My Swing (billchao)

[GolfLug]

On 8/24/2023 at 6:39 PM, billchao said:

Short game has gotten pretty decent since watching the Rick Shiels video and realizing I was opening the clubface the wrong way. I’ve also kind of simplified my short game by having just a couple of basic motions and varying my club selection based on the situation. I have a basic chip motion I can use with all of my wedges and even into the mid-irons. I have a basic pitch that for my 60°, 55°, 50°, and PW depending on how far I want to fly the ball and how much room for roll I have. Then obviously slight speed variations in between depending on what I want the ball to do, but given a choice I prefer to make the smaller swing and use a lower lofted club and just let the ball roll towards the hole over flying it most of the way. It does lead to some mistakes in shot selection but it’s not like I wasn’t making those mistakes before using predominantly the one wedge for all shots. Execution is easier this way and I’m getting consistently better.

Except for bunkers, though. They are still the bane of my existence.

I neglected in keeping up my basic short game motions - 1/2, 3/4, Pitches, chitches and chips. Kinda false confidence of having them 'in the bag'. Looking back, the confidence waned and affected the long game confidence too. 

[billchao]

Did some actual swing work today. Wanted to work on the flat to steep move and the logical fix for that is to do the exact opposite, so I took the club back ridiculously steep and shallowed it out in transition:

 

I liked what I saw with the club shaft there, but not so much with the clubface. Definitely closed in the early backswing. Ok, so tweaked that a bit after reviewing those videos:

 

I'm pretty happy with that. Spent the better part of an hour just doing this. I feel like I can take this feel to the course pretty easily.

 

7 hours ago, GolfLug said:

I neglected in keeping up my basic short game motions - 1/2, 3/4, Pitches, chitches and chips. Kinda false confidence of having them 'in the bag'. Looking back, the confidence waned and affected the long game confidence too. 

Yea I go through these cycles where I'll make an adjustment and do well for a couple of rounds and then completely stop focusing on it which causes me to lose it. You'd think I'd learn by now but I'm pretty dense, apparently.

[billchao]

Saving this here because it’s important. I need to actively feel the release 2 and 3 because I tend to drag the handle. Feels like I’m bowing the right hand like I’m flipping at it. Very important not to roll the wrists over. Clubface points at me at A7.

Also the chest turn thing really resonates with me because I found that I start my short game shots by pulling the club back, hands moving right along the sagittal plane. Kind of explains why I struggle to find the ground consistently. Actually “chest turn” might be in this second video. Doesn’t matter where I heard it I guess.

This one was pretty good for me, too. The Pelz system has stopped working for me for a while. Again, not finding a consistent swing bottom. This is just setup and turn which I found surprisingly easy and hit the ball really cleanly. Weight left and pivot over that. Need to dial in my distances once I get the motion down because I was hitting them longer than I expected today, then adjusting by trying to take something off the swing and hitting it shorter than I wanted.

[billchao]

I mentioned that I was struggling with my partial wedges and shots 50-100 yards. Really inconsistent swing bottom and contact: fat and thin shots. The second video from the post above really helped clean up contact tremendously.

Here are my SG:A stats from a couple of weeks ago (hdcp benchmark is 10):

The proximity stats are equally as stupid:

I made the adjustment last Saturday, but learned fairly quickly that my distances were way off. A product of accidentally hitting the ball out of the sweet spot possibly, or simply that changing to a different wedge technique resulted in slightly different distances than I’m used to. The end result was that I was hitting everything long and taking too much off when trying to adjust for it mid-round. So while the improvement didn’t really reflect in the SG:A stats, it did show more in the proximity stats:

 

On Sunday, I tried to really focus on the distance control, accepting that my new “3/4” swing was about 8-10 yards longer than my old one and then dialing it down by choking down on the grip. That ended up working out well:

 

I put 6/6 shots on the green from 50-100 yards. That seems to be pretty good.

