My Swing (Hardspoon)

[Hardspoon]

7 minutes ago, iacas said:

The photos look good.

Keep the elbow working down… don't worry too much about the hip slide. The hips are plenty forward.

Gotcha - thank you.  Should I actively work on the back foot "banking" (versus the heel lift)?  Or is that a piece to work on down the road?  I do it correctly in the drill, but it does pop up in the faster swings.

 

 

[iacas]

Just now, Hardspoon said:

Gotcha - thank you.  Should I actively work on the back foot "banking" (versus the heel lift)?  Or is that a piece to work on down the road?  I do it correctly in the drill, but it does pop up in the faster swings.

No. Just stay with the elbow pieces.

[Hardspoon]

1 minute ago, iacas said:

No. Just stay with the elbow pieces.

OK - perfect.

I do need to be careful exaggerating the "sweeper" while on the left-most bay of the range - I almost hooked a 9i over the net today into the mini-golf course. 

[Hardspoon]

Had a good practice session this morning.  Focused a bit on the backswing stuff and "finding the ball" with full-speed swings.

Also mixed a little of the elbow drill in, and it was my primary swing thought for the downswing.

Contact and ball flight seem to be improving, albeit slowly. Misses are now a big hook...not many fades/slices even with the driver.

I might go play a round tomorrow...it's a rare free day, and some guys I know grabbed a couple tee times.  I'll probably shoot a 115 or something, but it still beats working!

 

[Hardspoon]

Instead of playing today, I spent a couple hours at the practice range. Really enjoyed it.

Full swing work went OK. Setup and backswing are going well; I'm able to get a nice full turn even on full-speed swings. Downswing pieces are still a bit of a struggle...I've noticed that when I do the elbow piece/drill, I tend to let my head lift. I have to keep working on that. 

I did hit some very solid shots, with a draw flight. My misses on "real" swings were big straight hooks or pushes.

Also spent a bit of time on pitching technique. It's getting better. I actually spent some time pitching off of the concrete/AstroTurf practice greens, to focus on good contact and using the bounce. My biggest struggle is still keeping my arms relaxed on the downswing.

I spent the last half hour or so on putting. AimPoint reads are coming along, although the 1% reads are still a guessing game for me...sometimes I even have them going the wrong direction.

The Edel putter feels amazing. I really only worked on distance control, but it is a huge improvement. If I keep working on my technique, I really expect that I can improve my putting (currently the worst part of my game, according to GG).

[boogielicious]

18 hours ago, Hardspoon said:

I actually spent some time pitching off of the concrete/AstroTurf practice greens, to focus on good contact and using the bounce. My biggest struggle is still keeping my arms relaxed on the downswing.

 

Think, "let the pivot do the work." Feel the pivot move your arms and the club. The arms need to be passive. 

I worked on this with my wife at a par three course yesterday. That is the swing feel I gave her. She made much better contact and got better launch.

[Hardspoon]

Took a break from work today and went to the range. Worked on the same stuff, with mostly with full swings (my primary purpose was stress relief). I hadn't touched a golf club in two weeks (since an awful awful round), so it just felt good to swing again.

I am increasingly able to feel the elbow piece in full-speed swings. I'm also feeling better about making a full backswing without losing axis tilt. 

I actually hit the ball pretty solidly. I'm going to take some video next time to check things out and see how I'm progressing on my priority pieces.

Also: the range was having a Mizuno demo day...I got to see the new JPX-900 lines. They are great-looking clubs. I didn't bother hitting them (since, you know, I'm awful at golf).

 

 

 

[Hardspoon]

Played a round yesterday, and hit the ball worse than I have all year.  Absolutely terrible.

Went out the range today to take some video and keep working on the elbow drills.  The drill is fine, and slow-motion swings are fine, but I'm just not really getting the pieces right with faster-speed swings:

 

 

 

 

 

Backswing pieces seem OK; need to clean up the head movement a little and maintain tilt.  Downswing is just still not right (still too steep, and the elbow isn't getting forward enough).  I'm doing better with 50% swings or so, but hasn't yet translated into faster.  Need to just keep practicing and exaggerating the "sweeper" pieces.  This is a tough one!

[Hardspoon]

I went back out to the practice range today to keep working on my priorities:

1. Backswing - head movement and axis tilt
2. Downswing - elbow piece

On slow-speed swings (this snapshot is from a 50% swing), the elbow piece works well to get my hands forward and get into a good impact position:

...but it's not as good at full speed:

It's encouraging to see the impact position for the slow-motion swing...I just need to keep working up in speed until I do it correctly faster.  Axis tilt and head movement look decent - I'll keep up the mirror work for those.

