My Swing (billchao)

[billchao]

 

Is it Spring yet? 

---

Just a little information, I usually start practice by warming up and then filming my first two "raw" swings to see how my practice has affected my "real" swing. These are those swings 

Still working on shortening the backswing and staying in a good position at the top and into transition without tipping the clubhead across the line.

I altered my takeaway/backswing feel, too. Instead of feeling passive hands and just turning my shoulders which tends to get my hands and clubhead a little underplane, I'm feeling like I'm trying to push my left hand away from me in an effort to extend my left arm. I feel this results in a better movement throughout the backswing and into transition. Instead of being slightly under and tipping out (and leading to being across the line), I'm more able to stay on plane and shift from steep to shallow.

[billchao]

Mapped my wedges hitting into my net today, GW, SW, and LW. Didn't do my PW because I literally only thought to do it just now. My PW is really an iron, anyway.

I had some issues with Mevo picking up shots, especially the shorter wedge shots. It might have caught every other 1/2 wedge and close to every third 1/4 wedge. Probably the limited flight combined with the smaller difference in club versus ball speed confuses the unit.

I separated the blocks of data into four groups: full, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 (all by feel)

Full swings look right, though I almost never hit my LW full. I find it interesting that the higher the loft, the lower I actually hit a full shot (for comparison, I hit some 7i shots today and averaged 104'). I'm not sure what that means, really, but I have no problem holding greens I hit so it probably doesn't matter.

I can't even verify the partial distances because I don't really know mine. For example, I played my half GW for years as 75, which it's clearly not. This explains my lack of consistency and distance control from about 120 and in.

Random notes:

• It seems like I can get a little too long when I'm trying to make the shorter swings, too. Makes sense.
• I don't like my SW. It's heavy in a weird way and clunky. Even good shots don't feel good.
• I came close to airmailing the net on some of these shots, which caused me to move it slightly closer, which probably made it harder for Mevo to catch the shots.

Guess that's it. Thought I would have more to say about this, but apparently not. Happy to be going into the season armed with more information than I ever had about my approach shots. That's going to raise my GIR% because I'm prone to missing short wedge shots after good drives. Going to write out my distances and tape them on the underside of my shafts.

[boogielicious]

10 hours ago, billchao said:

Mapped my wedges hitting into my net today, GW, SW, and LW. Didn't do my PW because I literally only thought to do it just now. My PW is really an iron, anyway.

I had some issues with Mevo picking up shots, especially the shorter wedge shots. It might have caught every other 1/2 wedge and close to every third 1/4 wedge. Probably the limited flight combined with the smaller difference in club versus ball speed confuses the unit.

I separated the blocks of data into four groups: full, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 (all by feel)

Full swings look right, though I almost never hit my LW full. I find it interesting that the higher the loft, the lower I actually hit a full shot (for comparison, I hit some 7i shots today and averaged 104'). I'm not sure what that means, really, but I have no problem holding greens I hit so it probably doesn't matter.

I can't even verify the partial distances because I don't really know mine. For example, I played my half GW for years as 75, which it's clearly not. This explains my lack of consistency and distance control from about 120 and in.

Random notes:

• It seems like I can get a little too long when I'm trying to make the shorter swings, too. Makes sense.
• I don't like my SW. It's heavy in a weird way and clunky. Even good shots don't feel good.
• I came close to airmailing the net on some of these shots, which caused me to move it slightly closer, which probably made it harder for Mevo to catch the shots.

Guess that's it. Thought I would have more to say about this, but apparently not. Happy to be going into the season armed with more information than I ever had about my approach shots. That's going to raise my GIR% because I'm prone to missing short wedge shots after good drives. Going to write out my distances and tape them on the underside of my shafts.

This is where the Mevo is going to excel for us. I wonder how much a mat vs. grass will change the results. I plan on doing this into my net, but once the grass ranges open up, I will repeat it.

[iacas]

3 hours ago, boogielicious said:

This is where the Mevo is going to excel for us. I wonder how much a mat vs. grass will change the results. I plan on doing this into my net, but once the grass ranges open up, I will repeat it.

If your swing remains the same, it won't affect it by much. I recommend hitting off a much firmer section of the mat to more closely mimic your fairway conditions and your natural reactions.

