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A few bits on short game yesterday - mostly aiming to get inside that 8 foot circle from around the green. I tend to chuck down four balls at one location and aim to get up and down to each of the four flags. It's a good little area and the three places I chose represented three things: chipping, odd stances and below the green (i.e. not clearly seeing your landing spot).

Before the up and down game, I looked at my technique - I tend to take the club away too much around the body, which can cause the duff contacts (like the first). Then again, it may just have been warming up, as it got much better. However, taking the pitching wedge and trying a little chip and run was still much more effective, although weirdly I'd still want to take the lob wedge... I should clearly practise the chip and run more as there's less room for error.

https://youtu.be/Xnj7dr20iL0

Then the game itself - my results were 2/4 from the first station (all were to six feet or less bar the last one, which didn't run out as much as I thought - I then had one very tricky putt). Rather than film all three stations, I took pictures of the other two (see below).


Station 2 - ball below feet. From left to right, chipped nicely, but didn't roll out as well as I had thought. Good chip to back middle. Attempted putt to nearest and didn't make it much past the fringe (I then tried this about 5 more times and really struggled with distance control). Finally, a good pitch to the last hole was pin high but took the dangerous run-off out of play.

DSC_1342.thumb.JPG.f884752f502c4ed0b382b

Station 3 - chipping. Good for distance control practice as it's the same swing with (left to right) a wedge, 6 iron, 8 iron and I actually putted in for the nearest flag.

DSC_1343.thumb.JPG.33857582480f86c2a5188

Finally, a little slo-mo video. I like the face on view, where it's clear how much less lower body movement there is than a while back. The DTL view still shows the club getting a bit behind me, which I'm not overly keen on. 

After that it was an hour on the practice green and whilst I'm now pretty good from close range (100% from 3 feet, from 10 putts and 90% from 6 feet, again from 10 - all a range of breaks and slopes), my lag putting leaves a little to be desired. I gave myself 7 random lags from about 30 feet at the end and made 5 of them in two. Not bad, but on the course (when I haven't already spent forty-five minutes gauging distances) it's those extra two that are costing me strokes. 

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

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  • 3 weeks later...

Had some time off from golf this week due to spraining my ankle playing football. Went out on it a little today though and it seemed to hold up well, which is good news. The main issue I find I'm having at the moment is hitting the ball a bit fat, and it's something I'll try to get Brian's take on in the coming days. This afternoon was fun though - new purchase arrived and was put to good use:

IMG_20151115_145645455.thumb.jpg.16d75d3

Really helping with my tempo when putting and it's interesting that I'm really good from 6 feet but the jump to 8 feet plays havoc with my putting... It's definitely already improved my stroke as well as the distance guides are so precise. 

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

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Turns out I can now self-diagnose! (At least, when it relates to things I know I've done wrong before...) I sent Brian my latest update along with my general take on what might be causing it and it seems I was pretty spot on. Too much downward head movement - although, this time we're going to focus on limiting the left shoulder 'crunching' downwards and fixing a poor grip.

The two swings I uploaded are below - for the first video in each, I made my 'normal' swing, and for the second, I changed the grip slightly and felt like my head was staying high. Granted, there probably isn't as much difference as I think there is, but the ball flight was markedly higher and straighter with the second swings and it genuinely felt like I didn't have to work hard to get it going in the right direction. Hard to explain, but I guess that fixing the grip and head movements throws out some of the compensations that I normally have to make. 

grip_zpsfyzsffbt.png

The grip still needs work, even on the right, as Brian wants to get rid of the gap between my index finger and thumb. That said, it's better than the one on the right, which can slip even further when I don't think about it.

So, a little bit of regression, but the rest of the swing is still looking pretty good, and if I can work on the putting at home as well, that should be me shaving a few strokes off immediately.

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

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  • 1 month later...
(edited)

So, it's been a while, but lots more work has gone into the swing and it's really having results on the course. Whilst I don't have any new videos (annoyingly, it's been raining every time I've gone to the range recently), I have had another session on the launch monitor, which really proves some of the progress. Additionally, I've finally started putting together some really good scores on the course and whilst the driver still isn't firing, I'm feeling very confident from inside 150 yards now and putting is also getting there.

