My Swing (b101)

[b101]

A slightly belated clip of yesterday's practice session. I did the same sort of stuff at the range this morning; the first focus was getting the backswing back to where I wanted it to be, more consistently, before then working on shallowing the club on the downswing. Some real success with slower swings, but it definitely still chases out on faster swings. The flight and contact are much better though, which bodes well for the near future.

 

[b101]

And some work from today. Mostly good and slowly transitioning up to quicker speeds. Interesting that my balance at the finish is starting to become affected. 

 

[b101]

Nothing especially new today, just more range work consolidating on the work I've done over the last few days. I managed to get some sneaky FO clips though (nipping onto the grass... shhh). The other thing I've done has been to start charting some wedge pressure drills. I chose 10 yardages at random and tried to hit to those yardages using a scoring system (see spoiler tag). Yesterday was 23 points on a day when I was hitting my wedges really well, today was 17 on a not-so-good day.

Spoiler

Scoring system:

Under 50 yards: 5 feet or less = 3 points, 10 feet = 2 points, 15 feet = 1 point

50-75 yards: 5 feet or less = 4 points, 10 feet = 3 points, 15 feet = 2 points, 20 feet = 1 point

75-100 yards: 5 feet or less = 5 points, 10 feet = 4 points, 15 feet = 3 points, 20 feet = 2 points, 25 feet = 1 point

These are obviously best estimates, but I tried to be as honest as I could.

Yardages: 35, 75, 55, 25, 85, 100, 30, 70, 45, 90

 

[b101]

Last proper 'practice' day of the half term and I managed to sneak into a competition late on. Meant a 5.50am start to get up and get to the course, but well worth it! Didn't get a chance to practice much beforehand, which meant I really learnt a lot about how I play and what my tendencies or needs are with competition golf. The overall score of 33 points was good, considering, but could have been so much better - 20 points on the way back was pretty representative of where I feel I should be, but I just keep throwing away shots on the front nine... 

https://www.gamegolf.com/player/benpage101/round/1330906

Spoiler

Front nine: 13 points, +10

1st: Two perfect shots to start; I took my time well and was unlucky not to birdie
2nd: Hideous, rushed tee shot, but recovered well to find the green in three, before a poor second putt left me with a six.
3rd: Really unlucky lie from a decent tee shot meant a hack out. Then had the first of two really weird 'toe shanks' - the flight of a shank but coming off the toe?! - which left me with a blind pitch to a green sloping away. The six was pretty good from that point, actually.
4th: I feel this is where I really started making bad decisions. Good tee shot, second shot with the hybrid was low and ugly, but into position. From short of the green, I knew I should putt it, but having not practised the shot much, felt more comfortable with the pitch. Each of the three practice swings would have been great, then I rushed the real shot and thinned it over the back. An easy five, possible four became six quickly.
5th: This was unlucky. Tee shot was really good, but downwind it didn't quite stop on the green. Could have taken one club less, but there are some hideous bunkers at the front to be avoided at all costs. From off the back, there's not much option and my first putt up the drop off didn't quite make it on. The second did, but I didn't quite make the return putt. Lesson learnt; with this hole, just find the centre of the green.
6th: Pulled the tee shot, but chopped out well enough. This green is evil and impossible to hold if you're not in the central 5 or 10 feet (they're actually redoing it as it's too penal). My chip on from 45 yards was poor though and pushed right. From there though I still need to be doing better. I was rushing my putts here and just not calming down.
7th: Really good drive, then the second of those really weird shots. From there, I made a good pitch to calm the nerves and two putted for a bogey on SI 1. 
8th: Another really good drive, but slightly pulled the 5 iron approach. I calmed down more on this hole and played a good pitch to the left of the hole to avoid damage. Nearly sank the birdie putt, but par was good.
9th: Really good tee shot and the birdie putt stopped inches short.

Halfway score: +10 and 13 points. Ugh. Too rushed in places and poor decisions around the green really cost me. It's rare that I post this sort of halfway score without losing a ball, but I'm yet to find my feet in competitions.

