My Swing (DrvFrShow)

[iacas]

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 not super aware of your actual condition (your knee) or exactly what you can or can't do with it. So I'm just speaking… generally.

The main purpose of flaring the feet, particularly the front foot, is because the knee tends to want to work out over the toes. This can restrict some backswing motion (and this is where I suspect you're having issues), but one of the great benefits is how it allows your knee and hips to slide forward on the downswing more, because the plane of motion is more "out over the toes."

These two (or four) images illustrate both sides of this (there are blue dots on his left knee and near his left hip that may be tough to see unless you look for them, perhaps at a larger size):

Again, I trust "the man on the ground" (your instructor, who may or may not even be a man), I'm just throwing this in here for the consideration. Key #2 is more difficult with a "square" front foot, and the lateral movement required on the backswing is very slight in an S&T; swing. They want your knee flexing out over your forward toes - it stops the hips from swaying or sliding backward during the backswing.

[DrvFrShow]

Thanks Erik. Grant Waite's swing is on my radar and bookmarked. We tried the foot flared and I felt the issue in the tendon, so we straightened the foot. It's not perfectly straight, but flared to about 11:30 instead of what looks like 10:30. It cost me maybe 10 yds. I'm looking at this - I'm still going to be able to play golf.

I flex the knee directly forward over my toes on the backswing. This really felt weird on the backswing at first and took a small bucket's worth of bad shots before I was used to it. Straightening the rear leg was not a problem since I do that naturally. He has me start with my weight slightly on my right leg so that I'm not shifting back as much during my back swing. Then from A4 onward everything powers forward and for the first time I'm on my right toe. At first I was losing balance and having to walk out like the Player walk while I was learning to coordinate everything - again if I was able to flare the foot fully it would probably stop that.

The injury I'm dealing with is from a residual growth plate injury on the tibial tuberosity when I was a teen. It's called Osgood-Schlatter's. I played a lot of volleyball and basketball - a lot of jumping - and have a bump on my tibia where the patellar tendon joins. Of course as the bone solidified and I stopped playing those sports, the symptoms went away. It calcified into a bone spur. While occasional practice I used to do and playing a round of golf never bothered it with my old swing. Movements that make the knee go inward in relation to the ankle cause the patellar tendon to drag across the bone spur. When I started intense practice last October, things changed. It started bothering me around Xmas. After a few swings this feels like a burning in the tendon unless my knee bends straight.  I can do straight leg presses with that leg no problem, but if the foot is flared more than a few degrees on the leg press, it doesn't feel good. Thus this is a compensation in the swing, and Tony, my instructor knows about this. And this is all the more reason I need to work with an instructor while learning this swing.

Tony uses video and he shows me what I'm doing several times during the lesson, and tells me what I need to do to correct it. He has a GC2. And banging a 7 iron for months on end is not how he does things. I don't know why more instructors use video.

[DrvFrShow]

I bought some Kinesiology Tape and looked up the taping job for the precursor injury to what I've been dealing with since I was still having a little discomfort. The method would be to pull the tape tight over the bump and leave it in just relaxed tension elsewhere. The taping pattern is two strips in an X pattern over the bump. This lifts the patellar tendon off the spur slightly so that it isn't dragging over it. Interestingly it did help... a lot. I do this because I still make mistakes, and don't want to re-injure myself.

***

I was having some trouble at my last range session yesterday with some mis-strikes, but I didn't want to worry about it too much since I had a lesson today and figured that my instructor would straighten out the problem. Well, he did... in about 2 minutes. As soon as he said it I knew. I wasn't powering forward quick enough. And the takeaway is still my bane.

He showed me what I'm doing now vs. what I was doing at my first lesson so I could see the improvement. It's nice to have video records and shot averages.

Then we went onto the driver. I'll be using the Big Bertha with the 44.5" shaft. It's easier for me to hit and I still get 90 mph SS, plus he changed my loft to 11.5* because I was getting 14* launch angle. I really need to watch the takeaway with this club and make sure I get my left arm on my shoulder plane so that I don't hit a block. I was hitting a lot of rockets off line to the right. Hardly any fades. But when I got my left arm on the shoulder plane I was very close to my target line with a 216 yd carry.