What can I learn from one or two rounds in isolation? Probably nothing, tbh. I do know that my contact has gotten much better. The only 3/4 wedge shot that I missed with was a GW attempt on #2 that I hit just slightly fat, so even that was an improvement. Again, small sample size. I’ll stick with it and keep monitoring things going forward.

We’re not going to talk about my game inside of 50 yards, though. I’m currently playing like a 5 with the worst short game and putting ever or a 25 with the best long game ever. How that’s even possible in the same person is beyond my comprehension, but I guess I just like to be different 😜

[ChetlovesMer]

59 minutes ago, billchao said:

What can I learn from one or two rounds in isolation? Probably nothing, tbh.

I'm not sure that's true. ...It looks like progress. 

The challenge comes in maintaining that progress... or better yet, building upon it. 

[billchao]

56 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I'm not sure that's true. ...It looks like progress. 

The challenge comes in maintaining that progress... or better yet, building upon it. 

I’m mostly hesitant to call it more than what it is at the moment, which is a single round in which I hit a bunch of really good approach shots. It could be progress for sure, but maybe I was just “on it” that day. On the flip side, my putting on Sunday was worse than usual, even by my standards. It was just an off day (for me) there.

I could have a setback this weekend. I’ve played this game long enough to know that much.

[GolfLug]

3 hours ago, billchao said:

I’m mostly hesitant to call it more than what it is at the moment, which is a single round in which I hit a bunch of really good approach shots. It could be progress for sure, but maybe I was just “on it” that day. On the flip side, my putting on Sunday was worse than usual, even by my standards. It was just an off day (for me) there.

I could have a setback this weekend. I’ve played this game long enough to know that much.

How's the grass? If it is still wintery  super dormant/wet, you should not underestimate how much it screws up even very well settled short game players. Don't get into overanalyzing of SG data. Not yet. Stick to your mechanics. 

Edited April 4, 2024 by GolfLug

[billchao]

1 hour ago, GolfLug said:

How's the grass? If it is still wintery  super dormant/wet, you should not underestimate how much it screws up even very well settled short game players. Don't get into overanalyzing of SG data. Not yet. Stick to your mechanics. 

I haven’t played a dry round in over a month, when the ground was still frozen. It has rained every week in March and not in small amounts. We’ve had over 3” of rain in the past 72 hours.

I’m not overanalyzing my data. I just had some time to kill.

[GolfLug]

1 hour ago, billchao said:

I haven’t played a dry round in over a month, when the ground was still frozen. It has rained every week in March and not in small amounts. We’ve had over 3” of rain in the past 72 hours.

Yah.

1 hour ago, billchao said:

I’m not overanalyzing my data.

Maybe that came out a bit wrong. Resulting distance and proximity can be misleading indicators of your strike mechanics off dormant/wet grass and muddy soaked ground. Ball takes off funny especially if you have downward strike (good). Distance variability is going to be very high. I putt from 15 yards out unless I absolutely have to use a wedge and use a low bounce wedge just for winter and my mechanics become overly picky. Every short shot is a hit and hope till the grass comes back and mud becomes soil again. Just sayin. 

Simon sez, this is your year.

[billchao]

15 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

this is your year

I say that every year.

But so did Cubs fans 😜

[TN94z]

It looks like improvement to me as well. For sure something to build on.  I'm curious to see more updates on it.

I actually went out in the yard after watching the videos you posted and tried the techniques. They felt really good and consistent. I would have to take it to the range and see with some longer shots but I liked it.

 

[billchao]

I probably should have watched this video months ago. As @GolfLug pointed out, the turf conditions have been a problem. This helps explain why I haven’t really been consistent with a standard pitch (release 2) shot and have been resorting to using what I like to call a lofted chip (release 1) technique pretty much everywhere. I thought I was limiting myself by relying on only the one method but it seems that it’s ok.

I also think I have to get out of the mindset that there’s a “correct shot” to hit in any given situation and then fail to execute it for whatever reason and just go with whatever shot I’m confident in that I can hit reasonably well. Like if I’m short-sided with a bunker to carry I need to stop trying to hit a high flop near the pin and just chip it out 10’ past the hole because the latter still leaves me putting if I fail to execute it.

