My Swing (phillyk)

[phillyk]

@Double Mocha Man I’m longer than most I guess. One time in summer, I drove the ball just into the back fringe from the blue tees on #9 shuksan and chipped in for eagle. That was a monster drive, but I also typically have 170ish left on 13, par 5. 

Edited March 15, 2019 by phillyk

[mdl]

On 1/13/2019 at 6:33 PM, iacas said:

If the club is too heavy it can actually be detrimental. I recommend SuperSpeed, not clubs or things like the Orange Whip or the Gold whatever-its-called (the yellow/black heavy thing that looks kinda like an Orange Whip).

Yeah, a regular club feels whippy/light after, but you actually swing it worse AND slower.

 

Yeah, it's weird this knowledge hasn't fully taken over.  It's been shown many times, at least in baseball where I used to look into the research, that warming up with lighter than game weight increases swing speed, and heavier than game weight reduces swing speed.  This isn't a definitive study, but is the first one I found googling just now and agrees with other literature I've seen over the years.

[phillyk]

Had yesterday off from work and the kid, so I went to play somewhere nice and expensive (relatively), Chambers Bay. As most know, they finished re-sodding their greens to Poa this winter. They didn't roll too fast, but they were completely smooth.  I shot a 76 from the tips.  Wasn't my best round. Off the tee was decent, it was mostly around the greens that screwed me up.  I hit 11/18 greens with 33 putts. I had two terrible pitch shots. It's very rare that I play courses with such tight fairway lies and I couldn't make it work.  One was from 45yds when near green in two shots on the par 5 4th. I skulled it past the pin into a collection area of green and 3 putted... stupid.  Overall, I had two birdies and 6 bogies.  One thing that I'm sure took away a couple shots on the back was that my range finder died on the 10th hole. Hole 11, I had no idea what line I could take to stay away from bunkers but clear the big sand dunes, I chose wrong and didn't have much of a chance to recover. 

Regarding my putting, I need to practice more overall.  It's weird, inside 8ft, I'll make nearly everything. But, give me a reasonable 15ft and I'll never make it.  I know my reads are good because in recent scrambles they'll hit the exact line I saw and make them, but when I putt, I don't.  I know what the percentage makes are and I'm pretty sure I'm far below outside of 10ft. I had a lot of reasonable putts around 15ft for birdies and a few pars that I missed yesterday.  I know I won't make all of them, but even if a few dropped, it would have made quite the difference.

Once again chipping/pitching.  It's funny, I found that I was getting too handsy and not turning my chest enough with the shot, and so I've been practicing that recently.  But, yesterday, I must've completely forgot about it, because thinking back on it, I never thought about moving the chest more with the shot.

Positives from yesterday, driver, 2 iron, full wedges and short irons.  I did have a few shots that I fudged on because I rushed the routine and forgot to swing at my target (I'll turn over too much/flip). But for the most part, those clubs were solid.

I'll need to practice a bit more short game and keep with the full swing.

[Double Mocha Man]

Always carry an extra range finder battery with you.  😊

[phillyk]

On 4/18/2019 at 7:44 AM, phillyk said:

I'll need to practice a bit more short game and keep with the full swing.

I've been working on short game and so long as I remember to keep the feels of: keep the club low and straight on takeaway and then pull left after impact with my hands.  It seems to make the path shallower, just need some confidence with it.  Putting wise, I'm going back to my old putter. I've had this new Elevado and I like it, but I can't make putts with it for whatever reason.  I tried my old putter yesterday and it rolls better, but the face is a bit hotter so distance control was way off.  I think it'll be better in the long run to stay with my old one.

[phillyk]

Came back from my PGA Lev 3 seminars and got some feedback on my swing and short game.  Full swing, I need to work on the lower body turn through impact and instead of having a feel drill, the instructor gave me a visual drill which you see in the video above.  The other ball is where I'm trying to get my belt buckle pointed before impact. Seems to have a good effect so far. I also tightened up my stance a bit, was getting a little wide.

