My Swing (billchao)

[boogielicious]

12 hours ago, billchao said:

Thank you for the compliment. I have no idea why I don’t play as well as my swing would indicate. I mean I have some theories, but that’s neither here nor there.

The only thing say for certain is that I’ve always stuck with the idea that I wanted to build a good golf swing and the scoring would follow. And while my scores have improved over the years, they’re not where I’d like them to be.

I’m starting to change that of late and trying to focus less on mechanical changes and more on results. Learning to make golf shots instead of golf swings, if you will. It’s easier said than done seeing as the majority of my practice is done in my yard into a net.

It’s almost the opposite approach most people take to the game. They take whatever swing they have and learn to play with it. I’ve changed my swing so much over the years, I couldn’t tell you which direction my ball is going to turn until I hit it. Even now I could warm up on the range before the round and hit nothing but draws only to find I’m fading the ball on the course. It’s hard to aim if you don’t know if the ball is going to draw or fade.

The two way miss is really frustrating as we both know. You’ve got loads of power, which most strive to get, so you don’t need to work on that. Erik has a piece for you to work on as well. But how much time do you spend working on ball position and face angle at set up? And do you ever go to the range and just work on start line and curve?

We both spend a lot of time hitting into our nets, which is a great tool. But seeing flight is important too. Perhaps a few sessions at the range working on ball position and face angle can help you eliminate half the course so to speak. For me, I need to trust the aim left with the feet and right with the face approach and keep the ball forward. You need to find that.

[ncates00]

On 6/25/2021 at 10:29 PM, billchao said:

I think it looks good

Yes, it does. Your swing has always looked fantastic, dude. I’m jealous.

[billchao]

On 7/4/2021 at 7:29 AM, boogielicious said:

The two way miss is really frustrating as we both know. You’ve got loads of power, which most strive to get, so you don’t need to work on that. Erik has a piece for you to work on as well. But how much time do you spend working on ball position and face angle at set up? And do you ever go to the range and just work on start line and curve?

We both spend a lot of time hitting into our nets, which is a great tool. But seeing flight is important too. Perhaps a few sessions at the range working on ball position and face angle can help you eliminate half the course so to speak. For me, I need to trust the aim left with the feet and right with the face approach and keep the ball forward. You need to find that.

Yea unfortunately that’s the problem. I can find time to practice in my yard because it takes less than a minute to set up and I can quit at a moment's notice if I need to. Going to the range requires a larger commitment of my time.

I thought long and hard about getting a Mevo+, but at the end of the day it’s a lot of money to spend and if I can’t put more time into it, I might not see much improvement anyway. I’ve been hovering around the same index for two years now and I’m beginning to think I’ve just hit the ceiling in terms of how much time I can put into this game.

[iacas]

It’s not really about the time, but how you use it.

More skill, less technique.

[billchao]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

It’s not really about the time, but how you use it.

More skill, less technique.

I get what you’re saying, but what I mean by time is some days I might have an hour to practice, some days 20 minutes. It’s hard to gauge beforehand how long each session will be, so I generally just practice in my yard.

But yea there’s stuff I can do skill-wise there like the contact work I did on Saturday. I’m definitely going to have to change my practice habits a bit.

[Double Mocha Man]

38 minutes ago, billchao said:

Yea unfortunately that’s the problem. I can find time to practice in my yard because it takes less than a minute to set up and I can quit at a moment's notice if I need to. Going to the range requires a larger commitment of my time.

I thought long and hard about getting a Mevo+, but at the end of the day it’s a lot of money to spend and if I can’t put more time into it, I might not see much improvement anyway. I’ve been hovering around the same index for two years now and I’m beginning to think I’ve just hit the ceiling in terms of how much time I can put into this game.

Hey Bill... if you decide to give up the game can I have your swing?  I figure if I apply my athleticism to it I'll be a plus index in no time.

[dennyjones]

2 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Hey Bill... if you decide to give up the game can I have your swing?  I figure if I apply my athleticism to it I'll be a plus index in no time.

get in line!

 

behind me!

[boogielicious]

53 minutes ago, billchao said:

Yea unfortunately that’s the problem. I can find time to practice in my yard because it takes less than a minute to set up and I can quit at a moment's notice if I need to. Going to the range requires a larger commitment of my time.

