My Swing (b101)

[iacas]

14 hours ago, b101 said:

My par on the 7th - only swing I recorded was a really nice punch 5 iron from 170 into a strong breeze:

 

That bunker may be the same one in this video:

Maybe?

https://thesandtrap.com/b/courses/golfing_scotland_with_go_ahead_tours

Looks the same as this:

[RandallT]

Ok, I'm subscribing to this swing thread just for the pics and videos!!!!! This is awesome. Carry on with the awesome content here.

[b101]

Erik - could well be, definitely looks similar. It's a class hole, looks tougher from the tee than the green, but although it's tough if you miss anywhere, you'll still have a shot. Haha cheers, will try to! One more course left, but it looks absolutely stunning so will get some more pics and videos then (Sunday/Monday). Otherwise, lots of driving and trying to avoid any mention of the PGA as it's on record for when I get back. Also got confirmation of when I join the new club (Aug 18th), so that's been a relief! It's another beautiful links course, so I'm looking forward to the challenge of sorting out my shot shaping in the wind. Worth a look - the par 3 collection is something else...

http://burnhamandberrowgolfclub.co.uk/courses/

[b101]

In a very rare occurrence, I'm getting to play the same course twice just hours apart. Just finished at Machrihanish Dunes, which is tough. Not long, but a lot of blind shots, crazy greens and elevation changes. What I learnt today was that when I get out of position here, it's a real struggle - the greens are often very narrow and if you don't have the right angle, you've not got a hope of an up-and-down. Not one for those who hated Chambers Bay last year...

Played alright actually - a great front nine only slightly spoiled by a poorer back nine when my tee shots got a bit looser. Putting still wasn't great, and I didn't hole much, but what annoyed me the most were the two fat shots out of nowhere on 15 (first GW) and 17 (awful tee shot). I took the driver at pretty much every opportunity and mostly got away with it in spite of some shockers down the stretch (10, 13, 14 and 18 were all poor strikes). The plan for tomorrow is to sort out some lines going into greens. I don't really think I need to be much less aggressive, but getting on the wrong side of 4, 10, 13 and a couple of others was suicidal. Interesting that unlike so many courses I play, ending on the left side of the fairway is a considerable disadvantage on the vast majority of holes. There are also a few marker posts that just don't help and if you go straight over them (as I did with two of them), you end up in the rough at best...)

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/benpage101/round/1083978

For an idea of what some of the greens were like - the second and my putt across (or at least, a very rushed re-take to show the breaks with a crap hitty stroke!)...

Tee shot on the 6th - ended up pin high but 10 yards right, off the green. Interesting how much shorter my backswing can be than I think it is...

On the tee - unhelpful GPS watch or worst par 3 ever...? (managed to get the right yardages, but for the wrong holes (this is for the 3rd, a par 5).

5th green:

4th green - a good example of when not to miss a short par four left or right...

[b101]

Today's round was a little better - I still screwed up on 3 and 10, but generally played better than yesterday. A few weird duffed shots still came about, and I need to take my time with partial wedges, particularly when I have an odd stance. Driving was miles better today, with just the one lost ball (on 10, when I tried to put a slower swing on it and just got it all wrong, snap-hooking it left). The provisional was absolutely fine... Didn't sink a single birdie putt and my putting really needs a look when I get back - my alignment seems to be slightly off and I've developed too much of a hit on longer putts for my liking. Still, a good end to my golfing time in Scotland.

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/benpage101/round/1085750

More pictures, just for @RandallT. The first may just be the best I've ever seen a golf course - I was first out at 7.30am and the light was amazing:

Looking back at the 1st hole:

Back down the third:

3rd green (pin was back centre, just above the second dip):

Back down third green:

5th tee (greenkeeper had left the flag out... Not that it troubled me as I ended left, past the bunker and managed possibly the best up and down I've ever made - flop shot up 15 feet landing about one foot on, which still rolled 15 feet past, then holed the putt):

12th green (par three). Missed the birdie putt:

The rest of the course is beautiful as well, it's not just me showing my good shots! I just tend to get all happy when I've hit a good one and remember to take the camera out. I don't think I could play this course too often - it's a bit too extreme - but it was great fun for two rounds!

