My Swing (amoline)

[amoline]

I've been Playing Golf for: a few weeks!

My current handicap index or average score is: a very good question -- never been to play a course before!

My typical ball flight is: high (flippity flip)

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: wanting to just get better ball striking (my big and most frustrating miss is an ultimate topped shot (flippity flip)) and distance (and not being a whiner on the distance -- right now I have a pitching wedge going about 90 yards, and I'm in Colorado so that's with our nice and thin air

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A little bit of background: golf has always been apart of my life, my grandfather having been once a very good player. I know a lot about golf and its terminology, but this is just recently I've actually had an interest in taking up to play it. I know my swing isn't good -- abysmal, really. :) So though it's incredibly embarrassing to post a swing video here just a few real weeks into playing, I'm in it for the long haul and looking forward to getting good at golf the right way. I am aware of the flaws my swing already has, but just unsure of the proper order or ways to go about fixing it. Looking forward to getting help and having this little video journal of swings. : ) I have a PGA pro I'm working with but truth be told I'm not sure what I quite think yet -- just thought I'd throw that out there.

Videos:

 

 

Thanks, all. Very glad to be apart of the group here. Can't wait to see how I progress over the years. : )

[boogielicious]

Welcome to the forum @amoline Thanks for posting. I will start withe recommending you read the thread below. The Five Simple keys are not a swing method, but rather five commonalities that all good swings have. It is easy to understand and it will help you understand what commentors are suggesting. [CONTENTEMBED=/t/55426/introducing-five-simple-keys layout=inline]​[/CONTENTEMBED] With that, I think you are over swinging in hopes to get the ball to go farther. What this does is cause you to shift back and prevent you from shifting your weight forward in the downswing. You also then flip your wrists at the ball. A shorter back swing will help you keep your weight centered and make it easier to get your weight forward at impact. Check out the threads below. [CONTENTEMBED=/t/76114/how-to-make-a-centered-hip-turn layout=inline]​[/CONTENTEMBED] [CONTENTEMBED=/t/35195/shorter-probably-better-swing-keep-the-right-arm-straight layout=inline]​[/CONTENTEMBED] Keep us posted with video updates and updates of how you are playing.

[amoline]

Agreed! Thanks for the help, already! Can't wait to try out some of that. Sadly, just because I possss the physique of John Daly, seems I'm not able to deliver the club to the ball quite as well. :D I've noticed in trying some drills that I am able to get a shoulder turn greater than 90 degrees. Is this something recommended, or should I just stick to a more regular turn? (This is me just typing before I go read the threads you posted more in depth so I apologize if this is already mentioned in them). I know I shouldn't keep raising my arms after I'm turning, but I'm already getting a habit of 'wanting' a club to get to parallel at the top. Definitely a mental feel thing. I also have data from the golf mtrx app -- would this be something of use for help here? I have some data right now, but don't think it's measuring correctly from the numbers I'm getting, to be honest. Anyway, thanks so much again! Can't wait to try it all out.

[amoline]

A small post today, with one little update video.

Firstly, am a bit frustrated at my PGA professional. For all of my lessons, what I kept being told was that I had to have the "discipline" to hit down on the ball, and that I needed to stop helping the ball into the air. Having a Type A personality, this was very frustrating to me because there was definitely no mental desire to help the ball get in the air, and I didn't have any issues with my "discipline." But, I was never shown the proper way to release a club!!!! Essentially I was practicing timing my flip to hit down on the ball, ingraining an awful habit. ARGH.

I was able to visit my grandfather this past weekend and managed to go out to a driving range with him, and he spotted what I was doing right away, and showed me a better way to be doing things. (And I might add he's not even a PGA professional! But he's 84 and can still shoot his age). I managed to get in a small range session, and my feelings are mixed. I didn't feel like I hit a ton of great shots, but something did feel very different about releasing the club, so I suppose weird is good in this case.

I tried not overswinging so much, but not quite as much progress on that. Anyway, just wanted to make a small post here.

I think I've got a ways to go still in grooving the release completely, and I've still got a bit of a chicken wing, but I think I made at least a little bit of progress.

As always, feedback welcome

Just ugh. Still not over it. Just frustrated with my PGA professional *angry*. This is one day's worth of work before/after, keeping in mind I've only been at this whole golf thing for a few weeks-ish, anyway.

