My Swing (Hardspoon)

[Hardspoon]

8 minutes ago, iacas said:

I think I told him that his backswing positions were better than some of the single digit guys we see.

Unfortunately, the positions my golf ball ends up in are right in line with my handicap!  

[iacas]

2 minutes ago, Hardspoon said:

Unfortunately, the positions my golf ball ends up in are right in line with my handicap!  

That's on the way to changing.

Looking forward to seeing your videos this week…

[Hardspoon]

Went to the range today and had a good practice session. Worked mostly on slow swings, trying to ingrain the changes from Monday's lessons.

I'm going to go back out tomorrow and continue practicing and take more video (I video'd today, but can't upload...apparently Sony Vaio computers don't get along with Windows 10, which has led me down a rabbit hole of troubleshooting this evening). 

I've been practicing the new putting stance in front of a mirror all week...its feeling more comfortable.

 

[Hardspoon]

Had another good practice session today.

Working on: 1.) grip; 2.) pre-set hips; 3.) proper rotation; 4.) in-to-out path.  Moved up to "full-speed" work by the end of the session and took some video:

Driver DTL

Driver FO

6i DTL

6i FO

Also took a close-up framegrab of my grip:

Overall, things felt good.  My solid shots were all straight-pushes, which makes sense...I wasn't (yet) working on getting the face squared up, so that was what I expected.  If it looks like I'm doing OK with my current priorities, I'm going to try to work on that during my next session.

Spoiler

A couple questions about the videos themselves:

• For the DTL videos, should it be directly in line with my feet (that's what I did)?
• Seems like my camera should be about a foot lower...correct?

 

[iacas]

19 minutes ago, Hardspoon said:

Overall, things felt good.  My solid shots were all straight-pushes, which makes sense...I wasn't (yet) working on getting the face squared up, so that was what I expected.  If it looks like I'm doing OK with my current priorities, I'm going to try to work on that during my next session.

Looks good. Pushing is good right now.

One little comment on the setup:

I'd reduce knee bend a bit (like your putting setup, you'll see how even feeling nearly straight-legged is still going to be bent), and let yourself round down a little bit more from your waist and throughout your back.

19 minutes ago, Hardspoon said:

A couple questions about the videos themselves:

• For the DTL videos, should it be directly in line with my feet (that's what I did)?
• Seems like my camera should be about a foot lower...correct?

Inline with the feet. Yes.

Hand height (at setup)… yeah, you're a bit high.

[Hardspoon]

Thanks!

Yeah, I can see those shoulders are starting to creep back upright...I will mix in the shoulder pitch drill next time. It is sort of overwhelming, but the in-to-out path part is fairly "intuitive" (with the alignment stick there, of course!) so that will help.

Maybe it's just in my head, but I feel like I have a higher percentage of solid shots already, so that is encouraging. Those two driver swings were very solidly struck.

 

[iacas]

18 minutes ago, Hardspoon said:

Yeah, I can see those shoulders are starting to creep back upright...I will mix in the shoulder pitch drill next time. It is sort of overwhelming, but the in-to-out path part is fairly "intuitive" (with the alignment stick there, of course!) so that will help.

Just mind the setup, too. I was commenting more on that than the shoulder pitch stuff. It's flatter, but so too is your setup. Go for less knee, more from the hips and back.

18 minutes ago, Hardspoon said:

Maybe it's just in my head, but I feel like I have a higher percentage of solid shots already, so that is encouraging. Those two driver swings were very solidly struck.

I told you that when you were down there, yeah. You're doing well. Keep it at the pace you can have your successes. Slow enough, short enough, specific enough, etc.

[JetFan1983]

I have nothing of substance to add here really, but I just wanted to say that I think you have a lot of potential. Keep at it!

[Hardspoon]

5 minutes ago, JetFan1983 said:

I have nothing of substance to add here really, but I just wanted to say that I think you have a lot of potential. Keep at it!

Thanks for the encouragement! 

[mvmac]

Looking good! That 26 handicap should be dropping soon.

