My Swing (No Mulligans)

[iacas]

Very nice. You're making some good strides!

[No Mulligans]

@iacas Thanks Erik, that's good to hear.  Sometimes it feels like 2 steps forward and 1 step backwards.  This definately takes discipline to affect a change.

[mvmac]

Who's this guy? That's Stupid Monkey quality right there.

[No Mulligans]

@mvmac .  Stupid Monkey! Woohoo.  Thanks Mike.

[No Mulligans]

Spending some practice time trying to take on this modern pitching style that iacas posted here:

http://thesandtrap.com/t/39411/quickie-pitching-video-golf-pitch-shot-technique

I'm only able to do a 1/4 swing, about 15 yards with a lob wedge, because of the size of my back yard.  My attempt:

[No Mulligans]

My Evolvr instructor, Brian, was happy with my progress.  I had been 1) exiting to quickly to the left after contact with the ball and 2) not straightening my legs at and after contact.  However, on my most recent videos, my head is moving back to the left and backwards away from the ball on my downswing.

So, my new priority... while continuing to work on straightening my legs at and after impact and continuing to work keeping my arms moving towards the target more after impact... the new priority is Key 1 again, a steady head.

I've signed up to do the Bridgestone E6 forum review.  For me, being a high handicapper with not much of an opinion on any balls, what makes the most sense is to do a head to head comparison with another brand of ball.  I choose the ProV1.

I spent some time doing side by side ball comparisons, putting, chipping and short pitches at the Torrey Pines practice facility.  My observations so far is that the cover of the E6 is softer than the ProV1, this was noticeable for putting, chipping and short pitch shots.  Also the E6 seems to travel a little bit further when putting.

This morning I got out early to Balboa Park 9 hole course to play a round before word and alternate holes between the two balls.  I didn't exactly stick to the alternation as I forgot while I was playing but I did play the E6 on 4 holes and the ProV1 on 5 holes.  With the focus on the round and the inconsistency of my shots, it was hard to notice any difference between the two balls.

I played alone and dictated the details of my round into my iphone.  This process and distraction while playing has made me more interested in the Game Golf product.

I shot a 39.  Balboa 9 is a par 32, it's USGA rating is 30.1 and slope is 94.  Just my speed, I really like playing this course.

Here are the results of my iphone dictation.  My wedge play really hurt me on this round, although I suppose if I was hitting more greens I wouldn't have needed to play the wedge so much.

Hole 1 150 yards E6

Shot 1 - 7i  pulled to left eucalyptus, dropped straight done, 48 yards to hole

Shot 2 - LW 45 yards on the green 10 feet to cup

Shot 3 - made putt

Hole  2 145 yards ProV1

Shot 1 - 7i fat and chunked to left rough, 55 yards to hole

Shot 2 - 1/2 swing SW to back fringe, big bounce, behind green 18 yards to the cup (should have been a 1/4 swing SW at this distance or a full LW)

Shot 3 - 10 yard LW to fringe, 24 feet to the cup

Shot 4,5,6 with putter to cup

Hole 3 - 395 yards E6

Shot 1 - 219 yard drive, a fade to left side of fairway, 176 yards to the cup

Shot 2 - 175 yard 3 hybrid to left fringe, 45 feet to the hole

Shot 3 - Putt off the fringe to 7 feet past the cup

Shot 4 - Putt to 5 inches

Shot 5 - Putt in

Hole 4 - 135 yards uphill (men tees hitting from women's tee box) ProV1

Shot 1 - 7 iron chunk (but straight), 28 yards to cup

Shot 2 - LW to green, 18 feet

Shot 3 - Putt to 2 feet

Shot 4 - Putt in

Hole 5 - 350 yards, E6

Shot 1 - (hit ground behind ball) 175 yard driver with a short low hook to left edge of fairway, 178 yards to hole

Shot 2 - 130 yard 3 hybrid, hook to left rough, 41 yards to hole

Shot 3 - slightly thin LW, over the green in the dirt, 35 yards to hole, arrgh

Shot 4 - LW out of dirt, over the green again, 26 yards to hole, arrgh

Shot 5 - LW to green 12 feet to hole

Shot 6 - Putt to 2 feet

Shot 7 - Putt in

Hole 6 - 238 yards, E6

Shot 1 - 210 yard driver pushed to left tree line in the rough, 46 yards to the hole

