My Swing (billchao)

[billchao]

I feel the exact same way at times.  My irons are predictable but I get two way misses with woods, especially driver.  Keep at it and really focus on bringing the practice work to the course.  Forget about the last shot too.

I'm starting to think that I'm trying to hit them too far, which leads to the backswing getting longer and destroying everything I'm working towards. With the irons, it's all about control, because I'm trying to hit a specific target on a certain line and at a certain distance. For example, my standard 7 iron is my 160 club, +/- 5-8 yards. I swing my 7 iron like I'm trying to hit it 160, not 190.

For me, I should be looking at my driver as my 250 club and trying to hit it that distance, +/- 10 yards or so, but I'm looking at it as my 250+ club and trying to hit it infinity yards every time I'm on the tee. Then I hit it all over the place because my swing gets out of control. I need to start thinking of hitting a target with my driver (and 3 wood) and actually trying to hit that target.

Basically, I have to think as if I'm staring at a par 3 with my driver or 3 wood in my hand when I'm on the tee. I need to swing to get the ball on the green, not hit it past it. I hope that makes sense. I don't think I articulated as well as I wanted to.

It's funny, too, I'm pretty sure gearing down my swing will actually cause me to hit it farther as well as more accurately due to hitting the sweetspot better and making a better swing. I remember now, when I was working with @pcombs21 , being surprised at how little effort it took to hit my driver the same distance as my "full speed" swing and having much better control over the clubface in the process.

[boogielicious]

[QUOTE name="boogielicious" url="/t/70666/my-swing-billchao/450_30#post_1153003"]   I feel the exact same way at times.  My irons are predictable but I get two way misses with woods, especially driver.  Keep at it and really focus on bringing the practice work to the course.  Forget about the last shot too. [/QUOTE] I'm starting to think that I'm trying to hit them too far, which leads to the backswing getting longer and destroying everything I'm working towards. With the irons, it's all about control, because I'm trying to hit a specific target on a certain line and at a certain distance. For example, my standard 7 iron is my 160 club, +/- 5-8 yards. I swing my 7 iron like I'm trying to hit it 160, not 190. For me, I should be looking at my driver as my 250 club and trying to hit it that distance, +/- 10 yards or so, but I'm looking at it as my 250+ club and trying to hit it infinity yards every time I'm on the tee. Then I hit it all over the place because my swing gets out of control. I need to start thinking of hitting a target with my driver (and 3 wood) and actually trying to hit that target. Basically, I have to think as if I'm staring at a par 3 with my driver or 3 wood in my hand when I'm on the tee. I need to swing to get the ball on the green, not hit it past it. I hope that makes sense. I don't think I articulated as well as I wanted to. It's funny, too, I'm pretty sure gearing down my swing will actually cause me to hit it farther as well as more accurately due to hitting the sweetspot better and making a better swing. I remember now, when I was working with @pcombs21 , being surprised at how little effort it took to hit my driver the same distance as my "full speed" swing and having much better control over the clubface in the process.

Have you tried doing Stephan's drill from the "Shorter probably better" swing thread with the driver? That may help you stop going to far at A4. You are very flexible in the shoulders, and it may help limit the back swing.

[billchao]

Have you tried doing Stephan's drill from the "Shorter probably better" swing thread with the driver? That may help you stop going to far at A4. You are very flexible in the shoulders, and it may help limit the back swing.

My backswing feel is to retain the pressure points on the right triceps and elbow. Almost feels like I'm keeping the right arm connected to my torso. It's more a matter of just doing it or not, and it slips up on the course because I'm trying to hit it really far instead of trying to hit a controlled shot.

---

Some pitches from today:

[saturday]

Bill, I really like your swing! Nice fluid movement and great follow through! Now, since I'm not a pro I won't analyze it but found it kinda cool to see your progression from the first video to the most recent. Good job man.

[billchao]

Bill, I really like your swing! Nice fluid movement and great follow through! Now, since I'm not a pro I won't analyze it but found it kinda cool to see your progression from the first video to the most recent. Good job man.

Thanks for the compliment. Every once in a while, if I get down on myself about the game, I'll go back to the beginning, too. Reminds me that I've made real progress and keeps things in perspective.

[iacas]

Some pitches from today:

Way less wrist stuff please. Feel quite a bit wider than currently.

