able to walk around. So I took advantage of my day off and played Red Hawk Run in Findlay, Ohio from the "tournament tees". The swing thought of keeping my hip on the wall is still holding up well on the course. I do have to be mindful I don't let the ball get too far forward with the driver because the couple of times I hit balls way left I noticed I had let the ball drift too far forward. Other than those shots and a couple of duffed approach shots I struck the ball pretty nicely. I was very comfortable with what club to choose for which distances, most of my shots were really nice gentle draws. Putting was so-so, but I didn't really put a lot of effort into the reading of putts either. I will get to the range this week to record some more swings, or I'll just go over and hit balls in the yard at my mom's and record the swings. Either way I need to get an updated set of swing videos uploaded.

Just some pics from the course:

Par 3 third, was playing 193, hit 6 iron 191 left of the pin. 2 putt par.

 

Approach on 11, 8 iron from 158 yards to 9 feet and made the birdie. 

Par 3 14th, only playing about 145 yards but wind was from the left so the ball moved too far and bounce inside the hazard.

This was my recovery shot on 18 after duffing my 5 iron second shot into the hazard. 153 yard pitching wedge to here. Unfortunately I did not convert the putt for the save

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this course. Lots of good shots, a few bad, but a beautiful day.

[Abu3baid]

3 hours ago, Jeremie Boop said:

I should have gone to the range instead of played, but after being stuck in a car or plane for 2 days previous I really just wanted to be out and about and be able to walk around. So I took advantage of my day off and played Red Hawk Run in Findlay, Ohio from the "tournament tees". The swing thought of keeping my hip on the wall is still holding up well on the course. I do have to be mindful I don't let the ball get too far forward with the driver because the couple of times I hit balls way left I noticed I had let the ball drift too far forward. Other than those shots and a couple of duffed approach shots I struck the ball pretty nicely. I was very comfortable with what club to choose for which distances, most of my shots were really nice gentle draws. Putting was so-so, but I didn't really put a lot of effort into the reading of putts either. I will get to the range this week to record some more swings, or I'll just go over and hit balls in the yard at my mom's and record the swings. Either way I need to get an updated set of swing videos uploaded.

Just some pics from the course:

Par 3 third, was playing 193, hit 6 iron 191 left of the pin. 2 putt par.

 

Approach on 11, 8 iron from 158 yards to 9 feet and made the birdie. 

Par 3 14th, only playing about 145 yards but wind was from the left so the ball moved too far and bounce inside the hazard.

This was my recovery shot on 18 after duffing my 5 iron second shot into the hazard. 153 yard pitching wedge to here. Unfortunately I did not convert the putt for the save

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this course. Lots of good shots, a few bad, but a beautiful day.

Was there any specific reason you went with the 8 iron on the first and pitching wedge on second for the same distance?