My Swing (Lihu)

[Lihu]

This is copied over from the ". . .Aha moment. . ." thread, because I wanted to reference it for further growth.

I think I just had another "Aha" moment last week, when I switched to clubs that were way too stiff and heavy for me on the course.

My last lesson had me me get into a deeper stance and a 2:00-2:30 spine angle. This gives me a lot more freedom of movement. Of course, they said it would during my lesson, but it didn't click then mainly because I was not used to this deeper stance and needed to build up the strength to do get into it.

What the "Aha" moment is that I was able to swing these heavy solid steel rods with ease, and let the club propel the ball and cut through turf. I've been working hard to produce this feeling every stroke. I found that I can reproduce this feeling up to the 7 iron pretty reliably, less so with the 6 iron, getting a few good shots with the 5 an 4 irons, and very limited few with the 3. I can still hit them every time, but they make a clack sound rather than a poof type sound on contact.

However, this got me thinking a bit. All of my "good" shots up to the 5 iron were about the same ~30 yard height. I even swung my wedges (52 and 60 degree) the same way. Also, there is way more spin and height with no distance loss. Repeatability was much better.

I have always used these clubs at home against a net, but never really knew how far the shots would really go. Then just decided to take them out on the course for a round.

Still have a lot of work to do to be more reliable with this new found "ease of movement". After which, I'll be ready for the next lesson!

The main thing is that I seem to be getting used to the heavier clubs. Only time will tell, but it seems like they are, hopefully, not going to over-work my core muscles like they did on the course the other day.

[Lihu]

Well, I finally made the plunge and put heavy steel on all my clubs. I think I found the holy grail for my swing. It seems like a lot of my inconsistent ball striking was from too light a club. I had the best long game round with the least amount of effort and thinking once I switched to really heavy clubs. Very little distance lost, in fact I think with some practice I can improve it. My putting and chipping have a lot of work to do. So, now that my long game is at a reasonable level, it's time to work on the short game.

[mvmac]

Befores on the left, afters on the right

Better Key #2, 3 and 4

Key #2 and 3

[Lihu]

Working on pitch shots to make a proper "brushing" motion. 50 to 150 pitch shots per morning, till I get this feel down.

[Lihu]

Going to Brookside 1 in the mornings. What a mess after the Rose Parade Festivities. Tents and trailers everywhere. I had to hit over these things and work around them. Lucky for me I have this new confident swing. Made it close to the greens again. Only one GIR out of 9 holes played per morning. I made one GIR this morning and forgot I was on a Par 5, before thinking to myself, hey that's a GIR. Short hole, but everything played longer because of the 47 degree cold weather.

It turns out if I hold my left elbow, close to my body and turn "slowly" such that I can naturally retain the palmer flexion in the lead wrist and the cocked position almost to impact (the feel is that I retain it through impact, even though it is not) then my shots are very controlled. This leads to what feels like a really slow swing, but is much more consistent. This is my swing for now. I will learn to separate the elbow more as I get better (maybe in a few months to a year) for a "faster" swing. This method worked great with all my pitch and chip shots, lots of control.

With the elbow tucked in method, I can control the distance a little bit through the timing of the release. The maximum distances are shorter, but I get better shots. I am putting my money where my mouth is "I would rather have a shorter shot, but be in play". So, other than the cold I would say I lost maybe 5% distance. My shots are shorter, but in a better play position.

I looked at @cipher 's Myswing thread, and a link in his last post to a 5SK video basically entitled "Are you turning like a pro?" which shows a picture on how to get a perfect finish. His drill with the chair is really intriguing, and the more I think about my good shots today the more I think of the chair drill and what it trains.

So, putting was really bad today. Kept it to 3 putts until 18 (my 9th hole). On the 18th hole from the blues, I made the green with driver-hybrid (today it was 458 yards, assuming my rangefinder was not in error). They put the pin on a slope. You can see the ball mark next to the pin, but it rolled back to the fringe. No GIR. 4 putts later I walked away with a double thinking, man that hole placement could have been better, I guess it lived up to its "4" hole rating.

Tomorrow morning, I am going to focus on the "chair drill" finish. See if I can get some more GIR.

[cipher]

The key with that drill as explained to me is what it is making you do in the hips.  The object is somewhat heavy.  The feel is that you are aimed towards center field and you are going to throw that chair up and out to left field.  The best way to do it is with getting the hips open and using the lower body as thrust.   I put that drill on my thread because it looked a bit silly and I want to keep the feel in my mind.  It helps me maintain feel depth in the right hip as well.  It is not so much about the finish as it is A7, although it does help make the finish look nice.

[Lihu]

The key with that drill as explained to me is what it is making you do in the hips.  The object is somewhat heavy.  The feel is that you are aimed towards center field and you are going to throw that chair up and out to left field.  The best way to do it is with getting the hips open and using the lower body as thrust.   I put that drill on my thread because it looked a bit silly and I want to keep the feel in my mind.  It helps me maintain feel depth in the right hip as well.  It is not so much about the finish as it is A7, although it does help make the finish look nice.

@cipher , thanks for the explanation. The drill does look like it will activate the correct muscles for the hip thrust. As soon as I saw your post with your chair drill, it just clicked together.

[cipher]

@cipher, thanks for the explanation. The drill does look like it will activate the correct muscles for the hip thrust. As soon as I saw your post with your chair drill, it just clicked together.

Absolutely, it is an awesome drill.

[mvmac]

Don't get too ADD Lihu Keep working on the stuff we did and the drills that you need to do.  Just because Cipher posted a drill doesn't necessarily mean it's the right one for you.

[Lihu]

Don't get too ADD Lihu   Keep working on the stuff we did and the drills that you need to do.  Just because Cipher posted a drill doesn't necessarily mean it's the right one for you.

True, but it did get me thinking about my good shots today. On those shots, I made good weight transfer and distance with a relatively relaxed swing.

As for the drills, a side effect is that my pitch and chip shots are getting pretty reliable.

[cipher]

Don't get too ADD Lihu   Keep working on the stuff we did and the drills that you need to do.  Just because Cipher posted a drill doesn't necessarily mean it's the right one for you.

My apologies for not saying that as well.  I should have known better.

[mvmac]

My apologies for not saying that as well.  I should have known better.

Yeah no worries, I was just being the Stupid Monkey police

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cipher

My apologies for not saying that as well.  I should have known better.

Yeah no worries, I was just being the Stupid Monkey police

So, at what point do I get this "Stupid Monkey" award?

[iacas]

So, at what point do I get this "Stupid Monkey" award?

(said with love:) Sometime after you stop trying to incorporate someone else's drills into your practice.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

So, at what point do I get this "Stupid Monkey" award?

(said with love:) Sometime after you stop trying to incorporate someone else's drills into your practice.

Oh yeah.

Back to pitching another 1000 balls. . .

[mdl]

All I can say is holy crap.  I remember your old swing from I think it was the first SoCal TST tourney.  You look like a totally different golfer.

[Abu3baid]

Befores on the left, afters on the right

Better Key #2, 3 and 4

Key #2 and 3

The before and after pictures above are an amazing transformation.. nice job!

(said with love:) Sometime after you stop trying to incorporate someone else's drills into your practice.

I have to admit.. this is a classic answer.. made me laugh!

*Note to self - do not incorporate others drills into own practice*

[Lihu]

All I can say is holy crap.  I remember your old swing from I think it was the first SoCal TST tourney.  You look like a totally different golfer.

Thanks.

It only too two months for Mike and Dana to get me to this level, I really wish I saw them immediately after that first tourney.

Still lots of work, but at least I am starting to get a firmer grip on keys 1 and 2.