People who watch the Quickie Pitching video often overdo this piece. Like you are. :)

[billchao]

Way less wrist stuff please. Feel quite a bit wider than currently.

People who watch the Quickie Pitching video often overdo this piece. Like you are. :)

Got it, thanks. Thought I had that under control. Guess I have to keep working on that.

[billchao]

New pitches:

This pitch felt like I stopped at A2. Really closer to A2.8. Left elbow looks a little too soft? Didn't have any contact issues or anything, so I'm not going to worry about it. Simply an observation.

---

Swing check:

Swing got a little long and got the club across the line, thus came down a little steep.

Also took a rear view shot for no real reason, since I'm not sure what to look for:

Need to keep at the left arm going up and the right arm pressure feels.

Edit: Was watching this video of Tiger and noticed two major differences,

1. Tiger's left knee kicks inward while mine stays out.
2. Tiger looks to be in anterior pelvic tilt at A4 while I'm still in anterior.

Not sure if any of this means anything for my swing.

[billchao]

New videos. Got a good feel for getting the wrist bowing in the downswing: changed my left hand grip so the handle is more diagonal in the hand (again, for the umpteenth time, why can't I get this to stick?) and float load the clubhead, allowing the pivot to bow the wrist for me. I think a lot of it has to do with the grip change, too.

Focused on bringing the club straight up and then the floaty downswing feel. Looks a little loose/sloppy because I was just pivoting back and up, letting it reach the limit of my range of motion, then cranking the downswing hard.

[billchao]

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/billchao/round/416731

Haven't sat down and evaluated a round in a while, so let's see if I can learn something. It was very windy today and something possessed me to increase the loft on my driver 3° so I could hit it higher and ride the wind, I guess. Sure worked great, except for the holes that were into the wind.

I didn't hit this drive well, despite the distance. Straight draw that just carried in the wind and drew too much, way off line. Tried to flight down a GW that I ended up pulling and landed in the tall grass behind the green. Hacked it out from there, saved bogey by making a 12' putt.

Same drive as the first, opposite direction. Ended up going nowhere into the wind. Hit a decent 3W to get back on the hole and had a huge brain fart on the approach. Was 130 to the pin with the wind mostly towards me, basically the same exact shot I had last time out when I hit a flighted iron to 4'. Today I pulled out GW for some reason. With the wind, distance, and the ball below my feet, I was never going to get there with that club.

Was inspired by the US Open and decided to pitch the ball onto the ridge that separates the tiers on the green and let it feed down towards the hole. Hit it to about 8', two putt for bogey.

Tried to hit a flighted 6 iron. Ended up over-drawing it way left. Hit a flop to 10', two putted for bogey.

Good drive, followed by a decent second shot that I pushed slightly. Found the ball sitting in a rut on the lip of the bunker and hit it thin, almost topped it really. It caught a good bounce near the greenside bunker and kicked just off the green in the back. Just popped the ball out of the deep rough with my LW, got it to 4' and missed the par putt.

I thought about my first two drives today and figured that I was swinging too far from the inside, so I set up a little open and hit a good drive that went nowhere in the wind. Stuck the GW to about 7', two putted for par.

Hit this drive well, too, right into the fairway bunker. Had another brain fart with the club selection and flew the green. Then I made it worse by hitting the pitch too long. Hit second pitch to 8', two putted for double.

I can't even say the wind was a factor on this one, I just hit a poor shot right off the toe. Fortunately the water level in the pond hasn't been right in a couple of years, so I was able to get down into the hazard and beat up my SW on the rocks, but I got the ball out. Then I pitched it long and three-putted for double anyway.

Probably could have played it from the drop zone for the same score without scratching up the sole of my SW, but I got to see if I could hit that shot out of a hazard for future use. Plus, the sole of my SW is all beat up anyway since that's the club I use when I practice pitching off of concrete.

By now I wasn't feeling all that well and just wanted the round to end. Hit the same pull draw and found the ball sitting in the rough. Might have hit a tree or the boundary fence. Didn't have a good lie for the 3W and hit it anyway, then I pulled my GW again for no good reason.

