My Swing (JonMA1)

[iacas]

You're not exactly doing poorly with Key #2 in the real swings indoors…

Also, I mentioned it awhile back, but I'm curious what the "smoothest" swing you could make would be. Can you do it without being as "jittery" or whatever word I used before (nothing offensive meant here). Even if you swing 30% speed I'd be curious to see what a "smooth" swing looked like.

[JonMA1]

I'm not sure which is more difficult, trying to swing at 30% or trying to stay perfectly still for 3 seconds before I start my backswing.

Regarding the weight forward, it does happens much of the time on the course, but there two extremes. On the good side of the spectrum, a feeling like everything is on the target side of the ball pulling the club through and the swing feels really good. On the other end, I feel like I'm flipping and I notice too much weight on my trail foot on the finish. I suspect most of my swing are in between these two feels.

[JonMA1]

On May 17, 2015 at 11:46:28 AM, iacas said:

You start your swing from a very different place than you need to return the club at impact, and I just can't help but think it's going to make it tougher.

@iacas- after re-reading your original post regarding the jittery movement, you also noted this above.

Were you referring to how I pre-set my club to start my backswing? I've always felt it's helped, although it's hard to justify anything I do as a success.

[JonMA1]

I recorded some outdoor swings tonight with the 7i off a mat. Just wanted to make a couple notes to refer back to based on the video and the resulting shots.

Same old story I've experienced when recording indoor swings:  My practice swings look good while my swing at the ball is very much different...

• Less of a centered pivot, the hips want to sway back a bit.
• Not even close to a full shoulder turn.
• Some forward weight shift but far too much weight back.

Here's what's interesting - even with the crappy mechanics, many of the results would have been straight, usable shots with about 30-40% landing within my green-sized target. Ball flight was high and distances were a bit short with temps below freezing.

This tells me that with improved mechanics, I might be able to gain yardage. I can live with not hitting long, but its hard to accept leaving yards when I KNOW I'm physically capable of doing better.

Have to "bridge the gap" between practice and real swings. This might be a winter priority. Who says the mental part of this game isn't important?

[collapse]

Making impact from your back thigh is not going to work.Did you know you were doing this?

 

[JonMA1]

2 hours ago, collapse said:

Making impact from your back thigh is not going to work.Did you know you were doing this?

I did not. It feels like most of my weight is on my lead foot at impact, but its hard to know with how little time there is just before, during, and right after impact.

When I compare this image with those of better players, I notice my hands are a bit back relative to my hips. Is that what you mean?

Thanks.

[iacas]

16 hours ago, JonMA1 said:

When I compare this image with those of better players, I notice my hands are a bit back relative to my hips. Is that what you mean?

Yes, that's what he means. He is not saying your weight is back.

[JonMA1]

Many thanks to both @iacas and @collapse.

Changing this will be a challenge - especially with these short, T-rex like arms of mine.

I think this is tied in to my head coming up before impact and the difficulty I sometimes have getting an inside-out swing path. Looking forward to working on it this winter.

[JonMA1]

Been playing around with shot zones. Pretty interesting to accurately record what's going on. Nothing too surprising - I'm not a long hitter nor am I accurate. The larger circle is 50'. The smaller circle represents my target at the following distances: PW - 105, 8i - 130, and the 5i -160. Not too much wind, but the temps were pretty low... upper 30's, low 40's.

With the improved contact I've been experiencing, I'm hoping I can start working on direction and distance control. I'm trying to keep my swing at 80% effort.

PW

8i

5i

[Ernest Jones]

I think you're excluding too many shots from your shot zone. 

[JonMA1]

Would you mind explaining @Ernest Jones? Thanks.

(Unless you were trying to offend me in which case I really didn't get it).

[Abu3baid]

37 minutes ago, JonMA1 said:

Would you mind explaining @Ernest Jones? Thanks.

(Unless you were trying to offend me in which case I really didn't get it).