Shot 2 - LW to 12 feet past the hole

Shot 3 - Putt in

Hole 7 - 218 yard, ProV1

Shot 1 - 200 yard 3W to middle of fairway, 19 yards to hole

Shot 2 - SW chip to green, 29 feet past the hole

Shot 3 - Putt to 2 feet

Shot 4 - Putt in

Hole 8 - 198 yard, ProV1

Shot 1 - 195 3w push, clipped leaves of eucalyptus, right to next fairway, 52 yards to hole

Shot 2 - LW to 9 feet past hole

Shot 3 - Putt in

Hole 9 - 321 yard, ProV1

Shot 1 - 198 yard driver, slight draw to left side of fairway, 123 yards to the hole

Shot 2 - 124 yard 9i to green, 15 feet to left of hole

Shot 3 - Putt to 1 foot

Shot 4 - Putt in

[Lihu]

I like the breakdown of the shots. It's very clear when someone looks at it or if you ever need to look back upon it.

Nice swing progress too!

[No Mulligans]

I like the breakdown of the shots. It's very clear when someone looks at it or if you ever need to look back upon it.

Nice swing progress too!

Thanks Lihu.

I just realized, I don't have a 3 hybrid.  Those couple of shots that were marked 3 hybrid were actually a 4 hybrid.

The 4 hybrid on the third was my favorite shot.  It's slightly uphill and there is a slope up from the right side of the hole and a steep slope down from the left side of the hole.  There is also a sandtrap front left and a tree back left on the slope.  I was aiming at the right fringe and hit it to the right fringe from 175 (I mistakenly wrote left in my previoul post).  Once in a while things go as planned.

[JonMA1]

With the exception of hole 2, your putting seems very solid. Is this what you'd consider a typical round with the putter. Nice job on holes 6 and 8 btw.

[No Mulligans]

@JonMA1 , that was a good putting round for me.  That round was 15 putts, my best on that course was 14, I have another 15, some 16 and 17 rounds, and a 19 was the worse.  (I'm not counting putting from the fringe as a putt).

[No Mulligans]

I mentioned to my Evolvr instructor, Brian, that the bottom of my swing tended to be at the ball as opposed to beyond the ball which I believe is resulting in too many thin and fat shots.Brian pointed out that my head and sternum was going back on my downswing which was causing this.

So I've been working on getting my upper body more forward.  Not all the way there but a change in the piture so far:

[No Mulligans]

I'm having trouble getting Key #1 (steady head).  Worked on it today with camera.  My head goes back at the top of my swing and perhaps further back on the downswing.

With the feedback of the mirror and going slow I seem to be able to do it.  At full speed not so much.  I've got to come up with something new to practice this as I'm not affecting the change.

This video, from this morning, is full speed and taken in slo-mo with my Samsung S4.  The following pictures, my head goes back at the top of my back swing and then stays back through impact.  Maybe a flexibility issue?  And, I do have flexibility issues.

[No Mulligans]

Today's video practice:

I think my FO looks pretty good.  I've mostly been working on a steady head and laterally my head is getting better, still needs work though.  Also, I think I could get my hands down quicker and have more lag.

DL, yikes.  Looks to be outside in.  Also I seem to be coming out of my posture too soon and perhaps this is why I hit towards the toe so often.  Another keep the head steady.  I'm beating this Key #1 to death.  Golf is hard.

[No Mulligans]

Changing the picture

11 months ago

This week:

[No Mulligans]

Working on changing the picture at setup and straightening the leg at impact.

These earlier comparisons are what got me in that direction... well that and a lot earlier @mvmac and then Brian at Evolvr telling me to get more tilt by bumping the hips more forward and later telling me to straighten my leg earlier.  Worked on that but digressed over time and recently looked like this:

[No Mulligans]

So... Short and slow (not as slow as I thought I was going), and specific, working on set up and straightening my leg at impact...

Comparison screenshots from that video above.  I think I've made an improvement during this practice in my setup and straightening my leg at impact.  Rather than thinking about my leg, I was focusing on my belt buckly, forward and up, a kind of thrust as I've heard @iacas has instructed before.

Setup, an improvement over previous posts picture.  I think I can use more tilt, it felt like I had more tilt than that.  My head wants to get back behind that line at impact, I think I might as well start with my head back there like Na Yeon Choi does.

Impact, improved here too, leg nearly straight.

Beyond impact.  Not staying down as much as Choi, but I'm 57 and don't have her flexibility.  I think I'm okay here and less likely to hurt my back.

[bm85]

Learning from your learning. Keep up the good work!

( Off topic: The multicolored balls struck me as unusual at first. Then I stumbled across your guitar videos. Listened to Ski the Fish a dozen times lol. Beautiful playing man. )

[No Mulligans]

@bm85 thanks for checking in and the encouragement.