10th: Pulled the tee shot a bit, but it's a safe miss; there's space out there and it opens up the green. Nice, low 7 iron and finally sunk a birdie putt.
11th: Not the best strike from the tee, but it's a good fairway to find. Was rewarded with a stance with the ball about half a yard above my feet, hence the hooked 6 iron. A decent pitch and two putts from a nasty bare lie in front of a bunker.
12th: Hung the tee shot out right a little, but found a lie (albeit a blind shot just in front of a huge dune). Managed to smash a PW out and learnt from my mistake on the 4th, this time putting up from off the green.
13th: This is an evil par five as all three shots need to be pretty much perfect. The drive was perfect, 3 wood was good, but overdrew a little. I had a decent lie up on the top of a dune and hit a really nice pitch shot. The hole was cut in a horrific location and it'll be the best two putt I make in a while as it could easily have gone 8 feet past, even at dead weight.
14th: The tee shot was awful; a thinned shot that went really low, but somehow rolled up to about 10 feet. Justice was done when the birdie putt just rolled by.
15th: Good tee shot again rewarded by a horrible downhill stance. That pushed the approach out right, but I still had a decent line in. Stupidly overhit the pitch on, leaving me with next to nothing coming back onto the green. Poor from where I was.
16th: Great drive, dart of a wedge, putt lipped out.
17th: Really nice 4 iron from the tee. Massively under-read the slope away from the hole, but sinking a 12 footer coming back was nice.
18th: Pulled the drive a bit, but caught a lie. Really nice approach shot with a 5 iron. I would like to think I'd normally hit the wedge on a little better, but my partner had just bladed a chip through the back of the green and my shot was then facing the first tee and clubhouse windows - over the bunker was good enough!

Interesting as it's not totally what I would have thought.

• I think I was better than this off the tee, but I can see that tee shots on 2, 3 and 6 really did hurt my score. However, loads of holes where my driving put me in position to score.
• I would have said the appraoch would have been one of my weakest points and I think the suggestion comes from the 'weird toe-shank' shots on 3 and 7. Sometimes though, I don't think this factors in the odd times when you just can't get at the green - e.g. my approach on 12 - anything below PW would have buried itself into the dune in front of me.
• Putting was actually pretty good but there are some serious 'head-off' moments. Could definitely hole more close putts, but massively improved on the 20-50 foot range, which is pleasing.
• Short game under 25 yards - I just need more comfort with different options, like long putts or chips rather than pitches. 

My course is about an hour away and I'm hoping to get down there for a pure practice session (no holes at all) on Saturday afternoon. In that time, I will do the following:

• An hour of focused putting work. 20 minutes on tempo and all sorts of short putts of various breaks (under 10 feet). 20 minutes of tempo with lag putts (between 30 and 50 feet) and 20 minutes of pressure drills.
• A standard range session (slow motion work and situation practice - tee shots, set yardages etc.)
• Short game - practice putts and chips from off the green, bunker work and play one ball for 'nine holes' of up and down attempts. Putt everything out. 
• If I can; attempt to sneak onto the first/second for some wedge work from set distances, particularly the bump and run shots that I just don't have down yet on the course.

In all, a really useful day and great to work out a plan heading forward.

[saevel25]

On 2/16/2017 at 0:43 PM, b101 said:

A slightly belated clip of yesterday's practice session. I did the same sort of stuff at the range this morning; the first focus was getting the backswing back to where I wanted it to be, more consistently, before then working on shallowing the club on the downswing. Some real success with slower swings, but it definitely still chases out on faster swings. The flight and contact are much better though, which bodes well for the near future.

From your latest video it does look like you are back on the side of taking the club shallow and steepening it in transition. 

You might struggle with this because when you go from A1-A2 you do not gain much hand depth with a good turn. In the image below, the red line is the front of your hands at address. Notice how your hands do not move off this line. Notice how the club head gets kicked backwards. It will be very hard to get that club vertical from this position. 

