My Swing (Hardspoon)

[Hardspoon]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

I know some dude with a SAM PuttLab. And a nice big putting green.

Three words for you: Pittsburgh Golf Evolution franchise.

My biggest problem is distance control.  I'm seriously considering getting the Puttist (https://www.puttist-usa.com/)...I'd be able to practice distance control indoors.  Seems like it got decent reviews.

 

[iacas]

7 minutes ago, Hardspoon said:

Three words for you: Pittsburgh Golf Evolution franchise.

My biggest problem is distance control.  I'm seriously considering getting the Puttist (https://www.puttist-usa.com/)...I'd be able to practice distance control indoors.  Seems like it got decent reviews.

Your distance control might suffer because your stroke might be off. Or maybe you're just shitty with distance control.

We'll see.

[Hardspoon]

I finally got back to the practice range today, after not swinging a club in more than three weeks.  I didn't even worry about video; just focused on trying to make solid swings, and hit a variety of different clubs/shots.

If all goes according to plan, I'm going to play again next weekend, so I'm looking forward to that.

[Hardspoon]

Wow - first post here since October.  It's been a tough few months for golf - I just haven't had (or made!) any time to practice or play.

I took a trip up to Erie today to work with Erik a bit and get some momentum back on my game.  It felt good just to screw around at Golf Evolution for a few hours hitting balls and swinging a club.  Based on the couple videos we took, my work on the "stab" piece has led to good results; my impact position was definitely improved.

Since it will be another month before I have time to devote to focused practice, we just worked on a single backswing piece that I can practice at home for a few minutes each day.  The goal is to bring my hands inside more on the takeaway, with a hinge "up" rather than "in".  This results in an overall steeper backswing, with a shallowing move at the start of the downswing to keep the club working in-to-out.

 

 

[iacas]

Yes and the good news John is that you practiced the earlier stuff well enough that you owned it. You didn’t revert to some previous and worse swing. It was pretty much where you left it. Great job.

[Hardspoon]

After a few months limited to indoor slow-motion practice, I actually got out to the driving range two days in a row.  I just tried to work on easy swings, with a variety of clubs...and working on the takeaway stuff from my last trip to Erie.

Looking forward to the first round of the year on Saturday...it's probably gonna be ugly, but can't wait.

[iacas]

On 4/12/2018 at 9:41 PM, Hardspoon said:

After a few months limited to indoor slow-motion practice, I actually got out to the driving range two days in a row.  I just tried to work on easy swings, with a variety of clubs...and working on the takeaway stuff from my last trip to Erie.

How did it go?

[Hardspoon]

14 hours ago, iacas said:

How did it go?

No bueno. Contact is fine, but I’m hitting all push-slices.

Maybe related, maybe not, but I don’t think I’m syncing up well on the takeaway. I think because I’m focused on hands, I start the takeaway without really turning much at all. 

Need to get some video and try to tackle one thing at a time.

My short game is also atrocious right now. So that’s nice. 

[Hardspoon]

Went to the range today to work on the full swing.  My goal was to check regression from work from last year, and the new backswing piece from my last trip to Erie.

Priorities for full-swing practice sessions:

• Focus on the stab-outward piece, getting better at inline impact
• "Upward" takeaway with wrists, synced with body turn
• Give some thought to a full turn on the backswing; I'll catch myself "shorting" it once in a while.
• Reverse-rev feel to square up the face.  This wasn't a priority in 2017, but now, it needs to be.  During my last round, every single drive was a push-fade.

I filmed a couple of full-speed swings after warming up, and it was clear I had slipped back into some bad habits.  Quite a bit of short-arming, and definitely coming over the top.

After a good bit of slow-motion and drill work on the stab-outward downswing piece, I was able to get the feeling back.  Resulting swings (these are maybe at 90% speed...never really worked up all the way to full speed):

Driver

 

 

6 iron

 

 

Overall, I'm happy with these for the impact position and swing path.  I definitely need to keep working on it to make it more consistent, but I'm pleased that I was able to correct flaws with the same swing thoughts I've used before.

I did notice a bit of head movement (backwards) in the 6-iron swing posted here...that was generally not an issue, but something to keep an eye on.

I definitely need to mix in more of the reverse-rev to get the face closed.  I was still hitting way too many shots that started right and moved right, even without the over-the-top move.

I did work on pitching for a bit (that was weak as well yesterday).  Video:

 

Edited April 15, 2018 by Hardspoon

[boogielicious]

13 hours ago, Hardspoon said:

Went to the range today to work on the full swing.  My goal was to check regression from work from last year, and the new backswing piece from my last trip to Erie.

Priorities for full-swing practice sessions:

• Focus on the stab-outward piece, getting better at inline impact
• "Upward" takeaway with wrists, synced with body turn
• Give some thought to a full turn on the backswing; I'll catch myself "shorting" it once in a while.
• Reverse-rev feel to square up the face.  This wasn't a priority in 2017, but now, it needs to be.  During my last round, every single drive was a push-fade.

