My Swing (Lihu)

[bkuehn1952]

12 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Been a while since I posted. . .In any case, my main interests are no longer golf related, although I still play once a week.

Yes, I noted that you had not signed in for several months.  I was wondering whether you would reappear or if you would join the group of TST'ers who suddenly walk away never to return.

So what is your main interest currently (other than golf to win sushi)?

[Lihu]

5 hours ago, bkuehn1952 said:

Yes, I noted that you had not signed in for several months.  I was wondering whether you would reappear or if you would join the group of TST'ers who suddenly walk away never to return.

So what is your main interest currently (other than golf to win sushi)?

Drumming (after 30 years of hiatus) and shooting (guns and eventually bows) when I have the time. Mostly, it's either helping my kids prepare for college or helping then do searches and tours for them.

I still like golf a lot, and still play regularly. It's just that I'm at the point where I feel like a need to do other things after having dedicated 6 years to playing this game. To be honest, that Eagle I got was/is the epitome of my golf ability. Missed one so many times before when I was playing much better.

I might end up paying $100+ and eat crow at our local sushi bar instead of enjoying a month of it for free. But it's a fun goal to work towards.

Edited August 22, 2017 by Lihu
grammatical error

[JonMA1]

Good to hear from you again @Lihu.

[Lihu]

On 8/21/2017 at 0:42 PM, Lihu said:

I was on the driving range the other day, with ehh results. Still have distance, but I'm hooking my long irons and 3W. Need to fix the hooks.

Path and not "jerking" at impact helped eliminate the hooks. Have to be more conscious about softening the forearms until impact.

 

On 8/21/2017 at 0:42 PM, Lihu said:

Going to be practicing this for the next month or so.

Went to the chipping practice area to try this out. I duffed the first 4 shots and hosel rocketed 2. The rest of the 60 shots were pretty decent. Had a few super fat shots that went short, but not really that short. "Brushed" 90% of the shots.

I keep forgetting to use bounce and keeping my shaft leaning back at impact. For some reason "leading edge" always seems to creep up when I don't play for a while. Or have my son tell me my pitch shots suck. . .

So, I'm going to work on this for the next month or so in addition to the "tension control" on full shots.

[Lihu]

On 8/23/2017 at 9:40 AM, Lihu said:

Path and not "jerking" at impact helped eliminate the hooks. Have to be more conscious about softening the forearms until impact.

 

Went to the chipping practice area to try this out. I duffed the first 4 shots and hosel rocketed 2. The rest of the 60 shots were pretty decent. Had a few super fat shots that went short, but not really that short. "Brushed" 90% of the shots.

I keep forgetting to use bounce and keeping my shaft leaning back at impact. For some reason "leading edge" always seems to creep up when I don't play for a while. Or have my son tell me my pitch shots suck. . .

So, I'm going to work on this for the next month or so in addition to the "tension control" on full shots.

Okay, played a really horrible round. No more "controlling tension". . .

Tried not to hook, and the harder I tried the more the ball would hook. I even tried to swing as fast as I could and the ball took this 90 degree turn off somewhere to the right as if it were afraid of the fairway I was on or something. Going to the range to take up the head instructor on his offer to help my "general game", in this case my long game.

On a positive note, my short game is much better. Apparently, it didn't take long to fix that, again. . .I just have to remember to "bounce".

Didn't lose many shots from inside 100 yards, but having to hit from inside trees and 2 fairways over didn't help my overall score. Yuck!

[Lihu]

Played at Angeles National with my son on Saturday. Fun round. Not so with scoring.

We took stroke and distance on the first 7 holes and putted/tapped off the wood chips up until the 13th holes before reading the rules on the card stating that we get a Lateral following rule 26 from habitat areas and a free drop out of the chips. So, we ended up with 86 for my son and 94 for me off the Blue tees. All tallied, we likely penalized ourselves over 5 strokes a piece (for me, a few more), but obviously we signed the card as is.

So, the good news is I made all the 475 to 510 yard par 5 in 2 shots distance wise. My son teed off with his 3 iron for most of the holes to avoid the habitat areas. There were only 3 wide ones where he dared to pull out his driver. It was really cool seeing him make a 500 yard par 5 with 2 3i shots.

