My Swing (rharrison)

[rharrison]

I've been Playing Golf for: Since I was a little kid (about 20 years) been taking it seriously for the last 3

My current handicap index or average score is: ~13 usually score in the low 80's at my local easy course

My typical ball flight is: a pull fade

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: straight/pull fade/slice. Especially the drives where the ball is going sideways when it lands...

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So here are my swings in all their hideous glory!

Videos:

DTL

Caddie View

I work in a northern community that doesn't have access to a range or course. The last month I spent a ton of time on here lurking around, reading and doing drills.The when I went to the range when I got home yesterday suddenly I couldn't hit the ball to save my life! I normally make very consistent contact but I hate my fade ball flight, which gets worse when I get into my longer irons and my driver. I really want to learn how to hit the draw. Sometimes I can make the ball move right to left a little but it always comes with a little bit of a pull.I desperately want to break 80 this summer, I have a few 81's already but can't crack it. Any help is really appreciated!

Edit: I should also mention that I am 6'4" (I don't have a measurement from my wrist to the ground) and my clubs are not fitted. I am not sure if I could afford fitted clubs right away, but if it a make or break sort of thing then I can start saving!

[boogielicious]

Welcome to the forum @rharrison . The second video is private. In the first, I noticed your down swing to be a bit over the top. This can be caused by a few things, but not moving your weight forward enough at the start of the downswing is a typical cause. The face on video will help us see this. I had a bit of this and my Evolvr instructors has me work on a drills to help. Check out the weight forward drills in the thread below. It is Key 2. [CONTENTEMBED=/t/61376/5sk-video-thread layout=inline]​[/CONTENTEMBED] Check out the rest of the 5 Simple Keys info as well as the other great threads in the Swing Thoughts section..

[rharrison]

Thanks for the reply! I know that I have an over the top swing. I took a golf tech lesson earlier this year and it was definitely noticeable. I will take a look at those threads for sure! I have done a lot of reading other peoples my swing threads and tried to take lessons from those that have similar looking swings to me (probably not a good idea!). The second video should be public now. I am hitting the range today so I will read those threads and hopefully find something I can start to work on!

[rharrison]

So I went to the range, I tried to practice slow and did lots of this drill

It was definitely frustrating and I was hitting a lot of shots of the hossel. I started to get a bit of a feel for it, I took a few full swings with my last 10 or so balls. Contract was pretty good and most of them flew almost dead straight with 2 sort of push draws (not a whole lot of draw) and one bad push fade. I found that I am getting less power (about 10ish yards) but I am okay with that if I can learn to hit it straight and with the flight I want!

[boogielicious]

So I went to the range, I tried to practice slow and did lots of this drill It was definitely frustrating and I was hitting a lot of shots of the hossel. I started to get a bit of a feel for it, I took a few full swings with my last 10 or so balls. Contract was pretty good and most of them flew almost dead straight with 2 sort of push draws (not a whole lot of draw) and one bad push fade. I found that I am getting less power (about 10ish yards) but I am okay with that if I can learn to hit it straight and with the flight I want!

When you make changes or do these drills, don't worry too much about ball flight or even the shank shots. Just focus on the drill. You are trying to change a swing that has had thousands of reps. It will take many reps to change the picture. Two great threads on practice are below. The simple, slow, specific is the best way to practice in my opinion. When you go to the range, it is better to hit fewer balls and work on one thing than to hit many balls. We've all fallen into the trap of more is better. I even revert at times then get mad at myself for just hitting balls. [CONTENTEMBED=/t/54840/simple-specific-slow-short-and-success-the-five-s-s-of-great-practice layout=inline]​[/CONTENTEMBED] [CONTENTEMBED=/t/73287/change-the-dang-picture layout=inline]​[/CONTENTEMBED]

[rharrison]

Yeah I had read both of those threads a few times while lurking around these forums while I was up north. I can definitely feel things changing at a more steady pace when I work on them slowly. Are there any other drills you would suggest to help get my weight forward. I found that I was having to shift my weight further forward in my set up (maybe 70/30) in order to get where I wanted through my swing. When I set up like I usually do (more 60/40) it felt like my weight was always a little behind my hands and never really got to where it was supposed to be.

[Grumpter]

Looks like your hands are not in front of the ball at impact and you have your weight back or centered at impact.

