Jump to content
IGNORED

My Swing (RandallT)


RandallT
Note: This thread is 2367 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

Recommended Posts

  • Administrator

I'll have a whiskey sour, please!

Congratulations!

:beer:

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Wow, nice! :beer:

:ping:  :tmade:  :callaway:   :gamegolf:  :titleist:

TM White Smoke Big Fontana; Pro-V1
TM Rac 60 TT WS, MD2 56
Ping i20 irons U-4, CFS300
Callaway XR16 9 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S
Callaway XR16 3W 15 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S, X2Hot Pro 20 degrees S

"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Moderator

Congratulations on your ace! :beer: I'm another one from Northern VA, but I don't recognize that hole, where is it?

Dave

:callaway: Rogue SubZero Driver

:titleist: 915F 15 Fairway, 816 H1 19 Hybrid, AP2 4 iron to PW, Vokey 52, 56, and 60 wedges, ProV1 balls 
:ping: G5i putter, B60 version
 :ping:Hoofer Bag, complete with Newport Cup logo
:footjoy::true_linkswear:, and Ashworth shoes

the only thing wrong with this car is the nut behind the wheel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Thanks, Dave!

Twin Lakes (Oaks Course) in Clifton, VA. Hole 5.

Not too far from you, as you're up past Leesburg, if I recall correctly from a past chat we've had. That's where I picture you being from anyway.  Above is a better shot from their website:  http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/golf/twinlakes/

The tee was the 2nd from the back, unusual for the whites, as they are usually in one of the two middle areas in the above pic. And the white tees were exactly next to the cement marker labeled 174yds. Pin was dead center, so no doubt about the yardage.

We went to the clubhouse afterwards to buy some drinks but there was a big high school event just starting at that point. I bought my partners drinks and a couple nearby coaches some PowerAde but the clubhouse was pandemonium prepping for that event so nobody really cared, as they were scrambling to herd young players where they needed to be to start their tourney. The pro there was cool, and he had me sign a VSGA form to get a bag tag to commemorate the achievement.

Twin Lakes is a sister course, as you may know, to Laurel Hill (other side of Fairfax County), where the guy supposedly shot 3 hole in ones during the same round on June 21 or 22 this year, so I wondered if the clubhouse would be like "big deal, make 2 or 3 in a round, then come talk to me!"

http://thesandtrap.com/t/82900/golfer-shoots-57-with-3-aces-2-of-which-were-on-par-4s/0_30

My Swing


Driver: :ping: G30, Irons: :tmade: Burner 2.0, Putter: :cleveland:, Balls: :snell:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Moderator

AAhhh, I played a lot of golf at Twin Lakes when it only had the one course.  I actually live in Reston, but I drive out to Round Hill for most of my golf.  One thing you might want to check, a lot of manufacturers will also give you a little momento for an ace, I know I got a nice bag tag from Titleist.

Dave

:callaway: Rogue SubZero Driver

:titleist: 915F 15 Fairway, 816 H1 19 Hybrid, AP2 4 iron to PW, Vokey 52, 56, and 60 wedges, ProV1 balls 
:ping: G5i putter, B60 version
 :ping:Hoofer Bag, complete with Newport Cup logo
:footjoy::true_linkswear:, and Ashworth shoes

the only thing wrong with this car is the nut behind the wheel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • 2 weeks later...

Yes, time to continue Evolvr. I've been doing mirror work and range practice time, but I haven't changed the picture much this year, if at all.

Here were my notes from key points from last year:

- Review grip

- At address, keep hands a bit forward (rather than the central position I started in)
- Proper posture. No more squatting. Knees bowed out to match foot flare.
- On backswing straighten right knee- no more locking in place.
- Top of backswing, hips should angle downward.
- Lay down the club at start of backswing (this I can't do for the life of me!!). Club pointing inside the ball currently on downswing.
- Keep club pointed up at A6 (no cupping)

- Practice hitting right of alignment rod ahead of me.

These swings were the first few of the day, and I deliberately blocked out all of these thoughts above and just tried to picture myself on the course, aiming at a target like yesterday on the course.

I was hoping my practice work would've bled over more, but I'm clearly doing something wrong and not changing my picture very dramatically. Time to get serious to finish out the season with some sort of improvement.

