My Swing (davechen)

[davechen]

I've been Playing Golf for: over 20 years

My current handicap index or average score is: high 90's

My typical ball flight is: pretty low and straight

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: hitting the dirt behind the ball

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Here are a couple slow-mo videos my daughter shot of me with my iPhone 5s.  If you click through to vimeo, you can see them better.

Videos:

I'm feeling pretty good about my swing these days.  I've taken a few lessons this season.  The pro got me to stop swaying back and forth or bobbing up and down and keeping my head steady instead.  My current swing thought is to try to make my swing purely a rotation about my spine.  He also has been trying to get me to transfer more weight from back to front.

If I could swing like I do in these videos every time, I'd be a pretty happy camper.  But when I overswing or open up too early I hit the ground behind the ball.

[trickyputt]

How long is the driver?

[davechen]

How long is the driver?

It's a 10.5 degree Taylor Made Tour Burner.  The specs say it's 45.5" long.

I'm not a long hitter.  On the advice of Lowest Score Wins, I've been putting the ball forward in my stance, and so I hit a couple 260 yard drives recently.  The recent lessons were a big factor to.  Before a good drive for me would be 240.

[trickyputt]

When you swing do you try to get the driver head down the line?

[davechen]

When you swing do you try to get the driver head down the line?

No.  Should I be?

[trickyputt]

Well if you arent swinging the head down the line, where do you feel you are trying to swing it?

[boogielicious]

@davechen ,

Check out these videos.  You tend to shift your weight back and your head back on the back swing.  You move it back near impact, but it probably leads to a little inconsistency.  Keys 1 and 2 in this thread.

[saevel25]

Compare you to Zach Johnson, besides that he's about twice your height (joking!! )

See how Zach keeps his weight more on his lead foot, while you get way too far back on your trail foot. Your backswing is pretty decent right now, you just really need to work on key's 1 and 2 (weight forward and steady head). Here is a good drill to work on getting the feel for a centered pivot. You can also place your head next to a corner in the wall and make turns (with no club) just to feel your head keeping steady. Try to work on that for a while (till it becomes repeatable).

[davechen]

Well if you arent swinging the head down the line, where do you feel you are trying to swing it?

Honestly, I'm just trying to make good, solid contact with the ball and not really thinking about where the club head is going.

@boogielicious @saevel25 Interesting.  I'll check out the 5SK videos and try that drill.  Yeah, in the screen cap it looks like my butt and head positions are funny looking compared to Zach's.  But you should have seen my swings earlier in the season.  My head was all over the place. :)

[davechen]

I took a golf lesson today.  They have a fancy recording setup, so I got the pro to send me a copy of the video.  This video shows a nice 7 iron swing I made.  I'm pretty pleased with my weight shift.  You can see the weight sensor in the upper right.

From y'alls suggestions I've been working on keeping my head steady.  I worked on some of the center pivot drills from the videos above and elsewhere.  I found that I was really feeling a stretch in my right hip on my backswing, which I hadn't before.  So now I get much more hip turn, where before I was just swaying backwards.

I've definitely been striking the ball better and playing better.  If you click on the golfshot link in my signature you can see my scorecards.  My 9 hole scores are now in the mid 40's, where before it was more around 50.

[BENtSwing]

That's rad. I like the weight shift meters. Congrats on getting your scores down!

[iacas]

Keep going. Looks like it's heading in the right direction. Two things to be aware of:

1. Make sure it's more of a hip turn on the backswing and a bit less of a sway.
2. Keep the hips going forward at setup: you're about 62% at impact when most pros would be 85-95%.

P.S. You should have the guy set the swing markers. Many looked good; the impact one was a bit late.

[RJH999]

I'm not the best at giving golf tips, but that is one sweet ass hat dude.

[davechen]

I'm not the best at giving golf tips, but that is one sweet ass hat dude.

Heh, thanks.  My wife is adamant about the big brimmed hat.  Being Asian, she doesn't like sun exposure, so she made all of us (including 2 kids) get hiking hats from REI.  It definitely keeps you cooler than a baseball hat in the hot summer too.

[RJH999]

Heh, thanks.  My wife is adamant about the big brimmed hat.  Being Asian, she doesn't like sun exposure, so she made all of us (including 2 kids) get hiking hats from REI.  It definitely keeps you cooler than a baseball hat in the hot summer too.

Fantastic. I want one, I currently only have a rice hat. It's great.

[davechen]

Fantastic. I want one, I currently only have a rice hat. It's great.

It's pretty much this hat:

http://www.rei.com/product/864758/rei-vented-explorer-hat-

Although it looks like they only have a small size right now.  Mine is a large, I think.

[RJH999]

It's pretty much this hat: [URL=http://www.rei.com/product/864758/rei-vented-explorer-hat-]http://www.rei.com/product/864758/rei-vented-explorer-hat-[/URL] Although it looks like they only have a small size right now.  Mine is a large, I think.

And it's on sale! Lol, appreciate it.

[davechen]

[VIDEO]https://vimeo.com/105999540[/VIDEO] 7 iron, face on [VIDEO]https://vimeo.com/105999537[/VIDEO] driver, face on Hi all. Just thought I'd post a couple videos from the range last night. I've been feeling pretty good about my swing and my game. Right now I'm mainly trying to groove my swing, get it more consistent and repeatable. At my lessons the pro has been trying to get my to swing a bit more inside out and maybe have a bit stronger of a grip so I get a bit more of a draw. As it is, if I don't hit it well, it'll fade some, especially with the longer clubs. Honestly that doesn't really bother me, since it's not a big slice. The drill we did was to put a ball basket on the ground about 1.5 feet behind the club. So if I didn't swing inside-out, I'd nick the basket. I can do it ok at the range, but I wouldn't say I've really incorporated it on the course. Also he had me swing the club like a baseball bat, in front of me to try to get more turnover of the club. But for me, I'm mainly trying to get the feel of the hip turn. It seems that I get the proper steady headness when I feel my right hip rotating back. As a bonus, here's my son, also from last night. [VIDEO]https://vimeo.com/105999539[/VIDEO] The things the pro has him working on is trying to maintain his balance. He tends to swing to hard and be falling all over the place when he finishes. Also he seems to pick his hands up quickly on the backswing. The pro didn't say anything about that, but it looks like it to me. He too has to learn to keep a steady head.