[amoline]

Off to play my first ever round of golf tomorrow! :O -- hoping just to try and enjoy it and not think about anything swings at all. The course I'm going to is a very short (2200 yards ish) 9 holes, par 32 course. It's a former executive course. So I figure a good place to start. Anyway, just wanted to share that here. Wish me luck, everybody! :D

[william w]

Goodluck and have fun

[DaveP043]

Have fun on the real course!  Considering you have just a few weeks of swinging the club, I'd say you're off to a good start.  I agree with @boogielicious that you seem to be straining to go too far back.  That's a common issue, just read some of the other swing threads and see how many guys struggle with making a shorter backswing in order to maintain better balance and control, which in turn leads to a smoother downswing and better contact.  Its still something I work on, and I've been playing for about 45 years.  I hope you continue to enjoy golf just as much and as long as I have.

[amoline]

Thanks, I really appreciate it, both of you! Looking forward to it. Thank you for the advice too, Dave. : ) agree it's something I'm still needing to work on.

[amoline]

Well, had to have a change in plans, but ended up playing today instead. (Just a walk on course, no tee times). Long story short, not superbly happy with myself, but such is life I suppose. It is almost 100 degrees today, and didn't have nearly enough to drink. Topped 3 shots in a row about 20 feet each on one dogleg right hole -- that was frustrating. Made triple there where it should have been an easy par with me tee shot. Otherwise bogey was the word of the day. Did make two pars, and a birdie however. Somehow, driver was the only thing that kept me alive. I had some pretty nice tee shots for my first time ever. Though the little course seems easy, it's not -- straight down the middle you'd think its in the fairway. Nope, just some tall weeds growing up through the middle of the fairway. :D Could not for the absolute life of me get any wedges or approaches to stop on the green whatsoever. Greens felt like a cart path. Nothing held. Could be a function of my bad swing, or maybe old crappy no name golf balls, or maybe both. All in all shot 7 over for my first ever 9 holes.

[jbishop15]

Well, had to have a change in plans, but ended up playing today instead. (Just a walk on course, no tee times).

Long story short, not superbly happy with myself, but such is life I suppose. It is almost 100 degrees today, and didn't have nearly enough to drink.

Topped 3 shots in a row about 20 feet each on one dogleg right hole -- that was frustrating. Made triple there where it should have been an easy par with me tee shot.

Otherwise bogey was the word of the day. Did make two pars, and a birdie however. Somehow, driver was the only thing that kept me alive. I had some pretty nice tee shots for my first time ever. Though the little course seems easy, it's not -- straight down the middle you'd think its in the fairway. Nope, just some tall weeds growing up through the middle of the fairway. :D

Could not for the absolute life of me get any wedges or approaches to stop on the green whatsoever. Greens felt like a cart path. Nothing held. Could be a function of my bad swing, or maybe old crappy no name golf balls, or maybe both.

All in all shot 7 over for my first ever 9 holes.

That's awesome! Congrats on your round.

[DaveP043]

Congratulations, that's an incredible start for your golfing career.  Hopefully the lesson you've learned, one of the most important ones, is that you HAVE to drink lots of water when it's hot, it can really be a matter of life and death.

[amoline]

Thank you very much to both of you! Definitely learned the lesson regarding water, lol. +7 over 9 isn't a bad start for me, I think, but once again it's an easier course so I don't expect to shoot that on anything, certainly. Now, just trying to groove some more on the new things I've learned and working on, and trying to figure out and fix those wrist issues once and for all!

[william w]

congrats on your round today.

[amoline]

Many thanks, really appreciate it!

[Duff McGee]

Because I haven't seen any of the instructors comment yet, I will offer a few "tips." I believe key #1 is keepin a steady head. Your body and your head appear to be swaying back during your backswing.

[mvmac]

Welcome to the site.

First thing I'd recommend you take a look is the grip, check your left hand.

[amoline]

Thanks for posting both of you. Appreciate the thread mvmac, and darn if I thought that my grip actually wasn't half bad. :P ironic because always felt as if the left hand were the one I was confident I had correct, whereas my right hand always had issues. ah well, hope to get to the range later today so I'll definitely monitor that and I hope to grab some photos that maybe I can post just for double checking here. Duff thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your help. I definitely don't feel any sway, but feel ain't real etc. in any case, something I'm working on is a better turn with a more punctuated swing, that doesn't have that violent transition or bounce/overswing to it. I'd bet that any bad swaying will sort itself out once I get that under control. Thanks both again, look forward to updating.

[amoline]

Went to the range this afternoon. A bit mixed. Still fighting the chicken wing, and the overswing (no doubt a cause/effect), as well as just not getting distance out of things. On the bright side, did check the grip consistently and managed to just fine tune that into the correct position.