[b101]

Forgot to mention that second time around was off the whites rather than yellows. Worked out pretty well and still rarely had more than 8i in to any of the par 4s.

[b101]

Haven't played too much since Scotland due to moving house, but got my first round in at the new place yesterday. A steady 20mph wind and driving rain made it very tough and I was delighted with my +15, which would have been good enough to win the competition that was going on that day by 2. As an insight into how tough the conditions were, standard scratch was raised from 71 to 76...

Distances are nigh-on irrelevant. One driver went 185, one 321 and they were about the same in terms of strike. Clearly, I need a wind-proof tee shot and I think the 3 wood might well be the answer. I do have a driving iron and 3 iron as well, so I may chuck one of those in the bag. Playing again Tuesday and have entered a comp on Saturday - I'm trying to make the most of the last days of holiday. Haven't worked on the swing that much recently in truth, but I plan to start that up again pretty soon as well. In terms of this round, my short game was very good, bar an annoying moment on the par 5 4th - went over the back in 2 to find some deep rough and a horror lie (hence what looks like a duffed pitch). Irons were mixed with some poor tee shots on the par threes in particular and driving was decent, bar a weird snap hook on 15 and one that just went high and got taken by the wind on 8 - both leading to lost balls. I genuinely think I'll compete pretty well in comps round here if I can avoid the horror drives and just keep the ball in play.

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/benpage101/round/1126285

[b101]

It's been a while, but I have finally managed a bit more work on the swing. The latest feedback from evolvr was to work on the backswing, particularly in not letting the club get too far around my body. The main checkpoint is parallel to the ground on the way back, with my clubhead tending to be too far inside, leading to the low hooks. The second target is still the right elbow, which flies out, pushing the clubhead into a weird angle at the top of the backswing. 

The results of yesterday's practice are as follows. A lot of pitching work, as it's easiest to control and drill that first checkpoint. It then moved to some flow swing work getting used to the checkpoints before a 75% swing with a six iron (which I really liked) and the full swing at the end (which needs work). Progress, I think, but more yet to do. If this has taught me anything, it's to really drill those 75% swings as things look good there.

 

[b101]

I've managed to gain a bit of momentum with this and had a good range session on the 29th before playing yesterday. This was a bit of an odd range session as I really wanted to 'find' a swing before a round, but also needed to make progress on the pieces I'm working on. I got a few videos, but annoyingly, the battery on the camera went before the end, when I did manage to find what I wanted.

Rare that anyone willingly posts a shank on here, but I actually think it was a pretty good swing! This is pretty standard of the first 20 minutes of what I do at the moment - really trying to get that first position nailed (club parallel to the ground on backswing) and also trying to groove more of an in-to-out feel with the hands on the pitch shot. I'm enjoying seeing the extra height I'm gaining on a short pitch with a GW, which used to just fly in very low and hot. I still feel the hands go a bit too far left through impact though. The shank wasn't too different to the 'good shot'; just a bit too out-to-in with the downswing. Quite happy with both.

As for the full swing - work still to do, but it's getting closer. Again, I love everything about the 75% swings and just need to groove that more so that it transitions into the 100% swing. 

What I was finding with most of these full swings was that I was losing the ball way right - push fades, mostly. I tried a number of things to sort this and I eventually worked out that I was weakening my grip before I swung the club. I'll get some footage of this today, but this last bit has made a massive difference - or at least, was a hotfix. I think it'd be hard to pick up if you weren't looking for it, so I'll get it on camera today.

