My Swing (shalabe)

[shalabe]

I'm starting to feel more comfortable with keeping the right arm in front, even with the longer irons (4-6) but I've continued to feel I've been too steep with the longer irons. While hitting into my net on Friday I started the down swing feeling like my right knee was moving forward instead of feeling it with the left knee. This seemed to really help and I think I will continue to work with it. I will try to get some video this week to make sure I'm still on the right track. I played yesterday and continue to hit the ball better. I hit only 10 greens but 17 nGIRs (after four rounds I'm saying only 10 - please, 5 weeks ago I was begging to hit 10). I kept the driver in play but didn't hit it very well and my putting speed was really bad. Not really concerned about either but will need to spend a little maintenance time this week.

[shalabe]

Here's a swing from yesterday's range session. I still don't fully own the swing changes yet but I think it's getting better. Although looking at this swing reminds me how I've never liked how the club gets flat on the backswing and then I have that steep ott move in the transition. Somehow I get it where it needs to be near a6 but I always wonder if that manipulation contributes to inconsistency? At what point (if ever) do I try to improve the backswing/transition? [video]http://youtu.be/EpgaCvy0xkE[/video]

[mvmac]

Here's a swing from yesterday's range session. I still don't fully own the swing changes yet but I think it's getting better.

Although looking at this swing reminds me how I've never liked how the club gets flat on the backswing and then I have that steep ott move in the transition. Somehow I get it where it needs to be near a6 but I always wonder if that manipulation contributes to inconsistency? At what point (if ever) do I try to improve the backswing/transition?

The hand path isn't OTT but yeah the shaft does go a little "shallow to steep".

But like you said, you get it pretty good coming into impact. Long term, yes you'll be more consistent if you had to "compensate" less.

Couple things.

- Check the right hand grip, that pad of the index finger looks a little on top of the grip. If it's not on the side of the grip it can cause the clubhead to fan open on the takeaway. More on that here.

- Just working on the right arm feel, do it more. Also experiment a little with the feel keeping the left wrist flat, those two things are related.

[shalabe]

The hand path isn't OTT but yeah the shaft does go a little "shallow to steep".  [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/128083/] [/URL] But like you said, you get it pretty good coming into impact. Long term, yes you'll be more consistent if you had to "compensate" less. [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/128084/] [/URL] Couple things. - Check the right hand grip, that pad of the index finger looks a little on top of the grip. If it's not on the side of the grip it can cause the clubhead to fan open on the takeaway. More on that here.  [CONTENTEMBED=/t/75436/how-to-grip-a-golf-club-commonalities-of-a-functional-golf-grip layout=inline]​[/CONTENTEMBED]  - Just working on the right arm feel, do it more. Also experiment a little with the feel keeping the left wrist flat, those two things are related. [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/128085/] [/URL]

@mvmac thank you for taking the time to break it down for me to clear up some of my confusion with the swing. Knowing that my hands do no come OTT helps but I would like to remove any unnecessary compensation if possible. Regarding the grip, I guess I've been mostly focused on the left hand snuff box but I will make sure to check both hands going forward - old habits... I will work on doing the right arm more. Also, I will try to feel keeping the left wrist flat. I played with it earlier and it felt really good. Almost like my swing takes a short cut but I still have time to create speed.

[shalabe]

It's been an interesting couple of days. I've been working on the right arm and secondarily working on flattening the left wrist over the last couple of weeks. I felt like I was making really good progress but when I went to the range yesterday my swing was all over the place- I was hitting it really bad including a lot of "lateral" shots. By the end I realized that in all my dry swings I had started to get my hands away from me on the downswing and my downswing had become extremely OUTward. Unfortunately, the only decent shots I was able to hit with my irons were 3/4ish chip swings. It was so bad I considered not playing today. Fortunately, with the new foundation I've been given I knew what I wanted to do instead of just guessing and trying different things. So for the first 13 - 14 holes I didn't hit my irons very well but I was able to scrap it around well enough until I finally figured out how to get my swing back on target. Hit 9 greens and 18 nGIRs on a day I had no business posting a respectable number - amazing! On a side note, I think having some length on a day like today might be more important than when your hitting it well. Being able to hit wedges and chipped/flighted short irons when you don't know where it's going is huge. If I had to hit mid and long irons into par 4's today it would have been a complete disaster.

