My Swing (DrvFrShow)

[RandallT]

Knee injury is acting up - Patellar tendonitis. Left knee. I started flaring my feet a bit and this started. Maybe I shouldn't flare my feet? Have patellar strap from several years ago. Yes I've had this before, and it's a pain in the ... knee. It takes forever to go away.

This whole plan of mine is based on remaining injury-free. However, that doesn't seem possible. I'm injury prone. In the 1980s: Motrin (Prescription) 400 mg - the breakfast of champions. 2014: Advil 400 mg gelcaps - the breakfast of champions.

Sorry to hear about the knee! I'd be interested to know if you correlate the flared feet with the knee problem. From my experience last year, the flaring eased my posture and I felt noticeably more comfortable. I cursed myself for not doing it sooner, and it seems to treat my joints better. My hip turn seems easier. But we are all built differently.

Someone posted a video a little while back on how men can't raise up from a bent over position with a chair in their hands with their butts and feet against a wall. But women do it quite easily. There could easily be some physiological reason why flaring your feet is quite different than me flaring mine!

[DrvFrShow]

I've had knee problems for years. Women have our femurs enter the knee at a different angle than men. I'm wondering if this changes the biomechanics of the stance. I never had a problem with my knee with the golf swing before. It was my ankle. That's why I thought I'd flare the foot so I wouldn't roll it over on the follow thru. I guess it wasn't a good idea. I'm using a knee band + motrin + I read that taking vitamin E and Selenium helps so I'll do that.

Anyway, like I said I've been working on centering my pivot. I can really feel when I hip slide now, and it feels wrong. So perhaps there is hope.

I put the long shaft in the driver just to get a SS and carry distance today. Avg SS was 92 and avg carry distance was 213. So with the roll I'd say about 227 to 230 total with the driver. I need a driver lesson to get more consistent directionally. This club is going to make or break me this year. If I can keep it in the fairway I'll shoot in the low 80s for sure. If I can't I won't see any improvement, unless I just hit my 17* wood off the tee and sacrifice 15 yds. which honestly could save me about 9 strokes on my home course. I can schlep my way around with my 7 iron and shorter. 230 leaves me a wedge to 8 iron on 10 holes for my second shot.

So it's driver lesson. I need to learn how to hit this club well.

[newtogolf]

I've had knee problems for years. Women have our femurs enter the knee at a different angle than men. I'm wondering if this changes the biomechanics of the stance. I never had a problem with my knee with the golf swing before. It was my ankle. That's why I thought I'd flare the foot so I wouldn't roll it over on the follow thru. I guess it wasn't a good idea. I'm using a knee band + motrin + I read that taking vitamin E and Selenium helps so I'll do that.

Anyway, like I said I've been working on centering my pivot. I can really feel when I hip slide now, and it feels wrong. So perhaps there is hope.

I put the long shaft in the driver just to get a SS and carry distance today. Avg SS was 92 and avg carry distance was 213. So with the roll I'd say about 227 to 230 total with the driver. I need a driver lesson to get more consistent directionally. This club is going to make or break me this year. If I can keep it in the fairway I'll shoot in the low 80s for sure. If I can't I won't see any improvement, unless I just hit my 17* wood off the tee and sacrifice 15 yds. which honestly could save me about 9 strokes on my home course. I can schlep my way around with my 7 iron and shorter. 230 leaves me a wedge to 8 iron on 10 holes for my second shot.

So it's driver lesson. I need to learn how to hit this club well.

It could be the flared foot caused the discomfort because your body wasn't accustomed to it.  Did you slowly introduce flared feet into your practice or did you just change your stance and pound a few hundred balls?

People don't realize how such a small change could cause stresses on areas that aren't prepared for it.  Any time you make a change to your mechanics (especially if you've had previous injuries) you should do so slowly to allow those parts to strengthen sufficiently to handle the workload.

