My Swing (billchao)

[chspeed]

26 minutes ago, billchao said:

I crushed that ball, btw. Just not in the direction I intended

Ha ha! Know the feeling. Good luck with all the changes.

[dennyjones]

@billchaowhat are you using to hold your phone while playing?   I have a tripod but it's not practical to carry on the course.

[boogielicious]

2 hours ago, billchao said:

Head moving up and forward is from moving down and back too much in the backswing. It’s ok to tip back a little bit with the driver, but proper recentering isn’t happening at all in these swings which made another timing component.

Club is set late, goes across the line, funky wrist stuff I’ve been fighting since I started playing this game. Leads to steep transition so I shallow hard, late, end up underplane and swinging way out. Trail elbow moves behind the hip and thus behind the pivot.

Lots of stuff I’ve worked on, had lessons to fix, and clearly haven’t done so.

I crushed that ball, btw. Just not in the direction I intended.

Just go back to the basic pieces and work on them one at a time.

[billchao]

3 hours ago, dennyjones said:

@billchaowhat are you using to hold your phone while playing?   I have a tripod but it's not practical to carry on the course.

I use a GorillaPod with a phone mount attachment. Square Jellyfish I think.

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

Just go back to the basic pieces and work on them one at a time.

Yea, I know what I have to do, it’s a matter of just doing it. Kind of let stuff go for a bit because I was striking the ball well and intentionally not working on mechanics.

It’s a lot of things to list but few actual pieces, because they’re related. The elbow piece is actually harder to do separately from the club set IME, and the path/face stuff corrects itself if I do that correctly.

[billchao]

 

Focused on just setting the club today. Put it in a good position in the backswing and everything else kind of falls in place.

[woodzie264]

Such a sexy swing - nice work!

[iacas]

2 hours ago, woodzie264 said:

Such a sexy swing - nice work!

It's always looked good. Bill has to keep the parts that "look good" while finding the clubface and having that clubface pointing somewhere in the right direction. 🙂

[Carl3]

3 hours ago, woodzie264 said:

Such a sexy swing - nice work!

He is also a snappy dresser when on the course. I am disappointed to see him dressing down for his practice session. 

[billchao]

8 hours ago, woodzie264 said:

Such a sexy swing - nice work!

I’m happy with the last post, but before that I hadn’t been putting in any work and the swing looked like a steaming pile of 💩 

5 hours ago, iacas said:

It's always looked good. Bill has to keep the parts that "look good" while finding the clubface and having that clubface pointing somewhere in the right direction. 🙂

I’ve learned to just accept that I push the ball. It works great - until I pull it 😃

4 hours ago, Carl3 said:

He is also a snappy dresser when on the course. I am disappointed to see him dressing down for his practice session. 

For the record, I usually practice in my work clothes. I’m pretty dressed up for my line of work.

[woodzie264]

7 hours ago, iacas said:

It's always looked good. Bill has to keep the parts that "look good" while finding the clubface and having that clubface pointing somewhere in the right direction. 🙂

Hahahah

[boogielicious]

14 hours ago, billchao said:

I’ve learned to just accept that I push the ball. It works great - until I pull it 😃

You have got to figure out the reason. For me, it’s either setup or a short fast backswing. The latter is easy to feel that I did wrong, I was fast, I was short. The result is a pull or bad push if I try to save it. I correct with the long, slow, high feel.

The setup is also a routine thing. Lately, I’ve been setting up like Erik does, set the face for my start line, then get into my stance. I try not to move the club at all after setting it. I should be set with my feet left of target and the face slightly right. I pay attention to make sure my shoulders aren’t closed or open WRT my foot line. I film it too and sometimes find my feet are wrong. When your practicing even into your net, try to set up the same way each time.

[GolfLug]

3 hours ago, boogielicious said:

You have got to figure out the reason.

Wouldn't that be worth some $$$ !

I watched for an entire week at SV. @saevel25in the same boat. The good and pure shots they both hit were stupid good. Long too. Honest to god, they both seem to be soooo close to being soooo good at all times. Sooner or later somethings gotta break loose in the right direction.  

Edited September 17, 2021 by GolfLug

[billchao]

6 hours ago, boogielicious said:

You have got to figure out the reason.