One thing I noticed is that the fairways gave me a lot more roll than I'm used to. I think I got over 50 yards on one hole for a "300" yard drive.

Angeles is one really tough course!

Quote

Scorecard

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out
Black 74.7/143	402	585	212	427	422	459	176	530	486	3699	3699
Blue 72.1/136	381	562	177	396	378	416	164	494	446	3414	3414
White 70.0/130	368	542	156	382	359	364	149	469	417	3206	3206
Men’s Hcp	15	5	7	17	9	3	13	11	1	0	0
Par	4	5	3	4	4	4	3	5	4	36	36
Red 68.9/116	273	493	62	338	261	306	81	390	328	2532	2532
Women’s  Hcp	11	7	17	15	5	1	13	9	3	0	0

 

Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Tot
Black 74.7/143	459	310	130	494	218	472	537	406	416	3442	7141
Blue 72.1/136	429	293	120	474	199	418	507	366	377	3183	6597
White 70.0/130	390	271	109	448	151	394	493	344	363	2963	6169
Men’s Hcp	12	18	16	14	8	2	6	10	4	0	0
Par	4	4	3	5	3	4	5	4	4	36	72
Red 68.9/116	299	202	100	399	106	322	425	248	266	2367	4899
Women’s  Hcp	14	16	18	10	12	8	4	6	2	0	0

U.S.G.A. RULES GOVERN ALL PLAY

No Entry Into Habitat: Proceed under Rule (26) Lateral Water Hazard.

Wood Chip Areas: Play as a free drop, no nearer the hole

Drop Areas: Holes#3, #6, #9 and #18 are located on the other side of the arroyos.

Player assistants are available on the course and are authorized to enforce club rules and maintain pace of play to ensure everyone has an enjoyable day.

 

As far as my progress goes, my pitch shots and putting are as solid as I've ever been. So, I have to work on my left/right problem. I pushed a lot of drives "lateral" (even though I counted it as OB), and hooked many of my approaches. Was kind of proud of a blind 4i tee shot 209 to the wood chips by the green, and found 2 Pro-V1x balls with the Angeles logo near my ball just inside the habitat area which I gently tapped out with my wedge.

[bmartin461]

25 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Played at Angeles National with my son on Saturday. Fun round. Not so with scoring.

We took stroke and distance on the first 7 holes and putted/tapped off the wood chips up until the 13th holes before reading the rules on the card stating that we get a Lateral following rule 26 from habitat areas and a free drop out of the chips.

That is a great course, one of my favorites.  I'm surprised the starter didn't tell you about the lateral and wood chip rules, they do that with me every time I go there.    The fairways are known to be very hard thus the extra role, which is a nice reward for hitting the fairways.

I think their green fees are a bit high for that course, but if you can get out on their "bargain" Tuesdays, it's not terrible, plus it keeps the crowds away, not like Brookside.

Brad

[Lihu]

7 minutes ago, bmartin461 said:

That is a great course, one of my favorites.  I'm surprised the starter didn't tell you about the lateral and wood chip rules, they do that with me every time I go there.    The fairways are known to be very hard thus the extra role, which is a nice reward for hitting the fairways.

I think their green fees are a bit high for that course, but if you can get out on their "bargain" Tuesdays, it's not terrible, plus it keeps the crowds away, not like Brookside.

Brad

We were late getting up on Saturday morning and had lot's of errands to run to boot. So, we ended up with a sweet twilight rate deal and it was my Birthday so I only had to pay like $115 for the two of us.

There wasn't a starter out there because it was 108F out there. There were some people setting up some kind of a tent on another fairway near the 13th and I was about to chip out of the wood chips when they told us it was a free drop and to read the course rules for "better scores". Too late. . .My son played a tournament there, so it was tournament rules and that's why we played that way. I'd barely break 95 playing by those rules.

Need to go again for my son's birthday in Winter, and we'll try to get out early.

Jack Nicklaus designs really tough courses!