Launch Monitor comparisons

You may well recall that I've had issues with Angle of Attack for ages, so it was good to see that this is pretty much sorted. It's been pretty apparent on the course with the ball launching way higher than previously as well as having shallower divots. Additionally, this was in part due to still cutting across it, so it's nice to note that the path is much improved. The top section is from last month, whilst the bottom is from April when I'd just started my work with Brian (ignore the 2i - I was checking to see why it wasn't performing and it turns out it's because I had a 120g shaft rather than a 95g one... :8))

Anyway, there are some other things that I think you can pick out. Although swing speed is down a bit, the smash factor is way up. The AoA is great, pretty much bang on with what I'd want it to be, and therefore spin is now acceptable rather than ballooning massively. Ignore the launch angle with the driver in the bottom (it includes some skulled shots...), but this is still something I want to work on with the driver. The main this is the club path, which I'm really pleased with. Admittedly, I need to keep checking my alignment to ensure that my stance isn't too closed, which would then solve the little hooks that can creep in. 

568b79db2e9f7_trackmananalysis.thumb.png

driveraverages.thumb.png.b4a8d29024161b3

On the Course:

So with that looked at, I've had a fair bit of winter golf this last month. I had a couple of rounds where it was 'nearly' there, but blowing up occasionally, before this stunner (7 over) at the Addington:

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/benpage101/round/690185

Annoyingly, I hooked one drive on the fourth into leaves meaning that I took two penalty shots. Otherwise, my lost shots came from a slightly duffed 5 iron from a wet lie on 5, a pushed tee shot on the tough 9th, a fat approach at 10 after a great tee shot, a topped 3 wood on 16 and blocking myself on 18. In short, five tee shots... Clear to see what still needs improving. The highlight was an awesome birdie at the 7th after probably the best 8 iron I've ever hit :-)

I then played to a single figure handicap again a few days later at my home course:

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/benpage101/round/691890

Here, again it was the tee shots that dropped me a few shots as well as the occasional thin. Dropped shots came from a topped 3 wood on the 1st, a thinned PW on the 4th giving a tough lie for an up and down, a pushed PW on the 6th, pushed 3W on the 7th meaning I had a baseball swing from the heather on the side of the valley, a pulled 7i on the 9th (tried to go at it rather than hit an easy 6), an overhit approach on 12 (I thought it was perfect and just didn't gauge the wind/elevation well enough), a poor chip on 16, a bladed pitch on 17 and a yanked tee shot on 18.

Again, lots of tee shots that were a bit wayward, but I really worked hard to get back into holes after them and always escaped with bogey, which is a definite improvement. The iron play really wasn't 'on' but I was still getting nGIR, which really helped. Additionally, the wedges (bar a really odd one on 17) from inside 100 yards were excellent. The thin is the miss I'm half-expecting at the moment given that I'm trying to limit my head movement to keep it higher - my body still wants the club to come through higher than it should to compensate. 

Most pleasing was the lack of three putts in those two rounds, though - clearly the work I'm putting in on my lags and face control is paying off.

I'll try to get some new footage up in the next couple of days - I need to send Brian something, too - but generally, this is a lot of progress :-)

Edited by b101

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

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10 hours ago, b101 said:

I then played to a single figure handicap again a few days later at my home course:

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/benpage101/round/691890

Most pleasing was the lack of three putts in those two rounds, though - clearly the work I'm putting in on my lags and face control is paying off.

I'll try to get some new footage up in the next couple of days - I need to send Brian something, too - but generally, this is a lot of progress :-)

Nice!

BTW, I added your GAME GOLF username to your profile, so now the little red icon appears in your post info below your avatar.

  • Upvote 1

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

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22 hours ago, iacas said:

Nice!

BTW, I added your GAME GOLF username to your profile, so now the little red icon appears in your post info below your avatar.

Thank you!

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

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  • 2 weeks later...
(edited)

Another update and the feedback from Brian was fairly straightforward, given that I've tried to work on this before. I kind of feel that I'm getting slowly better at everything in this little cycle, but I keep needing to work on the same three or four things.

Brian: "I think you have a clubface issue more than a path issue. The path does start to move a little too much to the right at times, but I'm not as concerned about that as I am the degree that the face is consistently closed to the path. For now, try to get your right hand grip a little better (more on top). 

As for the rest of your swing, I'd like to get rid of the thin hits as well as try to get you a bit more clubhead speed. Currently your arms are staying too low again and I think that robs you of a lot of arm speed. Try to get the arms working up and off of your body a bit more as your rotate. They don't need to end up way over your head or anything, but definitely need to be working more up as they work in."


