My Swing (billchao)

[billchao]

38 minutes ago, billchao said:

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View this round on GAME GOLF

Well this round sucked. Lost six balls, lots of fat shots, just all around ugliness. It's 69.7/121 from the blue tees so this 93 is actually a worse round of golf than the 97 I shot last week at Stoneleigh. I was thinking last night when I made the tee time that I kind of didn't feel like playing today and I wish I hadn't.

This one's almost not worth evaluating.

Driver - I tried to add a little palmar flexion to control my start lines better and eliminate the big push and all that resulted in was low draws that didn't go too far but were surprisingly playable. Looked and felt like crap, though, was catching them low on the face. I did have the brilliant idea on the 9th hole that maybe I needed more SAT to launch the ball up in the air so I felt like I hung back on my right foot and hit probably the best looking drive of my life. It was a high push draw that started center right of the fairway and ended up on the left edge. My normal driver flight is actually more of a medium trajectory shot that's a little flatter and this one had more of a tour-like trajectory. Anyway, that was a complete fluke as I didn't hit another good drive all day. I think the feel is right, though, just need to tee the ball up higher again so I stop catching it low on the face.

Long Game - Hit some pretty good iron shots, but miss is still a pull/overdraw. Didn't flare anything right today which I think has to do with the palmar flexion move.

Short Game - Chunked a bunch of partial wedges again. Kind of ended up working out in a way that I hit my driver like crap because it resulted in longer approach shots that required full swings. I pitched/chipped the ball ok. Contact was good for the most part but I kept hitting the ball too high and being annoyed that the greens were soft and the ball wasn't rolling out.

Putting - Ok. Had some distance control issues on some longer putts but I'm getting better at the mid-range putts and making more of them so it's balancing out in a way. Overall my putting has vastly improved since the start of the year.

[boogielicious]

18 hours ago, billchao said:

Driver - I tried to add a little palmar flexion to control my start lines better and eliminate the big push and all that resulted in was low draws that didn't go too far but were surprisingly playable

Bet they still went farther than my best drives! 😜

[billchao]

I didn't feel like playing today. What I did instead, was practice. I spent two and a half hours at the course practicing my all around game. I enjoyed it a lot, though I don't do it nearly as often as I should.

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Short Game

I started with the short game area and hit different types of shots with different trajectories from various lies. The bunker was closed but I'm not sure I would have used it anyway. It looked like it needed to be redone.

Pitching:

 

I don't know what happened with my FO angle. Oh well.

My pitching has been pretty good after I fixed my ball placement issue. I'm hitting off a fairly tight lie here and making good contact. Could be more floaty.

Chipping:

 

This is pretty much my standard chipping motion. It's similar to my pitching motion but with more shaft lean. I can hood the face and hit low runners if I have to, or use different clubs, etc.

These are more of a lofted chip - lots of stopping power with spin and trajectory (when I'm not hitting range rocks). This is kind of my go-to motion because it's pretty versatile, especially out of the rough if I'm worried I'm going to slide the clubhead under the ball with a pitch. Not the best option if the fairways are soft, though.

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Long Game

I focused on hitting targets instead of mechanics because I work on mechanics at home. Hit different shots, full swings, finesse shots, partial wedges, etc. Just kind of working on overall command of the club and the ball.

Practiced big hooks and cut shots for trouble spots. My "low" cut shot goes like 25' high. That's as good as it gets I guess.

I did eventually work on the driver. Couldn't hit it well at all, so I figured ok, let's just slow it down. Started striping it. Weird part was I don't think I was losing any distance even though I felt I was swinging slower (easier?). It felt like I was hitting a finesse shot with that same kind of smooth, controlled swing. Here's what that looks like:

Looking at the swing, I think I figured out why that works. I'm so far across the line at A4 that when I swing with my normal fast tempo, I end up transitioning steep and having to make lots of compensations all over the place. When I feel like I'm slowing the swing down, I'm giving myself more time to get the club on the proper plane. That's my theory anyway. As long as it works when I'm playing, I don't actually care too much about the why.

I'm going to have to do something about that A4 long term. Also noticed I don't do the right elbow piece well with the driver.

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Putting

I practiced putting. I didn't film it. It was mostly AimPoint calibration and speed control. I do start line stuff at home.

Been putting really well lately and I putt well on the practice green, too.

[boogielicious]

Great post.

[billchao]

Vacation is over, so it's time to get back to work... on my golf swing 😜

I had a great time playing golf with @nevets88, @Vinsk, and @David in FL on different days and it has helped me identify some key points in my game that I need to improve on.

First, I need to develop a pattern. My swing has gotten to the point where my path is a little too close to neutral and I can hit either a draw or a cut on any given shot. Really difficult to GamePlan appropriately. I need to eliminate the two-way miss and do that by shifting my path slightly in one direction. Just not entirely certain which one at this point gives me the best control over the clubface at impact.

I really need to stop opening the face of the club at address so much on shorter shots because I'm pretty good at using the bounce and the end result is I slide the club under the ball in greenside rough and don't hit the ball as far as I intended. Annoying AF.

My bunker play needs work. I haven't had a chance to practice it in a while so it's my own fault. For now I just need be more careful in avoiding them completely.

[billchao]

Spoke to @iacas briefly about developing a pattern. Basically just picking one and running with it, so I decided to go with a fade to avoid hitting hooks and pull draws.

