My Swing (DeadMan)

[NCGolfer]

@DeadMan, I'd concur with @DaveP043 here.  The first thing I'd fix is your setup.  Feel like you raise your hands "up" a bit and create much less of an angle with the putter and get the toe on the ground.  Take another picture or video and make sure you're closer to what you see below.  Eyes don't have to be directly over the ball but should be closer than where you are and you should have much more of a straight line from your elbows to the ball.

From personal experience, this will typically fix problems with me pulling the ball/missing left.  Not sure if that is what your miss has been or not.

 

 

[DeadMan]

Thanks, @NCGolfer. I do sometimes hit a straight pull on short putts, so that could help.

I spent some time putting last night, and I was working on standing a bit closer to the ball, which helps me keep the toe of the club on the ground (will probably also help with the set up issues you're talking about above). I also worked on keeping my head more still. Saw some good results. I'll keep working on it. Thanks for help!

[NCGolfer]

7 minutes ago, DeadMan said:

I spent some time putting last night, and I was working on standing a bit closer to the ball, which helps me keep the toe of the club on the ground (will probably also help with the set up issues you're talking about above). I also worked on keeping my head more still. Saw some good results. I'll keep working on it. Thanks for help!

I was actually going to tell you to get closer to the ball but I didn't think you were really too far way...maybe a little.  You are exactly right, that will raise the hands a bit if you keep everything else the same.  You can also stand up a bit more to change that angle.

Keep up the work!

[DeadMan]

I could probably also benefit from a putter fitting. That's been on my list to do for a while, but I've always wanted to fix my stroke before I did that. Maybe this will get me on my way!

[DaveP043]

2 hours ago, DeadMan said:

I could probably also benefit from a putter fitting. That's been on my list to do for a while, but I've always wanted to fix my stroke before I did that. Maybe this will get me on my way!

This is probably a chicken and egg thing.  I know I cut about an inch off my putter when I got it, and I still end up gripping down an inch or more when I take my normal address and let my arms fall naturally.  That's my personal way of dealing with a putter that's not quite right.

[billchao]

On 5/31/2018 at 10:09 AM, DeadMan said:

Okay, let's see if we can get to work on this putting stroke. Here are my very professional videos of my putting stroke. Both of these were about 30 foot putts. The angle on the DTL view is bad because I wanted to aim at a hole instead of just down the line with the camera.

Biggest problem I have is speed.

My through stroke is obviously way too long. So the feel I had been working on to try to fix that is obviously not good. I'm wondering if the ball is too far forward in my set up, too.

I also need to brush up on my aimpoint skills, but that's a different topic...

What's the loft on your putter? You launched that ball a good two feet.

[iacas]

Your shaft is too far back (the handle is too far back) and then it's even further back at impact. You have too much loft and likely have backspin and you launch the ball too high in the air.

And the toe up thing is not good either.

[DeadMan]

21 minutes ago, billchao said:

What's the loft on your putter? You launched that ball a good two feet.

What can I say? I like to hit the ball high.

17 minutes ago, iacas said:

Your shaft is too far back (the handle is too far back) and then it's even further back at impact. You have too much loft and likely have backspin and you launch the ball too high in the air.

And the toe up thing is not good either.

Do you mean that I leaning the shaft too far away from the ball (i.e., towards my back foot) or something else? 

Seems like I should start by tilting the shaft more forward at address and then see how that affects impact. Do you think moving the ball back in my stance would help at all?

[billchao]

Just now, DeadMan said:

What can I say? I like to hit the ball high.

I know you're joking, but it affects your distance control.

[DeadMan]

Just now, billchao said:

I know you're joking, but it affects your distance control.

Oh yeah, for sure. I don't think the loft of the putter is the problem, though... it's the stroke more than anything.

[DeadMan]

Update on my putting work:

Last 2 rounds since I started working on those changes had 37 putts and 39 putts, not including a couple of times I putted from the fringe. Ugh.

That said, I think it's more of an adjustment period for me than actually poor putting. I've been hitting the ball too hard, generally. I had the opposite problem in the past. I think that means I'm getting better contact with the putter, and I haven't adjusted yet. I also feel a bit lost on short putts, which is usually a strength for me. I think that's mostly because of the set up changes.