So, I've had a go at this and I found that the first range session (like the last time I worked on this piece) was littered with shanks and fades verging on slices. It's getting there and I'm definitely picking up speed again, particularly with the driver, but it's been tough going thus far. I've submitted another video to Brian to check, but I wanted to see if I'm going about this the right way - I'm particularly worried about getting my arms too high and just lifting them. 

If anyone could check that the below looks better before I keep practising, that'd be much appreciated. Current attempt is middle, Brian's annotations are left and the previous upload is on the right. To my eyes it looks way better, and @iacas' recent blog post on practising the backswing has been really useful. At the moment, the main change has been that I've seen a lot of fades rather than my usual draw, unless I really throw my arms at it. Thanks for any and all help!

10take1.thumb.png.46fcbd4aabaab2ee351208

P.S. Yep, that was the actual end of my backswing on the right...

Edited by b101

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

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  • 1 month later...

It's been a while again - lots of rain, range closures and work getting very busy and I'm still working on the swing. I'm actually not hitting many balls at the moment (when I do, there's a definite fade or pull, suggesting I've moved the path a lot compared to what it was - probably in part due to the shoulder turn change I've worked on). However, there's one part in Brian's most recent review that I'm really finding tough, notably my right elbow position in the backswing - we're trying to get it to work more inwards. I think I'm finally getting some success, having done a lot of slow camera work this afternoon, but it's definitely not there yet. See below some pictures - sorry for the poor lighting - vs where I was last upload and where Brian's demo has the 'feel' going. Has anyone else worked on this piece, or could anyone offer some advice for how to work on something like this?

rightelbowtake1.png.8bcc9d3203cc00510d24rightelbowtake1a.png.e8d309b53525de684e6

I want to make sure that I feel I have some progress before I upload anything for another review, but it's proving very tough work!

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

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(edited)

Somehow managed to remove attachments from the post above :hmm:

rightelbowtake1a.png.e8d309b53525de684e6rightelbowtake1.png.8bcc9d3203cc00510d24

Anyway, I've got to say, after another hour in front of the WGC doing about 4 or 5 slow motion backswings with that one swing thought every 10 minutes, it's feeling much, much better. I've blocked off time for a range session every day this week ahead of my first round in a while on Sunday, so I'm hopeful that I can get something going!

Edited by b101
somehow managed to remove pictures from previous post!

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

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  • 3 weeks later...
(edited)

More practice and more progress. I'm not posting here after every session I do as the stuff I'm working on is really tough for me to correct. Brian's definitely pinpointed the right things and with the changes to the backswing length, I'm back to cutting across the ball, which is a clear sign that I didn't necessarily nail it last time around. Consequently, it's all about keeping the right elbow tucked in more on the downswing, allowing me to swing out on the ball - which should again mean that I get more height with the longer clubs. I'm fine with a 5 iron or below and am hitting those clubs better than ever, but the flaws in the swing are really noticeable with the longer shafts.

So, improved backswing from the last recording (which I think looks pretty damn good compared to ones from a year ago, especially given that the poor camera angle doesn't show how far right the shaft is pointing on the DTL view):

Hopefully obvious, but top is current, bottom is April last year!

b16_backswing.png

Lots of drills to do though, one where I extend into the finish with some short swings, some mirror work on the backswing and then the closed face drill to force the path more in to out. I've got a few weeks of break from work, so the aim is to really nail this aspect and get the driver firing again ahead of the summer. The driver in particular is linked to this as I get too steep on the club, cutting across and either open up the face causing the high fade/slice or it's a low runner. 

In other news, much more regular use of the putting mat has really helped with my stroke and no 3 putts per GIR on a recent round was a really nice thing. I'm still not holing as many as I feel I should, but I'm convinced this will come if I keep practising and keep up the positive attitude. 

Finally, and perhaps most excitingly, I've got a trip up to Scotland this summer and so have tee times at Turnberry (Ailsa), Western Gailes and Machrihanish as well as a trip to Swinley Forest planned. Basically, my game needs to be in good shape and I have some real reasons to improve. The aim is daily practice on mirror work (10 minutes), putting on the mat (15 minutes) and a range session most days. I'm going to try to keep this thread more updated as well and ensure that I'm critical with what I am doing. A good start to the year, but there's more ahead!