Tomorrow will be my first round of the year. It will be interesting to see what happens. I'm not expecting to break 100, but this is a "practice round." Taking the range swing to the course.

[Lihu]

I bought some Kinesiology Tape and looked up the taping job for the precursor injury to what I've been dealing with since I was still having a little discomfort. The method would be to pull the tape tight over the bump and leave it in just relaxed tension elsewhere. The taping pattern is two strips in an X pattern over the bump. This lifts the patellar tendon off the spur slightly so that it isn't dragging over it. Interestingly it did help... a lot. I do this because I still make mistakes, and don't want to re-injure myself.

***

I was having some trouble at my last range session yesterday with some mis-strikes, but I didn't want to worry about it too much since I had a lesson today and figured that my instructor would straighten out the problem. Well, he did... in about 2 minutes. As soon as he said it I knew. I wasn't powering forward quick enough. And the takeaway is still my bane.

He showed me what I'm doing now vs. what I was doing at my first lesson so I could see the improvement. It's nice to have video records and shot averages.

Then we went onto the driver. I'll be using the Big Bertha with the 44.5" shaft. It's easier for me to hit and I still get 90 mph SS, plus he changed my loft to 11.5* because I was getting 14* launch angle. I really need to watch the takeaway with this club and make sure I get my left arm on my shoulder plane so that I don't hit a block. I was hitting a lot of rockets off line to the right. Hardly any fades. But when I got my left arm on the shoulder plane I was very close to my target line with a 216 yd carry.

Tomorrow will be my first round of the year. It will be interesting to see what happens. I'm not expecting to break 100, but this is a "practice round." Taking the range swing to the course.

Nice work. I'm glad you found a good solution for your pain.

[boogielicious]

I bought some Kinesiology Tape and looked up the taping job for the precursor injury to what I've been dealing with since I was still having a little discomfort. The method would be to pull the tape tight over the bump and leave it in just relaxed tension elsewhere. The taping pattern is two strips in an X pattern over the bump. This lifts the patellar tendon off the spur slightly so that it isn't dragging over it. Interestingly it did help... a lot. I do this because I still make mistakes, and don't want to re-injure myself.

***

I was having some trouble at my last range session yesterday with some mis-strikes, but I didn't want to worry about it too much since I had a lesson today and figured that my instructor would straighten out the problem. Well, he did... in about 2 minutes. As soon as he said it I knew. I wasn't powering forward quick enough. And the takeaway is still my bane.

He showed me what I'm doing now vs. what I was doing at my first lesson so I could see the improvement. It's nice to have video records and shot averages.

Then we went onto the driver. I'll be using the Big Bertha with the 44.5" shaft. It's easier for me to hit and I still get 90 mph SS, plus he changed my loft to 11.5* because I was getting 14* launch angle. I really need to watch the takeaway with this club and make sure I get my left arm on my shoulder plane so that I don't hit a block. I was hitting a lot of rockets off line to the right. Hardly any fades. But when I got my left arm on the shoulder plane I was very close to my target line with a 216 yd carry.

Tomorrow will be my first round of the year. It will be interesting to see what happens. I'm not expecting to break 100, but this is a "practice round." Taking the range swing to the course.

If you have trouble with the Kinesiology tape sticking, try Leukotape.  It stays on better than K tape but doesn't stretch as much.  I use it on my left knee (McConnell taping for PFS).  I leave it on for days at a time and it doesn't do anything to my skin.

http://www.amazon.com/Leukotape-Sports-Tape-15-Yd/dp/B00UG6OUEK

[DrvFrShow]

Well I played my first round of the year. I really enjoyed half of it.

