My Swing (bankquant)

[bankquant]

Good news on 2 fronts. I picked up GameGolf during the recent Amazon prime day for about $140 and shot another sub 90 round yesterday.  Been eyeing GameGolf for awhile now and finally decided that compared to other training aids it would probably be the best investment.  First round with it is linked below..

First hole I feel like I did extremely poorly almost entirely because of the gamegolf setup and trying to get used to it. It threw off my routine but as the day went on I was less conscious of it. After that things were going great until the 14th hole when we got stuck behind a couple guys hacking it around the course. I must have sat on that tee box for 10- 15 mins and every hole afterwards (wish Gamegolf also showed time between shots and pace of place so I can see how things slowed down there).  Feel like I completely lost my rhythm  on that hole and was surprised to see I actually carded 2 pars after that cause I just felt like the old me every shot after that.  Overall it was a good round and I really love the gamegolf system, there were a few shots that I forgot to tag before I took them but the system seemed to know I took those shots anyway and exactly where I took them from...crazy.  I was alittle surprised by the distances with my 3wood,  not so much avg distance because I chunked a few but the higher end of the range because I hit a few good ones and was expecting them to go 250+. Only used driver 3 times, all on par 5s but was surprised only on the lowest distance because it felt like they all went similar distances. 260-280 range seemed about right as I was taking 70% swings focusing on keeping the ball in the fairway.

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/abh84/round/471122

I'd like to get back to the range soon and film my swing some more. I'm still struggling with my driver (though my first gamegolf round would say otherwise, 100% fairways hit). I just dont feel like im striking it solid and my ball flight is usually very low, with a fade or slice. If I could get it launching at a higher angle i'm sure I could get another 20-30 yards on average.

My handicap has gone from ~25 a couple months ago to 16.5 today. And hopefully with came golf I can identify things I need to work on the most.

[mvmac]

My handicap has gone from ~25 a couple months ago to 16.5 today. And hopefully with came golf I can identify things I need to work on the most.

Awesome, nice job!

[iacas]

(wish Gamegolf also showed time between shots and pace of place so I can see how things slowed down there)

That may be coming. GPS encodes the time, I believe, and so I think the system knows the time. It has to know SOMETHING about the time because a) it can count to 30 seconds and b) it has to know what ORDER the shots were played in. :)

[bankquant]

New lowest score even though I felt like I played terrible. Putting was pretty bad, driving accuracy was terrible  but i didnt have too many complete miss hits or OOB shots.

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/abh84/round/489060

Its funny, a couple months ago I would range from 110 to 90 and then back up to 110 again.  Ever since I broke 90 for the first time, my last 5 rounds have been 86, 90, 87, 88, 8

[rharrison]

Got my tripod in the mail today so I can finally get some better angles...just wish I had a camera that could capture over 60fps

Lets start off with the ugly first... This is what bothers me the most and besides the slice its the worst part about my swing. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here compared to my good swings.

I hit 2 off the bottom heel of the club and then the next one off the top toe of the club. These were my first few swings with my driver after practicing laying it down or flattening it out in the downswing.

Next is the good swings. I think I narrowed my stance slightly compared to the bad swings but other than that didnt change anything.  Almost all started out right on line and either went dead straight or had a slight fade near the end.

I really need to figure out these mishits and get some better consistency. Not sure what is happening.

I have never seen a driving range like that before, the little tee mechanism is so cool!

[rharrison]

That may be coming. GPS encodes the time, I believe, and so I think the system knows the time. It has to know SOMETHING about the time because a) it can count to 30 seconds and b) it has to know what ORDER the shots were played in. :)

GPS is predicated on timing. A signal is sent back and forth between the receiver and the satellite and the amount of time it takes to go there and back is recorded, then this is done with at least 2 other satellites. The GPS device knows where these three or more satellites are and the uses those positions and time it takes for the signal to go from the receiver to the satellite to calculate your distance from each and then uses all the distances to triangulate your position. It is all based around the atomic clock.

[iacas]

GPS is predicated on timing. A signal is sent back and forth between the receiver and the satellite and the amount of time it takes to go there and back is recorded, then this is done with at least 2 other satellites. The GPS device knows where these three or more satellites are and the uses those positions and time it takes for the signal to go from the receiver to the satellite to calculate your distance from each and then uses all the distances to triangulate your position. It is all based around the atomic clock.

That's not entirely accurate.

The receiver is just a receiver - it doesn't send something back to the satellite. I also think they need four satellites…

But that's got nothing to do with @bankquant 's swing, so…

[bankquant]

Starting this up again after recently getting back to the game after moving to NY a year ago.

I am finally living in the building where I have access to 2 HDGolf Simulators.  Had a thread in instructions about the smash factor read-out. I'm going to forget about that for the time being because it seems like it is kind of a meaningless stat for the simulator. The total distance, ball flights, swing speeds, swing path, face angles seem to match reality rather closely so I've finally been able to see some interesting patterns. I'd like to setup a camera to record next time I'm there. So far I;ve only had my wife come down and film me a couple times.

 

The first big insight that I discovered yesterday is that I have far too much forward shaft lean in my driver swing. This has worked for me in my irons because I can control the face better with my hands but with the low loft of my driver the forward shaft lean means that I am either always going to push-fade-slice it right if I dont close the face or I will snap hook it low left by shutting the face prematurely.

