My Swing (Lihu)

[Lihu]

  hopefulhacker said:

[QUOTE name="Lihu" url="/t/71030/my-swing-lihu/36#post_940411"]   I am trying to get a full 1 on the first two keys. It takes a lot of diligence to maintain both of the two keys shot after shot. So, the more mechanisms I have to maintain them the better. Key 3 eluded me after having worked hard on all of them for over two months successfully, and I needed to go back to Mike and Dana to fix the problem with it. So, I am working on all three keys, but the one I want to get "perfect" is 1 for now. [/QUOTE] I enjoy following your updates Lihu, keep them coming.  I am in a similar position, but my main focus or the one I want to perfect is Key #2 and in particular getting the weight onto my  inside right foot & left knee forward and down in the downswing.  You are right when you say it takes a lot of diligence. But it pays off. My Monday & Wednesday range sessions were very good this week, I spent time in between shots working on the movement and the results were good.  The Tuesday was not as good, I think I got a bit carried away with Mondays success, I didn't put in the work between shots or take short practice shots, I ended up hitting twice as many balls with half the success. Re your GIR's: Are you taking enough club? Last summer I found that I benefited from taking my yardages to the back of the green (unless it was a monster green obviously) and took that as my distance.  I went from leaving a lot short to increasing my GIR's almost immediately.  I am hitting at least one if not two clubs more on some holes than I used to.  My thinking was that I will rarely, if ever, hit an iron further than I think I will, but I will often leave it shorter than I expect.  If I'm taking yardage to the back of the green a good shot should hit it but a higher % of my bad shots will also hit it.  Most trouble on my home course is in front or to the sides of the green,  I think the majority of golf holes are the same, so it's a no brainer for me.

Good question about the GIR. The issue is accuracy, I tend to spray all around the green. I prefer to comeup short than over hit them, but the shots are +/-5 yards about pin high. I get a quite a few that hit the green then bounce off. Something like 25% are on the fringe, 25% bunker or approach, 50% off line, but within 20 yards.

[Lihu]

  Lihu said:

I wonder if the people who get 135 yards with their PW are putting the club back in their stance and more lag?

I can only carry 105 with the PW, but the flight is really high. Every now and then I get a "thin" ball that goes 125 or so. If I could control this flight I think I could get the appropriate distances. On the other hand, what is the advantage of doing this versus using a 9i?

I just came back from the full distance ball range today, and as @billchao noted I was flipping my shorter clubs (possibly all of them to some degree).

The ping i20's have their factory shafts back in them.

The drill I practiced was:

I noticed that when I put a ball behind me that I needed to cock the club back, first. The ball behind my main ball gets knocked back, if I don't. This meant that I need to cock the wrist almost immediately on the takeaway. I took the second ball away once I got the hang of it.

My pitching wedge now carries about 120 on a decent shot (shortest 115 to longest 125), so my immediate problem is fixed. My clubs all goe a decent distance and appropriate to my driver distance.

Getting used to hitting a PW 120 is the next problem.

[Hammer 4]

Obviously your making good progress, keep up the good work..

[billchao]

  Lihu said:

My pitching wedge now carries about 120 on a decent shot (shortest 115 to longest 125), so my immediate problem is fixed. My clubs all goe a decent distance and appropriate to my driver distance.

Congrats! I'm glad I could help you sort that out. Just be careful on labeling something "fixed" too soon. I've had my share of issues that I "fixed" several times already.

  Lihu said:

Getting used to hitting a PW 120 is the next problem.

Hitting your clubs farther? That's a problem I'm sure lots of people would like to have

[Lihu]

  billchao said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

My pitching wedge now carries about 120 on a decent shot (shortest 115 to longest 125), so my immediate problem is fixed. My clubs all goe a decent distance and appropriate to my driver distance.

Congrats! I'm glad I could help you sort that out. Just be careful on labeling something "fixed" too soon. I've had my share of issues that I "fixed" several times already.

Yes, and so have I.

But I think once I start to focus on key 3, I should be able to solidify this improvement. The main thing is to cock the wrist back first. That is the only change I made, and once I got the timing down I got instant improvement in distance.

[freedrop]

  Lihu said:

Yes, and so have I.