I hit a very nice tee shot on the first hole with my 5W about 200 yds. almost grazing the tree line on the left and ending up in the first cut. This left me a gap wedge to the green which I shanked across the fairway into the woods on the other side. I hit a knockdown with my 8 iron into the middle of the fairway leaving myself a lob shot onto the green for a two putt. The greens were horrid and apparently were plugged about 10 days ago. It's that time of year, but I couldn't resist the 64 degree weather. The second hole hit a crappy tee shot with my driver rolling it about 100 yds, then striped my 5W 200 yds leaving another LW onto the green which I played beautifully landing it right over the bunker and having it roll about 10 feet from the hole. It was a risky shot, but I'm confident with that club. Unfortunately I followed with a 3 putt. The par 3 third hole should have been an easy par, but I hit my shot fat, and landed in front of the bunker. I skulled my pitch and landed on the other side of the green into the rough for a second chip shot that I put a foot away for bogey. Fourth hole was not bad. I hit a very good drive down the left hand side of the fairway with my driver, then skulled my 56 wedge right into a tree which gave me an assist and a GIR. But I had a very long 50 foot putt and three putted. The 5th hole was a par 5. It was here where I had to start waiting for people on the course. I hit a crappy tee shot with my 3 wood, followed by one crappy shot after another finally reaching the green in 5 and two putting to end the agony. 6 was a par three and ended in a par. 7 - par 4 - I hit my drive into the woods and chipped out. I put my next shot 8 feet from the hole and two putted for bogey. The 8th hole showed me that three lousy shots and a putt = par. I bogeyed the par 5 9th hole to end the front 9 with a 46.

Then came the back 9. I hit a beautiful tee shot on 10 with my 3 wood. Then the migraine started to hit. No problem because I had my meds, right? But when it hits things turn into a disaster. 10 is a par 5. I was under 150 yds from the flag and hit my 7 iron into the woods. I had to hit over a bunker. I duffed my shot, but left myself an easy chip with my pitching wedge. So I grabbed my pitching wedge and hit a chip with my 6 iron that rolled across the green into the rough on the other side. I thought the club felt long and looked funny, but it didn't register. I thought the ball flight was low, too, and that it rolled too much. Then I noticed it was my 6 iron. I was tempted to give myself a mulligan because I knew what was going on, but I didn't do it, and suffered the double bogey. 11, I hit a beautiful drive that shot the gap and cut the dogleg, but my second shot wasn't strong enough to carry the bunker and I had to hit my first bunker shot. It wasn't pretty but I got out and two putted for bogey. 12 - par 4 - I hit another beautiful drive. Then it turned into the blow up hole. 8. 13 - par 5 - my back started bothering me after 12. 12 is a hilly hole with two steep climbs. I was starting to hurt. Potties were one hole away. So I barely hit a decent drive on 13, then hit my 5 wood into what looked like fairway. It could have been GUR. They didn't mark the back end of it. The GUR was huge, but this part felt solid, and I was more or less in the woods so I hit out onto the fairway. I ended up with a bogey. Then came the bottleneck and potties.

I could not find my migraine meds. I know I put them in the bag. I looked a half dozen times. They weren't there. I didn't even have any advil. I was running on empty. The rest of the round was really not worth mentioning other than I somehow managed to break 100 ending up with a 98. I found my migraine meds when I got home. They were in my golf bag. I had to empty everything out of it, and there they were. I'll put them in a different pouch next time. Playing golf with a migraine is no fun. Don't try it. I should have gone home after 9, but I pushed it. I'd agreed this was a practice round before I went out. I'm not even going to think about the back nine. There were too many things happening that were unrelated to golf - headache and back pain.

The knee made it through the round. I taped it beforehand.

[DrvFrShow]

So what did I learn? I learned not to play with a migraine #1.

#2 - I had most success when I kept the weight forward all the way through the swing sequence. That's what the authors state to do in the book. 55-45 set up, and move forward from there. Keep it simple and don't try to make things too complicated. I was putting too much weight on my back leg at set up and that was adding another timing to the swing. Driver? Okay. Irons? No.

I have some things I need to work on:

1.  consistency in set up - things are different on the golf course - uneven lies - I had a lot of trouble with some side hill lies, uphill lies, and downhill lies. I have a lesson next Wednesday and plan to ask about this with S&T.;

The thing I need to remember to do with S&T; is get my hip rotation and slide the hips forward sooner than I do. I remember to do it in practice, but on the golf course I forget to do it.

[GolfLug]

Well, you are off the ground for 2015. Happy hunting!