I also notices your grip is very strong. This might cause you some issue. 

[b101]

13 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

From your latest video it does look like you are back on the side of taking the club shallow and steepening it in transition. 

You might struggle with this because when you go from A1-A2 you do not gain much hand depth with a good turn. In the image below, the red line is the front of your hands at address. Notice how your hands do not move off this line. Notice how the club head gets kicked backwards. It will be very hard to get that club vertical from this position. 

I also notices your grip is very strong. This might cause you some issue. 

Thanks! Will have a look at what you suggest - I've raised the grip issue with Preston as well and he was ok with it for now. I know I really need to get back to the hands being further in at A2 and will keep working on it. These were both swings without any conscious thought on certain pieces, so they're definitely a long way from perfect. 

Out of interest, what is your best advice for getting the 75% swing to 'unconscious'? At the moment, I find that I can make the motions at about that pace, but getting that up to full speed is really tough.

Thanks for the comment; really appreciated and where you're coming from is exactly what I'm expecting to hear back from Preston. 

Edited February 18, 2017 by b101

[saevel25]

3 minutes ago, b101 said:

Out of interest, what is your best advice for getting the 75% swing to 'unconscious'? At the moment, I find that I can make the motions at about that pace, but getting that up to full speed is really tough.

Keep working at it. If you work at things with meaningful practice they become better. 

5 minutes ago, b101 said:

Thanks for the comment; really appreciated and where you're coming from is exactly what I'm expecting to hear back from Preston. 

I didn't know you were working with someone. Go with what they say over my observations. He most likely knows your swing better than I do. 

[b101]

Just now, saevel25 said:

Keep working at it. If you work at things with meaningful practice they become better. 

I didn't know you were working with someone. Go with what they say over my observations. He most likely knows your swing better than I do. 

Well, your spot is a good one; it's one of the things that he's had me working on and whilst it's definitely improved, there's work to be done on that piece. The main focus currently is shallowing the club in the downswing by letting it fall behind me more, but as you say, it's linked to how I start off the swing and the takeaway was my previous priority piece. Thanks for the tip; will keep grinding!

[b101]

Spent a bit of time today looking over old videos from the first few pages of this thread - it's great to see how far things have come and remind me of why I need to persevere when I'm finding a certain piece tough. One of the things that was obvious was how much other parts of my swing have cleared up as knock-on effects, even when I haven't actually worked on them. Things like secondary axis tilt, left arm staying straight at top of backswing and head movement have just naturally improved as other things have clicked into place, which is a nice confidence boost. Joining evolvr is one of the best things to happen to my golf game (the other being joining two really good courses!) and I am so appreciative of all that Brian and Preston have done to get things where they are.

That said, this priority piece is still a work in progress. Today's session, which was slightly curtailed by my wife deciding she wanted to come along as well, before quickly getting bored by hitting 50 yard swipes with a sand wedge, saw improvement with the sequencing, but I still need to exaggerate the feel of shallowing the club more on the downswing. First swing was the start of the session, then some position work, then the end. Like I say, very little actual practice today, but I feel that what I did do was useful. Main feel today was letting my arms stay more passive in transition and really making my hips lead the downswing. I like the fact that this now means my hands aren't chasing out as much at A5, but still need to shallow the club as well.

On the plus side, backswing is looking good, even with it not being my main point of focus 

Edited February 19, 2017 by b101

[b101]

A good afternoon of birthday practice yesterday. Did a lot of short game work and went out to the course way after the last tee time to put them in practice in 'real' situations. Finally I did a nice putting drill to gauge areas to focus on - this will be a bit of a regular thing that I go back to now and again to judge progress.

A few photos from on-course work:

Downwind - 15mph and dispersion from shots at 125 yards, 115, 100 and 75. Nearly pulled the wedge from 75 into a bunker, which would have been horrendous, so that's a bit worse than it looks. Delighted with the rest and all on the middle tier of a three tier green.