[Lihu]

Coming back to golf after a brief 6 month hiatus I hit a slump for about a dozen rounds. Had one freakishly good round on a short course with rented clubs. Generally shooting really badly. After taking 2 lessons and 2 clinics, and making the changes via my daily challenge I finally shot an 82 and an 83. The 83 was tougher because the tee shots were placed worse more times. Hope this ends up not being two freakishly low scores again. . .So, I'm hoping that we get an on course clinic in a couple weeks, then the instructor can check if I'm utilizing my shot zones well enough or not? The formula for improvement? Less trees  = better score. Really enjoying this game now, or at least the last two rounds.

[Lihu]

  On 10/22/2016 at 7:22 AM, DownAndOut said:

The barometer for me when judging how good a golf instructor is very simple. It’s not how many qualifications they have, how many students they’ve taught, how many articles they’ve published in magazines or awards they’ve won. It’s not about how profitable their schools are, how well known they are in the golfing world or even how much they know about the golf swing. For me it’s how many adults have they taken from a high handicap, to single figures. That’s the acid test for golf instructors. If you’re working with someone who can take a 40-year-old beginner and help them break 80 in a few years, you’re on to a winner.

I think this hits home with a lot of us amateurs who start playing golf late in life.

The part I have to disagree is that the instructor doesn't need to be good at playing. What I feel is that the instructor really needs to be a good player and had to have worked hard to get to his advanced playing level. Further, that a good instructor for late age starters probably should also be someone who was a late age starter. Only someone who's been though the hell of being a late age starter can really teach late age starters better, because they understand their position a lot better. The main reason is he wouldn't make bad assumptions about the late starter's potential ability based upon the same criteria as other golfers such as young students.

The other thing about a good late age starter instructor is that he or she must be a very good listener. If a late starter says something that doesn't make sense to him, he shouldn't make assumptions that the person is deluded but rather inquire what the person means in more detail? Late age starters quite possibly know a little bit more about life than a potential instructor, and that should be taken into account when discussing goals and plans for improvement.

Also, late starters have way more potential than most people give them credit, and it's too bad that they are not taught in such a way that allows them to break 80 in a few years. Wherever you got this article, they're on to something big.

 

 

 

 

Quoting this from the Stupid Monkey thread. It's totally possible the stupid monkey thing should go both ways for the instructor and student. The instructor should go into a new endeavor as if he knew nothing about his past students, and treat every new student as a unique individual. The golfer should pay attention and do as the instructor says without questioning things. Less resistance to teaching and learning is pretty key in any new endeavor.

[iacas]

2 hours ago, Lihu said:

The instructor should go into a new endeavor as if he knew nothing about his past students, and treat every new student as a unique individual.

That's not what a stupid monkey is.

[Lihu]

17 minutes ago, iacas said:

That's not what a stupid monkey is.

Yeah, I should have rephrased that a bit. You really don't want both of them to be completely stupid.

[Lihu]

I've been mostly posting in the 5 minute challenges for September, October and November. I'll likely continue for the next few months. They really help keep things in line. Especially the full size "mirrors". Cameras are a pain and I forgot my youtube/google passwords at this point.

So, I had a friend take some video of my swings prior to my clinic, then the instructor found a few things out of sequence in my swing and corrected them in one session. I was given a drill to help me fix that sequence error. I'll probably take some videos tomorrow, since it was too dark to take video yesterday evening. The instructor also had me hit 7i punch shots. I had one roll out to the blue flag from the instruction area. It's going much farther than I've ever hit a punch shot with the 7i before. Probably could replace the 4i punches with this shot. I have way more confidence with my sequence fixes. I'm sure I still have a lot of swing flaws, but at least I'm hitting a lot straighter. Can't wait to take it out on the course this weekend.

My short game stroke is basically like a putting stroke and it works great all the way out to about 30 yards with my LW up to 20 yards and the 56 up to 30 yards. I'm working on trajectory and placement at this point. That's a real time sink, but it's fun like shooting. I think alternating days of this and driving range is going to take most of my time.