[DrvFrShow]

Had a lesson on Wed that addressed the Driver and foot work. Took it to the range Thursday. Played a round on Friday.

Note that my 3W is essentially a short driver. 13.5 degrees, and I get 90 mph with it.  I never hit it off the deck.

Played in a random foursome with three guys. Practiced putting and lag putting a bit. Practice green looked in good shape so this was a good sign. I started out shaky and duffed my tee shot on the first tee, but it still went about 150 yds into the FW. Well, that was embarrassing. Took out a 7i and landed short, apparently the victim of swirling winds. Chipped on, and WTF? The greens were still sandy? 3 putted for DB.

2nd hole: long par 4. I bombed my drive 240 yds with a push draw into the first cut on the right. Hit a 8i onto the green and it bounced off onto the back. I chipped on and two putted - Bogey.

3rd hole: short par 3 - 10 mph wind from left to right with a forward pin placement right between two very large bunkers. I hit a PW at the left bunker and right after I hit the wind died, and it landed fortunately on the grass in outside the bunker. Duffed my pitch into the bunker, duffed my bunker shot, got out and two putted for a triple.

4th hole: par 4 - hit another bomb down the left into the 2nd cut near the tree line, looked at the wide open shot at the green, then noticed the temporary green they put in. Oh that's just a tap. So I tapped it and landed about 5' outside of the 10'x10' "green". Really? small bedroom size? I'm beginning to hate this new groundskeeper. Tapped inside picked up for "auto 2 putt" and bogey.

5th hole: par 5 - tight FW. hit a 230 tee shot with my 3W dead center. Took out my 5i for my 2nd shot and blocked it into the woods, and had to punch out. Hit a wedge up to the green (should have hit a 9i). chipped on two putted. DB

6th hole: par 3 - on in one two putted. Par

7th hole par 4 - lousy drive - burner, but at least it went straight and was on the FW. 2nd shot 8i, but it was short. Should have hit a 7i. Chipped up with an 8i. Two putted. Bogey.

8th hole par 4 - Bombed the drive down the left into the 2nd cut about 250 yds. Hit a lob shot to 10 ft. One putted. Birdie.

9th hole par 5 - Proved why FIRs don't matter - duffed my drive barely onto the FW with my 5W. Facing a headwind I couldn't carry the bunkers with my driver so chose to lay up. 2nd shot I hit a rocket with my 5W about 200 yds. 3rd shot I blocked pin high into the trees, but had a shot out at the green. Left it short. Chipped on. One putted. Bogey.

10th hole par 5 - again tight FW so hit a 3W and hit a push hook that landed on the FW and rolled a mile. Great position for a 8 iron to the green. I hit it fat and it barely cleared the water. Got my 3rd shot on the green. 3 putted for bogey.

11th par 4 again used my 3W and hit a bomb dead center. Left myself a PW to the green. Should have hit a 9i. Landed in the bunker. Got out in 2 (need to practice bunker shots again). two putted DB.

12th par 4 Teed off with my 5W. Landed just where I wanted. Hit a 5i - should have hit a 4H. Left it short. Hit a lob shot onto the green. 2 putts. Bogey.

13th par 5. Very tight FW with thick woods on the right and OB on the left. Hit my 3W and striped it. It another rocket with my 5W. Left a short iron. Back pin placement. Chose the GW. Should have used the PW. Damned sandy greens. Chipped on. Three putts. DB.

14th par 3 GW  pin high chipped on two putted. Bogey.

15th par 4 Hit a controlled driver about 220 straight. Blocked my 5i through the trees on the right into the thick rough on the 16th tee. Had to hit a really tough shot under the pines, and keep it from hitting the trees. 84 yds to the flag. Used my PW, played it back, and banged it. Phil would have loved it. Landed on the green 10 feet from the flag and stopped dead. Two putted for bogey.

We won't talk about the last three holes. My back gave out, and it was straight downhill. Suffice it to say that the front 9 could have been a 43-44 if not for the triple, and the back nine 48 if not for the back problems.

Still I'm doing better than last year.

