My Swing (freshmanUTA)

[freshmanUTA]

I'm starting to get pretty frustrated. It's been a few months of actively working a few hours a day to change my swing, and the post above this shows my swing. Every weekday I go to the driving range and spend 2-4 hours just working on my swing and depending on how much time i have between 1 and 2 hours on the short game. Every day, someone new tells me that I have a good looking swing, or that just by watching from down the range it looks like I am a good player. But I cant hit any of my clubs to save my life, and my scores have been going up, not down. 

The problem that I have is that most, if not all of my shots start left and go further left, and some start left and turn rapidly to the left, and I can't hit my 4, 5, or 6 irons or my 3 wood. And for the irons, I mean that literally. I can't even hit the ball, I just hit the ground 5-6 inches beforehand no matter what drills I try or how slow of a swing I make. Actually, slowing down allows me to have a good looking swing where I bring the club to the top with my face pointed slightly more towards the ground than I'm used to, shallowing the club to start the downswing, and then turning through. I just can't hit the ball.

With my 3 wood, I hit the ball but it goes about 10 feet because I either hit the top of it or do something else that makes it bounce and not go anywhere. 

I'd be lying if I said I feel comfortable with a wedge in my hand because even when I hit the middle of the wedge my ball flies as if I'd chunked it, even when I don't.

I can rarely get driver off the tee, and even though I'm not losing swing speed, my driver never goes farther than 240 yards even when I hit directly out of the center and the ballflight is decently high.

I've been working with an instructor but theres only so much of the "just keep working" answer I can get before I go in for a lesson, change a few things and go to work on those changes, but still can't even hit the ball.  

Sometimes I wonder if it's the clubs because when I set up to the ball my wrists are pointed so far down that it feels uncomfortable, and I think that's because the lie angle is too high. I've also read that too high of a lie angle causes shots going to the left, but when I look at my clubs the wear pattern from the mats isn't only on one spot so I don't think it's actually my clubs.

I'm just really clueless as to what to do.

[freshmanUTA]

Starting to hit everything solid again. Uploading videos ATM, but I can't wait to play tomorrow. I can actually get the ball off the ground! 

[freshmanUTA]

 

[freshmanUTA]

I'm looking for an answer on where I should go next from this point. After a long month of hard work, I have finally reached the point where I can consistently get the ball off the ground, out of the middle of all of my irons. I was fortunate enough to find a set of blade irons that someone at my golf club was selling for $100 that are the exact same specs as the irons i was fitted for, and i used them religiously to practice with and help develop the feeling of pure strikes and shallower strikes, though I still take decently sized divots. I haven't actually shanked a ball in 6+ rounds and al my shots have been centered, off the tee, around the green, etc. The problem I'm having now is I pull mostly every club. My instructor is on vacation, and folowing that I am starting school so I won't be able to see him for a while. I plan on taking some videos of on course shots so you can see my swing. Just to see if you guys can offer me any advice. I'm no instructor but I've been messing around with opening my hips early in the downswing and that seems to straighten my ballflight. It makes me believe that I may be starting the downswing by turning my shoulders. I'm not sure though so I'm not going to change anything just yet. I'm starting to get my game together, and I'm sure a few more months of work and ill be able to be in the low 80's consistently.

[iacas]

Without seeing your swing, pulls are obviously from a face and path left.

Check your grip. Check your alignment.

And practice some start line drills.

Post video from good camera angles.

[freshmanUTA]

Today I worked a ton on shortening the backswing and getting my hands farther from my head. On the downswing I'm shallowing the club more, and making sure my right arm doesn't extend prematurely.

I also worked on a new setup, grip, and posture.

 

In the second video, you can hear I struck it pretty pure. I missed target by about 5 yards but perfect distance.

 

The next couple weeks are going to be really slow working on these changes. I love the progress I've made. 

Edited December 20, 2017 by freshmanUTA

[freshmanUTA]

Today was the first day hitting outside in 2018. I did really well with my wedges through my6 iron. There was a strong crosswind so i used it as a time to practice hitting in to a crosswind. I was hitting my wedges within a 5-7 yard radius from the targets and i was peppering the flag with my 8 iron. The 5, 4 and 3 irons need work. Though i’m debating getting a 5 wood in place of the 3 iron and replacing the 4 and 5 with more forgiving cavity irons instead of the blades. Putter was decent but needs improvement. 3 wood and driver were a joke. I believe my 3 wood shaft is too heavy because i don’t really feel the clubhead when i swing it. The driver was just heely shots that would start right and go further right. 

Im really wondering if now that I made huge changes over winter, I should see about getting fit for a full set of clubs. 

I made it down to a 13 last summer and the changes i’ve made this winter are inspiring me for the season coming up. I’m hoping to get to a 10 and possibly down to an 8 or even lower. I was once at a10 when I started playing so I know I can get back there with patience and dedication.

[freshmanUTA]

Unfortunately it snowed again this weekend which means even though it’s warm, we’re still hitting off mats ):

Been working with driver start line drills. To start the day I put some foot spray on the driver and realized i should stand a bit further and taller to hit the center. Then i Starting working on start line. Everything was starting right of target by about 4 or 5 yards and drifting farther off. Wedges-8iron still seem really strong and accurate though things may change once i’m on grass... 

Putter is 100x betterthan last time. Just did some ladder drills for distance control and then worked on starting my ball with proper roll and finished it off by working on hitting a mark on the green about 5 feet away and letting the ball curve towards the hole.