My Swing


Driver: :ping: G30, Irons: :tmade: Burner 2.0, Putter: :cleveland:, Balls: :snell:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • 2 weeks later...

Got a great analysis from Evolvr, but unfortunately, I've done a couple weeks of work with basically no progress. Hmmm. I don't see a difference really. I'll do screenshots in a bit.

My Swing


Driver: :ping: G30, Irons: :tmade: Burner 2.0, Putter: :cleveland:, Balls: :snell:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

My goal was to lower my left shoulder more (not flatten out on the top), and keep my right elbow in front of my shirt seam. I thought I was doing that in my practice sessions. Apparently not!

Sorry for the sun angle. I'll watch that next time! I go slightly less far past parallel at the top.  I don't think my right elbow changed at all.  Not sure I brought my left shoulder down under my chin any better either.  When I practice and go slow motion, I feel like I do. It all goes back to the same picture at full speed somehow.

My Swing


Driver: :ping: G30, Irons: :tmade: Burner 2.0, Putter: :cleveland:, Balls: :snell:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Here's the DTL comparison:

If there are many changes, I can't see it. My left shoulder doesn't seem to go down like I've been practicing.  Right elbow doesn't seem to stay in front much (if any) more. Time to reread "Changing the Picture" thread.

My Swing


Driver: :ping: G30, Irons: :tmade: Burner 2.0, Putter: :cleveland:, Balls: :snell:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Holy crap, because nobody guessed the correct Newport Cup winning team (it was a trick question, apparently), the fine folks running the event decided to award me with

The Prize:

A PING G30 driver (you select the stock shaft and loft to fit) shipped directly to you!

Here's a pic of my current driver that was fitted almost exactly a year ago:

SLDR 9.5 set to Standard Loft.

Shaft is Fujikura 57g Regular Flex.

During that fitting, we tried many brands, although I didn't record anything about the session, unfortunately.  We tried many different brands, different lofts, different flexes, different lengths. It was a very professional fitting at a very nice facility (http://www.golffittingstudios.com/westfields.php).

I can't find the paperwork anymore, so I'm kicking myself that I do not know the length. I'll call them to see if they have it recorded, or just measure myself. Novel idea.

If anyone has thoughts about how to "spec" this new prize, I'm all ears.

I didn't play too much this 2015 season (for family reasons), and I mostly stopped tracking things on the course (like driving distance) with phone apps this year, but my sense is that I hit the same with this new driver above as I did with my old "hand-me-down."  And that was after a two-hour long detailed session, whereas my first driver was something I got from a friend free, with no selection process whatsoever. Go figure.

I'd hate to spoil an opportunity like this to get a beautiful new driver and get the wrong specs.

My Swing


Driver: :ping: G30, Irons: :tmade: Burner 2.0, Putter: :cleveland:, Balls: :snell:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

The fine folks at the fitting facility I mentioned above were excited for the prize I won, and my fitter I worked with before will be back from vacation this Friday. He'll let me hit the Ping G30 with various settings to see what works best. Very cool.

  • Upvote 1

My Swing


Driver: :ping: G30, Irons: :tmade: Burner 2.0, Putter: :cleveland:, Balls: :snell:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

First of all, thanks again to the Newport Cup for the opportunity of playing with a Ping G30!!! Absolutely incredible. I went to my fitter today, and he was amazing. He did this for me as a complimentary service, so I promised him I'd be back for a 3-wood next year.

We went through the various types of heads, shafts/flexes, lofts. In the end, these were the shots that stood out as best when grouped against other configurations. These numbers are for  SF-Tec head, Tour 65 regular shaft, 10 degree loft.