[shalabe]

Man - I'm an idiot. After starting my swing thread Mike gave me some great things to work on and my ball striking improved greatly. I was hitting a ton of GIRs and nGIRs and I was feeling great about my game. So good in fact, I decided to sign up for the local Publinks tourney even though my original plan was to postpone anymore tourneys this year and just work on improving ball striking results. Then, about three weeks ago I decided to make my swing even better (prettier?) and add more than what Mike had suggested. He said to do the right arm more and start to feel the left wrist a little flatter. I decided to do that and get the backswing steeper and get the wrist completely flat. Long story short, things have gotten progressively worse, including a bunch of fat and lateral shots, few GIRs, and feeling completely lost today on the course. My goal in the next two weeks before my tourney is to try and go back to what I was doing three weeks ago along with any sane suggestions. After the tourney I will do as Mike suggested... For what it's worth, here's a swing while doing some net work earlier in the week. By the way, I hit balls everyday this week thinking I was close to finding it - I guess that's me falling into my old trap. [video]https://youtu.be/Sve0qxP63oc[/video] Here's a swing of me struggling yesterday at the range. I chose it because it was both fat and lateral. After watching it at home I noticed how much my head was moving towards the ball and figured I could fix that - I guess I was wrong. [video]http://youtu.be/WqdxSpajfR4[/video]

[shalabe]

It's been a good week. I've spent most of my practice time refocusing only on grip, posture, and turn (with a little right arm) and I'm hitting the ball really well again. Interestingly, I can now feel more of what my back swing is actually doing (a bit shallow to a bit steep) -and after the struggle over the last several weeks I realize that some of the move was to help me feel like I have enough room on the downswing. Today is officially a week before my tournament so I'm going to do my best to own that move and hit the ball as well as I can. Also, per LSW it's time to put the camera away but I thought I would go ahead and post a swing from yesterday's range session. Sorry for the bad lighting. [video]https://youtu.be/1pr05JvMbRg[/video]

[shalabe]

I played the first two days of the tourney last weekend and missed the cut. After a few days here's my takeaway. The bad - my short game and putting were not good, which led to some pretty poor scoring. The good - I hit the ball really well, especially off the tee. This was by far my best and most comfortable ball striking of any tournament/qualifier I've played in the last three years - not perfect but I'm definitely headed in the right direction and I hit the ball well enough I should have made the cut. This week I've spent more time with my putting and I think I've figured out what I need to focus on - my feel is to rock the left shoulder and keep the head steady. Going forward with ball striking - I found a really good feel off the tee where it feels like my right arm pressure point slides down as I start the transition. Otherwise I'll continue with grip, posture, turn, and more right arm. Lastly, with my irons, I think I want to simplify things even more - shorter more controlled swings to safe(r) targets. I will try to get a new video in the next few days.

[shalabe]

My game is a mix of good and bad. I'm really happy with my driver and 3 wood off the tee. My wedges and gripped down short irons are fine but my mid and long irons are a real struggle. I'm still hitting a lot more greens then I was (~11) but that's mostly due to good tee shots. Unfortunately, par 3s are a challenge and I'm not taking advantage of par 5s that I should reach in two with an iron. After my tournament a couple weeks ago I expected my ball striking to really take off but its almost taken a step back. With my mid and long irons I'm hitting everything near the heal. This is leading to 1) shanks (yep - I used the word), or in an effort to not shank 2) high strait pushes, 3) fat. I hit a couple of the high pushes in the tournament but I just dismissed it at the time but it's becoming an issue. I'm assuming the fat and high pushes are due to lifting too much or too soon but I'm not sure. I've been reluctant to change my setup but I decided to try setting up with the ball towards the toe. Here's a 6 iron from today setting up with the ball towards the toe. It seemed to help but I'm still not sure. I will buy some foot spray to help me understand when I'm missing the center of the face. On a plus side, it looks like I've improved the right arm at the top... [VIDEO]https://youtu.be/IAmcGnnKhQQ[/VIDEO]

[shalabe]

I've been considering what to do with my swing the last couple of days and revisiting some of the instruction videos and threads. I've decided most of my issues are still setup and back swing/turn related. Since I have six months or so before my next meaningful tournament, I want to spend the time to get those things worked out. I believe I've been setting up with too much weight towards my toes which has helped to condribute to my inconsistency and shanks. Also, I feel like I've been collapsing towards the ball on the backswing instead of turning - having the front shoulder rotate down and in while maintaining solid posture. Lastly, I've always fanned the club open and I want to fix that - so far it feels like keeping the right hand/arm on top. Here's a 7 iron swing from my net session. The turn seams better and I feel the top of the backswing is much better than a few months ago but I feel like the shoulders should be a little steeper and the right hand needs to stay on top longer in the backswing so the club stands up a bit more. [video]https://youtu.be/YAl2SnK4t10[/video]