---

As for the round, I played with someone I used to work with (off 8, having dropped 7 shots in six months...) who always brings out the best in me. I was horrific off the tee, but pretty good with everything else, making a lot of 'good' bogeys and up and downs just to keep myself in it. I lost 4&3 in the end and my +13 was impressive given how poorly I played off the tee. Stats of 21% fairways and 22% GIR just aren't going to get me anywhere and I want to see those double in the next few rounds I play. Not many were stupid misses, although I lost a ball on the 8th tee shot, but I'm struggling to hit driver at the moment with the changes I'm making. The stats aren't as bad as they seem - I missed fairways on 1, 2, 3, 13, and 15 by under 5 yards, whilst my best drive of the day on 12 took a ridiculous bounce right into a massive upslope from which I could do nothing but had to go for it in a matchplay scenario. The thing is, I'm missing in the wrong places and am not sure where the driver is going to start or turn and so I'm just not putting myself in position to hit a shot into the green. My iron play actually wasn't bad at all - I hit some great long irons on 4, 17 and 18, a good 9 iron on 5 that just fell off the green into the wrong spot and a couple of nice knockdown shots on 1 and 6. 3 wood was firing as well for the vast majority, and my putting was decent. It's a frustration that with all of that good, I just ruined things off the tee. There were a few really poor shots that weren't from the tee (a pulled 6i on 2, a fat GW on 3, a pulled 5i on 9 and a hybrid I didn't feel comfortable with but needed to go for on 15), but that's where most of the problems stemmed from. Still, if everything improves the way I hope, things will get better all round. 

https://www.gamegolf.com/player/benpage101/round/1287732

[b101]

So I did get out over the last couple of days to practise - not least because I had a new evolvr analysis come in yesterday morning. I forgot to mention that I now have a new evolvr coach, Preston (on the very slight chance that he reads this, a massive thank you to Brian for all the work he did with my swing). Preston highlighted the spacing in my takeaway as something to really work on, particularly with how quickly the left arm separates from the body. It's one of those where, as soon as he mentioned it, it was immediately obvious, but it's going to be another tough bad habit to break down, if yesterday's session was anything to go by. An example of the issue is in the shot below, where the amount my left arm has chased out is quite scary:

Anyway, I had some success with this yesterday - I've tried to combine the whole session into one short clip and I'm happy with some of the slower swings. I've also kept a club around the house to keep going back to for the odd 5 minute sessions of practising that takeaway, which I hope will help! Back to the range today and based on reviewing the footage, the aim is to keep the club lower rather than lifting too quickly on the takeaway and just go slow.

 

[b101]

A bit more work on this today and whilst I'm still not totally nailing the position, I'm really starting to see progress. Spent 80% of my range session hitting 8 irons to about 90 yards with a full swing and it's so good to see the draw coming back. I did record a couple of face on shots as well, with a proper full out swing in there as well. Feeling much better about things now and looking forward to starting to take this swing to the course. The full swing shows, as expected, that there's more to do to make those positions feel natural, but it's miles better than where it was a month ago. The New Year's resolution (golf-wise) is to do more evolvr stuff and just keep things ticking over - I feel my game would be knocking on the door of the 10 handicap, but I keep having 4 week spells where I get too caught up in work and don't make it out. I'm playing two rounds this week and have a putting lesson before work starts up again post-Xmas holidays next Monday. The trick will be finding time to get to the range in Jan and Feb whilst light is still poor. 

 

[b101]

A couple of interesting things recently. First up, the practice is getting there and I'm making improvements on the takeaway. I think my elbow still flies a bit and you can tell that there's potential for me to cut across the ball, but I can get the push draw that brings my best golf when I get the timing right. Video below includes:

1 - Takeaway work and pitches with a lob wedge. The extra height is so noticeable compared to what I normally put out. Really like the slow-motion shot.

2 - A bit of more typical practice. You can see the positions I'm trying to ingrain and the 75% swing is looking decent to my eyes.

3 - A full swing. There's things I don't like that I'm sure Preston will target in the near future, but the left arm is chasing out less than previously and the right elbow is flying less. I still dislike the head movement, the amount my arms cut across the ball (although the flight on this was high and a very slight fade) and the lack of extension through impact, but these are problems for another day! For what we're targeting, this is half decent. I've uploaded both to Preston for a quick check and to give him a FO view as with the frost, it's been very hard to get one. I'm anticipating working on this piece for a while yet though.

 

 

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Secondly, I had my second ever putting lesson. My last one consisted of an instructor basically saying to cut across the ball less. In the end, I solved that one myself by going to left-hand low. What I wanted this time was a SAM putt lab lesson, as I wanted to see how much I'd improved from my SeeMore fitting a year and a half ago. Then, I was in the red for three of the categories and yellow for one. At the start of the lesson, I was yellow for three and green for one, which was brilliant to see. By the end, it was green for three and yellow for one (consistency, given that I was getting used to the change).