[boogielicious]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

If your swing remains the same, it won't affect it by much. I recommend hitting off a much firmer section of the mat to more closely mimic your fairway conditions and your natural reactions.

Great, thanks!

[billchao]

First swings in quite some time:

 

Looks promising, albeit little long. Took some video later of a shorter backswing:

Interesting thing I've noticed is I'm pretty consistently returning the club about 1/4" inside where it was at address. So I address the ball in the center of the face and my strikes end up centered roughly 1/4" towards the toe. Not sure if that's a swing issue or a quirk of my address position. I decided to address the ball 1/4" closer to the heel and sure enough was hitting it closer to center.

Not sure if that's worth looking into or I should just change how I line up the club at address and roll with it. Probably going to be the latter for now.

[billchao]

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/billchao/round/2100735

Just wanted to go over something I feel could improve my driving. I was hitting a 2-way miss, but when I went back over the round, it's primarily a push as usual. I think I pulled my driver once all day, but more often with my hybrids and irons which I think is due to my tendency to play the ball too far forward in my stance for those clubs.

I'm going to do a hole-by-hole breakdown that will probably be long. Using Game Golf screenshots, my intended line will be in red and I will use a yellow line to illustrate where I think I should be aiming.

Hole 1:

I kind of popped this up and it happened to hit the line I wanted, but well short. I think I should be aiming at the left edge of the fairway here in case I push the ball. Even if I hit it straight on the yellow line, the hole is playable from there because I draw my irons.

Hole 2:

Hit my line here and it drew just to the left. Didn't get all of it but still a pretty good shot. Just like on the first hole, I think I can aim on the yellow line and have a more favorable angle for both a straight draw and a push.

Hole 3:

Pulled it slightly, but otherwise a good hit. Terrible bunker play.

Hole 4:

This was a slight pull which left me behind those trees. If I hit a push here, I'm dead from the trees on other side of the fairway or lost in fescue. I think the yellow line makes both the pull and the push more playable. The pull or straight draw on the yellow line actually gives me a better angle through or around the trees that blocked me here.

Hole 5:

I know I drew the red line down the middle of the fairway, but now that I'm thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I was aiming straight at the bunkers. Thought I was going to carry and draw away from them but didn't hit it that well ended up right in one. I think the line is somewhere between the red and the yellow here, because a push while aiming at the bunkers can put me in a bad spot.

Hole 6:

Pulled the first shot OB. I think this is still the correct line, just need to execute.

Hole 7:

Ugh. That's not the right line at all, and I made it worse by pushing it. I don't know why I thought the best angle is over the fairway bunkers. It's so not.

Hole 8:

Toe-drew it. Moving on.

Hole 9:

I've been farther right than I hit this shot before, so I'm definitely not aiming left enough. It's more open than the GPS makes it look.

Hole 10:

Pretty much the same problem as 7. Those bunkers are not the right aim line at all. I've actually hit my drive onto the 14th tee box before, which actually is a decent angle to the green if I can hit it far enough right of those big trees. Or I can just aim away from them altogether.

Hole 11:

Little bit of a push, it drew slightly at the end.

Hole 12:

I aimed down the middle because I used to hook the ball OB. I don't really do that anymore so I think the yellow is a better line for this push.

Hole 13:

Pushed it, had a little draw spin at the end. I can play a straight shot or a push from the yellow line, but the push I hit aiming at the red line put me in a tough spot.

Hole 14:

Noticing a pattern? More room to aim left than I gave myself. I push the ball more than I pull or hook it.

Hole 15:

Just pushed it a little. I think this is still the right line. I'm trying to hit over the two trees in the middle. Maybe I can aim a hair more to the left.

Hole 16:

Little thin pull. I miss left more often with the irons. Again, I think it's because I play the ball too far forward in my stance.

Hole 17:

I allowed for the push here but I think I got too far left with the aim line. I was thinking tree line and ended up hitting the ball right at it. Should be looking at the left third of the fairway.

Hole 18:

I'm wondering if this isn't a driver hole for me at all. The fairway gets narrow in my landing area and it's where the grouping of trees get the most dense. If it was summer, my ball would have probably been lost in the fescue. Even if I take the yellow line, I can push it into the trees right. The chance of me getting there in two is very low. I should be looking at a short wedge shot into the green on my approach even with hybrid off the tee.