Shot Number

Carry

Total

Clubhead Speed

Ball Speed

Smash Factor

Spin

Axis (+Right/-Left)

Vertical Launch Angle

Horizontal Launch Angle

Height

Shot Type

1

225

230

94.7

143.3

1.51

2,518

9.0

11.1

0.0

82

fade

2

222

226

95.1

141.9

1.49

3,354

14.8

10.1

1.5

84

slice

3

217

221

92.8

139.2

1.50

3,551

10.0

12.7

2.4

93

fade

4

222

230

99.1

143.5

1.45

2,144

13.4

14.5

6.2

86

push fade

5

242

249

97.2

147.9

1.52

2,411

0.2

13.6

1.7

93

straight

6

231

244

95.4

141.3

1.48

2,211

-1.2

13.1

-1.7

75

straight

7

219

243

99.3

143.8

1.45

1,421

-8.2

11.2

-1.7

56

draw

8

236

244

98.3

146.9

1.49

2,550

-0.3

8.9

0.2

74

draw

9

234

239

97.4

146.9

1.51

2,444

8.8

10.7

-0.2

86

fade

10

232

238

96.3

144.6

1.50

2,256

7.5

10.7

1.3

79

fade

11

228

237

97.3

142.3

1.46

2,224

11.4

15.0

2.1

85

fade

12

236

243

96.0

145.1

1.51

2,702

5.2

10.5

0.4

82

fade

13

233

241

96.1

145.6

1.52

2,686

9.3

10.7

1.4

82

fade

AVERAGE

229.0

237.3

96.5

144.0

1.5

2,497.8

6.1

11.8

1.0

81.3

DEV

7.5

8.2

1.8

2.5

534.9

6.7

1.8

2.0

9.5

I was deliberately swinging at a fairly relaxed/comfortable speed, trying to stay controlled and keep in effect the recent advice from Evolvr that I've been applying to my 7-iron. Basic stuff: lower left shoulder on backswing, right elbow in front of shirt seam, trying to lay club off from the top, etc.  I was NOT trying to plaster the ball, but thought that if I just go nice n steady for all swings, that might be the most effective comparison.

Rounding it out: carry of 230yds, total just shy of 240, 96-97mph swing speed, 2500rpm spin. Mostly fades.

(FYI: I disregarded the info about left and right from centerline, as I hadn't realized my target was supposed to be way different from what I was actually aiming at. He said it would not impact the numbers here.) Here was how they looked if this were on a fairway, when centered on my aim point:

One OB right (or in the woods at least), one low left and in trouble. Most fairway or rough probably. I'm ok with that, as I'm usually good for at least 2 errant drives per round.

The LS Tec club head was a push slice mostly, and the fitter said he expected that. Easily eliminated.

The standard club head was about 5yds shorter than the SF-Tec, on average. More fades than straight shots.

The SF-Tec straightened out my shot a bit, compared to the other club heads, and increased length by a tad.

With that, we honed in on shafts and lofts. In nearly all of the 5-10 shot batches with different driver configurations, I kept the average swing speed between 96-97mph, so I'm kinda proud of that (apples-apples comparisons).

Anyway, the fitter just kept handing me new drivers and said "ok, now try this." And I'd hit anywhere from 5-10, until he had seen enough. The flight scope system has a way to give each configuration a rating, presumably accounting for bad shots, and it arrived at the same configuration I had come to while we were testing things out: SF-Tec/tour65 shaft. Easy- decision made!

Again, thanks Newport Cup for the G30!!!! It really is thrilling to get a new piece of equipment. Overall, the differences in each configuration felt very slight in my hands, but by using technology with enough swings with each, we were able to detect nuances in how they performed for me this morning. Club fitting, if nothing else, helps you feel confident that you're making a decent decision with the best available information at hand.

I'll post here when the new driver arrives. I'm very excited to add the Ping G30 to the bag, and I'll see if I can get more confidence off the tee than I had with my TM SLDR. I'm not expecting miracles, but my first impression is that it feels a bit more forgiving.

I also look forward to improving my swing a bit and starting to feel the confidence to really go after the ball with the G30! I've been getting an average of 240-245yds with my driver for the past couple seasons, but I'd like to see that pushing into the 250s, if possible. Maybe if this G30 more forgiving, I'll be able to confidently add speed... and with Evolvr improving my technique, I don't see why 250 is out of reach.

My Swing


Driver: :ping: G30, Irons: :tmade: Burner 2.0, Putter: :cleveland:, Balls: :snell:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • 3 weeks later...
(edited)

 

I haven't submitted video with the new site yet, so hope the links above transform into embedded video. Any thoughts on the swing welcome. These are my latest submission to Evolvr.  

Mainly I was trying to shorten the backswing. Also not to cup my left wrist on the backswing and start of downswing. I'm still unable to "lay the club" flatter- quite steep.  Those were my priorities mostly. Work in progress.