I thought long and hard about getting a Mevo+, but at the end of the day it’s a lot of money to spend and if I can’t put more time into it, I might not see much improvement anyway. I’ve been hovering around the same index for two years now and I’m beginning to think I’ve just hit the ceiling in terms of how much time I can put into this game.

I hear what your saying and with two kids, it won’t be any easier for the next few years. You’ve already done some of this though. At Whispering Woods, you committed to play the fade mid round and had a good set of holes in a row. Try that next time out, always set up for a fade and see what happens. I’m committing to set up for my push on every shot and just collect the data. Sometimes I miss hit or hook it and then I realize I didn’t set up right. Just collect the data.

[billchao]

2 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Hey Bill... if you decide to give up the game can I have your swing?  I figure if I apply my athleticism to it I'll be a plus index in no time.

Who said anything about giving up the game?

2 hours ago, boogielicious said:

I hear what your saying and with two kids, it won’t be any easier for the next few years. You’ve already done some of this though. At Whispering Woods, you committed to play the fade mid round and had a good set of holes in a row. Try that next time out, always set up for a fade and see what happens. I’m committing to set up for my push on every shot and just collect the data. Sometimes I miss hit or hook it and then I realize I didn’t set up right. Just collect the data.

Well I still do that, so if it counts, then I totally practice club face/path control 😉

[iacas]

5 hours ago, billchao said:

I get what you’re saying, but what I mean by time is some days I might have an hour to practice, some days 20 minutes. It’s hard to gauge beforehand how long each session will be, so I generally just practice in my yard.

But yea there’s stuff I can do skill-wise there like the contact work I did on Saturday. I’m definitely going to have to change my practice habits a bit.

I wasn't commenting on your time or where you practice, but you can still do more "skill" work and less "technique" work at home. Into a net.

[billchao]

 

Haven’t posted a swing video in a while. Actually I haven’t even touched my clubs for two weeks until yesterday. Not good. Played horribly. Somehow I still hit 6 GIR, so it was just the bad shots were absolutely horrible. And judging by the above videos, my filming skills are rusty, too.

It’s about the time of year where one excuse or another takes me away from the game, so it’s to be expected.

I tried to clean some stuff up, just getting back into the routine, and focused only on getting a little more depth at A5 and less steep.

 

Going to have to put in more time so I can enjoy the second half of the season.

[iacas]

56 minutes ago, billchao said:

Going to have to put in more time so I can enjoy the second half of the season.

Second half? 🙂

[billchao]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Second half? 🙂

Final quarter? Or, as the weather and my schedule has been lately, the last three rounds 😃

[iacas]

15 minutes ago, billchao said:

Final quarter? Or, as the weather and my schedule has been lately, the last three rounds 😃

Whatever the length, the focus still has to be:

• Hitting the clubface.
• Controlling what direction the face is pointing when you do the first thing.

[billchao]

From last night's practice session. The lighting isn't great, but it's enough to see the swing. I'm considering installing some flood lights out there. They would serve double duty so that I could have a lit patio for entertaining or if I just wanted to sit outside or something, but honestly their primary function would be to let me practice in the dark.

Focused on keeping the swing short and doing the elbow/trail hand piece on the downswing. Hit the ball solidly during my round today, but misses were towards the toe. But then I'm not sure I know anything anymore because I hit one way off the toe that felt like complete crap that I was sure was going to be short and it ended up on the back of the green, and another I swore I hit solidly that ended up five yards short.

Pulled a few shots. Start direction is still a WIP. I'll take solidly hit, though. Had two blow up holes where I just lost the swing. Oh well, shit happens.

[billchao]

Played like crap today and took videos on #17 and #18 to see why.

 

Ugh that's ugly. I can't imagine I've been swinging that much differently these past two weeks and I had played well up until today, so I get the feeling that I was just timing things better. I have to put in a lot more practice at this point because I feel like this swing is worse than the one I went to Erie with earlier in the year.

[chspeed]

18 hours ago, billchao said:

Played like crap today and took videos on #17 and #18 to see why.

 

Ugh that's ugly. I can't imagine I've been swinging that much differently these past two weeks and I had played well up until today, so I get the feeling that I was just timing things better. I have to put in a lot more practice at this point because I feel like this swing is worse than the one I went to Erie with earlier in the year.

Out of curiosity, other than the head moving up and forward in the downswing, what are the issues that you see with the swing in the video?

[billchao]

2 hours ago, chspeed said:

Out of curiosity, other than the head moving up and forward in the downswing, what are the issues that you see with the swing in the video?

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.