[Lihu]

People don't realize how such a small change could cause stresses on areas that aren't prepared for it.  Any time you make a change to your mechanics (especially if you've had previous injuries) you should do so slowly to allow those parts to strengthen sufficiently to handle the workload.

Good advice, just wish you has stated this in my thread a few months ago. . .

[DrvFrShow]

Of course I went out and did my usual drills with the flared feet, you know that. It's what we do. We don't think about that other stuff.

Anyway, I went back to my old stance and it is feeling better.

I learned another lesson yesterday - do not do back at the gym and hit 200 balls. Chest at the gym = fine. Back = no. Back = pull exercises and between the swing it's a bit hard on the tendons. Can hit 100 balls okay, but go home after.

Brain = bad = hits a streak of 20 shots in a row dead on target +/- 6 yds but with solid contact and with good position, then has the thought "you're going to screw up the next one." Yep. Sure did - el hosel and thin. I guess that's the mental part of the game.

[RandallT]

Brain = bad = hits a streak of 20 shots in a row dead on target +/- 6 yds but with solid contact and with good position, then has the thought "you're going to screw up the next one." Yep. Sure did - el hosel and thin. I guess that's the mental part of the game.

This. Arrrgggghh. I sometimes do this at the range, but without the 20 shots-in-a-row part

[DrvFrShow]

This. Arrrgggghh. I sometimes do this at the range, but without the 20 shots-in-a-row part

I dole out the balls from the bucket into the tray for my drill 25 for this drill with my 7 iron. I was on a roll. I had missed the second ball, then only had 3 left in the tray when this happened. So I knew. That was a record.

[DrvFrShow]

I tossed my lesson last week out, and after two days of being a bit mad as hell I've cooled down. I'm getting used to the new grips on the clubs. I had Winn Dritacs and they wore out in six months, so I went with Lamkin REL ACE grips in standard size with a double wrap on 5-9, single wrap on my woods and hybrids, and triple wrap on my wedges. I had the Cobra version that came with my set in the garage, and just had to buy 4 more in black with the white for the wedges. That solved that problem.

I got a referral to a different instructor from a 17 yr old I know who is a very good golfer. She's a 5 handicapper. She's going to CC next year and will probably try out for their team. She wants to be a high school teacher. Anyway she's taken from the same people I have and says while they're really good, this guy is better. So I'll give him a try. I don't want to make any radical changes right now. I just want help with my driver. If there's a tweak that can be made to the swing, so be it. I'll do that, but no method that's going to take months or a years to learn.

Anyway, I'm still working on my centered pivot. I think it's gotten a lot better. It feels like I'm staying with the swing better instead of popping out of posture like I was. I keep hearing from different people how I've got a very nice swing.

My power is getting better with my irons and hybrids. I've got targets that are measured that I can hit. I have a 175 yd pin at the range I can carry the front of its green with my 6 iron off a tee which puts two par 3s in range on my home course. I needed a hybrid last year for these. This means more accuracy. I can now bomb my 4 hybrid 175 carry of the mat which puts the first hole green (par 5) in range in 2 if I get a decent drive. I needed a 5W to do that last year.

I just have to remember to start with the hip bump and left shoulder turn at the start of the downswing, and not the right arm. That comes later.

Wedge shots. The centered pivot has been critical. But getting used to the heavy weight of the 56 and 60 on these shots also has been interesting. I worked my 56 last night because I've been neglecting that muscle back club. The swing is an up and drop because it's an E1 swing weight. It's too heavy for me to swing normally. I can hit it about 70 yds. 80 if I really push it, but then there's a big risk of a mis-hit. Fortunately I've learned how to hit a partial Gap Wedge.

[DrvFrShow]

I'm setting a low temperature for practice.... 47 degrees. If it is colder than that I'm not doing it. My joints get stiff and I have to bundle up too much, and despite the heaters... my movement is restricted by the heavier clothes and I start mishitting too many shots. Today it was 43. I had a horrible practice. I left and went home. I hate winter. If I ever hit the lottery I'm moving to a warm climate, but right now SoCal is too expensive.