In terms of short game, I've been struggling with those tight lies and in FL, that's all you get.  So I volunteered to be a ginny pig for the short game lesson demonstration since I knew I needed help.  Basically I was leaning back while pitching, the shaft was leaning forward way too much that I couldn't use the bounce, and I wasn't turning like in my full swing.  So I got it fixed up.  It was a lot at once for the motion, but I wrote everything down and I'll work on it.  Started to hit a lot better pitches for sure. 

Edited May 4, 2019 by phillyk

[phillyk]

I like this one. Not quite there yet with the lower body turn around impact, but the feeling of getting my right shoulder to the ball faster is helping. I like my balance on this one. Path was a bit more inside to out then I’d like, but it’s close. Full swing lately has been solid. Still working more on short game. 

[phillyk]

Well, I think I’m officially in a funk. So far this season, my scores have been bad. Men’s league, I can’t break par which is terrible. Played in my first pro am of the season today and shot 80, which included a 9 on a par 5 because I hate teeing off of par 5s with an iron so I went driver and tried to cut off more than I can chew. 

Basically I feel like I’m trying to play well so hard that I’m over thinking everything. When I play solo, I do great! When I play with others I start over doing it or something and can’t score. Today when I got pissed and just swung at the ball without much thought, It was money!

It’s just a really annoying and tough start. I’m sure I’ll cycle it back around at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later.

[Double Mocha Man]

2 minutes ago, phillyk said:

Well, I think I’m officially in a funk. So far this season, my scores have been bad. Men’s league, I can’t break par which is terrible. Played in my first pro am of the season today and shot 80, which included a 9 on a par 5 because I hate teeing off of par 5s with an iron so I went driver and tried to cut off more than I can chew. 

Basically I feel like I’m trying to play well so hard that I’m over thinking everything. When I play solo, I do great! When I play with others I start over doing it or something and can’t score. Today when I got pissed and just swung at the ball without much thought, It was money!

It’s just a really annoying and tough start. I’m sure I’ll cycle it back around at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Phil, this is what happens when you get old. Was it the par-5 on the back nine at Eaglemont where you can overdrive the fairway?  Or was it at Bellingham Country Club?

[phillyk]

1 minute ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Phil, this is what happens when you get old. Was it the par-5 on the back nine at Eaglemont where you can overdrive the fairway?  Or was it at Bellingham Country Club?

Bellingham G&CC, I was even going into 7, and like an idiot, I wanted to hit a high cut through the gap and I pushed it a tad. 

[phillyk]

To start off, short game is coming around nicely. Definitely feeling it. Putting has faltered a bit but I have ideas and it’ll just take a little practice. Full swing, In the past when I decided to just swing without trying to hit a draw, it would go straight to a slight cut. But when I try to make that my “norm”, it always went to slicing. However, I feel that with my changes I’ve made in the last year with sweet spot control and lower body turn, I can give it another go. The other day, I decided halfway through a fun 9, to just swing. Every shot from then on, I stuck them tight, via a straight to slight cut shot. Drives were money, wedges were money. I’m going to try it, but I’ll probably film my swing soon while it’s going good so that I have something in case things goes sideways.

Before posting this I looked at my last post about trying to hit a cut and failing. So, I want to specify. My trying to hit a cut before, was to use the inside out draw swing but aim way left and open the face barely more than the path, therefore it starts right but then cuts slightly. It worked sometimes. This “just swing” style, I think, is a straight through path with a very slight open face. So definitely different and like I said before the drives I’ve hit with the “just swing” have been really good. 

[phillyk]

Ok i need to amend my “just swing” comment, because today my “just swing” was a tight draw most of the time. My goal was to take practice swings, feel it, and feel what ball flight the swing produced. I got a out 85% of them right on the feel, and shot -2 for 9 holes.  Been a while since I shot a few under, so it felt good. Definitely missed a few birdie putts, but it was decent. I’ll work on the predictions and make them tighter, but so far so good. 

[Double Mocha Man]

4 minutes ago, phillyk said:

Ok i need to amend my “just swing” comment, because today my “just swing” was a tight draw most of the time. My goal was to take practice swings, feel it, and feel what ball flight the swing produced. I got a out 85% of them right on the feel, and shot -2 for 9 holes.  Been a while since I shot a few under, so it felt good. Definitely missed a few birdie putts, but it was decent. I’ll work on the predictions and make them tighter, but so far so good. 