For those interested, my PING G30 arrived!!-->http://thesandtrap.com/forums/topic/84643-member-review-ping-g30-sf-tec/?do=findComment&comment=1134801

 

 

 

Edited by RandallT

My Swing


Driver: :ping: G30, Irons: :tmade: Burner 2.0, Putter: :cleveland:, Balls: :snell:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Moderator
(edited)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysf43AkcvQ4I haven't submitted video with the new site yet, so hope the links above transform into embedded video. Any thoughts on the swing welcome. These are my latest submission to Evolvr.  

Mainly I was trying to shorten the backswing. Also not to cup my left wrist on the backswing and start of downswing. I'm still unable to "lay the club" flatter- quite steep.  Those were my priorities mostly. Work in progress.

A lot of good stuff going on, especially from the face-on view, A1 is ideal.

Edited by mvmac

Mike McLoughlin

Check out my friends on Evolvr!
Follow The Sand Trap on Twitter!  and on Facebook
Golf Terminology -  Analyzr  -  My FacebookTwitter and Instagram 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Thanks, Mike. At least I've got A1 going for me! :-D It does feel more natural now. When I started with Evolvr last year, I had a totally different stance, so that's good progress.

Unfortunately, I was just comparing the swing when I put a hold on my Evolvr lessons last year to today's swing. I seem to have regressed quite a bit, and I've worked pretty hard this month with very little picture-changing.

I was planning to play a lot of golf in September but decided to focus on  range and mirror work instead. Save the $ for rounds and look to next season. Stephan is being patient with me, but I remain stuck on the same things. I think I've been doing my mirror work all wrong or something, because at even very slow speeds at the range, I can't get anything to show up on video the way I think I see it in the mirror.

Next step is to submit a slow swing- one that I think I've got things in better shape. If that's all wrong, there's no hope that speeding it up will be a worthwhile endeavor.

My Swing


Driver: :ping: G30, Irons: :tmade: Burner 2.0, Putter: :cleveland:, Balls: :snell:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

(edited)

Well, I got my Evolvr analysis back on the swing above. Not a surprise, but it seems to be quite a regression in progress from previously. I had been working in the mirror pretty diligently on shortening my backswing, laying the club down on the downswing, losing the steepness at A5, and not cupping my left wrist. Well, in doing that, I made a total mess of things it seems. I picked up a few of my old bad habits, and created new issues. I don't recall ever having my arms come too far inside on the takeaway, for example. Now it stands out as something I need to undo.

My lesson is that I should not be self-congratulatory that I spend a lot of time in the mirror doing what I think is good work. I was actually doing substantial damage to my swing, I think. Duh. I should've known because my range sessions after submitting the video were truly awful- even with my new G30. 

Also, on the range, I thought I was reviewing video and making sure the picture was improving. Nope, I was conning myself that what I was feeling was looking better on the video. If anything, my swing is worse. 

Also, I need to understand better what the heck I'm doing before I try to invent ways to do it in slow motion. I have zero clue what it means to lay the club down on the downswing. I mean, I know what it means... but I have no idea how to create that effect so I was just guessing how to do it. In my slow motion swings, I believe I was ingraining some goofy way with my forearms of artificially laying the club flatter as I started the downswing. When I sped it up, there was no hope that it would work.

So my lesson is: do some slow motion swings on video and send those in. I'll try to do that soon.  I have a better idea on some mechanics that should lead to the flattening of the downswing now, thanks to the recent analysis.

I simply need to understand more about what my instructor is telling me to do, and not work on it unless I truly understand! I should've asked for clarification last time, but I marched on thinking I could figure it out myself. That was a month wasted on stuff that was pointless or damaging. Again, duh.

Back to the process. Although this was a step back, hopefully there's a couple steps forward in the next weeks ahead.

 

Edited by RandallT

My Swing


Driver: :ping: G30, Irons: :tmade: Burner 2.0, Putter: :cleveland:, Balls: :snell:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Note: This thread is 2367 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Welcome to TST! Signing up is free, and you'll see fewer ads and can talk with fellow golf enthusiasts! By using TST, you agree to our Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and our Guidelines.

The popup will be closed in 10 seconds...