After about 10 minutes of practising, from 50 yards using a variety of clubs (furthest to nearest) - putter, wedge, hybrid chip. Had to come up a big tier, so pretty pleased with this. Hybrid chip was the right play in that it took the tier out of play, but my default would have always been wedge. Just nice to add another shot to my game - although it will need more practice.

Putting:

Just need to make more inside 10 feet. Great not to have any 3 putts though!

Hole	Ft	Break	Score 1	Score 2	Score 3	Score 4	Score 5
1.	3ft	Straight	1
2.	6ft	R/L uphill	1
3.	9ft	L/R downhill	2
4.	12ft	R/L downhill	2
5.	15ft	L/R	2
6.	4ft	slight break downhill	1
7.	8ft	R/L	2
8.	12ft	L/R	2
9.	16ft	L/R downhill	2
10.	20ft	L/R uphill	2
11.	5ft	slight break	2
12.	10ft	L/R	2
13.	15ft	R/L	2
14.	20ft	Straightish	1
15.	25ft	Double Break	2
16.	6ft	R/L downhill	2
17.	33ft	Slight uphill	2
18.	45ft	Slight downhill	2
Total			32
Strokes Gained			-2.81

[b101]

Feedback from Preston was to focus on three things in particular:

1. Weight was too far in my toes, causing me to overbalance slightly and make shallowing the club more difficult. Consequently, I should try to feel a bit more in heels (hence some toe-waggling)
2. Really focus on not fanning the left arm out in the takeaway as this causes issues later on.
3. Still work on shallowing the club in the downswing, but checkpoints 1 and 2 should make that a lot easier.

Today's practice was really good - I made sure to take my time and videoed each swing to make certain. For the most part, I hit my checkpoints at about 50%. I hit a few full-out at the end and the last two weeks of work have had a noticeable effect on the ball flight, which is getting back to that high draw I love and feel confident with. It definitely seems a lot more consistent, too and less prone to the really bad swings. At the moment, the poor shot with a 7 iron is holding my hands through impact and ending up with that weak push fade. Contact is pretty good though and what I'm loving about the slow-motion work is how utterly effortless and clean these swings feel - it's the best my swing has ever felt at these speeds and I'm looking forward to making that more permanent. 

Video should hopefully show most of this:

 

[b101]

Today's swing work was trying to speed it up. Things are good to about 80% at the moment although I'm trying to be really hard with myself. The issue today was taking the club back a bit too shallow again, but it's getting there. Best ballstriking I've had in ages though and lots of nice soft draws which felt very repeatable. The consistency was miles better than I've had in a long while and I'm delighted with progress. Preston's recent feedback was great - I uploaded a practice video for him and he's happy with what I'm doing; just need to grind a bit more to get it down. 

What I'm pleased about is that even when I miss my positions, I'm much closer to where I want to be. A poor camera angle doesn't help the last swing, but the left arm is fanning way less on takeaway and the shaft is in a better position at the top of the backswing. The feel of starting transition with the hips is also helping to shallow the club more.

Work to be done and the full-speed swing isn't there yet, but we're making progress.

[b101]

Played 18 yesterday with some friends in a 4-ball better ball format - my mates aren't great so I give them a lot of shots and play off scratch. Weather was crap - 15mph-25mph winds and some serious rain on hole 2. As a result, I wasn't thinking about my score at all until I got back and edited. 74 - 2 over par... I knew I'd played well but hadn't realised just how well it had gone. Major thing was the driving was excellent, which reduced pretty much every hole to a wedge or similar. My longest approach was a 6 iron from 185 yards on a par five, but I also managed to get to gap wedge territory off a drive on another par five. The main thing I noticed was how much better my bad shots were and I credit a lot of that to Preston's work on getting me to shallow the club more and making my swing less reliant on timing. Add that to a course that, in all honesty, isn't designed for mid-low handicappers who hit 250+ (at least, I do on a good day) and it just became a pitch and putt round really. Massively got into the zone though and showed how well I play when I'm not thinking about my score. 