[rharrison]

You are definitely right, going to work today on lots of slow swings and getting my hands in front of the ball with my weight forward.

[rharrison]

Went to the range did a ton of half swings working on getting the weight forward and making a divot behind the ball. Hit all the balls as half swings and it felt like I was hitting on the far side of teh ball with the hands ahead. I didn't have my little brother there to record but hopefully he will be at my next session and following that I can get a tripod for the camera. Damage will be done the draw will be mine!

[rharrison]

Also it was 98 today (I live in canada I am not used to that!) and it was torture, pretty proud of my patients when it came to doing the slow swings in the heat.

[mvmac]

Looks like your hands are not in front of the ball at impact and you have your weight back or centered at impact.

Yep @rharrison , get those hips forward and fire the arms down.

[rharrison]

Yep @rharrison, get those hips forward and fire the arms down.

Awesome. I was actually doing that yesterday for the majority of my balls, just trying to get a feel for where that position is supposed to be. I will keep pounding out that drill to I am feeling more comfortable. I should be able to get some video today so hopefully there is some progress!

[Duff McGee]

You seem to be starting your down swing with your right arm and seem to be at full extension WAY before contact. You are losing most of your power bc of that.

[rharrison]

I did the preset drill at the range yesterday, lots of slow practice swings and really concentrated on getting a divot in the right spot. All would go well with the practice swings but as soon as I stepped up to the ball I would do the same drill and manage to hit behind it. It is getting better but definitely very frustrating, seems like it should be so easy to put a little half swing with next to no lower body movement exactly where I want too! Anyways I have a video of a full swing to post at some point today and if I get back to the range I will try to get some video of me doing the drill to make sure I am doing it right.

[rharrison]

So these swings are actually from the 11th. I have a few videos coming from yesterday, just waiting on my little brother to upload them. I definitely notice some sway right away and I still don't think I am quite as far forward as I should be. Hopefully I can get the videos from yesterday soon and maybe will start to notice a difference. Back to the range today for more of the preset drill!

Edit: looks like the second video is hanging while trying to upload. If I get back and it still isn't up I will resubmit it.

[rharrison]

Just got back from the range used the majority of my bucket hitting from the preset position and then moving to slow half swings concentrating on getting my weight forward and creating a divot in the right spot. Things were going pretty well so I decided to hit some full shots with my last ~15 balls. MY GOD, felt like I was hitting the ball way better and like things were starting to sink in. Absolutely clobbered a few 7 and 5 iron shots that were either dead straight or straight with a little draw on them. It felt like my weight was coming forward well and I was putting my divot in a nice spot (divot started almost right under the ball and extended out about 2-3 inches.) Balls had nice high trajectories, it was great.

Then I tried to hit three balls with my driver and it was right back to the old dirty slice. Oh well baby steps, super pumped about the progress.

I wasn't able to get any video today, but hopefully my brother sends me the videos from yesterday soon and I can post them up.

[rharrison]

As well today I really concentrated on not allowing my hips to drift back and to keep my weight centered in the back swing. It felt like that helped a lot, so much easier to get my weight forward when I don't have that little sway.

[rharrison]

Played a round yesterday and shot a 41 (+6, including a birdie, 4 pars, 3 bogeys and a +4 on a hole where I tried to hit a driver over water twice off the tee box "Tin Cup" style) and 47 (+11) on the back. Did a pretty good job of getting my weight forward and hitting on the far side of the ball. Hit a few awesome long iron shots and a lot of low pull fades, even hit a few straight draws. When I didn't get my weight forward (happened a lot more as I got tired) I would go back to the high straight fade that I would hit before. I think I would have shot a little better on the back 9 but the round took close to 5 hours (there was a group of old ladies ahead of us slowing everything down, brutal for a Thursday afternoon). My short game was really good, especially on the front 9. My driver was brutal though, hitting a nasty pull slice that would start out 10 yards left of my target and swing all the way across fairways into trees on the right (this is probably my biggest issue right now, I can't hit the driver straight to save my life).

I am back up north at work starting today, but I bought a hitting pad and some practice balls to keep working on things. I am still waiting on my brother to upload the recording of my swings from our range session on Tuesday. Hopefully I will get my hands on a camera soon but for now am going to try my webcam. I have also decided that once I figure out what I am going to use for a camera I will be signing up for eVolver as well.