Were today's strong winds a factor at all?

[phillyk]

18 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Were today's strong winds a factor at all?

Nah. Ive played north bellingham enough to not let strong winds bother me.

[Double Mocha Man]

4 minutes ago, phillyk said:

Nah. Ive played north bellingham enough to not let strong winds bother me.

You are a better man than I am.  I won't play North Bellingham when I arrive in the parking lot and the American flag is blowing straight out.  I drive down the road to the more protected Shuksan.  Especially in the winter because of the wind-chill factor.

Edited June 18, 2019 by Double Mocha Man

[phillyk]

Ugh! I don't like courses where it forces hitting irons on the tee for par 5's and most par 4s. Yesterday, I played Plateau Club and it was straight target golf, which should be easy for me, but I can't just sit back and play smart.  So, I played a little too aggressive on several holes and paid the price (basically hitting a little too far on a dog leg). The main problems that I have with the course are the blind tee shots on every hole.  You hit to what looks like an easy fairway, then you get up there only to see that there is a massive hazard that sneaks out to the middle of the fairway.  It's one of those courses that you'd play the second round completely different than the first round.  It is what it is.

I like where my swing is taking me, but I need one flight.  Either the cut or the draw, having both show up is not giving me good birdie chances.  My long irons are drawing a bit while the short irons are straight to cutting. Driver is both which is really annoying.  Other than the holes that I played too aggressive, I hit the ball ok, but once again short game failed me about half the time.  Flipping a lot, no trust in the stroke at the moment. Putting is better.  Normally I don't like hitting on the range, but I think it's time to hit the range a few times to get back to one flight and work on pitching.  This year has been a massive struggle so far, hopefully I can turn it around at some point.

[phillyk]

Ok, did some practice today and I’m moving in the right direction. Got a good feeling going with short game. More consistent contact, repeatable, and controllable. I knew I was moving around too much before, with the main issue being that I was leaning back somehow. The old move was more straight back and through and “high” with the clubhead or something. The move I worked on today was to feel like bringing the clubhead to the inside a bit on backswing. I think it made me rotate more and block me from trying to move backwards. The downswing I didnt try anything special other than to swing down softly and make good contact. I got my weight on my left side more, I believe. I need build my confidence a bit more and work on distance control. 

Full swing is going really well. Main feel is to try and get my hands more over my heels instead of toes at A4. Haven’t taken much video to confirm where it’s really at but it feels really good. Hopefully I can get it going this year, and pull some good rounds together. 

[phillyk]

Well haven’t posted any updates in a while. Game has been mostly good. My tee to green has been probably the best I’ve ever been or just about. Short game is mediocre. Putting is atrocious.

Haven’t really played a full 18 holes in a while. I’ve played 9 holes several times and I’ve hit 7/9 GIR or better every time. Half of the greens I have birdie putts inside 15ft and the other times, it seems close but outside reasonable range. I’ve missed 99% of those putts for birdie inside 15ft (obviously it’s an exaggeration but it sure as hell feels like it). Today had 5 chances inside 15ft and made 1. Last time, I had about the same amount of chances I think and I missed all of them, including a 2ft 11in birdie putt I had after getting closest to the pin for the league night. 

Yes, it’s that bad. Most of them are short. Dead on in line, I think, but just barely short. When I try to put a little more behind it, I miss my line and smash it by. I’m going to try my older putter and see what happens. I’m just really annoyed. Every time it seems just right and it usually ends up short. I feel like I should be better than this for sure, but something is not clicking.

I’ve started practicing it a lot more recently and I’m leaving them closer to the hole and reducing the 3 putts but not good enough to make more. 

Full swing has been so solid. I’m continuing my feel of a slightly flatter take away to get my hands in a better spot, but the main thought is to get my hands pushing ahead at impact and getting more hip rotation. Haven’t taken many videos but whatever it is, it’s working pretty well. Other swing thoughts include image of swinging down target line with long irons and driver and setting shoulders up a bit more square at set up.

Chipping/pitching has been better but not where I want it to be yet. Mostly working on consistency of the stroke. Judging distance to hit has been pretty good.