The lesson started with me rolling ten putts toward a hole 9 feet away, whilst the machine took measurements. The instructor then talked me through the figures and pinpointed tempo and specifically the length of my backswing as something to improve (he wanted a shorter, more authoritative stroke. We used a metronome (well, a Puttronome app) to speed this up and it worked wonders. See below for the readings before and after. The timing we focused on was the very bottom reading and trying to get the blue column (backstroke) down from 800ms to nearer 600. I'm really proud of this and will continue to work on the tempo so that I can trust it on the course. It's interesting how many other things that this improved, such as strike and path.

Once I've got the tempo down, the next job will be to work on the distance putts. I've pinpointed 20-40 feet as my real danger zone, from where I three putt way more than I should, and this will be the focus, as well as some pressure drills.

---

Finally, I played two rounds this week, which couldn't have been more different... On the first, I was joined by a +1 golfer and that threw me a little. It was interesting that my short game wasn't far off his, but the long game was such a different story... The standouts were his ability to always hit a green with his iron shots, even when he was out of position and taking a 5 iron from the rough and the height of his drives. If ever I needed a reminder that my angle of attack still needs work, it was watching a properly towering ball flight that would have 30 yards on my best drives. 

Anyway, my tee game and iron play was pretty abysmal. I wasn't really happy with anything and did well to salvage +12 from this round. Weirdly, I think it's a good example of how my game has improved - a year ago, this would have been +16 - +20, but there were some good scrambles in there.

https://www.gamegolf.com/player/benpage101/round/1293851

The second round was completely different. Much happier with the 43% fairways (as opposed to 7%!) and whilst I still didn't hit as many greens as I'd like in 10mph crosswinds (doesn't help when you don't know whether the ball is going left or right...), I was pleased with the score of +10. A day after my putting lesson, I three-putted the first two greens due to simply not knowing the pace of the shorter stroke, but it was getting there by the end and I holed two awesome putts on 16 and 17 - the second for the most laughable bogey save I've ever made. +4 from the 8th hole onwards is where I want to be and had I made a few better putts early on and avoided the double on the last (I got a really weird, hard bounce off a pitch onto the green), this could have been outstanding. Two nice birdies was pleasing though.

https://www.gamegolf.com/player/benpage101/round/1293853

It's getting there, but work still ahead!

[Hardspoon]

On ‎7‎/‎28‎/‎2016 at 11:38 AM, RandallT said:

Ok, I'm subscribing to this swing thread just for the pics and videos!!!!! This is awesome. Carry on with the awesome content here.

Count me in...!

Good stuff here, @b101...it's very neat to see people making (and documenting) progress using Evolvr.

[b101]

I've really worked hard recently to free up time to practise and I feel like I'm starting to see some of the rewards. I felt comfortable enough with the backswing piece to upload something to Preston again to see what he makes of it. Today though, I started trying to work on shallowing out the club on the downswing and thought I'd try something I'd read about - increasing my hip turn. To my eyes, my swing looks a lot 'neater' with the increased hip turn, but I'm keen to hear from Preston whether this is the right way to go or whether there'll be any knock-on effects in doing this. The first is the 75% swing, which looks as good as it ever has. Then you have a full swing which produced a soft draw, the FO shot and the last is where I left off for the night, with a weird thought on trying to keep my right elbow tucked into my side on the downswing - I don't think it worked...

It's great to see the draw coming back as I have so much confidence with it - my best golf over the summer was built on having a high draw and I think if I can get it back, whilst eliminating the takeaway move that was causing the low snap-hook, I'll be on track for where I want to be and moving towards writing off those 1.4 handicap points.

Let me know any thoughts - it looks good to me, but I wouldn't pretend to understand any potential implications. The main decider will be Preston's reaction and I'm looking forward to hearing back. Generally pretty positive with things at the moment as I really feel I'm making progress after a tough time in the last few months trying to rediscover my swing.