[iacas]

8 hours ago, mvmac said:

Looking good! That 26 handicap should be dropping soon.

Yeah, I told him he shouldn't be in the 20s for long…

[Hardspoon]

I've been practicing at home this week to try to get the "static" items down:

• Fully ingrain the new grip
• Fully ingrain the "hips forward" setup position
• Work on less knee bend and more bend from the waist at setup

I think the grip is pretty good at this point - it feels natural. Same with the hips-forward setup...it's becoming more and more unconscious.

I went out to the practice range today...the goal was to see the setup position on camera, and to continue practicing the "dynamic" items I've been working on:

1. Proper rotation
2. In-to-out path

First things first...here are some framegrabs of my address position with different clubs, at the very start of my session (Driver, 6i, GW):

 

Looking at these on the camera before I started practicing, it seemed like a bit too much (not unexpected after a week of exaggerating it in the mirror).  I think when I started actually swinging, it was toned down a bit.  It felt good.  Definitely something I needed to consciously think about, but not awkward or uncomfortable.

I spent about an hour (small bucket) practicing the 2 dynamic items...here are some 80% - 90% swings near the end of my session:

 

(I didn’t film face-on this session, since I can evaluate both dynamic items in the DTL view, and the sun would have made it difficult)

It's feeling better.  I still have to consciously think about the rotation and the path, so I haven't yet tried to "add" anything else.  Consequently, my good shots are still all straight pushes (right along the alignment stick I have set up) which I'm fine with for now.  Gotta keep practicing, but...

...I've decided to do something crazy tomorrow and actually...PLAY GOLF.  My hope is that I can continue to get these things "right" on the course (including also my new putting stance), without worrying about my score.  I'm going to simply set up open to my target and try to play a push all day.  I'm not expecting a very good round, but the weather is too damn nice to NOT play.  If I can stay in the double digits I'd be happy.

 

[b101]

As others have said, there's some great work going on and those images from your trip to Erie are great testament to you and @iacas - some amazing improvement in a day. There are times when I wish I lived in the States...

Looking forward to seeing how your round goes. That 26 handicap will come tumbling down - if you time it right, you might win some tournaments, too 

[Hardspoon]

Well, it went about as terribly as expected (shot a 106 on a very tight course).  I feel like I was bouncing back and forth between old and new "moves". Sometimes I'd forget to preset my hips, sometimes I would forget to swing in-to-out, sometimes I would flex my knees too much.

It was a beautiful day, though, and fun to play again after a shitty winter.  Looking forward to practicing more before I play again.

[Hardspoon]

Another good practice session today.  Still working on the same things:

1. Static: Grip, stance, and hip "preset"
2. Dynamic: proper rotation and in-to-out path

I think it's going well.  Still hit some poor shots (fat/thin), but overall seems better than it used to be.

Videos are below - I included a GW, because the last time I played I was TERRIBLE on full swings with shorter clubs (9i, PW, GW).  I wanted to see if there was something I could pinpoint on video, or if it was just small sample size.  I hit all the short clubs well today, so I think it was just a general difficulty with taking the new stance/swing to the course.

@iacas, curious to see what you think of these.  Seems like I'm hitting the key points from our session...not ready for anything new yet, but I'd like to make sure I'm not regressing as I try to ingrain this stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[iacas]

They look good. One thing I'd continue to watch is how quickly the arms bend on the follow through. Typically if they bend as quickly as yours are (which isn't "quickly" in the grand scheme of things, just a bit early for what you're trying to do) the path is a bit left of what you want.

Try to feel the "Zach Johnson" arms for a longer time on the follow through to help the path stay slightly right-ward.

[Hardspoon]

Gotcha - thanks!!! Will experiment with this next time I practice.

[Hardspoon]

I went out the range today for a bit (in the rain, so no video)...trying to really feel more extension on the follow through.  Hit the ball OK, and the follow-through was definitely different, but whatever I was doing was closing the face too much.  Lots of straight-draws/hooks, instead of the pushes I had been hitting.

I'll get back out soon with the camera and see what I can see.