---

There were a lot of other issues with my round (pitching in particular) which I addressed in the other thread, but I wanted to get more in depth with this stuff. I think it illustrates my problem with scoring in this game: I don't have a natural instinct for aiming. 

I want to hit the ball onto my aim line even though I have a tendency to push the ball, so I need to shift everything a little more left. I'm pretty sure I was doing this towards the end of last year when I was playing well. I specifically remember writing that Game Golf thinks I miss left off the tee when in reality I'm aiming left to begin with, so a well struck shot will end up in the left rough. This last round was the first of the year so I wasn't aiming to play my pattern effectively.

[billchao]

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/billchao/round/2135231

Much better play today. Going to walk through my round again as a mental exercise. I kind of like doing it to evaluate my round and analyze my mistakes (nobody said you had to read it! ). Not going to do pictures this time because I don't need/want to.

Hole 1:

Aimed left to allow for push, hit a straight draw. Had a 40-45 yard (to the pin) approach that I carried 50 yards and it rolled just on the fringe, where I under-hit the lag putt. I don't think I made any mistakes really, just failed to execute to make par. Even if I aimed farther to the left of the pin, I would have likely 3-putt from 30+ feet for bogey.

Hole 2:

Same deal, aimed left, hit straight draw. I usually don't hit driver here because missing right is no good but felt I could control a 3/4 swing and keep it in play. If I can control the 3/4 driver, I think this is the play on this hole. BIG IF (more on that, later). It's a better result than 3w or 2h and I've hit them poorly off the tee, too, so they're not necessarily better just because I don't miss them as far right.

Carried my uphill approach a little long and it rolled off the green. Could have used my yardage chart here.

Hole 3:

Fat tee shot, then wrong club/swing again with the partial yardage. Left the chip short (club selection) but made a good putt.

Hole 4:

Dance with who ya brung, right? Aimed right this time to play a draw, hit a push

Great recovery, though.

Hole 5:

3/4 driver down right-center, it funneled down the hill. Good shot. If I had to nitpick, I actually want to be left-center, because that results in a flat lie for the second. I had an awkward lie with the ball below my feet and topped a 3w. Pushed the 9i right and it caught the cart path.

I'm starting to realize that a 1/4 wedge isn't a realistic feel for me on the course because I hit this one long, too. Was going for 40, got 50 including roll. Should have pitched it (maybe should map pitching distances). Another under-hit lag putt.

Hole 6:

Pushed 2h. Tried to hit a high 9i that didn't clear the trees; was lucky it dropped. Honestly I was just going to chip it out into the fairway but it's a casual round and I wanted to see if I could hit this shot. Tried to hit a 3/4 GW (I know the yardage on that shot) but it got a little long.

Hole 7:

Back pin, took an extra club. Chose correctly 

Hole 8:

Tried that 3/4 drive again and hit a push-fade, I'd even consider it a push-slice. Not sure what happened there, maybe got the ball position too far forward? Took a drop and caught all of a 7i. I wanted to give it extra oomph because it kind of dropped down into the rough and I ended up hitting it with a lot of mustard.

Slid my LW under the ball on the chip (should have used a different club at that distance), didn't hit a great lag putt, and missed a 5 footer.

Hole 9:

Another push, but I was back to aiming left. The approach was uphill, but I was still surprised I left that GW short because I hit it pretty well. Chipped with the GW this time like I should have done twice already and it was good.

Hole 10:

Thinned and pushed! I didn't move the marker, but the tree was actually blocking me out towards the right, so I tried to cut an 8i into the green and hit it straight into the bunker. I can't turn the ball right at all, I only hit the ball right when I push it. That's something I need to work on because I do need to fade the ball around stuff sometimes. A lot, actually, since I tend to miss it right off the tee to begin with.

Just happy I didn't blade the bunker shot there.

Hole 11:

Another thin push, another 3/4 GW I swung too long. I just noticed that my GW chip went the exact same distance here as it did on 9. Should have chipped with PW or possibly 9i. I never chip with my irons and I think that's a mistake.

Hole 12:

I hit this one really well and the wind killed it. I'm talking sweet buttery  goodness I bought these clubs just to feel again. Good par.

Hole 13:

Pushed a 2h, flighted PW, made a mid-range putt for birdie. This game is simple.

I'm understating the putt. It was like a 2-3 right to left about 12' long and I drained it dead center.