I've taken a couple of days to not work on putting or anything golf related to try to do a bit of a hard reset on some confidence issues I was having. I'm coming back with a more refreshed and open mind, ready to work on some of this stuff more. Going to go to the range tonight and most work on putting. Long game is pretty good still - I have a ton of confidence in my driver right now, which is great for me.

[DeadMan]

Better update! Putting is definitely coming along. This is my last couple of rounds since the last post in this thread:

 

And then my last round:

!!!! I've never had a round that good putting I'm pretty sure.

Still some work to do here, but definitely a lot better than it has been.

[DeadMan]

Swing update:

 

Working on shallowing out my downswing, and, as you can see, it still needs some work. It also looks like I've gotten a bit sloppy with my backswing and shoulders set up again, so I probably need to just focus on that for a bit. I've been trying to use that alignment stick to get a good push draw going. I can start the ball right and get it to draw with about an 80% swing, but I just end up pulling it with a full speed swing.

Still, though, swing's in a decent place right now. I hit a good amount of balls straight, and my miss is a 5-10 yard pull-hook. That's playable enough for me. It costs me more strokes on drives when the pull-hook hits me on a hole where left is dead. I've been working on a 10 yard fade for those types of holes that I can pull out when I really need to avoid going left. I like the results of that shot on the range, but haven't tested it in competition yet. A couple of drives like that when I need it will give me another tool to use (albeit, sparingly, because I don't want to work the ball unless I absolutely have to).

[DeadMan]

Figured I'd post a swing update, since it's been a while:

Made a lot of progress in shallowing the downswing. Took a lot of mirror work - just look at the 5 minutes daily practice thread for that. This looks pretty good to me, and according to my Evolvr instructor, I'm ready to start working on my next priority. I think it's a key 3 priority, which definitely needs improvement for me. The focus right now is to soften my wrists in transition and go from there. Basically, my hands should be a little behind in my swing.

I think this will be pretty challenging to implement for me. I've known about this fault for a while, but have been working on other stuff first. Maybe it will turn out to be easier than I think now.

Nonetheless, I actually feel pretty good about my full swing. GG has me losing about 2.75 shots to a scratch golfer off the tee and in approaches. So, I'm really more of a 2 or 3 handicap (ish, GG's insights are far from a perfect analysis) with my long game. That seems about right. More improvement for me will come from short game and putting. Unfortunately, that's stuff that's harder to work in the winter for me. My putting has actually improved a bit since the spring - I've gained half a stroke on a scratch golfer putting. Not much, but it's not nothing either.

I need to think about what goals I have for next year. Not going to be playing much golf for the next couple of months, so I should focus a bit more long term than I am right now. I really need to practice more on short game than long game, but I really dislike practicing putting and short game.

[iacas]

Really looking good Dan.

[mvmac]

Really nice, that sweet spot path on the downswing is definitely better.

[DeadMan]

Thanks, guys. I imagine I will probably still have to work on it in the future. There have been times that I've had a similar path in the downswing, but it's reverted back to the mean. That said, I can see how the stuff I'm working on now will build on this and make the downswing shallowing more natural and easier to maintain.

[DeadMan]

Cross-posting from the 2019 goals thread:

I have three main goals for the year, these are more results-oriented:

• Get my handicap under 5 and keep it under 5.
• Win a gross event at my club.
• Get selected for the 2019 Newport Cup, assuming one happens.

I have a couple more process-oriented goals that I think will help me achieve those goals above. In way, these might be more important because successfully doing them will make accomplishing my main goals easier:

• Starting in March (when courses start to be more playable here), devote at least 50% of my practice time to short game or putting.
• When it's not the week of a gross tournament, when I work on my long game, devote my practice time to working on my priority piece and not just beating balls.

I am probably an outlier with my short game and putting. I'm pretty bad with those, compared to my long game. I need to devote more practice time to those. 50% is probably too little practice for them to be honest, but I want to have an achievable goal. 70% isn't achievable for me. I strongly prefer the driving range to the putting or chipping green. I won't want to go practice if I can't get to the driving range a decent amount.

The second point there is that I tend to spend too much time just hitting balls without any thought but seeing what my ball flight is. I think that inhibits me from progressing with my swing as much as I should. While I think that's still useful practice, especially right before a tournament when I need to know what my long game looks like, I do it too much. I can be more effective at practice by working on my priority piece, slowing down, and hitting fewer balls.