My Swing (boogielicious)

[boogielicious]

I’ve been working on the same thing for the last three days, more palmar flexion during transition and swinging down and wide from the top. The first couple of sessions weren’t that good. Driver was still OTT and face open. I’ve made improvements, but for some reason the face is still a bit open at A6.

 6 iron swing looks okay. I rehearse getting my hands high at A4 and swinging down and wide with the flexion. In the actual swing, my hands are deeper. It’s harder to swing down if I get too deep. Contact feels good here and I can repeat this feel on the course. I’m setting up with the face a few degrees open.

Driver is a challenge. I work on the same feels but I have a harder time keeping the flexion. I also get too flat unless I really focus on it. My hands are not as deep and higher during rehearsals. I’m less OTT on this one but the face is open again. I’m setting up with the face a few degrees open. Hopefully GEARS will shed some light.

 

[boogielicious]

I’ve been trying different feels as Erik recommended from my last Evolvr lesson. I’ve gone back to the one that seems to give me more consistent results. It is a flattening feel from the top. It almost feels loopy like a Jim Furyk swing, but it is more just higher hands and letting the club head fall behind me as I swing down and wide. The flow feel of weight shift forward is key here too.

Today I filmed a short session to see if the path was better, especially with the driver. Then I went to the range to look at ball flight. With both irons and driver I need to open the face up more to have the face match the path with this feel. Ball flight was a push start line and either a draw or fade depending on how much I opened. There were a couple of hooks mixed in when I didn’t let the hips do what they are supposed to do.

Here is the 6 iron.

 

And here is the driver. It’s a pretty easy feel to rehearse on the course too. Can’t wait to see what GEARS shows and what to do to improve it.

 

[iacas]

Those look better.

[boogielicious]

My issue identified in GEARS was not necessarily early extension, but what caused early extension. I was moving my hip center closer to the ball in the backswing. This is a pretty good capture of the issue (below) I had going into the GEARS session. My ‘thrust’ was 2.5” closer to the ball. My left hip was collapsing toward the target. I was bent over too much and I didn’t have enough knee bend to effectively push my right hip back so I rotate around the hip center. No wonder I early extended.

We worked on setting up taller and closer to the ball with more knee bend. The feel of ‘clearing space’ for the hands by moving the right hip back was used. I did a drill of standing way to close to the ball to get this feel. It’s a good warm up too. We also worked on falling toward the target in transition before starting the downswing, or at least that feel. I was firing the hips too soon. The image below shows the after swing with a better thrust number and a bit more flow toward the target.

Face on, we want the chest center to at least stack over the hip center. This was a later swing with more ‘falling’ toward the target with the upper body. The hip sway and thrust are much better. You can also see that I can play the ball more forward too, which will give my a smidge more time to square the face.

This morning, I worked on this with my 6 iron using my Butt Board 2000! Here’s a video of a drill swing this morning. I need to get my weight a bit more on my toes here, but it is an improvement. I also noticed that after I grip, which is supposed to be strong, I reposition my right thumb. I need to not do that. I should have my butt just touch the board at setup and push it back in the backswing and down swing so I break the wall, so to speak. Also, I’ve you’ve seen videos in previous posts, I’m at least 3” close to the ball with this set up.

 

With driver, I’m having trouble closing the face on the downswing. It’s open to path a lot and caused push fades that are hard to control. Below, I’m working on a similar set up, a flatter shaft at the top and really forcing the rotation of the grip on the downswing. Erik and Dave had me exaggerate it to the max. I also thought I had a strong grip but NO! I think there is some progress here but it will need more work.

Here’s a screen capture at A6. Left wrist is better and the face is more closed to path. This wasn’t a full swing but maybe 60%. EE creeped in here though, so I need to keep focusing on that.

More work to do.

[Carl3]

Scott, I enjoyed playing with you last Sunday!

What are your thoughts on your locked right leg as you move into the backswing? Anyone ever mention that on this thread? I tried a backswing where I locked my leg and i felt like I couldn't then push off of it to make my downswing. The only thing that would let me push of was my foot.

 

Adam has some flex at the top:

As does Colin:

[iacas]

@Carl3, I'll jump in here as it's past Scott's bedtime. 😉

1. Scott still has flex in that knee.
2. We worked on adding a bit more flex at setup so he didn't go "locked out."
3. Plenty of PGA Tour players lose a good bit of flex during the backswing (see also here and here and elsewhere).
4. It's tough to "measure" knee flex in video because if the knee or femur rotate outward at all, you're not looking perpendicular, but more "down" the axis of the knee's bend.

[billchao]

10 minutes ago, Carl3 said:

Scott, I enjoyed playing with you last Sunday!