At 50 yards to 60 yards, I'm using a more brush stroke in the "Quickie pitching. . ." video. To get longer distances out to 100 yards or more, I use different clubs. Same brushing stroke I get the following carry yardages: LW(60D)- 60 max; 56D- 70 max; 50D- 90 max and PW- 110 max

After going back to the whipping motion feel again my long game yardages seem really good. Driver carry is about 258 or a bit less than the fence by the oak tree but more than the 250 yard tree on the driving range with 72F to 80F late afternoon conditions. 8i hits the 147.5 yard white flag from the left corner stalls with an occasional 9i hitting that same flag. 7i carries the white flag hill, 6i is about 5 yards short of the black flag if I had the directional accuracy to hit it. My on course distances are not that far off from my range distances when I don't hit trees or "spinners", although, I haven't hit enough decent shots on the course yet to really ascertain anything.

My putting game has either gotten a lot worse or I'm not close enough on the approaches and chips, but I'm really not worried about that. Still focused on the long game and short game. Putting will be the icing on the cake. I know I can get it to a reasonable level again, if I spend a little time on it.

Considering I spent nearly 100% of my time on long game the last few months, I would say that alternating days of short game and long game is a good proportion for me. I'll try to keep a weekly schedule of 3 days of long game, 2 days of up to "110 yards" short game and 1 day of putting per week and one day playing only. I have a bit more time now, but still only about 1 to 2 hours a day plus the 5 minutes (actually 15 minutes) of highly focused movement work.

Edited November 30, 2017 by Lihu

[Lihu]

Loving my new Mevo launch monitor. Only got to use it for a limited amount of time, but it works great. The battery in my phone drained from 98% down to 50% because it kept staying on and the Mevo dropped a bar or two. Checked distances with my rangefinder, and the numbers stack up pretty well.

My setup was at 6.5' with the target sight in line with my ball at setup. Measured using my feet then about half my foot. Guessing withing a couple inches for sure.

I think my contact is pretty inconsistent?

LW all with the reflective dots:

CHS 73.6mph

BS 69.5

41.1 degrees

11,056 rpm

Carry 72.1 yards

Hit that felt a bit thin:

CHS 75.9

BS 81.7

30.6

8157

Carry 96.7

Possibly a bit fat:

CHS 73.6

BS 62.3

40.2

10,116 rpm

Carry 62.7

Well, that's one good reason for a LM anyway. Going to start short then work my way through the bag until I get more consistent numbers.

Going to try the copper tape I have lying around instead of the Al dots.

[Lihu]

Oh, what the. . .myflightscope.com has all my data. I didn't even know how to login. I never read that blurb that pops up for a fraction of a second before you start the app.

Here's my LW (60 degree), one of my data points is missing. I must have deleted it by accident.

 

Here's my 56 degree. Spin is a little low and I'm not sure what's going on with the carry yardage.

 

I'm going to try full swings Thursday. I've got a few things due Tomorrow night at work. . .

Edited December 12, 2017 by Lihu
60

[Lihu]

Going to try the video and the Mevo Tomorrow afternoon. I finished the first phase of my work, and have a little bit of relief. Not much though, I think Mevo will be most of my golf the next month or so. , but at least I have a Mevo to use 

[Lihu]

Going to try to go out again tomorrow. Not sure if I can because we have lots of guests coming and we have to decorate and clean up.

 

Well, I finally hit full swing shots with wedges and 3W. Ran out of battery when I got to driver. Not sure why? It must have turned on in my bag since I charged it last Tuesday.

I was hoping to have some decent 3W shots to contrast with Mike's readings. And yup they contrast with his, that's why he's a scratch and I'm bogey. . .

At least these are consistent with my last GG round with 3W off the tee typical distance of 241 yards.

Even took practice swings and was careful about my setup between shots. . .

Hoping to get back on the range tomorrow afternoon for driver and some other irons. . .

 

I think I'm hitting fat and this was off a driving range mat. Pretty crappy, and if the swing speed is correct I should be getting way better shots than the crap I posted.

Edited December 16, 2017 by Lihu

[Lihu]

My full swing 9i seems to have too high a launch and too little spin.

LW is still pretty bad. I'm still hitting fat. . .