My Swing (JonMA1)

[Lihu]

13 hours ago, billchao said:

It's more of a fall than a step.

All said and done @JonMA1, this is kind of key...

[JonMA1]

 

@billchao, @boogielicious, @Lihu

Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

[billchao]

4 minutes ago, JonMA1 said:

 

@billchao, @boogielicious, @Lihu

Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

Yea you're doing it wrong. Also you have very little shoulder turn. IIRC your hands are not very deep DTL. Getting your weight forward is not your biggest priority.

[JonMA1]

Thanks @billchao.

[boogielicious]

I would recommend working on a centered hip turn first. 

 

[JonMA1]

2 hours ago, boogielicious said:

I would recommend working on a centered hip turn first. 

 

Thanks Scott. I'll re-read that link, it's one of my favorites.

Can I ask what in particular I should be looking at. I didn't notice a lot of hip sway away from the target. Is it too much hip turn too soon, or too much of the left knee going back? Not falling toward the target more?

I'm reading Mike's topic as I type.

Thank you.

[Grizvok]

I think the piece with the left knee gaining flex and pointing inwards is way too much. Yours is past the point of caving in and it's something I see in pretty much all of your shots.

[boogielicious]

8 hours ago, JonMA1 said:

Thanks Scott. I'll re-read that link, it's one of my favorites.

Can I ask what in particular I should be looking at. I didn't notice a lot of hip sway away from the target. Is it too much hip turn too soon, or too much of the left knee going back? Not falling toward the target more?

I'm reading Mike's topic as I type.

Thank you.

Your shoulders are fine at this point, but your left knee has collapsed back. Most of your weight is probably on your right foot at this point. So it becomes harder to get your weight to transfer to your left because it has a lot to move to get there.

Now compare it to Mike at A4. The head and shoulders are the same, but his hips and legs are still centered. His weight is most likely evenly distributed on both feet (or close to that). So as he starts the downswing, the weight naturally moves forward to his left leg without having to work at it. This moves the low point of his swing forward too and therefor he makes better contact.

I practice this drill in a mirror 4 to 5 times a week. I want to be in Mike's A4 at the top. I am not as flexible, so my shoulder turn and arms are not as high, but my turn is centered.

When I'm outside, I use my shadow to check this at the range. With the sun behind me, I go to A4 and try an make sure my left hip doesn't sway back. It will take a while to break the habit, but you will be able to do it if you work at it daily even for 5 minutes.

[JonMA1]

This is extremely helpful @boogielicious. The weight distribution at the top is a nice reference. And yes, a big reason I’m working on this is to move the low point of the swing forward an inch or two. Others have suggested there are faults that occur before downswing  that make getting weight over to the left more difficult.

I will focus on this. I like the idea of using the shadow. As you can tell, a lot of these faults really show up more when hitting a ball. If the centered hip turn and proper weight distribution at the top can become natural, I think I’ll see some improvement in what comes after. 

Good stuff. Thank you.

[iacas]

@boogielicious, he's doing a drill here, though. This isn't his regular swing - he's stepping. So of course he's unweighting the front foot.

I've jumped into the middle and skimmed a little bit, but that's my sense of this recent stuff, no?

If Key #2 is what you're working on (and by proxy #3), I'd consider the Five S and say that you're probably just making full-speed swings, or nearly full-speed swings, and definitely you're only doing full-length swings.

Learn to hit chip shots really, really well, with your weight forward and a good non-throwing, non-flipping wrist action through impact. Then slowly lengthen and speed up from there.

I think, @JonMA1, you have no idea at all what good impact is supposed to even feel like. Consequently you have no idea when you really achieve it.

Also I wouldn't give up on the instructor so quickly, but I would ask him directly - as you're the customer - to respond to your questions about when he's going to get around to Key #2 work. You're paying him, and while I don't let my clients dictate things to me, I will give them answers and consider their input strongly. If they don't like my answers, they're free to find others (but most everyone finds my answers and plan make sense, and the few times a guy says "I've been hitting the ball much better, but I can't chip to save my life, and you haven't mentioned that yet" we immediately go to the chipping green).

[JonMA1]

Great post and easy to understand @iacas.

Spot on about not knowing what good contact is. I don’t know that I’ve ever had the bottom of my swing hit after the ball. The shorter, higher ball flight and tendency to cut across the ball backs that up (I’m assuming).

It will be nice when I get to that point. The chip shot practice makes sense and can’t wait to start with that.

Assuming I should start each swing in a neutral address instead of with a pre-set weight shift.

 I’ll post video of the practice.

Regarding my current instructor, glad to read your advice. I like taking lessons and don’t want to stop. I’ll do as you suggest and have a conversation with him about it. His methods are a bit different than what I’ve come to expect from by being a member here. But if he can work with me a little more on mechanics and drills I can adapt. He confirmed I’m failing in keys #2 and #3 so it’s not like he’s unaware. I also suspect he’s trying to teach me to play golf while on the course instead of practicing out there. 

@billchao, @boogielicious and @iacas, thank you. I’ll try not to f it up this time by failing to apply it. I don’t always understand what’s being conveyed but that’s not the case and this time.