Edited by b101

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was away for a week on holiday, but I've played one round since I returned and I've really been working on the short game. I've recently gone to left hand low for putting, which has been a revelation - I practise a lot (about 30m a day) on a putting mat in front of the TV, which has helped the change become more comfortable. In yesterday's round, I holed probably 5 putts that I wouldn't have done before, all from 8 feet or more, helping to mask an otherwise unspectacular round. On the plus side, I birdied the SI 1 hole with three really good shots and there was enough with the driver to suggest that I'm making progress in my neverending quest to hit up on the ball. More frustrating were a few really poor shots when I was indecisive and chunked it. Means I probably need to look at my head movement, as this is often part of the cause of my really bad shots. Approaches were decent, but I didn't commit to the dead-hands swings, often flying the flags by five yards or so. Either that or I wasn't totally accounting for the roll out I'd get. Still, a round of +15 on a tough course in the wind isn't bad for this stage in the year when I know I'm not playing well.

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/benpage101/round/810489

Today's practice session was 30 minutes or so of short game work. I wanted to work on my chipping as I didn't feel confident taking on those shots yesterday and I'd like to take the higher-risk shots out of play when I can. The main thing I was trying to look at today was targeting landing spots and attempting to predict roll-out. There was some success, but need to do more with it to get used to the process. Below is a short clip of five chips with different clubs or from different lies. The first two weren't great, but I would have had 5 foot for an up and down - not too bad - whilst the others were less than 3 feet.

I then repeated the process for pitches, which showed exactly why I'd like to improve my confidence with the chips - the good shots were excellent, but there were two that were just not close enough at 8 feet away. 

Finally, I had a little go at some bunker play and I think there's work to be done here as well as I'm not quite pitching out at the height or consistency that I'd like. I think I need to move my ball position further forward, lean a bit forward and keep the pace on the swing.

Tomorrow, I'll keep working on these few things and then head to the range to work on my drills from Brian and getting more comfortable with the driver setup.

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

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Worked on the drills this morning and I can tell it's going to be a while before I can do them properly... Then again, I guess there'd be no point in doing them if I could do it easily!

The range session started well and I found the first one relatively simple to get the hang of, although I can see transferring it to the full swing will be trickier. I'm clearly taking a bit too long of a backswing compared to what Brian does and I need to feel more of a smooth swing rather than a hit, but otherwise, I think the finish position looks closer to his.

I then briefly looked at my head movement, as this was something that had let me down the other day. This is an interesting one as my head is starting to move upwards on the backswing, which is something new... That said, I worked hard to limit my head movement on both this swing and the one below (also incorporating the finish idea) and think this looks pretty decent.

Where I really found difficulties was in the main drill that Brian had given me; the closed-face drill. The basic premise is that you take a standard setup, close the face and then try to start the ball right of target so that it hooks back around. Sounds easy and very logical - the aim is to shallow out my path and get my right elbow working inwards more. However, today the best I could manage was starting right and ending right, which I guess means that path was ok but I corrected things with my hands? Either way, whilst it was frustrating, I didn't expect to get it first time. I'm really, really determined to nail this piece using one way or another and I suspect that the last time I thought I'd worked this drill out, I was cheating by flying my right elbow way behind me. There's a better way, and I will sort it. 

Consequently, this afternoon will bring lots of mirror work to try to ingrain the backswing and attempt to get my arms on my shoulder plane, which should allow me to flatten things and attack the ball from the inside more easily. I think I can speed things up by using the mirror as I've not been particularly quick at this so far... I'll also have a bit more indoor putting and work on the mental game by watching the Masters :whistle:

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

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It's looking really good @b101

Scott

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2 hours ago, boogielicious said:

It's looking really good @b101

Thanks, buddy, but you're way too kind - lots of work left to do!

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

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A bit more early morning work on drills today - I'm really trying to make the most of my holiday time! Same things as yesterday, but with a bit more success. I spent 5-10m on drill one and am feeling a bit better about that. It's also nice to start warming up by chipping, something I've never really tried before as I usually start out with 50-70 yard pitch shots. No video of this, as it's essentially the same stuff as yesterday.

I definitely improved with the closed face drill, mostly due to taking it ridiculously slowly (at least for me!). So, I thought I'd share how I worked on it for about 40 minutes to see what suggestions I might get from anyone who's done similar downswing work, which I find very tough! The yellow ball indicates where my clubface is aimed, with the target to get it right of the buckets and turn back, hopefully shallowing the downswing. I keep checking the backswing as the last time I tried this, I think I cheated by flying my right elbow. The pump drill is trying to get the hand path going more in-to-out and I'm then just going as slowly as I can, with a 7 iron flying maybe 60-70 yards. I tried to make it more of a game as well, seeing how many 'correct' shots I could get in a row. Today, I managed 4, even going that slowly. No wonder it's not happening in the full swing yet! I'm going to upload to evolvr for Brian's feedback and just keep working on it. This is no easy fix for me as the 'hands flying out' move is so ingrained it's painful...

