My Swing (GolfLug)

[boogielicious]

Nice!

[GolfLug]

Yesterday was a fairly quite 80 at Cypress Point. This course is easy to navigate with not much water so scoring not that hard but greens are very small with heavy bunkering so hard to get GIRs. It was typical bunting the ball around, chipping/pitching and hitting out of sand to either get up and down for par (3 times) or getting close enough to two putt for a bogey (8 times). Rest were all GIRs (7) and 2 putts for par. First time on this course when I went an entire 18 holes (driver on 12 holes) without an OB! Did have a few hooks but did not hurt too bad as I was deliberately trying not to overpower any drives (I have to remind myself consciously).

Priority piece is still the flat/flatish left hand wrist. I am not focusing on anything else greatly anymore. Thank you @iacas greatly for that reminder few posts ago. I need to reverse years of bad reps with this issue and am still time to time brainlessly letting the club slip down and cupping hugely on BS.  I do come home and check my position in the mirror to confirm while the course feeling is fresh. Dang, it is hard to stay focused on one thing for 4 hours. In the past I would have already moved on to another experiment. At this time I feel committed to keep this piece as my one true priority for at least the rest of the year. Beyond that stay soft, endure bad days and play golf!

[iacas]

  GolfLug said:

Priority piece is still the flat/flatish left hand wrist. I am not focusing on anything else greatly anymore. Thank you @iacas greatly for that reminder few posts ago. I need to reverse years of bad reps with this issue and am still time to time brainlessly letting the club slip down and cupping hugely on BS.  I do come home and check my position in the mirror to confirm while the course feeling is fresh. Dang, it is hard to stay focused on one thing for 4 hours. In the past I would have already moved on to another experiment. At this time I feel committed to keep this piece as my one true priority for at least the rest of the year. Beyond that stay soft, endure bad days and play golf!

You're doing good stuff. Keep after the pictures, keep working, and the results will continue.

[GolfLug]

  iacas said:

You're doing good stuff. Keep after the pictures, keep working, and the results will continue.

Appreciate the encouragement and the guard-rails. I am starting to realize it will be a while (honestly I would be kidding if less than 2 years) before all my habits (hooding of clubface, heavily forward leaning shaft etc.) can be reversed and sorted out. For now I am going to leave them alone and live with it. I am sure I am not unique in this but just start bouncing around too many things without any real marker and nothing sticks. Other than my mirror drills at home at night, I can only work during rounds. I am resigned to the fact that range work at this point of time in my life will be pretty much insignificant or worse, non-existent. I had decided to build a little shed earlier this year in my backyard for practice but I am honestly afraid of overusing it and developing other bad habits without confirmation of a full ball flight or sufficient actual golf rounds.

Progress will be a little slower than what I had in mind when I left GE last year but with what work I can put in it will be only one piece at a time (a looong time) keeping myself disciplined to it.

[iacas]

  GolfLug said:

Appreciate the encouragement and the guard-rails. I am starting to realize it will be a while (honestly I would be kidding if less than 2 years) before all my habits (hooding of clubface, heavily forward leaning shaft etc.) can be reversed and sorted out. For now I am going to leave them alone and live with it. I am sure I am not unique in this but just start bouncing around too many things without any real marker and nothing sticks. Other than my mirror drills at home at night, I can only work during rounds. I am resigned to the fact that range work at this point of time in my life will be pretty much insignificant or worse, non-existent. I had decided to build a little shed earlier this year in my backyard for practice but I am honestly afraid of overusing it and developing other bad habits without confirmation of a full ball flight or sufficient actual golf rounds.

Progress will be a little slower than what I had in mind when I left GE last year but with what work I can put in it will be only one piece at a time (a looong time) keeping myself disciplined to it.

Can you clarify this? Why can't you visit the range? What's wrong with hitting the ball now and then in the back yard, without necessarily seeing ball flight?

[GolfLug]

  iacas said:

Can you clarify this? Why can't you visit the range? What's wrong with hitting the ball now and then in the back yard, without necessarily seeing ball flight?

Sure.

Range: Primarily time. Essentially other than 10-15 mins each night I have 4-5 hours max budgeted Golf time/week. Other then day job, I also run a business with my wife. Pick Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning but not both except my trips. Would like more but not gonna happen for sake of staying married. It sucks but courses here don't open till 7 am and I have to be at work by 7:45. After work (5 pm) have to pick up kids and then I am a full time Mr. Mom in the evening till wife gets home around 8 pm. That leaves time for a round per week and every now and then on some weekdays (Wednesday) if I sneak out early out of work I can squeeze in an additional 9 (once a month or so). I could of course hit the range instead but I want to play golf really. A range day on the weekend could mean two weeks between rounds.

As far as hitting without seeing the ball flight, I am deathly afraid of grooving heavily fat shots and hooks on a mat at home. Have done so every time I have spent more than 1 or 2 days a week for a few month on the mat hitting into a net in the backyard (I have a tattered net in the corner now actually). I admit that this is not a very strong argument but I am in the best upward slide in years and am scared of messing it up.

[GolfLug]

Here's the latest swing work from my latest visit to GE. Basically I am striking the ball very well with all clubs but am hooking 25% shots with driver and hybrids. It comes down to the fact that I am very steep in my takeaway and super shallow in the downswing. Being that my clubface will almost never be open to the path, hook is the miss. Need to do quite a bit of work to go more shallow in the takeaway (not pick up straight in the air with just wrist cock - sort of what Rickie Fowler used to do) and little more steep coming down to impact. Impact position in itself is not bad (according to @iacas anyway). In the FO view, notice left hand position at impact which is in stark contrast to a traditionally proper flat wrist. but club squares up because of the hooded club face at set up. This is an oddity of my swing because of a broken forearm (fine now but am incapable of flat wrist). Everything is built around it.