[boogielicious]

21 hours ago, JonMA1 said:

Great post and easy to understand @iacas.

Spot on about not knowing what good contact is. I don’t know that I’ve ever had the bottom of my swing hit after the ball. The shorter, higher ball flight and tendency to cut across the ball backs that up (I’m assuming).

It will be nice when I get to that point. The chip shot practice makes sense and can’t wait to start with that.

Assuming I should start each swing in a neutral address instead of with a pre-set weight shift.

 I’ll post video of the practice.

Regarding my current instructor, glad to read your advice. I like taking lessons and don’t want to stop. I’ll do as you suggest and have a conversation with him about it. His methods are a bit different than what I’ve come to expect from by being a member here. But if he can work with me a little more on mechanics and drills I can adapt. He confirmed I’m failing in keys #2 and #3 so it’s not like he’s unaware. I also suspect he’s trying to teach me to play golf while on the course instead of practicing out there. 

@billchao, @boogielicious and @iacas, thank you. I’ll try not to f it up this time by failing to apply it. I don’t always understand what’s being conveyed but that’s not the case and this time.

BTW, I do the chip drill at the start of every range session. Erik recommended it last year to me for a casting issue I had. It is a good warm up. Remember to move your lower body as you would in a full swing. You get a great sense of good contact. 

[RFKFREAK]

18 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

BTW, I do the chip drill at the start of every range session. Erik recommended it last year to me for a casting issue I had. It is a good warm up. Remember to move your lower body as you would in a full swing. You get a great sense of good contact. 

What's the chip drill?

[JonMA1]

1 hour ago, RFKFREAK said:

What's the chip drill?

Under Swing Thoughts/instructional Content/ 5sk. There are a couple. (Sorry I’m on my phone and am not smart enough to link). One is for key#2 another for key#3. Really good drills for what’s described above but not that easy for me yet.

I tried to replicate it last night and I can hardly shift my weight that far even from a static position without almost tipping over.

@boogielicious I’m assuming one of these is the drill you were referring to. If so, I can see this being something I need to do on a regular basis after I learn it. It’s is so different than what I’ve been doing and feeling. It’s going to take a lot work but I’m looking forward to finally improving in this area. Like Erik and Dave point out in the video, if we have trouble doing these drills with a chip, good luck accomplishing good contact with a full swing.

Edited August 3, 2018 by JonMA1

[boogielicious]

5 hours ago, RFKFREAK said:

What's the chip drill?

 

3 hours ago, JonMA1 said:

Under Swing Thoughts/instructional Content/ 5sk. There are a couple. (Sorry I’m on my phone and am not smart enough to link). One is for key#2 another for key#3. Really good drills for what’s described above but not that easy for me yet.

I tried to replicate it last night and I can hardly shift my weight that far even from a static position without almost tipping over.

@boogielicious I’m assuming one of these is the drill you were referring to. If so, I can see this being something I need to do on a regular basis after I learn it. It’s is so different than what I’ve been doing and feeling. It’s going to take a lot work but I’m looking forward to finally improving in this area. Like Erik and Dave point out in the video, if we have trouble doing these drills with a chip, good luck accomplishing good contact with a full swing.

You basically start with short swings with any club. The idea is to focus on key 3 and make good contact. For me, I focus on my right elbow, good hip turn and try to get my hands ahead of the ball at contact. I also had to focus on not having my right hand cast out when I started doing this drill  

Then I gradually increase the length of the swing to full. I do this with even the driver. Training clubs like the Tour Striker are designed to help with this feel, but I’d rather use my real clubs. 

[JonMA1]

Kind of embarrassed to post these but I have to get over that... I'm just a spazz I guess, Lol.

All I can say is that it's a start.

What I see is far too much head and upper body forward movement and not much of the hips moving forward. On the last swing I tried to keep my head back a little. It's going to take a lot of work.

I tried this last night and was flipping. I think that looks a little better today.

For life of me, I don't know how others get their hips so far forward. I seem unable to do that. But if this drill  can help me develop a swing with more weight forward and hands in front at impact, I'll be happy.

[boogielicious]

13 hours ago, JonMA1 said:

Kind of embarrassed to post these but I have to get over that... I'm just a spazz I guess, Lol.

All I can say is that it's a start.

What I see is far too much head and upper body forward movement and not much of the hips moving forward. On the last swing I tried to keep my head back a little. It's going to take a lot of work.

I tried this last night and was flipping. I think that looks a little better today.

For life of me, I don't know how others get their hips so far forward. I seem unable to do that. But if this drill  can help me develop a swing with more weight forward and hands in front at impact, I'll be happy.

Those look pretty good Jon.  My only comment would be do the first practice swings slower, like 50% speed. You’ve got the the simple and specific, but work on slow too. Really slow it down and get the positions right. Then hit a few at 50%. Then finally hit full. Don’t worry about miss hits on the slow swings either, or ball flight.

I have to focus really hard to slow down. It has taken a long time, but the benefits are great.

[iacas]

Are you holding the clubface open to achieve that shaft lean?