 

[b101]

It's been about a month and I actually feel like I've regressed a little bit. In trying to incorporate the 'shallowing the club' feel, I actually lost the good backswing work that I had done to a large extent. I was quite happy with the ball flight when all was going well and went a bit away from checking the camera work to just trying to produce the shots I wanted to hit. In managing to recapture that high draw, I'd accidentally gone back to the habit of bringing the club back across the line at the top of the backswing and then rushing my transition, getting really hand-sy through impact. When I then tried to fix things by getting the backswing back to where it should be, I've just thrown all my timing out. It's not brought good shots and I think I really just need to commit to the process of going slow and not rushing. I keep saying to myself that I'm going to use this thread to keep myself honest with my practice and, to be frank, it's not been good enough recently, which is why things are going backwards. Additionally, I've then tried to play a full round without committing to the changes and that led to an abysmal front nine of 7 points... I found some tempo on the back nine, scoring 16, but there were some utterly horrific shots in there that I've never seen before (including two shots that looked like low shanks but in fact came right off the toe...)

That said, the first video clip above is pretty close to where I want to be. If I can get back to that and then really consolidate, I'll be happy. Think this is just a welcome reminder about how to practice and the bad habits I can tend to ingrain if I get carried away. 

Keeping myself honest, I will do the following:

• Practise the backswing in slow motion with a mirror every day (even for 5 minutes) to get those positions back.
• When I go to the range (twice per week), hit fewer balls, check the camera after every swing and don't accept shoddy work on my priority pieces. Post here after every range session and be brutally honest with the results.
• More swings at 50-70% feel. I have gotten back into the habit of trying to change something at full speed and it evidently just isn't happening.

With all that said, I'll be hitting the range tomorrow afternoon and ideally twice more this week. I'll post then (hopefull with progress)! Fingers crossed, this is the most negative I will ever be.

[RandallT]

A familiar tune for me. I'm constantly reminded not to rest on my laurels when I feel I'm making good progress or have achieved some thing. Gotta review and solidify, even as I move on to something else. 

I tried rolling cold pizza dough the other day. I'd look away after forming a decent circle. Bam, shriveled back up to a ball. Wait- I thought I had that just right!

Anyway- good stuff. 

34 minutes ago, b101 said:

Practise the backswing in slow motion with a mirror every day (even for 5 minutes) to get those positions back.

This thread below can help keep you motivated as you see others doing various things (you'll see me with my backswing, left wrist and right elbow!). I know it has for me.

 

[b101]

23 hours ago, RandallT said:

This thread below can help keep you motivated as you see others doing various things (you'll see me with my backswing, left wrist and right elbow!). I know it has for me.

 

I keep missing the start of the month with these! Definitely will though; it's exactly what I need to do.

[b101]

Today was an infinitely better day. I did a short range session, which really helped blow out the cobwebs and played 18 this morning before going to the range for a proper spell this afternoon. Essentially, the plan was to try to focus on taking a range swing to the course. With that in mind, for the first time in years, I gave myself a few mulligans on the course for when something weird happened. The idea was to prevent myself from getting agitated about score, whilst still having a reasonable idea of how I was doing. Odd, but it was actually very effective. For what it's worth, I finished on +10, having taken mulligans on 4 holes for 4 really bizarre shots (a toe-y, 45 degree right sliced pitching wedge on the 3rd, a second drive on the par 5 fourth, a low hooked 4 iron on the par three 14th and a toe-hook drive on the wide open par four 16th) from what felt like good swings. I'm confident that, with a 'normal course swing', I wouldn't have needed as many, but it kept me honest in sticking to the things I'm working on. The main points for focus were:

• Slower, more rhythmical tempo (stops me cutting across the ball)
• Takeaway and club not getting across the line at the top of the backswing
• Slightly bowing left wrist during backswing (helps with point 2)

For the most part, I started seeing some nice soft draws with the 3 wood, decent drives (if lacking in power compared to normal) and some much improved iron shots. My long irons are a mess, but I can live with that for now. The swing when under pressure is still a little way away from where I want it, but here's some examples of on-course play (as much for @RandallT as anyone!)

 

The last video is really fun and great proof of why I love this course. The same 50 yard approach to a linksy green and three very different ways to play it. The second, crap shot, would have been my absolute go-to about 3 months back (the first was my actual shot before I decided to take a couple of different approaches to see. Clearly my chipping and long putting techniques need work, but you get the idea!

I'll post up some of the afternoon range clips later - it was a really good day and definitely feel I made progress