Still, a demonstration of my practice below:

 


To finish off with, I had a bit of fun with the last ten balls and worked on the driver. Whilst it is more fun, it's also where I believe I can pick up a huge advantage by improving my consistency. If you've read through, you'll know that I really struggled with my Angle of Attack for ages, constantly hitting down on the ball. I'm getting there with that and the below swings are me trying my best to hit up on the ball, which seems to be working well - there's the nice, low-spin flight, the ball is flying much straighter (if a bit of a pull due to my path (the drills with the 7 iron will remedy that eventually!) and way higher than the low flight I've seen forever. All of them are comfortably carrying the bank at the back, which is about 210, which I'm pretty pleased with using range balls. I'm going to do some comparison to my swing a year ago to check and look at where I can improve further, but the results are speaking volumes :-).

Way more consistent than the old driver swing, which had flares left and right, low and high, even if it's maybe not quite got the distance yet. It's obviously not perfect, but I am loving the ball flight at the end of the slow-mo DTL clip :-D

 
I'll do a bit more analysis and stills work this afternoon to check positions and continue to work on that downswing hand path stuff. A much more pleasing morning though - slow progress, but definitely progress!

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

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I've been wanting to look through my Game Golf stats properly for a while and really think about what I do and where I can improve to see whether what I think is backed up by the software. My perceptions are:

- My driving needs to be more consistent, but it's getting there. I need to hit up on the ball to get more distance and allow me to attack more pins. I also want a stock 200 yard fairway finder - either 3i or hybrid. I think these are ok, but not even close to 100% reliable, maybe 66/33?

- My putting needs to be better, with better lag putting and holing more from inside 10 feet, but it's getting there. Certainly if the last round is anything to go by.

- My short irons are good; anything below a 7 isn't, with poor contact hindering things.

- My approach play from nGIR is very good for my handicap, but I need to control my distances with wedges better to have more looks at birdie or par saves, particularly in windy conditions when I can't reach the green in two on par fives.


Tee shots:

N.B. all screenshots are over the last ten rounds

tee shots.png

Interesting that the driver isn't spraying quite as much as I thought it was, although I'd hope for better when I get that proper technique ingrained. A fair number of average slices out right, but you can also see the duck hooks that plagued my game toward the end of last year - there isn't really a two-way miss going on as this would show. The short shots are the odd horror show off the crown of the club, a sign of poor technique.

What does surprise me is that my 3 wood isn't necessarily as accurate as I thought it was and it's so interesting that the spread is near identical, although the horror slices/pulls aren't necessarily there as much. Some horrific tops near the bottom are the worst shots there. Take out the outliers and it's pretty reliable, but they are there...

Resolution: hit driver more.

3i tee.png

Not much to see here other than that I don't go for a fairway finder much, but it's ok when I do... The 3 iron is the better of the two though, although the hybrid can run further. I only really use either when I'll run out of fairway.


Approaches:

3H and 5i.png

I knew I'd come up short, but I didn't think I'd be this short! The hybrid tends to be on par fives or after messed-up tee shots and the short ones are poor hits (around 175 yards except one of 217 which just rolled back off the front right of the green). The five iron is horrible and clearly something I need to work on - loads of fat shots short and I think I just try to hit it too hard. The yardages read like a bit of a horror show - 142, 157, 166, 147, 156, 147, 173. Bar the last, for a club that should be my 180 yard club, that's just not good enough.

Resolution: practise hitting these more trying to put myself in real situations and aiming for smoother swings with good contact a must. I'm actually not too fussed with left/right at the moment, with these two, I just need to advance it more than I am currently.

6i and 7i.png

I didn't anticipate hitting these two so short. Again, I think that this is about going at the 6 iron too hard (I have a mental thing about the six iron being a long iron rather than just one up from a 7 iron). None of the short seven iron shots are disastrous, but they're good examples of not clubbing up when I perhaps should. There's a couple of weird elevation changes in there as well - one of the short ones is 161, one of the long is 192...

No resolution here other than keep working on general technique.

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

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More approaches:

8i and 9i.png

Really intrigued to see the 9 iron spread. The 8 iron is exactly where you'd expect it to be and forms a near perfect shot zone - if I could get that sort of spread for all of my clubs, I'd be delighted. I clearly use the 9 iron more and there's a few more mishits in there. Again, contact is worth working on and I think looking at the flighted, 3/4 swing approach may yield some benefits here. The long one is one where it took a kick off the bank behind the green and went 169 so we can discount that. Once you take out the outliers, this makes sense, but still need to work on contact.

