My Swing (billchao)

[tristanhilton85]

You're swing is looking good. Keep up the hard work.

[billchao]

7 hours ago, JDP said:

I think your swing is looking great, but what do you mean by you went full ZJ? 

 

5 hours ago, tristanhilton85 said:

You're swing is looking good. Keep up the hard work.

Thanks guys. @JDP it's just a quick way to describe what I'm trying to do: strong grip, pitch elbow, held-off release.

[boogielicious]

15 minutes ago, billchao said:

 

Thanks guys. @JDP it's just a quick way to describe what I'm trying to do: strong grip, pitch elbow, held-off release.

I thought it meant you were going to move to Iowa. 

[billchao]

7 hours ago, boogielicious said:

I thought it meant you were going to move to Iowa. 

Never.

---

Went to the range today. Spring is just around the corner, it seems.

Contact was solid, direction was questionable at times. Still hitting pushes, not surprisingly since I haven't cemented the new move yet. Drill swing is solid though, nice low boring shots that start right on line, similar to a knockdown shot. Will be useful on those days I'm not feeling the full swing.

Also I learned I can hit a pretty reliable big cut if needed. Launch is a little high to be useful under trees though, maybe only if I needed to get around one.

Interesting tidbit: hit into a left to right wind. Kept watching the ball get to its apex and turn left as I expected, then slowly fall to the right.

[billchao]

 

Got to practice yesterday. Worked on the same downswing piece with a shorter swing.

I'm always struggling with shortening the swing and I really need to keep it shorter because part of the problem with my clubface control is because I get long and across the line at the top. I think part of the problem is I use the tension at the end of my range of motion as a swing trigger.

Also changed my takeaway feel back to turning the left shoulder down. Noticed my head was sliding away from the target in the late backswing and then sliding too far forward at the start of the downswing, wanted to clean that up, too.

[boogielicious]

9 minutes ago, billchao said:

 

Got to practice yesterday. Worked on the same downswing piece with a shorter swing.

I'm always struggling with shortening the swing and I really need to keep it shorter because part of the problem with my clubface control is because I get long and across the line at the top. I think part of the problem is I use the tension at the end of my range of motion as a swing trigger.

Also changed my takeaway feel back to turning the left shoulder down. Noticed my head was sliding away from the target in the late backswing and then sliding too far forward at the start of the downswing, wanted to clean that up, too.

I't looking good Bill. I wish I had your finish!

[Jakester23]

The change from your 1st video to the video above is unreal.  You've done a great job obviously putting in a lot of work.  Keep at it bud well done.

[billchao]

On 2/26/2017 at 8:17 AM, boogielicious said:

I't looking good Bill. I wish I had your finish!

 

4 hours ago, Jakester23 said:

The change from your 1st video to the video above is unreal.  You've done a great job obviously putting in a lot of work.  Keep at it bud well done.

 Thanks guys.

[billchao]

 

Took me three straight days to find this swing again. I hate winter.

Need to make that first move in transition more out and less down, hands too deep at A5.

[billchao]

Current swings. Have some minor low point issues (the odd fat/thin shot), but the big blocks are gone.

 

 

 

Always wanted a target view shot 

Still the worst driver of the ball ever though. Going to try something @iacas suggested, which is to tee it lower and hit down on it slightly. I have enough speed to allow for it and I really need to get the contact cleaner. That's priority #1 now that the blocks are gone.

Also need to get out to the practice green more and meds around with my putter so I can aim the thing straight.

[billchao]

Got a chance to take some on course video over the weekend. I should do more of this to get a better idea of what my actual swing looks like. I still need to get a new smartphone tripod and I can start vlogging again. Angles are a little off but nothing crazy.

Driver

 

Stance is maybe a hair on the narrow side. The swing looks better than the results would indicate. I really thought I was still getting the club past parallel and across the line.

Irons/Wedge

 

I didn't get a face on of a full iron swing so I'm posting this flighted wedge instead. Not exactly the same thing but it will have to do for now.

Big takeaway on the swing is I'm still swinging too far right with the clubhead a little underplane and too shallow. I've been having some low point issues and it seems to make sense. Miss is still on the toe and an overdraw or a push, although from watching my videos again I realized that I still aim to the right, so I think my pushes aren't even as bad as I think they are, only that I'm already lined up right of target to begin with. I'm going to have to change my pre-shot routine to incorporate better aiming.

Pitching

 

I included the full speed video of my pitching because I wanted to look at my tempo. Still pretty Fruit-Ninja-y.

Putting

Figured I'd take a putting video. This was on the 18th green, after the face on video of my driver and the flighted wedge, so a mini vlog of sorts.

I'm trying something out where I hold the putter with only my right hand and then hold my whole hand with my left for stability. I was playing around with distance control because I tend to leave lag putts way short and I noticed that my left hand in the double overlap grip kind of acts as a brake on the stroke. Putting the hands together lets the putterhead pendulum better under its own weight. As you can see I definitely didn't leave the first putt short and the speed on the second putt was perfect.

My putting in general has improved since I've gotten adjusted to my putter modification. Aim is a lot better and I'm hitting my lines which is leading to better results on mid-length putts. I also need to read long putts better, just kind of lazy about it, but I'm leaving some second putts longer than they should be because I'm not reading the first putts and aiming properly. I do like the grip change though and I think once I get used to that, the distance control will be better.

I have some thoughts on the full swing but I'll hash them out later. Maybe 

[billchao]

 

Wasn't happy with how far right I had been swinging on the course so I tried to fix the path. This is how I've been swinging the last 2 rounds.