Anyway, I got a referral to a different pro from someone who went from shooting 88 to 78 with him. I know the young woman and she's very good. I have a lesson with him on Monday. I'm going to give him a go.

[DrvFrShow]

I think given my leg injury, the only golf thing I can work on is my putting, so I'll work on that. I think I might be able to neutralize some of the rise in strokes this coming May due to long layoff and loss of leg strength and loss of distance with better putting.

[DrvFrShow]

I'll probably get the go ahead to test out the knee on Friday Mar 20. So I'll sign up for one lesson next week at that time. If there's any pain in the injury site after the lesson, I'm facing surgery. Given the type of injury I might as well take lessons and play up until the surgery date whenever that is and wherever it is approved (insurance is being a pain right now). I'll be out for about 6 weeks after that. Then start back again.

[CarlSpackler]

I'll probably get the go ahead to test out the knee on Friday Mar 20. So I'll sign up for one lesson next week at that time. If there's any pain in the injury site after the lesson, I'm facing surgery. Given the type of injury I might as well take lessons and play up until the surgery date whenever that is and wherever it is approved (insurance is being a pain right now). I'll be out for about 6 weeks after that. Then start back again.

Hopefully it's nothing major. Knee pain is certainly no fun.

[DrvFrShow]

Hopefully it's nothing major. Knee pain is certainly no fun.

Left leg. Bone spur on the tibia right under the patellar tendon. I'm right handed. Weight forward! But we have drugs.

It's a slice, grind, and stitch job for the surgery. Potential complications - scar tissue, and ... drumroll ... bone spur.

[JonMA1]

Well I hope surgery isn't necessary. Best of luck to you on Friday.

[DrvFrShow]

Got the go ahead today. Lesson scheduled for Wednesday.

[Lihu]

Got the go ahead today. Lesson scheduled for Wednesday.

Cool!

[CarlSpackler]

Got the go ahead today. Lesson scheduled for Wednesday.

Awesome!

[DrvFrShow]

Update: I have taken two lessons. The pro listened to me, and I showed him a picture of the knee joint illustrating where exactly the injury is located, and the list of exercises from the physical therapist. I had the PT give me a set of notes as to what movements they don't want me to do. The pro thought that Stack and Tilt would be the style of swing for me to learn. He's worked with people before. We had to modify the position of the front foot to a straight so that the knee bending would be inline. The goal is to be able to get through sessions and strike the ball well without pain.

I'm very hard on myself, and I need to back off. Expecting immediate results after the first lesson was idiotic. Yes I hit some good shots, but I hit a lot of hosel rockets, fat shots, and tops. He worked with me for 75 minutes on Wednesday because he didn't have anyone after me. We straightened out my weight transfer, and I learned more about staying at the wall.

So today I went to the range and braved the weather in my winter gear. I saw something online that I thought I'd try to help me with weight transfer. I put an alignment stick down on the mat diagonally running from under the ball of my left foot to under the heel of my right foot. It made me conscious of where my weight was and it wasn't where I thought it was. And I wasn't coming off onto my right toe fast enough which was causing me to hit fat. It felt weird, but I started striking the ball solid and it was going more or less where I wanted. Oh, they have new mats, too - the kind where if you hit fat the ball doesn't go very far.

I had the luxury of the full length mirror today, too, so I could check my swing and my positions to see if I was where I was supposed to be. I also dropped an alignment stick down on the outside of my left foot to simulate "the wall" where I need to keep everything.

This is a learning experience. I have Keys 1 & 2 solidly in place. S&T; is based on Key 3. Keys 4 & 5 are a bear. And I have to watch where the clubhead comes out. This is a problem I have and a reason that I tend to push the ball. I hang onto the clubface position rather than let it change naturally. It's something that I have to concentrate on.

I seem to be settling into this swing. It will take a while. The key thing is that I can do this without pain.