Hole 14:

Caught it a little on the toe, didn't lag it close enough.

Hole 15:

Another 3/4 drive I push-sliced. That makes two good ones, two horrible ones. I'm not sure the 3/4 driver is the weapon I was hoping it would be. Funny thing is I don't even turn the ball that much on a full swing.

I eventually ended up with one of those awkward downhill pitches and was actually pretty happy with the result, despite being about 20' from the hole. I mean I might have been able to get it closer if I landed it a yard shorter, but I also would have been chipping if I landed it two yards shorter, that kind of deal.

Hole 16:

Thinned this one. Love it when I miss and still get a good result. I didn't play for the wind at all, which was a mistake. Hit a good pitch, though.

Hole 17:

Hit another push. I was aiming straight at the big tree on the left, so I missed about 30 yards right. Pushed my approach shot, too, and followed that up with a way too short pitch (which I didn't blade, so an improvement from last week). Made a 4-footer for bogey.

Hole 18:

Hit a great drive here and didn't catch my second shot clean out of the rough. Hit an OK pitch and followed it up with a routine 2-putt for a ho-hum par.

---

So I hit a lot of solid shots but a number of them were pushes. 7/11 driver shots were pushed as well as two 2h tee shots. Pushed a couple of approach shots, too, so definitely a swing thing. Going to have to figure that one out.

Good round overall, though. Great considering it's my second of the year.

[nevets88]

Nice round! What shoulder problems?

[billchao]

7 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

Nice round! What shoulder problems?

I hurt my right shoulder, and it occurred to me during the round that every time I hurt my shoulder or neck due to golf, it was my left side, so it didn't affect my swing at all.

Though last week my neck was also jacked up and I couldn't play at all.

[billchao]

 

 

Current swing. I'm basically just feeling like I'm slinging the arms down and through very fast. I have always had an issue with the disconnect between the arms and hips, and figuring that I can't (or don't want to) slow the hips down, I'll just speed the arms up. Feels like a straight up arm swing.

I wanted to see if I could spot something in it that I could fix to reduce the pushes. As far as I can tell I'm just leaving the face wide open when they happen.

Path looks slightly tilted left (too much, it looks), which is a big improvement over the way too far right I've been playing for years. Combined with hitting down on the ball, I can see why I've been hitting some very good iron shots lately. Good shots are straight with a slight turn at the apex - could be a draw or fade - but the direction is largely irrelevant because it doesn't move laterally much at all. Misses can be pushed or slightly pulled, though. I'm still setting up with the ball slightly towards the heel - not going to mess with that as long as I'm making relatively centered contact at impact.

The driver I have a much bigger tendency to push. Might have to get a video of that. Good shots are straight draws, but they happen about 1/3 or 1/4 of the time. Most shots are pushed, so I aim well left to compensate, leaving me occasionally in a bad spot after hitting a good shot which is totally frustrating. I'm thinking of setting up to hit more of a slight pull-draw to allow myself to swing the clubhead more around myself instead of swinging out to reach the ball. The pushes remind me of my old miss when I used to swing too far to the right.

I hit a couple of push-slices when I went 3/4 with the driver on a couple of holes, too. Might be not getting deep enough with the shorter swing and swinging too far left. Will have to film that, too. I thought I would have better clubface control by hitting more of a punchy driver (plus I needed to keep the ball short of my full driver distance) and I ended up hitting a bigger curve, ironically.

[billchao]

 

Got some practice in. I added a little bit of left forearm pronation in the backswing, starting somewhere between A2 and A3. It allows me to transition less steep and maintain some depth in the downswing so that I'm coming more at the ball from inside with a wider arc instead of narrow and left from last week's videos. Contact was better: I was hitting the sweetspot without having to address the ball off the heel of the club.

What I like best is how it cleans up the path in my 3/4 swing so I'm not swinging hard left and turning the ball right on a 3/4 swing when my full swing generally turns slightly left. Small sample, but I also start the ball less right.

I just noticed that I set up to a knockdown shot open with my back foot square, kind of like I would when I hit a pitch. Weird.

[billchao]

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/billchao/round/2165559

Kind of fighting my swing today. Driver was a bit all over the place. I actually hit my irons pretty well (with a couple of exceptions) when I wasn't blocked out by trees or whatever, but I missed my lines on my partial wedges. I did manage to get a few videos of my swing on the course.