Before: Steep to shallow:

After: Shallower take away. Sorry don't have FO view. Difference may not be that obvious but it is there.

[iacas]

  GolfLug said:

Here's the latest swing work from my latest visit to GE. Basically I am striking the ball very well with all clubs but am hooking 25% shots with driver and hybrids. It comes down to the fact that I am very steep in my takeaway and super shallow in the downswing. Being that my clubface will almost never be open to the path, hook is the miss. Need to do quite a bit of work to go more shallow in the takeaway (not pick up straight in the air with just wrist cock - sort of what Rickie Fowler used to do) and little more steep coming down to impact. Impact position in itself is not bad (according to @iacas anyway). In the FO view, notice left hand position at impact which is in stark contrast to a traditionally proper flat wrist. but club squares up because of the hooded club face at set up. This is an oddity of my swing because of a broken forearm (fine now but am incapable of flat wrist). Everything is built around it.

Before: Steep to shallow:

After: Shallower take away. Sorry don't have FO view. Difference may not be that obvious but it is there.

You did a really great job of summarizing.

No reason - particularly given the left arm/bone condition - to change the image on the left. We just had to stop the image on the right from being so far OUT.

Before swing on the left - steep (very steep) to shallow (too shallow).

"After" exaggeration on the left - a little bit too shallow to a little bit too steep… but look at how it immediately cleans up the path into the ball.

GREAT stuff. Very good work @GolfLug .

[Phil McGleno]

In other words the A Swing did not work for you either-huh? :-D

[GolfLug]

  Phil McGleno said:

In other words the A Swing did not work for you either-huh?

Well I learned this much that a curved swing plane (curved plane - oxymoron?) will always be less efficient than a flat plane as it constantly interrupts the MOI of the club travel in the downswing. Can be fairly functional as in my case but not best. Misses are more frequent and deviant.

[GolfLug]

  iacas said:

You did a really great job of summarizing.

No reason - particularly given the left arm/bone condition - to change the image on the left. We just had to stop the image on the right from being so far OUT.

Before swing on the left - steep (very steep) to shallow (too shallow).

"After" exaggeration on the left - a little bit too shallow to a little bit too steep… but look at how it immediately cleans up the path into the ball.

GREAT stuff. Very good work @GolfLug.

Thanks boss. I will keep at it. My brain still smoking from last week a bit from trying to straighten out but I am definitely with the direction.

[GolfLug]

Few quick updates:

1) Have switched to a 58 degree Ping with standard width sole from 56 degree wide sole for NGIR chipping and very short pitches. Courses I am playing have very few fluffy lies and tight lies are not very friendly to wider soles. Difference is noticeable. Getting a lot more face on the ball with a slightly higher flight and softer landing. No flubs yesterday had 3 NGIR chips and got all of them within 15 feet or so. Happy.

2) Being a bit more reactive on putting for better distance judgment. This still remains in the weakness category but I think I am tournament ready next week.

3) Not lifting the club straight in the air with hands and arms anymore at start of BS!! I think I have definitely ironed THAT out. Now, still cocking up a bit right away but more on plane at onset but arms more passive and staying down longer before they start to lift - I think/feel anyway. I think it might be an ok 'hybrid' plane for now - still somewhat steep at takeaway and hence shallow on the way down. But deviation from ideal plane is lot less.

Haven't mustered up enough courage to do my 'palm piece' yet (feel rolling palm open without lifting the club above plane at start of BS). This is my ultimate direction to get more on plane.

Hit two unintended heavy draws yesterday both with my 2 hybrid but no straight up duck hooks. Can't remember last time I went an entire front or backside without doing that.

Overall feeling good about the game as am generally keeping dispersion very manageable.

[GolfLug]

I am officially a single digit HCP after 11 years of wilderness! I can only hope that I can sustain it.

Life begins at 40.

[Ernest Jones]

Congrats, that must feel amazing!

[billchao]

  GolfLug said:

I am officially a single digit HCP after 11 years of wilderness! I can only hope that I can sustain it.  Life begins at 40.

Congrats, V!:dance:

[GolfLug]

  Ernest Jones said:

Congrats, that must feel amazing!

Yes! Feels like making it to the top of mountain only to find another much taller mountain leg in front. lol!

I am not an overly ambitious person by nature but I would be lying if I said I didn't lose any sleep over this last couple of months.

  billchao said:

Congrats, V!

Thank you Bill! Waiting for YOUR breakthrough this year.

[GolfLug]

Had my last practice round before tourney down in Pinehurst starting Sunday. A very solid 79 with three birdies and only one double bog on a mid-tough track. Chipping has officially cleaned up. Not a single flub out of 5. Little worried with the putting still. Distance control is a gaping hole compared to rest of the game. Guess you can't have it all.

There will be 4 tournament rounds and possibly up to 2 additional non-tourney rounds as Pinehurst #1 and #5 replay rates are an absolute steal at $30 a piece. Feeling good but a little nervous. Go time.

#makeorbreak

[Lihu]

  GolfLug said:

I am officially a single digit HCP after 11 years of wilderness! I can only hope that I can sustain it.

Life begins at 40.

Congratulations.