It’s probably the same as it’s always been. I have a range swing and a course swing. The course swing is just a little bit longer and a little less mechanically sound - just enough to cause bigger variations in the resulting shot.

I’ve always had the mentality of make good swings and good results will follow, but I think I need more of a make the ball do what you want it to attitude. I feel like I have to shape the shot, even if it’s my stock shot. It’s about the mental focus. Deliberate action. I need to hit it to my target because that’s what I want to do with it, not because I’m hoping it would end up there.

I’m not sure if I’m explaining that well, TBH.

[billchao]

On 9/15/2021 at 9:24 PM, billchao said:

 

Focused on just setting the club today. Put it in a good position in the backswing and everything else kind of falls in place.

Yup, this was the move. I was striping the ball today. Hit 8/14 fairways at Neshanic, which isn't easy. Unfortunately I didn't score well, because my short game decided not to show up to the course for the first 12 holes and I kept lipping out 5-10 footers. Thinned/chunked a handful of shots inside 100. Ended up with 7 GIR, should have been 10. Did almost drive a 315 yard par 4, though. Made two birdies and missed two 8' birdie putts - one on a 200 yard par 3. It was an interesting day.

[DeadMan]

On 9/17/2021 at 1:47 PM, billchao said:

It’s probably the same as it’s always been. I have a range swing and a course swing. The course swing is just a little bit longer and a little less mechanically sound - just enough to cause bigger variations in the resulting shot.

I’ve always had the mentality of make good swings and good results will follow, but I think I need more of a make the ball do what you want it to attitude. I feel like I have to shape the shot, even if it’s my stock shot. It’s about the mental focus. Deliberate action. I need to hit it to my target because that’s what I want to do with it, not because I’m hoping it would end up there.

I’m not sure if I’m explaining that well, TBH.

I think it might be simpler than that. 

How often do you check your alignment? I wasn't paying close attention to this, but I noticed a few times on the SV trip that you were lined up nowhere near your target. That will lead to a big miss, as either you will hit the ball towards your alignment or your brain will try to compensate and you'll hit some really wild shots. I would spend a few minutes next time you're at the range just working on aligning to the target.

Also, have you committed to a shot shape? There were times where you were debating between a draw and a fade on the SV trip. Don't do that. Find one shot and always hit that shot. If you can do that, your miss might turn into a one-way miss, which will help you get better. Do not try to hit the other shot unless you absolutely have to. I would recommend the stick drill next time you're at the range. Put a stick in the ground 20 feet in front of your target line. Have the ball start on one side of the stick and curve back towards the stick. 

I'm really not sure it's a range vs. course swing issue. Your swing looked pretty good on the course.

[iacas]

Full agreement with Dan.

[billchao]

2 hours ago, DeadMan said:

How often do you check your alignment?

Almost never. I don’t go to the driving range. I could say that I’ll change that, but I’d be lying.

2 hours ago, DeadMan said:

Also, have you committed to a shot shape? There were times where you were debating between a draw and a fade on the SV trip.

I wasn’t debating over the shot shape, I didn’t know which direction the ball was going to turn. There’s a difference 😃

I’ve pretty much committed to hitting a fade. Slight push is fine which tends to be my miss more often than a pull.

2 hours ago, DeadMan said:

I'm really not sure it's a range vs. course swing issue. Your swing looked pretty good on the course.

I’ve never taken a swing video on the course that looks anywhere near what I’m doing at home. There’s definitely a difference.

[saevel25]

I agree, the swing looked good at SV. I agree with the losing focus on some minor details we take for granted sometimes. There are times I will find a line, start thinking about something and forget were I wanted to aim. The number of times I find people aiming way left or right because the tee box points them there is mind boggling.

Play a few rounds were you have a mental checklist, or try to commit to a pre-shot routine with focusing on alignment. 

2 minutes ago, billchao said:

I’ve never taken a swing video on the course that looks anywhere near what I’m doing at home. There’s definitely a difference.

If you are just hitting shots at the range to hit good shots, I doubt there is a difference. If you are focusing on making swing changes (exaggeration), then there will be a difference. Still, there is no difference unless you have video evidence. Schrodinger's Golf Swing 😛