[DrvFrShow]

I haven't posted anything for a while. My coach told me to practice what I've learned at the range and play. I just get my 150 balls and go through until I feel that I've accomplished what I set out to do that session. Taking video for me is a distraction. I get too distracted setting up a tripod and my attention gets split between whether the camera is working properly and my setting up properly to hit the shot. Having a friend do it gets annoying because I can have an annoying preshot routine especially during practice, and my friend will get like "will you hit the f***ing ball already?" So I'm not using video, but I'm using the full length "vanity mirror." When I feel things are going wonky, I'll pay the pro I've been taking lessons from for a lesson and he'll take a video and show me. We'll fix it, and I'm off to practice again. I'm afraid this is the way it will have to be.

I have shot an 89. That is my lowest round to date. I have had runs of four holes with pars. That is my best to date. This is telling me I'm improving, but there are times where I stop doing what I was doing during my lessons and I have holes where things go to hell. Fortunately my blow up holes are getting fewer and fewer. Yet they happen.

Anyway, here's what I'm working on. It's pretty simple

1. My takeaway - keeping this on plane so that at the top of my backswing my left arm is at least parallel with my shoulder plane. I tend to get lazy and lay off the club. I worked on this at the range exclusively the past two days. My coach had me doing this right and swinging on plane during my lessons. For some reason I stop doing this. I need to focus.

2. Key 2.  - getting my weight moving forward at impact. I'm always working on this. I tend to get lazy and bail on swings sometimes especially when I get tired and I don't drive forward. When that happens I'll chunk it, or I'll  try to correct it during the swing and if I do that I'll top it and I'll also come outside in and either pull the shot or hit it thin and slice it. I wish I could stop the swing but I'd hurt myself and still hit the ball.

I've found slowing my backswing helps with the takeaway and arm position. I'm really getting used to the feel of this in the correct position. I am beginning to sense when this is off.

I'm also able to sense when I'm not driving forward. The swing doesn't feel right. It feels out of balance. It doesn't have to be a lot of driving forward either. Just a little bit to get me up on my toes at impact.

I also spent time today watching a pro practice. He'll be playing in an Open qualifier on Tuesday. I watched his entire practice. Oh he spent 65% of his time on his long game and 35% of the time on his approach shots and chipping. The putting greens were just punched so he didn't putt. His practice was slow and deliberate.

So for me it will be keeping it simple and working on these two things, because there is so much to think about and you can start overthinking this.

[DrvFrShow]

I spent six hours over the last two days hitting 450 balls working on what I've identified once again as my priority piece. I saw it in the mirror. My takeaway has become disconnected and misaligned from the DTL view. I know. That's long and sounds painful. Making several slow repetitive takeaways and making sure the alignment of each one of them was correct before hitting each ball takes time. I had a full length vanity mirror to assist me with this. I finally had the problem mostly corrected yesterday. I will continue working on this.

However this morning I found another piece while I was cooking my oatmeal. I have a little training club and did a face on and noticed that my hip was sliding forward during the takeaway. Ack! So since I'll be headed there again today, I'll work on that too. This is part of the same priority piece. The takeaway. When I get this down. I will take another lesson.

I have noticed that I don't necessarily slide the hip forward all the time. When I do the symptom is a topped shot or a shot where I don't get the distance I'm used to because the hips have nowhere to go forward on the downswing: my 7 iron will go 140 and thin instead of 160 and flush. So with this identified, I'll be there for another long afternoon. Same priority piece.... over and over and over and over again.

[DrvFrShow]

Sometimes one can get so hung up on their priority piece that one misses something that goes wrong elsewhere. Out of nowhere I started flaring shots. It dawned on me what had happened when on the way home and I went through my swing motion again and I had started cupping my left wrist at the top. That was once my bane, and I have to be conscious to keep my wrist flat.

[DrvFrShow]

Rotator cuff injury. I'm done.

[GolfLug]

Rotator cuff injury. I'm done.

Damn.. what happened???

[DrvFrShow]

I've  been playing with one  in my right shoulder. I hurt it back in March reaching for a glass of water on my nightstand. Yesterday at the range, my left shoulder started to feel strange, and it was a great effort to get any distance. I thought 90 yds for my 8 iron was short since I normally hit it 140. Tuesday I was only hitting it 120. I quit after about 40 balls into my jumbo bucket. My left shoulder is about a stage 1 right now - inflamed and sore. I think it's hitting off the mats. Mishits are killers. It's definitely a repetitive stress injury.