 

Next step is to remove a bit of the should lean, take a bit more of a neutral grip, setup with a neutral shaft lean and try to make contact with little to no shaft lean.

I'd so like to extend more arms more throughout the swing...staying down longer through impact and reaching through the swing. This will probably take time as it means increasing my flexbility. Also, my normal driver swings range between 111-118mph on the simulator, getting up to as much as 128mph if i push it.  I'll set a goal to keep this under 110mph while I work on my form. My back and hands feel terrible after each session.

[bankquant]

Good session in the simulator today...short but helped me work on something I realized a couple days ago.  If i stand up a little taller for my drives I'm much more likely to hit it straight or even draw it slightly. Really seems to be helping my slice. I hit about 10 in a row between 270-290 yds in the sim

[alecwickey5]

@bankquant The one thing that I really noticed in all of your videos is the tush line if you will. Your butt and hips are moving towards the ball on the downswing and impact (goat humping- watch videos on this). I think this is causing a majority of your inconsistent strikes on the club face and those heel shots. 

 

A tip that may help. At the start of the downswing almost think of pulling your zipper back and toward your left hip. 

[bankquant]

Googled goat humping videos...think I need eye bleach now

[JonMA1]

1 hour ago, bankquant said:

Googled goat humping videos...think I need eye bleach now

Hopefully you weren't at work where your I.T. manager - who sees all of your searches and doesn't know anything about golf - thinks that's what you're into.

Swing looks good, at least to my inexperienced eye.

[bankquant]

Short practice after work yesterday. I tried using my tripod and propping my phone (GalaxyS7) up against the handle. I heard that at 720p in records at 120fps. Not sure how I can tell the fps on the videos but I might use my camera that locks into the tripod next time just because it will be easier to get better angles. Also I'll try linking the videos directly to google photos because it seems like when I upload to youtube its cutting out frames

https://goo.gl/photos/UMYyXrRz8kHXhNgA7

Result:  

https://goo.gl/photos/Bt4aEerVdv656swk9

Result:

[bankquant]

Great practice today.

 

Started off with just hitting PW to in-between shots, 50yds, 75yds, 100yds. Then did only about 5 shots with 8 iron and moved to driver. Felt comfortable with all clubs. A few mishits with my PW. I tend to shank it off the toe or heel when trying to dial it down. 

From there I moved on to playing a full 18 holes on the simulator.  I really wish i could get out and play for real, especially after watching the Masters. But its tough to do when living in Manhattan. Anyways this was an absolutely amazing around. I normally score worse on the simulator because its almost impossible for measure the putt speeds correctly. I ended up shooting an 83 which is actually 2 shots better than my best round in real life. I hit almost every fairway with every single driving going long and straight or with a bit of a draw. The only fairways i missed is where it rolled through and ended up in the first cut.  Almost all my approach shots put me right on the green or just off. Putting is always hard to get right but somehow it was working for me today as well. Had my longest drive on the sim as well, 305yds straight down the center.

After finishing the round I setup my camera on the tripod and recorded a couple videos. The front angle is not great because its as far away from me as I can get before it butts into the wall.  

Not really sure what my focus should be for my swing right now. Suggestions are welcome.

 

Edited April 9, 2017 by bankquant

[bankquant]

Yesterday was a weird session.  Ive been trying to figure out how to hit my 2 hybrids that came with my set, 3h and 4h.  I just cant seem to make good contact. I'm either popping them up off the top of the face or slicing terribly. Tried moving a little farther up in my stance and then started getting low hooks. I had maybe 1 semi-decent shot out of probably 30. it went about 215yds with a slight fade. Not great considering I hit my 5 iron pretty consistently 220. 

I'll get some video of me using these clubs next time since its something i'd like to work on.

 

However, after I booted up another 18 holes on the same course where I previously shot the 83.  But this time I shot a 76! 

Again, not really comparable to actual scores because every lie is perfect, though the simulator takes length off if you are hitting from the sand or rough. It also gives an auto-gimmie from 3 feet or less.  I also gave myself a mulligan on the first tee after slicing it into the woods on the first shot.  

It is interesting though because my first 5 or 6 rounds playing courses on this simulator were much worse than my real life scores because I couldn't judge greens or put chip/pitch shots into perspective. Maybe i've just learned to sort of game the system for what it likes when it comes to pitch and putt speeds. I wonder how all this practicing on a simulator will translate to my real game. 

Edited April 12, 2017 by bankquant

[bankquant]

So this is one of those problem areas for me.  My hybrids. As I explained in my previous post I just cant seem to be consistent with them at all.  I'll probably get 1 in 10 good shots vs maybe 9 out of 10 with most of my other clubs.

 

I'd really like to know what I'm doing wrong and why the result here is so vastly different than my other clubs.

[Jack Watson]

You're a little quick on tempo and the ball looks to be teed way high for a hybrid.  It's teed above the crown.

I like to inch my hybrids forward of center a ball or two and tee them lower than what you showed.

 

[bankquant]

It teed up high on the face on view because i had to back up to make room for the camera angle and that was the best i could do with their rubber tees.  Normally its off the ground of tee'd nearly flush with the ground.