I did have something of a "revelation" today after struggling the past couple sessions: the biggest thing that helps with the elbow piece is making sure I get the hands deep enough on the backswing.

When my A4 is too steep, the club gets ahead of my hands at A6, regardless of how much I focus on the elbow drill:

But when I get the hands deep on the backswing, the elbow piece works much better:

This is what was going wrong last week...I was trying to do the elbow piece, and I could "make it work" at slow speed, but for a full speed swing I have to get the backswing right to make the elbow piece work.

I'm going to keep working on this stuff until I get it right.

 

[iacas]

I was going to post something, but you identified the deal on your own. Good job with that.

Also, mix in some slow half swings where you just focus on hitting pushes or draws/hooks. Then you'll have a sense that the clubhead is not outside the hands at A6. Just go to 6, pump (SMALL!), and then with the feels that work for you, deliver the clubhead OUTward toward the ball.

[Hardspoon]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

I was going to post something, but you identified the deal on your own. Good job with that.

Yeah, I remembered to go back to the snapshots from my last lesson, and noticed that (neglected) piece right away. I have to remember to keep going back to those every once in a while to avoid "tunnel vision".

I'm hoping to get this stuff down in the next few weeks and then plan another trip up to Erie in November. I've given up on scoring well this season, but I am going to keep practicing through the winter and playing whenever I can.

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Also, mix in some slow half swings where you just focus on hitting pushes or draws/hooks. Then you'll have a sense that the clubhead is not outside the hands at A6. Just go to 6, pump (SMALL!), and then with the feels that work for you, deliver the clubhead OUTward toward the ball.

Makes sense - will do.

[iacas]

6 minutes ago, Hardspoon said:

I'm hoping to get this stuff down in the next few weeks and then plan another trip up to Erie in November. I've given up on scoring well this season, but I am going to keep practicing through the winter and playing whenever I can.

Well, let's be clear… in 2017, you will want to score well, even if the swing is not perfect, or whatever. If that means we find a way to help you hit the ball solidly with a pull-cut every time, and more slowly tweak that, then that's probably the way to go. Or something like that…

I don't think you're the constant tinkerer kind of guy who just enjoys practicing. I think you want to play good golf, and so we'll use the winter perhaps to really start to hone in on hitting the ball solidly with fewer mechanical feels, and then go from there.

[Hardspoon]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Well, let's be clear… in 2017, you will want to score well, even if the swing is not perfect, or whatever. If that means we find a way to help you hit the ball solidly with a pull-cut every time, and more slowly tweak that, then that's probably the way to go. Or something like that…

I don't think you're the constant tinkerer kind of guy who just enjoys practicing. I think you want to play good golf, and so we'll use the winter perhaps to really start to hone in on hitting the ball solidly with fewer mechanical feels, and then go from there.

Yeah.  That came out wrong...not so much "giving up on scoring" as "not stressing out if my scores don't get better when I do get to play this year".

On that note, it's funny...I went to the range tonight to work on the "deeper" backswing, and hit the ball better than I have in a long time.  Nearly every shot was solid, with generally good flight (misses were mostly over-hooked).  My first thought: "I can't wait to play this weekend."

#ilovegolf

 

[Hardspoon]

Good practice session today (on a 75-degree day in mid-October!).

Full-swing work focused on the "flatter" backswing (making a full turn) and the elbow piece on the downswing. I switched among the "pump" drill, slow-speed swings, and full swings. I also switched clubs more than usual (every two shots or so) to mix things up.

Spent about 30 minutes on pitching technique...still a struggle, but it's getting better.

 

[RandallT]

I'm back to troll. 

On 10/11/2016 at 7:54 PM, Hardspoon said:

That came out wrong...not so much "giving up on scoring" as "not stressing out if my scores don't get better when I do get to play this year".

This is exactly where I'm at, but I'll be looking to 2017 to actually make time for more rounds and maybe some real scores. By the way, your impact position in a few of the pics up there look to my eye like you really have your swing in a groove. And no pressure, but I decided to copy you and get fitted a new Edel putter, next season but only if you can lower your strokes lost putting in GAME GOLF by 2.

[iacas]

On 10/20/2016 at 6:41 AM, RandallT said:

And no pressure, but I decided to copy you and get fitted a new Edel putter, next season but only if you can lower your strokes lost putting in GAME GOLF by 2.

Hey, that'll happen without him doing anything in a week or two!

BOOM!

[Hardspoon]

46 minutes ago, iacas said:

Hey, that'll happen without him doing anything in a week or two!

BOOM!

We fixed...the glitch.

 

[SoggySog]

lol!!!