But I think once I start to focus on key 3, I should be able to solidify this improvement. The main thing is to cock the wrist back first. That is the only change I made, and once I got the timing down I got instant improvement in distance.

The wrist "cock" is an interesting point,it's something I have experimented with and remain somewhat undecided on.The main drawback is what you correctly note , timing.Generally I don't like doing anything in the swing that has to be done consciously, ie: grooved ,especially a timing issue,that is subject to all kinds of mental stresses.

[Lihu]

  freedrop said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

Yes, and so have I.

But I think once I start to focus on key 3, I should be able to solidify this improvement. The main thing is to cock the wrist back first. That is the only change I made, and once I got the timing down I got instant improvement in distance.

The wrist "cock" is an interesting point,it's something I have experimented with and remain somewhat undecided on.The main drawback is what you correctly note , timing.Generally I don't like doing anything in the swing that has to be done consciously, ie: grooved ,especially a timing issue,that is subject to all kinds of mental stresses.

Agreed, wrist cock could be a bad thing, but this is what gives the shot that extra kick. I am trying to keep my wrists flat (or slightly palmered) during this movement, so the "cocking" is not that exaggerated.

The main reason why I think it works even though it is a "conscious" movement is that it is the first movement. If I do the drill in post #56 without doing it, I hit the ball behind with the back of the club.

The hope is to post a few videos with a 30fps camera. I am planning on going to Santa Anita this Saturday, and we'll see if I have time to setup a camera while waiting for the party in front to clear the fairways. (I need to spend the extra 15 minutes per hole doing something. . .). It's also kind of a pain to have to carry a big and bulky SLR camera along with my clubs.

[Lihu]

I wasn't planning on adding these swings, but I thought it would be good to keep updates. They are meager attempts to combine Key 1 and 3. Way OTT in both cases. Wrist was not flat at the top.

Ping i20, CFS-stiff; 50 degree U wedge off a mat.

Driver TM Burner 1.0 9.5 DG X100.

Updates planned with combined keys 1 2 and 3. I am still working on combining all three into a more smooth piece, this weekend.

I really hate the lack of arch in the finish, and loss of balance, things I worked on this last week.

Good thing I have a lesson planned on the 8th of March.

[mvmac]

  Lihu said:

I wasn't planning on adding these swings, but I thought it would be good to keep updates. They are meager attempts to combine Key 1 and 3. Way OTT in both cases. Wrist was not flat at the top.

Yeah, wrist starts to cup on the downswing, so even though the camera is too far in front of you, clubhead is still out at A6. Then the arms bend and swing low and right.

So I would recommend going back to your drills. Start at A6 with the right wrist feeling palmar flexed, club head inside the hands, with the weight well forward. Then "chip" it out there, try to finish more like the left pic.

  Lihu said:

I really hate the lack of arch in the finish, and loss of balance, things I worked on this last week.

Yeah we can get into that more next week, just a result of the other pieces being off. You'll see the finish/balance get better by doing more drills swings.

[Lihu]

Yeah, I'll do a whole bunch more A6 drills before taking any more videos and our next lesson. I'll be sure to more the camera too.

I do want to focus more on my son at the lesson, and am willing to delay my progress to get him jump started.

[mvmac]

  Lihu said:

Yeah, I'll do a whole bunch more A6 drills before taking any more videos and our next lesson. I'll be sure to more the camera too.

The driver camera angle was good, just make sure it's down the stance line.

  Lihu said:

I do want to focus more on my son at the lesson, and am willing to delay my progress to get him jump started.

Yes look forward to working with him. He'll be kicking your butt in no time

[Lihu]

  mvmac said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

Yeah, I'll do a whole bunch more A6 drills before taking any more videos and our next lesson. I'll be sure to more the camera too.

The driver camera angle was good, just make sure it's down the stance line.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

I do want to focus more on my son at the lesson, and am willing to delay my progress to get him jump started.

Yes look forward to working with him. He'll be kicking your butt in no time

We know that's a pretty low threshold. . .

He got 2 birdies on the front 9 at Goose Creek, and beat me by 4 strokes with a 91 overall. This given an 8 on the last hole and another blowup hole.

We just need to get him to consistently kick butt in his league, that should get him even more enthusiastic about playing too!