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/benpage101/round/1381361

Stats wise, 36% of fairways is misleading - I missed a lot by not very much and (bar one hole) never missed it in a bad spot. 61% of GIR was the really pleasing stat and that was due to getting the ball further off the tee and then actually having a reliable swing that I could trust with irons and wedges. Putted ok, but didn't single putt many holes - there have been better days here.

Shot of the day was, weirdly, a 5 iron that traveled 164 yards. Right into the teeth of the wind and I was delighted that I could visualise, call and execute the low punch draw. Just something I wouldn't have been able to come close to doing a year ago.

Now to keep working on the slow-motion stuff to make this permanent. It's getting there...

[b101]

Made it out to the course for a bit of practice yesterday and went out after the last tee off time. Worked on some partial wedges from 120, 75 and 50 yards and did a bit of bunker and short game work around my favourite green. Also played a few games of 1 ball up and down in some nasty spots with pretty good success. 

This is the outcome from 120 yards with a 3/4 gap wedge. Really pleased with this shot at the moment and how reliable even the poor shots are. The two on the left were actually 1/4 seven irons as well, which is a shot I want to try to develop as a low risk option.

Then spent a bit of time working on pitching, with the highlight these five shots off of bare lies from the right of the green. Literally had to land the ball no more than 2 feet on the green with it coming back to my feet if short. Very pleased with the contacts from here.

Long range bunker work was interesting - I tried to pick the ball clean and would end up playing a perfect bunker shot... Normally I will bury my club in the sand on normal bunker shots, so maybe this tells me something about my game. Not sure what though...

Going to head to the range shortly to hit a few balls and do more slow-mo work, but sometimes it's just nice to play up-and-down games!

[b101]

Some decent work today, but need to keep grinding with the slow-motion stuff. There's better to come, but I started getting that low-ish hook with the big clubs again, which is a sign that I'm getting too across-the-line at the top of the backswing. 

[iacas]

11 minutes ago, b101 said:

Secondly, did some putting work on tempo and distance control - my thought here is short backstroke and feeling more aggressive through the putt, which leads to me holing way more.

Particularly for longer putts, I recommend against "short and aggressive" as you know…

On short putts, though, who cares… your distance control isn't likely to be too bad. But why have two putting strokes, then?

[b101]

1 minute ago, iacas said:

Particularly for longer putts, I recommend against "short and aggressive" as you know…

On short putts, though, who cares… your distance control isn't likely to be too bad. But why have two putting strokes, then?

Interesting. Sorry, don't wish to hijack the thread, so have posted in spoilers below.

Spoiler

FYI - I had a SAM puttlab lesson recently, which showed my tendency was a ponderous backstroke, followed by a decelerating through-stroke which led to inconsistencies particularly with distance control on longer putts and accuracy on makeable putts. I'm putting to a metronome at 113bpm, 2.3 swing ratio, as the instructor recommended. I've linked below the lesson from my instructor with the data - if you get a chance, I'd be interested to know whether he's off with his recommendation or if it just looks like I'm overdoing it.

 

 

[iacas]

10 minutes ago, b101 said:

FYI - I had a SAM puttlab lesson recently, which showed my tendency was a ponderous backstroke, followed by a decelerating through-stroke which led to inconsistencies particularly with distance control on longer putts and accuracy on makeable putts. I'm putting to a metronome at 113bpm, 2.3 swing ratio, as the instructor recommended. I've linked below the lesson from my instructor with the data - if you get a chance, I'd be interested to know whether he's off with his recommendation or if it just looks like I'm overdoing it.

113 is exceptionally high. I'm not sure Brandt Snedeker is in that range.

Most of our players are around 78… give or take ten (and give or take 5 probably includes 90% of our golfers). 113… that's giving (or taking) an extra 35. Wow.

Also, decelerating too much is just as bad as accelerating too much. You want to be somewhere near no acceleration or deceleration. As the thread discusses.

FWIW, I generally prefer closer to 2:1 ratio. 2.3:1 would put you outside of even SAM's little "zone" of "good."