Driver DTL:

This was the tee shot on 13, one of the better ones of the day. Looks like a pull, but the angle is off. Trail elbow sliding behind me in transition.

4H DTL:

This was the 2nd shot on 14. Angle is better on this one, which totally pisses me off because I thought I hit a push but as it turns out, I'm just aimed too far right. That tree guards the right side of the green which is somewhere behind my torso and I'm clearly lined up right at the tree, if not further right. Ended up in the tall grass/vegetation between holes they don't cut and hacked it out. Toed it, too.

7I FO:

This was the tee shot on 16. Angle is way off on this one. Pulled it and caught it a little fat - you can kind of see it on the video. Still ended up a nGIR because the bunkers were playing like clay and my ball landed towards the end of one and actually bounced out of it.

Definitely gotta address that trail elbow. It's better than it used to be, but still causing issues.

[boogielicious]

1 hour ago, billchao said:

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/billchao/round/2165559

Kind of fighting my swing today. Driver was a bit all over the place. I actually hit my irons pretty well (with a couple of exceptions) when I wasn't blocked out by trees or whatever, but I missed my lines on my partial wedges. I did manage to get a few videos of my swing on the course.

Driver DTL:

This was the tee shot on 13, one of the better ones of the day. Looks like a pull, but the angle is off. Trail elbow sliding behind me in transition.

4H DTL:

This was the 2nd shot on 14. Angle is better on this one, which totally pisses me off because I thought I hit a push but as it turns out, I'm just aimed too far right. That tree guards the right side of the green which is somewhere behind my torso and I'm clearly lined up right at the tree, if not further right. Ended up in the tall grass/vegetation between holes they don't cut and hacked it out. Toed it, too.

7I FO:

This was the tee shot on 16. Angle is way off on this one. Pulled it and caught it a little fat - you can kind of see it on the video. Still ended up a nGIR because the bunkers were playing like clay and my ball landed towards the end of one and actually bounced out of it.

Definitely gotta address that trail elbow. It's better than it used to be, but still causing issues.

Where is your shot tracker?😜

[billchao]

2 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Where is your shot tracker?😜

Left it in the trailer along with the expert analysis by Peter Kostis.

[boogielicious]

13 hours ago, billchao said:

Left it in the trailer along with the expert analysis by Peter Kostis.

[billchao]

 

Played around with an elbow feel. Let it bend earlier and to my side to get really IR on the backswing, then ER in transition. Basically going for a stretch-shortening thing that moves my elbow the opposite of what I always do with it. 

It's exaggerated and I toed the crap out of the ball but the elbow move in transition is much better.

[billchao]

Had some extra time today so filmed my putting stroke:

 

I wasn't really hitting to a target or anything here, just trying to hit it about 30' weight or so.

Two things:

1. I did not realize how bent over I am.
2. I did not realize how far away from the ball I stand.

I've been hitting my lines pretty well lately and my putting has improved. Biggest issue is speed on long putts and I'm kind of terrible at adjusting for uphill and downhill putts. I've been paying more attention to my AimPoint reads lately since I've been able to actually hit the lines I want and my short and medium range putting has improved since last season. I'm closer to 50% from 6' now (not great I know) which is significantly better than last year when I was < 50% from 4'.

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I didn't film any short game shots, but I feel my short game has improved this year, too. I'm mostly having issues with shot selection and basically overall knowledge of how my ball is going to behave once it hits the green than contact now. Sometimes I'll end up short because my ball checks up more than I expect to, or I'll pick too long a club and fly the ball too far, or I'll slide the club too much under a ball sitting in the rough - that sort of thing. 

The general feel is once I pick a shot and club, I'm just trying to maintain the same relationship between the clubface and the ball through the swing. So for example, on a standard pitch, I'll expose the bounce at address and try to "hold" it back and through instead of actively doing anything with my wrists. Obviously the length and tempo of the swing will cause my wrists to move, but I'm not trying to feel any movement because my tendency is to get too much wrist action in my pitches.

I've been using more chips than pitches greenside when there is nothing I need to worry about carrying which I think has helped. Just basically pop the ball up and onto the green and get it rolling. Club selection based on how much I need the ball to roll.

I'll have to film some short game shots soon. There's still much room for improvement.