This first putt from off the green is actually a lot better than it looks. There was a pretty severe break right to left and the whole putt was uphill, with the pin on the upper tier in the back. I hit it onto the fringe and let it roll back towards the hole. If I hit it just a touch harder, it would have gotten really close. Made the 10' putt for bogey.

Straight pushed this drive. Hit a provisional just in case I couldn't find the ball (you can't see that part of the 1st hole from the 9th tee) and pushed the provisional, too. Ended up finding both balls within 6' of each other on the 1st fairway. #consistency

Pulled the hybrid, clipping a tree in the process. Good thing, too, or it would have probably ended up in the parking lot. Hit the pitch too long and ended up with a long putt down a tier breaking right to left that I didn't bother reading. Missed it high, but the pace was good. Ended up about 6' to the right of the pin and needed two more putts to hole out for double.

---

I actually felt I hit the ball pretty well, with a couple of exceptions. Made a lot of mental mistakes, too. Definitely could have hit more GIR out there and it wasn't my driving that hurt me today.

Short game is in decent shape. I noticed that I hit better shots when I focus on the target and the flight of the ball instead of the mechanics and contact. The few long ones I hit I remember really thinking about making good contact and forgot to think about the actual distance I needed to hit the ball. I have to trust that the mechanics are good enough and just try to make shots.

Still suck at putting. I might need a new putter. I don't seem to aim it well naturally and it's too light. I've been playing around with heavier putters at the golf store and I find they're easier for me to control distance with them. I think I'll glue some coins on the bottom of the putter to add some weight to the head.

[boogielicious]

Wind is hard @billchao .  You really need to play in it more to get better at it.  Take the positives from this round and keep working on the areas you need to improve on.

[billchao]

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/billchao/round/439264

Galloping Hills Golf Course, Blue Tees 70.4/133, 6,273 yards

Friday's round. I really like this course. It's in pretty good shape for a muni and the management company runs it fairly well, though it did play fairly slowly because of the holiday. I love that there are lots of elevation changes throughout the course which makes things interesting. Makes you have to really think about shot selection rather just getting a simple yardage and pulling whatever club you need for it. I'm getting some extra batteries for my DSLR and a larger memory card and I plan to vlog this course some time.

Hit the ball fairly well for most of the day, but the one thing that kind of stood out for me was the 31 putts. I average 36, so managed to shave five strokes off right there. Burned a couple of edges, too, so it could have been even better. Between a little bit of practice and some tweaking of my putter (I glued six nickels on the sole last week), I managed to see some results on the course. I wonder if the extra weight makes it harder for me to rotate the face closed through my stroke somehow, but I know it helped on my distance control, as my short and long misses tended to be closer to the hole than I typically leave them. Still need to work on the aim as I tend to aim my putter to the right. There's no fix for that other than just practicing it, that I know of.

Here's the hole-by-hole self analysis. I'm working on GamePlanning better, too. I spent some time the night before looking at my last round here and deciding what was a viable tee shot and what wasn't.

This hole goes downhill from the tee, but then is straight uphill to the green. Last time I played, I teed off with a 2h. Hit the center of the fairway (albeit slightly short due to a mis-hit), but I realized that the hybrid puts me right in the narrowest landing area available, between the two groups of trees, which means either a push or a pull is guaranteed to be in trouble. I decided that this was a driver hole, which not only puts me closer to the green, but puts me in the widest area if I miss it.

My strategy paid off, as I hit a big sweeping draw off the toe which landed in a perfectly playable spot.

This hole is straight uphill. I knew I didn't want to hit driver here once I analyzed my last round, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to hit 3w or 2h. I decided on the tee to go with 2h because the 3w brings more bunkers in play. Then I striped it dead center

Pulled my approach shot, flopped it over the bunker to 4' and made the putt for par.

Long par 4, straight downhill. Definitely a driver hole. Hit a big push onto the 7th fairway. I wasn't convinced that I should have gone for the green from there but did it anyway, pulled the shot right into a tree. Had to hit a knockdown 7i that rolled through the green and didn't hit a very good pitch back.

Definitely not a "green light" moment.

I didn't want to hit driver on this hole either. Probably should have went with the 2h, but I decided on 3w. Then I had a weird Jim Furyk loop backswing feel during the swing, came way under plane, and hit the first fat shot I can think of in a really long time. Hit nGIR with the approach, but then I decided to putt up the hill through the fairway instead of pitching it and just barely got the ball to the top. Probably would have shot the same score either way, but this was still the wrong decision.