So the program right now is to take a few weeks off, and strengthen the shoulder muscles until I can do the shoulder exercises with 12 lb dumbbells. Then I'll start playing again. I won't be keeping a HC the rest of the season. It'll just be for fun if I can play at all. If the exercise program doesn't work, I'll need surgery.

[GolfLug]

So the program right now is to take a few weeks off, and strengthen the shoulder muscles until I can do the shoulder exercises with 12 lb dumbbells. Then I'll start playing again. I won't be keeping a HC the rest of the season. It'll just be for fun if I can play at all. If the exercise program doesn't work, I'll need surgery.

....oh boy, sorry about what I am going to say but this is just getting out of hand........and then what? do it all over again??

So let me understand this, you already had an injury from over two months ago and you are still beating 50,000 balls on the range! What happens when you go through the balls? - are you hitting ball number 50 better than number 1, number 100 better than 50, number 150 better than number 100 and so on and on...in any accountable way or degree?? Obviously the only grove you are wearing out is the one in your shoulder and not the middle of the damn club head.. Come on, if you are going to do it, be more specific for EVERY SINGLE EFFING BALL!! Use pen and paper or checklist of things you practice to check off for each shot.... something.

Sorry for being harsh and smart-alecky. You certainly did not ask for my advise or a lecture but I just can't help myself here. From everything I have read that you write, you seem to be someone who could not be further away from engaging into something mindlessly. You could probably run circles around someone like me as far as thinking something through but your MO is threatening that picture and you are really hurting yourself. If the quality of output was remotely close to your quantity, you would be at least a 14-15 HCP by now. Seriously.

You are welcome to tell me to eff off my soap box, but I hope you rethink your ball beating MO on this whole endeavor. Please!!

I am still rooting for you to get down to single digit at some point and I hope you will put this behind you in next few months but I for one, will get on my soap box again if you just continue to try to take down this game by sheer quantity.

[Lihu]

I've  been playing with one  in my right shoulder. I hurt it back in March reaching for a glass of water on my nightstand. Yesterday at the range, my left shoulder started to feel strange, and it was a great effort to get any distance. I thought 90 yds for my 8 iron was short since I normally hit it 140. Tuesday I was only hitting it 120. I quit after about 40 balls into my jumbo bucket. My left shoulder is about a stage 1 right now - inflamed and sore. I think it's hitting off the mats. Mishits are killers. It's definitely a repetitive stress injury.

So the program right now is to take a few weeks off, and strengthen the shoulder muscles until I can do the shoulder exercises with 12 lb dumbbells. Then I'll start playing again. I won't be keeping a HC the rest of the season. It'll just be for fun if I can play at all. If the exercise program doesn't work, I'll need surgery.

I hope the exercise works. . .wishing you the best for a simple and speedy recovery.

[DrvFrShow]

Typically I'm hitting #50 better than #1. I'm not just beating balls on the range. I have a goal, and I'm working on a primary piece. Well so much for that. I don't like to take a full swing until about the 20th ball, and not even a hard swing then either. Still an 80% swing around the 30th ball will get me very close to my normal shot distance. I'm not hitting my driver until I've hit like 40 to 50 balls.

First off when I hurt my right shoulder I wasn't playing anyway because of my knee. I was one week into my 2 months off. Rotator cuff tendinitis can take months to heal. It's also related to "mouse shoulder" Do you use a computer? Computers are probably the most dangerous things in our environment. Especially that mouse. I think that's what's keeping my right shoulder from healing. Since the right-handed mouse puts the arm in a non-ergonomic position it is probably not a good idea to use it there. It is outside the numeric keypad. So I'm moving it to the left side. Which is straight ahead and ergonomically correct.

Basically I've given up the idea of reaching single digit handicap. That's gone. My body is too banged up. I'll have to work with my pro when I get back and see if we can come up with something. It looks like everything will have to be built around compensating for stuff.