I basically hit straight draws and fades so it's a matter of aiming more left with a more open clubface to ensure the path is left of the clubface. This is what that looks like on my net:

I have a driveway stick set behind my net as my target and I'm set up well open to it, making sure my shot starts to the left of it.

No mechanical changes, just a setup adjustment for my stock shot. Should be pretty simple to set up for a draw when I need it by doing the opposite.

[billchao]

On 9/28/2019 at 3:55 PM, billchao said:

Spoke to @iacas briefly about developing a pattern. Basically just picking one and running with it, so I decided to go with a fade to avoid hitting hooks and pull draws.

I basically hit straight draws and fades so it's a matter of aiming more left with a more open clubface to ensure the path is left of the clubface. This is what that looks like on my net:

I have a driveway stick set behind my net as my target and I'm set up well open to it, making sure my shot starts to the left of it.

No mechanical changes, just a setup adjustment for my stock shot. Should be pretty simple to set up for a draw when I need it by doing the opposite.

So I played today and abandoned my attempts at fading the ball pretty quickly. It's obvious that my natural shot shape is a draw. All I need to do is make sure I don't hit any fades (not too hard, except for driver) or hooks (much harder).

[billchao]

Day 1 of my SuperSpeed Golf training, level 1. No warmup, tired from work, haven't swung a club in 3 weeks, and sore as hell from yesterday's workout.

Driver speed: 111mph

Max speed from maxout period with green club: 117mph.

Left-handed swings are only about 10mph slower than right-handed swings, which was surprising. Also never noticed how much swinging the club stresses my pecs until today because they're sore af. At one point I was afraid I was overdoing it and was going to pull something.

Side note: need flashlight to train at night or can't read radar.

[iacas]

47 minutes ago, billchao said:

Day 1 of my SuperSpeed Golf training, level 1. No warmup, tired from work, haven't swung a club in 3 weeks, and sore as hell from yesterday's workout.

Driver speed: 111mph

Max speed from maxout period with green club: 117mph.

Left-handed swings are only about 10mph slower than right-handed swings, which was surprising. Also never noticed how much swinging the club stresses my pecs until today because they're sore af. At one point I was afraid I was overdoing it and was going to pull something.

Side note: need flashlight to train at night or can't read radar.

Plus, how can the radar see the SuperSpeed stick to get a measurement at night? 🙂

JK

[billchao]

1 minute ago, iacas said:

Plus, how can the radar see the SuperSpeed stick to get a measurement at night? 🙂

JK

Going to need two flashlights, then 😜

[iacas]

36 minutes ago, billchao said:

Going to need two flashlights, then 😜

Maybe you can clip one of those little hard hat flashlights on to the radar. 🙂

[billchao]

32 minutes ago, iacas said:

Maybe you can clip one of those little hard hat flashlights on to the radar. 🙂

Nah, I'll just leave the radar blind. This way if I don't like the reading I can just dismiss it because the radar couldn't see the SuperSpeed stick in the dark 🙃

[billchao]

SuperSpeed Golf training day 2:

Got one of my blue swings to 117 and a red one 112. Hit 126 with the green on maxout period.

This is fun. I'm not even sure if there's any mechanical benefit in my real swing because I'm doing slightly different things in an effort to swing as fast as I can, but now I just want to see if I can hit 140 with the green stick by the time spring rolls around.

[nevets88]

15 hours ago, billchao said:

SuperSpeed Golf training day 2:

Got one of my blue swings to 117 and a red one 112. Hit 126 with the green on maxout period.

This is fun. I'm not even sure if there's any mechanical benefit in my real swing because I'm doing slightly different things in an effort to swing as fast as I can, but now I just want to see if I can hit 140 with the green stick by the time spring rolls around.

We have the need... for speed! 😜 Cue up Kenny Loggins.

[DeadMan]

12 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

We have the need... for speed! 😜 Cue up Kenny Loggins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyAn3fSs8_A

 

Edited November 14, 2019 by DeadMan

[billchao]

SSTD #3: About the same as day #2, maybe slightly worse. 117 on blue, 110 on red, 124 on maxout.

Little bit of practice today, mostly just getting some of the rust off for tomorrow's club fitting, but I'm trying to adopt a "Just because I can doesn't mean I should" mantra with my backswing. I turn too much in the backswing so I'm really trying to incorporate shortening things up over the winter along with my other piece.

[billchao]

Had my iron fitting today.

Tried five or six different iron/shaft combinations and these were the best, with KBS Tour 120 shafts. Dispersion was tighter with better launch, spin, and descent numbers.

My stock shot is a straight draw so the offline number reflects that. I used the target line as an aim line because everything was square on the mat and once I started doing it that way I didn't want to deviate and alter the fitting results.

Booked a driver/woods fitting for next week.

[Vinsk]

1 hour ago, billchao said:

Had my iron fitting today.

Tried five or six different iron/shaft combinations and these were the best, with KBS Tour 120 shafts. Dispersion was tighter with better launch, spin, and descent numbers.

My stock shot is a straight draw so the offline number reflects that. I used the target line as an aim line because everything was square on the mat and once I started doing it that way I didn't want to deviate and alter the fitting results.

Booked a driver/woods fitting for next week.

Nice Bill! Nice to have such straightforward improvements. Did the JPX-919 forged have that nice Mizuno feel? Once I’m recovered I’m going to celebrate with a full bag fitting. I’m open to Ping, Titleist, Callaway and Mizuno. And just curious, did you ever hit one of your ‘tour shots’ and get numbers on it? I’m sure you’ll have some good choices with driver as fast as you can whip that damn thing.