What are your thoughts on your locked right leg as you move into the backswing? Anyone ever mention that on this thread? I tried a backswing where I locked my leg and i felt like I couldn't then push off of it to make my downswing. The only thing that would let me push of was my foot.

 

Adam has some flex at the top:

As does Colin:

Two things:

1. @boogielicious’s leg isn’t locked out (fully extended) at the top. It looks more extended because it’s also rotated a bit towards the camera. Also he’s not as flexible as a PGA Tour player.
2. There isn’t a push off the right foot in transition. The pressure on the foot is actually decreasing and the knee is flexing.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, billchao said:

There isn’t a push off the right foot in transition. The pressure on the foot is actually decreasing and the knee is flexing.

Yes.

[Carl3]

12 hours ago, billchao said:

Two things:

1. @boogielicious’s leg isn’t locked out (fully extended) at the top. It looks more extended because it’s also rotated a bit towards the camera. Also he’s not as flexible as a PGA Tour player.
2. There isn’t a push off the right foot in transition. The pressure on the foot is actually decreasing and the knee is flexing.

Maybe it is just the practice routine before, but it really looks like that joint gets locked in place each time the club comes back.

How do you move more of the weight to the lead leg in the transition if you don't use your rear leg by pushing a little? The right leg assists in moving the weight to the left as Foley shows in the video that Erik posted above. A locked leg would prohibit that.

It looks like Scott is moving his weight forward on the transition so perhaps the locked-leg look is deceiving.

 

[Carl3]

OK, I will rethink the concept of pushing with the trail leg. Maybe it is more of a rotational action that transfers the weight to the lead leg?

[iacas]

44 minutes ago, Carl3 said:

How do you move more of the weight to the lead leg in the transition if you don't use your rear leg by pushing a little? The right leg assists in moving the weight to the left as Foley shows in the video that Erik posted above. A locked leg would prohibit that.

It does not.

How do you push by re-gaining flexion and decreasing pressure?

[boogielicious]

13 hours ago, Carl3 said:

Scott, I enjoyed playing with you last Sunday!

What are your thoughts on your locked right leg as you move into the backswing? Anyone ever mention that on this thread? I tried a backswing where I locked my leg and i felt like I couldn't then push off of it to make my downswing. The only thing that would let me push of was my foot.

 

Adam has some flex at the top:

As does Colin:

Great playing with you too Carl. It definitely doesn’t feel locked out in the rehearsal or the swing. The shorts are kind of making it look that way. I am rehearsing pushing the right hip right and back so I rotate around my center. I’m still in the beginning phase of change with this. I have to break old habits.

[Carl3]

On 5/7/2022 at 7:01 AM, iacas said:

It does not.

How do you push by re-gaining flexion and decreasing pressure?

OK, this is in the category of the 103 items of wisdom you posted. I posted something wrong on the internet and I was sure to get the right answer 😃

This has got me thinking about what my right foot and leg are supposed to do.

[GolfLug]

If I were to 'push' off my right foot in the downswing I would demolish a pair of flip-flops every two days.. 😜😂

Edited May 9, 2022 by GolfLug

[boogielicious]

1 hour ago, GolfLug said:

If I were to 'push' off my right foot in the downswing I would demolish a pair of flip-flops every two days.. 😜😂

And put the piano in serious jeopardy!

[boogielicious]

Still working on my new pieces. The primary one is my hip rotation. It needs to be around the hip center so that the hip center does not get closer to the ball. This applies to irons and driver. The feel is my right hip going right and back without my left hip collapsing toward the ball. It’s been a challenge to change the picture but I am making some progress. The stance feels more normal now but I still err a bit to the old habit.

My routine is doing a lot of slow mapping to get the feel with easy swings. I do a couple then look at the video and see what needs to change. In this 6 iron swing below, I’m trying to feel my left knee going to the right and less toward the ball. I also have the feel of falling to the left in transition. I still think my left hip is moving a bit too much towards the ball here. This feels like an 80% swing. I usually have the iPad in front of me, but the sun was too high and hot.

Same feel with the driver bit and added a feel in my wrists flattening the shaft. I try to focus on one piece at a time, but will try two during some swings.

 

[boogielicious]

Worked a bit on a secondary piece, having my upper center move toward the target in transition with irons. Below, I am rehearsing that feel. I call it the Leaning Tower of Pisa feel. It looks to be effective with the full swing. My main piece, keeping my hip center from moving closer to the ball in the backswing, is improving. Having my left knee not go toward the ball helps. I think here I need to extend more at A8 - A9. I get a bit frustrated when I work on me part and other parts slip.

With the driver, I’m not trying to have the same upper body feel. I am also setting upper with less forward press with the shaft. At Erie, my hands were way ahead of the club head at impact. It looks a bit better here.

 

[iacas]

That looks better. What's the start line like with the driver?