Feel is left shoulder down, right hand hinges back early instead of rolling over. Trying to eliminate the tendency to snatch the club inside during the early takeaway.

The other adjustment is I close the face slightly more at address. I feel that I see open and see square and square as closed (similar to my putting) so I made a slight change and seem to be hitting my lines better though not perfect, wonder if that's just a band-aid and not going to work permanently?

End result is the path is closer to neutral. Misses are clubface related, sometimes too open, toe contact, and the occasional fat shot. Still have a two-way miss going on and it's hard to set up for a toe draw and a push at the same time. Thinking about changing the pattern to a cut so I eliminate the left miss altogether.

Still having contact issues out of the rough and making little to no divot. Too shallow.

[billchao]

At the risk of doing too much too quickly, I tried a different feel for the takeaway (and entire swing, really). Felt like I was still rolling the wrists from the swing in last week's video but I just increased the rate at which I lift my arms to cover it up. Result was the swing was still too long and over turned at A4, then steep transition to shallowing during the downswing which has always been a problem.

New feel is more PP#1 and squeezing the elbows/arms together. Still the same swing feel beyond that so it's just adding an extra layer. Drastically different feel for me but not overly complicated. Anyway, it made the swing look like this:

 

These are full swings. The arm action is much better, loading more properly and leading to a shorter arm swing. Probably some extensor action going on in there, too. I'm pretty excited about that A4 and transition move. Best part is it's a fairly simple feel so I should be able to work this in permanently.

As a side note, I need to get rid of the waggle in my preshot routine. It's literally the exact opposite of what I'm trying to achieve in the takeaway and that rolling of the wrists is such a natural move for me that I need to stop doing it just before I hit a shot.

[billchao]

Playing around with a feel and wanted to see what it looks like. Figured I would share.

Feel is hinging the club up, no rolling of the right hand. Took it too far with the up. Downswing is staying back on the trail leg more, bending the knee to engage hip rotation instead of sliding. Passive arms, hands staying up and letting the pivot bring the club down to the ball. Took it too far with the knee bend.

I hit it way out on the toe, but that's not really important at the moment. Just playing around with feels to see how they affect my body. There are some things I like and some I don't; definitely have something I can work with I think.

[billchao]

Posture?

Posture.

#2, right? It's a 7I.

[iacas]

Except for the weight being a bit in the heels, I like #1 a little. But that's a quick glance.

[b101]

Loads of this looks so good - I honestly think if you got your one priority piece from an instructor and just stuck to it for a month, your handicap would drop loads. From what I can tell, the 'playing around with a feel' is the thing that's keeping your handicap where it is. For me, this: 

"Feel is hinging the club up, no rolling of the right hand. Took it too far with the up. Downswing is staying back on the trail leg more, bending the knee to engage hip rotation instead of sliding. Passive arms, hands staying up and letting the pivot bring the club down to the ball." 

is way more than my head could cope with as a feel. I'm struggling just to get the feel of hands going outwards on the downswing!

That said, kudos for getting the swing to look as good as it does. I'm not that good of a judge, but there doesn't look to be that many compensations and I'd love to be able to keep my head as steady as yours! How are you scoring and have you had a look at where you are losing strokes?

[billchao]

11 hours ago, iacas said:

Except for the weight being a bit in the heels, I like #1 a little. But that's a quick glance.

Interesting. I don't feel like I'm on my heels at all. I actually feel a little out towards my toes. Feel ain't real.

I was thinking for some reason that I wasn't seeing the ball out of my central vision in #1.

8 hours ago, b101 said:

Loads of this looks so good - I honestly think if you got your one priority piece from an instructor and just stuck to it for a month, your handicap would drop loads.

I haven't worked with an instructor for a while for various reasons. Thanks for the vote of confidence, though I'm not so sure how true that would actually be. I don't have the time to practice and play as often as I'd like.

9 hours ago, b101 said:

From what I can tell, the 'playing around with a feel' is the thing that's keeping your handicap where it is. For me, this: 

"Feel is hinging the club up, no rolling of the right hand. Took it too far with the up. Downswing is staying back on the trail leg more, bending the knee to engage hip rotation instead of sliding. Passive arms, hands staying up and letting the pivot bring the club down to the ball." 

is way more than my head could cope with as a feel. I'm struggling just to get the feel of hands going outwards on the downswing!

I think you're reading too much into it. Sometimes I like to try different feels and see how they change my movements. It gives me an idea of how things are linked and what feels affect what parts of the swing. It doesn't mean that's what my swing thought is. I don't think much about mechanics when I play, probably to my detriment.

9 hours ago, b101 said:

That said, kudos for getting the swing to look as good as it does. I'm not that good of a judge, but there doesn't look to be that many compensations and I'd love to be able to keep my head as steady as yours! How are you scoring and have you had a look at where you are losing strokes?

Thanks. The compensations are there, or I'd be a better ballstriker 

My tendency is to transition steep and shallow late, causing the club to swing too far out. I hit my mid to short irons with a lot of curve. Lately I've taken to aiming for the right edge of the green and I'll still manage to draw it all the way left and even off it at times.

I also throw the clubhead at the bottom of the arc so hitting the driver is like playing roulette. Big miss is a huge open-faced push fade, but there's no pattern. I can hit a push fade, straight fade, push draw, straight draw, pull draw, high, low, pop up, and once in a while I'll dropkick one.

I've been hitting more drivers lately but my best scoring rounds are the ones I hit the driver maybe three or four times all round. I don't know, maybe I'll go back to this approach. Hit shorter shots off the tee and longer shots into the greens just to keep the ball in play.