Green is above the tee and has a lot of contours. I knew I was in the bunker as soon as I hit the shot because I knew it was going to roll through instead of stopping. I'd still rather be in the bunker than in the thick rough short of the green on a severe slope. I don't think I'd change how I played this hole.

This is a cool hole. The tee box is elevated and you can see the green from it. The hole goes up and back down. Right about where I hit my drive is the top of the crest that you want to be on off the tee.

I made a mess of this hole. When I was looking at this at home, I was thinking this was not a driver hole. I hit a perfect drive straight down the middle last time and I knew after looking at it again that I got away with a bad decision. So this time I hit driver again and ended up hitting a toe draw that caught a slope and bounced further into the trees. Tried to punch out and hit another tree, then finally managed to punch out onto the the thick rough on the other side that I couldn't catch my 2h clean off of.

Next time I need to make sure I stay in play. Definitely not a driver off the tee.

Flat hole for the most part, then straight uphill to the green. A lot of the trees on the left side have been cleared out, so I can still play a driver off the tee and miss left. I think that's the right play here.

I like this hole. Elevated tee box, dogleg left. The aim is to hit a high draw over the big tree in the middle. You can also hit a low draw to the left the big tree and still roll through to a good spot as I found out last time.

This hole starts out flat, then goes uphill to the clubhouse. The group of trees on the left is on a hill, so hitting short of that leaves you with a blind approach.

I hit a big sweeping toe draw that started right at the fairway bunkers and curved all the way into the bottom of that hill. Had to walk up the hill to make sure the green was clear and to get my line.

I didn't think too much about this hole when I was doing my prep, but now that I'm looking at it, it's definitely not a driver hole. I'm going to go 2h next time and keep it short of the fairway bunkers and where the fairway narrows.

Tee is elevated. It's another one of those nice looking holes where you can kind of see everything. Drop kicked my drive (seriously, where did that come from?) and just tried to advance it as much as I could, but ended up missing my 2h off the toe to the left. Tried to draw the 8i around the three trees onto the green to no avail.

Hit a slight push thin, straight into the hazard. Bladed the first pitch out of the thick rough. Ugly hole.

Funny enough, I hit basically the same exact tee shot my last time here. Plenty of room to miss it, but the rough is pretty thick. Didn't catch the ball well at all on the approach. I played this hole almost the same as I did last time.

Another neat hole. Elevated tee box, dogleg left. The hazard on the other side of the fairway makes you think twice about trying to cut it.

I went with the 3h because the last time I went 2h off the tee and got closer to the hazard than I wanted to. Ended up hitting the 3h longer than I expected to (and longer than I hit my 2h last round) but it was on a good line so I was never in any trouble. Pushed the approach into the greenside bunker.

3h is still the right club because if I go 2h and catch it on the screws, I'm going to put it right into the hazard. If I hit the 3h shorter than I did, I'd still have a short iron into the green and a better line, too.

This hole is full of undulation that I can barely begin to describe. I hit a toe draw again way left, then I tried to cut the angle too aggressively getting back onto the hole and ended up hitting a tree. From there, the hole was completely blocked out by the hill in front of me so I just punched a 9i through that ended up being too long and had to punch a 7i to the green.

I'm not really sure what to hit off this tee, other than not driver. I've played this hole twice and the driver has cost me big time. I'll go 2h next time.

I don't know why the screenshot is purple.

This is the lower tee box. The alternate tee box is up on a hill and the hole is much cooler looking from there. My ball was sitting deep in the rough behind the green so I hit a toe-down chip/putt with the LW that I pushed just a little right of the hole about 6' and missed the putt. I'm really proud of that shot because I thought I was going to have issues with a regular pitch with the grass and being short-sided, so I went with the other technique I knew I could catch the ball cleanly with. It was the right distance, just started too much to the right.

I guess I really like the 7th hole because this was the third time I ended up on it. Hit a big push fade off the tee and wasn't sure on the distance to the green because a couple of trees were in the way of my rangefinder. I didn't want to spend too much time on the shot because there were people playing the 7th so I guessed the distance and wasn't too far off.