[mvmac]

Great work Kaili!

Left arm softer at A1, gets the shoulders square and not aimed right.

Helps the left elbow flex more from A1-2 so the left elbow doesn't get too far in. Right  hand is behind the left shoulder in the before pic, inline in the after pic.

Not a "bad" position on the left. More of how he got there, had to lift the arm because they were too far inward, more timing involved. Right pic, because the left elbow was softer and able to fold earlier, left elbow stays in front of the shirt seam all the way to A4.

Here's the reason for implementing the A1 and backswing stuff. Kaili would steepen the shaft from A4-5, causing him to "back out of the shot" leading to a clubface aimed too far to the left. Misses were low push cuts.

Making the backswing more simple helps Kaili shallow the shaft from A4-5,  allows him to hit the ball higher and control his start lines.

Still thrusting but not tipping the upper center back in an effort to get the ball in the air. No need to manipulate the face. Hips are more open and more "tilted", this is ideal.

@Lihu , reminder about the feel we came up with at the end. Feeling for Kaili, like he was holding a pizza tray at A4 and kept holding it from A4-6. Helps the left elbow stays lower than the right as he lefts his wrist angles widen. Widen but not cupping the right wrist.

Ok now for Dad.....

Similar stuff at A1. Shoulder were aimed too far right, lefy arm was very straight/rigid. So shoulders square with a soft left arm.

Looking good!

[Lihu]

Well, I'm more or less healed from any fatigue. Pretty decent drives, my miss is now a hook on almost everything. Irons are reliable and good enough. After all, I have 8 of them plus 2 wedges. My 6 iron is only around 160 yards but really high. Balls seem to land and stick on the range. We'll see on the next round. Lucky for me, I think I only need to go 7iron on most normal par 4. I might need to tee up the longer irons for par 3.

Probably take some videos this weekend, and might be able to sneak a full Saturday morning round with Kaili (We haven't gone to the archery range for a while, so we might go there instead).

[mvmac]

Good work today guys. Will add some pics tomorrow or Monday.

[Abu3baid]

Very nice Lihu.. Both of you have done so much!!  I think it is so great that you and your son share this passion together..

I can't wait to be able to take my kids to the range and play rounds of golf with them (10 years from now)  :)

Anyway, great stuff.. You encourage me more and more to make sure I go visit Mike the next time in the States as well!

[Lihu]

  mvmac said:

Good work today guys. Will add some pics tomorrow or Monday.

I can see the chicken wing effect in the left frame! Still a little in the right too.

Kaili practiced a lot more of his drills last night, and is starting to understand what he is doing wrong. The main thing is for him to work on the drills in our backyard net, and do the same thing during his team practice sessions. More videos to come.

You're right. Today was a breakthrough day for me. The reason is because I now have the hip flexibility to do the key move more consistently. I hit a few solid 6i last night after working on this drill, and moped around why it is always better after a lesson then reverts back to a "straighter back" later on. Now I do understand it, or more importantly my body understands what to do. I am going to need to work on more hip flexibility to retain it this time. I'll work on it more tomorrow before our round with @hacker101 . This is why lessons are important, I did not have this understanding 4 months ago when I started with you two. It really takes time for your body to adapt.

BTW, I was just kidding about the "Why am I not a 10 handicap, yet" , the main reason is really putting. The second might be this, but I definitely feel like this will get me more greens, and more meaningful ones.

  Abu3baid said:

Very nice Lihu.. Both of you have done so much!!  I think it is so great that you and your son share this passion together..

I can't wait to be able to take my kids to the range and play rounds of golf with them (10 years from now)  :)

Anyway, great stuff.. You encourage me more and more to make sure I go visit Mike the next time in the States as well!

Thanks for the encouragement. It's all about hip flexibility!

[mvmac]

  Lihu said:

BTW, I was just kidding about the "Why am I not a 10 handicap, yet" , the main reason is really putting. The second might be this, but I definitely feel like this will get me more greens, and more meaningful ones.

Oh yeah I know but I think it was a decent question. Even though you're not there yet I think it's good it's not a "mystery" as to why.

  Lihu said:

Thanks for the encouragement. It's all about hip flexibility!