Resolution: Keep working on evolvr drills and keep improving contact. More pressure drills on the range.

PW and GW.pngLW and SW.png

Going to put all the wedges together and this is where things look pretty good. I love taking my gap wedge and if I could just tighten up the 3/4 swings, that'd be fantastic. I know that the PW tended to pull a little, but I've pretty much eradicated that trait for the moment. 

Resolution: work on yardage control with wedges, especially my 3/4 shots with the GW and PW.


strokes.png

The final one I don't totally agree with... My short game is decent, but my putting definitely hasn't been - I'm certainly not gaining anything over the 12 handicappers I play with! The approaches are ok, but nothing spectacular and I know I can gain way more off the tee. Intriguing and I'd be interested to see how they put this together.

So, a few things to work on:

- continue to hit driver and get used to imagining fairways when I'm on the range. I will keep stats on this in range sessions given that I'm course-less for the moment (moving job in September and the club wouldn't let me renew on a monthly basis :()

- work on my tweener yardages and the 3/4 flighted swings with my wedges, specifically the GW and PW.

- play games on the range and imagine what I need from certain iron shots. Don't accept the odd poor contact as that will be a missed GIR. Particularly focus on hitting hybrid and 5i cleanly or at least chewing up distance.

- keep practising the putting, focusing on pace and line. I can't really practise more than 10 footers due to being without a course, but I can work on those like mad!

- loads of work on the evolvr drills as ever. I've gotten way better and way more confident and I feel I'm tightening up all over the place. This is the summer when I plan to start really putting the good rounds together and I now have a good plan how to do it.

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

A couple more little bits today based on threads I had reminded myself of - I had a bit of fun with practising the pitching technique using the bounce a bit more yesterday (trying to get the ideas from the thread below working a bit better). Whilst my pitching is usually a strength and not something I'm really targeting for improvement, this felt much more effortless - work still to do, I'm sure, but the results at the end were pretty good to say the least... Just ignore the crappy camera work - I just wanted to prove that I'd hit them all in sequence :-).

 

 


Secondly, I went back to my drills from evolvr again this morning and recorded a few swings to keep myself honest with how I spent my time practising. Having re-read another thread in front of the Masters yesterday, I re-evaluated how quickly I was working in trying to change the picture and really took my time in trying to get the feeling ingrained. In the video, I'm trying to work on keeping my left hand behind the line of my feet for as long as possible to allow me to hit out on the ball and particularly working on the transition move at the top. I ended up spending 90 minutes at the range with one bucket of 50 balls. I actually hit 5 whilst one guy went through his whole bucket and really felt good about it! I really have to get myself in the mood for this sort of practice, but I know it's miles better for me than just hitting balls.

I divided my session pretty well - 10mins of the finish drill, 50 minutes of the closed face drill and slow-motion work then finished up with 30 mins of target practice and putting myself in 'course' situations. Of those, I worked on the following:

Driver: 7 of my 8 shots found the imaginary fairway (30 yards wide), even though they weren't the best strikes. One leaked off just right, but most were right half. The last couple, when I remembered the technique, were absolute bombs, so pretty pleased with that. The fact that I'm improving my worst shots can only be a good thing.

5 iron/3 hybrid approaches: Put myself under pressure by taking three balls and telling myself I needed to put a good swing on each of them. 2/3 were very good with each club - long, high and straight, whilst one hybrid shot would have been long left and a 5i short right. Both would have been nGIR, and the thought of just making a good swing rather than swinging out of my shoes with these clubs is definitely the way to go.

Flighted wedges: Just got the feel for a few of these as I'm playing a nice links course next week and they went pretty well - nice and straight and a fair bit lower. Not sure I've got the tempo down, but otherwise all quite good. Will work on distances, but it's not a priority.

Target play: Went through picking a different club to each target for 5 shots (8i, 9i, 6i, 7i, GW) and all hit their yardages. Leaked the 8i a bit right, but otherwise very happy.

In short, comfortably the best range session I've had this year and I'll be trying to make more use of the time I do spend there.

Currently focusing on: Key 4 - shorter backswing.

What's in the bag: Callaway X2 Hot Driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood, X2 Hot 3 Hybrid, 3, 5-AW Apex Pro irons, 54*, 58* Cleveland RTX, Odyssey Versa 1 Putter

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

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