[boogielicious]

6 hours ago, billchao said:

I probably should have watched this video months ago. As @GolfLug pointed out, the turf conditions have been a problem. This helps explain why I haven’t really been consistent with a standard pitch (release 2) shot and have been resorting to using what I like to call a lofted chip (release 1) technique pretty much everywhere. I thought I was limiting myself by relying on only the one method but it seems that it’s ok.

I also think I have to get out of the mindset that there’s a “correct shot” to hit in any given situation and then fail to execute it for whatever reason and just go with whatever shot I’m confident in that I can hit reasonably well. Like if I’m short-sided with a bunker to carry I need to stop trying to hit a high flop near the pin and just chip it out 10’ past the hole because the latter still leaves me putting if I fail to execute it.

I’ve been using the technique Erik taught us last year for most short game shots this year. The ground has been uneven and it seems to get the best results.

[billchao]

11 hours ago, boogielicious said:

I’ve been using the technique Erik taught us last year for most short game shots this year. The ground has been uneven and it seems to get the best results.

The ground is so soft, I have been having trouble with hitting basic pitch shots fat. I have been playing a lot but I don’t really have the time to work on it so I have to go with whatever works best for now, and that’s the release one shot.

[TN94z]

19 hours ago, billchao said:

I probably should have watched this video months ago. As @GolfLug pointed out, the turf conditions have been a problem. This helps explain why I haven’t really been consistent with a standard pitch (release 2) shot and have been resorting to using what I like to call a lofted chip (release 1) technique pretty much everywhere. I thought I was limiting myself by relying on only the one method but it seems that it’s ok.

I also think I have to get out of the mindset that there’s a “correct shot” to hit in any given situation and then fail to execute it for whatever reason and just go with whatever shot I’m confident in that I can hit reasonably well. Like if I’m short-sided with a bunker to carry I need to stop trying to hit a high flop near the pin and just chip it out 10’ past the hole because the latter still leaves me putting if I fail to execute it.

I have been watching his videos since the first one you posted. I have only tried it in the yard so far but it feels really good. I saw another where Rick Shiels had a lesson with him. It explained a lot as well.

[billchao]

39 minutes ago, TN94z said:

I have been watching his videos since the first one you posted. I have only tried it in the yard so far but it feels really good. I saw another where Rick Shiels had a lesson with him. It explained a lot as well.

We have a topic on that one:

It was actually @iacas who pointed me to Dan Grieve’s videos. I mentioned it to him at some point that I was having trouble with the short game and he told me to go watch them. Then I completely forgot about it and they popped up on my YT feed.

[billchao]

Went to a PING fitting day today. Going to be ordering a G430 Max 3w with a 75g x-stiff shaft at 5w length and a 3h. I forget what my fitter did with the shaft on that but she told me she’s going to email the club the specs of everything.

The 3w combination we found pretty quickly. As for the hybrid, we tried a bunch of different head and shaft combinations for that distance with mixed results. Then she handed me the 3h and I took three swings with it and knew it was the one.

[billchao]

My short game is no longer a dumpster fire. It’s bordering on being the best part of my game at this point. I still need to stay out of the bunkers but I’m starting to hit shots to makeable distances (if only I could putt).

I’ve pretty much gotten the three releases down. My feels for the releases:

1. Drive the handle forward. I haven’t used this one too much lately.
2. Left hand pulls the club. This is my standard motion.
3. Right hand pushes the club. I use this occasionally for flop shots.

I’m still in the process of learning how the ball reacts on the green with different shots so there’s plenty of room for improvement. The contact is clean so I’ll be able to dial it in with experience. The most important thing is to slow my tempo down. Way down. I need to bring the club back slowly so that momentum doesn’t put the clubhead in weird places. Not trying to create lag around the greens.

Full swing has kind of fallen off but I haven’t practiced much lately. I’ll probably try to get some time in before the Ohio outing.