This hole is driveable and I have absolutely no business trying to drive it, so next time I'm just going to hit some sort of iron short of that middle bunker. Where I hit my drive is all tall grass and native growth. I was lucky to find my ball. Definitely not going to keep tempting fate on this hole.

This is an interesting hole. It starts in the marsh land, then starts to rise about a third of the way through up to the clubhouse. It's all tall marsh grass and reeds right in front of the tee box and if you're not careful, you'll find yourself staring down the 9th hole off the tee instead of the 18th. Or maybe that's just me

Toe-draw again. It was the miss of the day, so I gave myself plenty of room to play it. Pushed the 2h a little and it caught a tree branch, leaving me with an approach that was partially blocked out by a tree and the ball was above my feet. Had no choice but to hit it left, still managed to make par.

I feel I'm more familiar with the course now and next time I should be able to score a little better just based on better decision-making, assuming I hit the ball as well as I did yesterday. It's an interesting course that presents a lot of challenges. Hopefully I'll get to vlog it soon.

[rharrison]

Hey this is a little off topic but it is from earlier in this thread. It looks like Billchoa started out with a similar swing to what I have now (I think) and one of the things that keeps popping up is "laying the shaft down" I was just wondering what was meant by this. Thanks a lot!

[mvmac]

I was just wondering what was meant by this. Thanks a lot!

The shaft going from "steep" on the backswing (left pic) to "shallow' on the downswing (right pic) or just the movement of the shaft shallowing on the downswing. Generally want to see the shaft point at or just outside the ball at A5 (left arm parallel on the downswing).

[billchao]

After thinking about it some more, I realized that the driver is really the only club I'm having significant issues with lately. Everything else either goes where I expect it to or misses somewhere that's still in play. I think it has to do with hitting the ball on the upswing and the fact that I play it farther forward than typically recommended. I need to get some video of me hitting a driver up so I can see if there's anything else going on there, but two notes:

1. I've tried playing the ball further back before and the contact gets worse. @pcombs21 and I played around with it a little bit back in May and quickly abandoned the idea. I think it's just one of those things where I've been playing the ball so far forward for so long that I'll have to retrain my swing in order to play it in a normal ball position.
2. I've been missing everything left (with the exception of the few open-faced push fades every once in a while, but that's a cupped left wrist/swing issue I'm still dealing with), off the toe of the club. It dawned on me that I play an adjustable driver with the CoG favoring the heel side of the club. I switched the weights around today so hopefully that will reduce the magnitude of the mis-hits a little.

Most of my bad holes are set up by bad drives, so this is a pretty big priority for me. I think I can cut some serious strokes off my handicap if I can get this part of my game sorted out.

[billchao]

Driver videos:

Guess I don't tee it too far forward anymore. Can't hit the sweetspot, though. I had some impact tape on the club and after about 12 balls, the closest I got was about 1/2" off center, towards the toe. Most shots were low off the face.

Looks like the right elbow at A4 isn't as bad as it was before the lesson with @pcombs21 , but it's not as good as I was doing it that day, either.

[billchao]

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/billchao/round/453913

31.4/110. 2,333 yards from the blues. Shot a 40 (+7). Just a couple of minor mistakes from shooting a better score (missed two 4' putts, chunked two approach shots, etc.).

Tried out the Bertha Mini 1.5 today. Managed to keep the ball in play with the exception of the tee shot on 6 that clipped a tree and dropped into the creek (the hole calls for a fade off the tee and I don't have one of those, at least on purpose). Golf is a lot more fun when you're not punching out from the woods.

[b101]

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/billchao/round/453913

31.4/110. 2,333 yards from the blues. Shot a 40 (+7). Just a couple of minor mistakes from shooting a better score (missed two 4' putts, chunked two approach shots, etc.).

Tried out the Bertha Mini 1.5 today. Managed to keep the ball in play with the exception of the tee shot on 6 that clipped a tree and dropped into the creek (the hole calls for a fade off the tee and I don't have one of those, at least on purpose). Golf is a lot more fun when you're not punching out from the woods.

I'd start really looking at your putting - you had three 3 putts in 9 holes and a couple of misses from close in. Maybe look at the 'Bead, Read and Speed' section of LSW again? Just seems a bit tough to lose the strokes you should be gaining with your long game.