I filmed a couple of full-speed swings after warming up, and it was clear I had slipped back into some bad habits.  Quite a bit of short-arming, and definitely coming over the top.

After a good bit of slow-motion and drill work on the stab-outward downswing piece, I was able to get the feeling back.  Resulting swings (these are maybe at 90% speed...never really worked up all the way to full speed):

Driver

 

 

6 iron

 

 

Overall, I'm happy with these for the impact position and swing path.  I definitely need to keep working on it to make it more consistent, but I'm pleased that I was able to correct flaws with the same swing thoughts I've used before.

I did notice a bit of head movement (backwards) in the 6-iron swing posted here...that was generally not an issue, but something to keep an eye on.

I definitely need to mix in more of the reverse-rev to get the face closed.  I was still hitting way too many shots that started right and moved right, even without the over-the-top move.

I did work on pitching for a bit (that was weak as well yesterday).  Video:

 

Looking good @Hardspoon. You must have filmed this on that day when it was warm in Pittsburgh and freezing in Erie! Your 7 iron stance is about as wide as your driver stance. Is that typical?

[iacas]

I agree that the stance is a bit wide. Gonna make it tough to get forward properly without a stalled lower body.

I'd also like to see just a bit more left side bend here. Left shoulder down just a little more.

[Hardspoon]

3 hours ago, iacas said:

I agree that the stance is a bit wide. Gonna make it tough to get forward properly without a stalled lower body.

I'd also like to see just a bit more left side bend here. Left shoulder down just a little more.

 

5 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Your 7 iron stance is about as wide as your driver stance.

Thanks, both! I’ll look at this next time out.

5 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Looking good @Hardspoon. You must have filmed this on that day when it was warm in Pittsburgh and freezing in Erie!

Haha - yes! This was about an hour before the temperature dropped 40 degrees overnight. You can see how hard the wind was blowing in one of the videos...

[Hardspoon]

Got out for a bit of practice today (the first in two months!)

My clubface control has been really bad the last few times I've played, so I mostly worked on getting the face squared up, particularly with the driver.  Other than that, it was really just an opportunity to get some swings in.  I'm playing Saturday, and hoping to get back out on Sunday for some real work with video.

[Hardspoon]

Another practice session today focused on squaring the face at impact using the "reverse rev", almost exclusively with the driver.  It is definitely getting better.

I don't want to divert too far from my overall priorities, or to fall into the bad habit of practicing without video feedback, but the push-slice driver miss was so bad my first couple rounds of the year that it was basically unplayable.  I'm considering this triage just so I can actually enjoy playing golf.

I did score well yesterday, with my best differential ever (17.2)...but my full swing was a big weakness, so my final score doesn't represent any REAL improvement.  It was just a fluke day where my short game and putting were so much better than normal that they had a big impact on my score:

These are compared with a 10-hcp...so my short game, which is generally not a strength even measured against similar players, was equivalent to that of a single-digit player...and my putting wasn't far behind.  That's not happening again anytime soon.

I don't really practice my short game and putting, so I find it hard to believe that my performance in those areas was anything more than a fluke.  It was fun, though, to actually be able to get up-and-down a few times and sink some tough putts!

 

 

Edited June 11, 2018 by Hardspoon

[Hardspoon]

I'm still kind of in triage mode right now...I haven't had much time for practice, so my time has been focused on finishing my backswing (still a lingering issue) and clubface control.  I've actually been scoring well lately, mostly because my contact has been more solid (less topped/fat shots) and my short game and putting are (finally) not a massive liability.

I'll be playing five rounds of golf in three days next week, and will probably not be playing regularly for the rest of the season, so I'm really hoping to buckle down and get some serious technical work in this month.

[Hardspoon]

Well, coming off a month or so of basically NO focused practice, I'm feeling pretty shitty about my game.  All sorts of things that should be relatively easy, even for someone at my level, aren't (I'm three-putting from 10', and duffing chips regularly).

The only positive right now is my driver...not that it's necessarily GOOD, but at least there are signs that it could be.  I'm still way too inaccurate, but I feel like I have a swing that's generating enough center-face contact with good clubface control to get decent distance.  Out of 12 drives my last round, 7 were over 240 yards, with three over 260.

I mean, it's easy to say "I just need to start practicing more", but unless I actually do it, I'm not gonna get any better.

Meh.

 

[JonMA1]

Are you unable to practice because of work or something equally important @Hardspoon? Because I suspect that virtually everyone on this site would suffer if they went a month without practice.

I guess my point would be to not beat yourself up over this. The game is hard enough when we practice regularly.

[billchao]

1 hour ago, JonMA1 said:

Are you unable to practice because of work or something equally important @Hardspoon? Because I suspect that virtually everyone on this site would suffer if they went a month without practice.

I guess my point would be to not beat yourself up over this. The game is hard enough when we practice regularly.

I agree. If you can't practice, you're just going to have to find a way to be ok with how you're playing even if it is below your expected level or the game will get frustrating fast.