I think he meant you need to make your shot zone more like an oval and to include more data points in it, instead of making it a circle and excluding too many shots..  He can correct me if I'm wrong.

[Ernest Jones]

1 hour ago, JonMA1 said:

Would you mind explaining @Ernest Jones? Thanks.

(Unless you were trying to offend me in which case I really didn't get it).

Offend you? No, not at all. I'm sorry that you would expect that of me. 

I thought it was pretty self explanatory, which is why I didn't write a longer post. In fact, it was a longer post but I deleted the rest because I thought it was redundant. 

I think you're excluding too many shots from your shot cone. 

With the PW, you've circled 5 shots and excluded 9. 

8i, circled 4, excluded 5. 

5i, circled 6, excluded 9. 

In every case, the majority of your shots are outside of what you have defined as your cone. 

Your cone needs to account for your misses, that's the whole point. It, more than likely, will be different sizes (and possibly shapes) depending on the club. The longer the club, the bigger the oval. 

Your images look like you have simply drawn the same size circle around every target with the target dead centre of your circle. That doesn't really tell you anything about your tendencies. 

Again, not trying to be an asshole, just trying to be helpful. Take it FWIW or ignore it if you want. 

[14ledo81]

@Ernest Jones I think the offended bit is coming from your signature. I don't think he meant anything by it.

[Ernest Jones]

20 minutes ago, 14ledo81 said:

@Ernest Jones I think the offended bit is coming from your signature. I don't think he meant anything by it.

Ha ha ha. Oh, well then I'm an idiot. Lol. 

Good, thanks for pointing that out to me. I couldn't figure out why @JonMA1 would have thought I was being offensive. 

 

[JonMA1]

2 hours ago, Ernest Jones said:

Again, not trying to be an asshole, just trying to be helpful. Take it FWIW or ignore it if you want.

It was as @14ledo81 suggested - a very poor attempt at humor on my part. I owe you an apology. I've read many replies you've offered to me and others. You have a lot of credibility and you seem to take helping others seriously. 

If you know nothing else about me, please understand this... there has only been one time when someone gave me advice on this thread and I didn't take it seriously. I might not always understand it when it comes to swing mechanics, but I will always try it out. I never expect help from anyone, but I always appreciate the fact someone has taken the time to offer it.

---

 

11 hours ago, Ernest Jones said:

I think you're excluding too many shots from your shot zone. 

 

4 hours ago, Abu3baid said:

I think he meant you need to make your shot zone more like an oval and to include more data points in it, instead of making it a circle and excluding too many shots..  He can correct me if I'm wrong.

So you guys are suggesting the method in LSW? Yeah, I probably should have taken that approach. Definitely will do that when/if I start seeing the same pattern of misses.

What I was trying for was to see how close I come to my stock distances - which is the center dot, and at the same time, how close I can come to hitting a green. The 50' circle represents a small green.

This exercise showed me two things. 

1. What a lot of more experienced players suggest we poorer players do... we remember the good shots and apply that to what we think our "average" distances are. As you can tell, I am more short than long with each of those clubs.

2. On a tight green with lots of hazard or OOB, I might think twice about trying to get there with a long iron. At least until I can become more accurate.

In a couple weeks, the courses will open and I'll have GameGolf stats to look at. Talk about an eye opener.

Thanks again for the responses.

[JonMA1]

I added ovals as @Abu3baidand @Ernest Jones suggested, but left the 50' reference as it helps me visualize my misses. Hopefully I understand the concept and have included a reasonable sample of shots in the zone. I can drop this over a map of my course to see which shots would have resulted in a GIR/penalty.

I don't know how much this will help towards decision-making on the course or what to work on to improve, but it sure makes practice a bit more enjoyable.

[JonMA1]

Really depressing practice tonight. I just can't seem to execute the "5S's" of good practice. I'm way too result-driven. My practice sessions are like playing "Battleship" with different feels.

Until I can learn how to slow the #@^% down and stop worrying about results, any real or lasting change isn't likely to occur.