I was supposed to play today but the snow ruined things as they closed the course down ):

[freshmanUTA]

Still hitting off mats unfortunately but for the most part today was a really good ball striking day. I started the day, as I usually do, with some short 50-75 yard wedge shots just getting the feeling of centered contact and using my arms more than my legs in my swing. You see I have been working on eliminating a pull-draw from my swing and the cause of the pull is when I lead my entire swing with my legs and let my arms just follow. A few things happen when I do this. First, my hands will tend to come up the line, but when i fire my hips since my hands/arms are just "following along" the turning of my hips will also turn my shoulders and hands and cause them to go "out to in". Not horribly bad, but enough to pull balls as much as 15 yards offline. Second, the bottom point of my swing is completely different every time so contact is really bad. Lastly, I tend to hit all over the face because the combination of everything that's going wrong is making my ballstriking super inconsistent.

Driver is what I'm most concerned about because last year, by far, it caused me the most strokes on my scorecard. I've been really working on my start line drills, and even moved the ball back because video review showed that I place the tee right on the big toe of my left foot... So, I moved it back to my left armpit and immediately the start line changed from massively pulled to slightly pulled, and towards the end of my session I was starting on the right side of target and very slightly fading away. Maybe about 5 yards total fade. 

I also started practicing a trouble shot. I cant hit a draw no matter how hard I try the standard approach of aiming the clubface/start line. So I said f*** it and switched to a fade, and I can put a solid 30 yards of curve on it if I really need to. 

With all this being considered, I think I need to make my game plan lean towards hitting a fade, it's just so much simpler and I'm trying to get as good as I can as fast as I can, so why try to change my flight more than I really should? With this in mind, I'm going to go to the range again on Friday and work on start line being on the left of target with driver. My short irons(PW-7i) all draw, but it's consistent enough and accurate enough that changing my swing might only just straighten the flight even more. 

Didn't get the chance to putt/chip at all, the short game area was closed because some idiot drove their cart over it and ruined the green..

 

Edit: Honestly I'm only seeing the results I'm happy with because I decided to *finally* listen to @iacas and just stick with the drills I was told to do. Once I stopped being a stubborn child, I started improving 

Edited March 26, 2018 by freshmanUTA

[iacas]

22 minutes ago, freshmanUTA said:

Honestly I'm only seeing the results I'm happy with because I decided to *finally* listen to @iacas and just stick with the drills I was told to do. Once I stopped being a stubborn child, I started improving 

Puts you well ahead of most even if it took awhile to get there.

[freshmanUTA]

6 minutes ago, iacas said:

Puts you well ahead of most even if it took awhile to get there.

My goal is to shoot 77 or better in a tournament by the end of this year. I haven't played a round yet but with the success I've had so far this winter, I think it's possible. Just gotta keep moving an inch a day. I also re-read LSW and have been formulating my practice plans entirely from the book, as well as my instructors drills. For example, a drill from my instructor is putting a soccer ball between my legs and letting my hip turn cause the ball to drop and then connecting my legs again. I'll do that till I get bored and take the feeling I had and try starting my ball on the right side of target. 

I'm also looking at replacing my 3 iron with a hybrid. I gotta stop being stubborn and accept that being able to hit it out of the middle isnt the same as being able to flight it properly to get it to stop on the green. I hit the 3 iron about 50 feet high which, to me at least, is very low.

Edited March 26, 2018 by freshmanUTA

[freshmanUTA]

Frustrating day. Decided to practice chipping and stuck to within 15 yards of the hole and I was all over the place. Blading chips across the green was much more common than anyone should ever wish for, and a majority of my shots were either 6 feet short or 6 feet long. It seemed like no matter how hard or soft i would hit chips they’d either be too short or too long. So, I left and decided i wouldn’t let myself get even more frustrated. It was also pretty wet so there were quite a few chips that i’d slice right under the ball taking a divot about the size of the ball and sending the ball a few feet at best. Overall pretty frustrating but “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”

[freshmanUTA]

Had sometime today so I went to see about getting a hybrid to replace my 3 iron. My 3 iron peaked at about 55 feet but averaged 50 feet height with 4200 RPM of spin. This is the reason I’m looking for a hybrid. I tested a few out and no matter the combination of shafts I was launching the ball so high and spinning theball so much that I was averaging a carry of about 209 yard. This number is a tad skewed because of a few shots where I truly got under the ball and popped it way up and carried about 180 yards. The average apex for my hybrid was 109 feet with 5,780RPM and just looking at the numbers it’s clear I’d be more suited for a driving iron.

On a separate note, hitting out of the simulator gave me confidence as my average path was 1° “in-to-out”, so it’s clear that my hard work over winter paid off. Still poor face control but very few hits weren’t out of the middle. I tend to leave the face open about 15° which starts the ball right and keeps it going right.. I honestly completely forgot to take a video too so I feel very dumb. Haha.

[freshmanUTA]

Bought a small bucket with the intention of working on keeping the face closed as when I hit in a monitor Saturday I was averaging a 1* "in-to-out" path but was still slicing because I was leaving the face open as much as 20* sometimes. Got through about 10 balls after 25ish minutes and a breeze hit that was so cold that I couldn't stay out and practice. On the bright side, I am starting to be pretty accurate with my irons. I'm excited to see how this summer of golfing goes. I think I can really go low this summer.

[iacas]

Your clubface is 20° open with the driver? How is that measured? What's measuring it?

[freshmanUTA]

On 4/6/2018 at 6:17 PM, iacas said:

Your clubface is 20° open with the driver? How is that measured? What's measuring it?

I was referring to the driving irons and hybrids I was hitting, but yes. To be fair, it could have been measuring the toe'd strikes I get sometimes. The golf shop uses a simulator that I don't know the name of, but I place the ball within 5 dots on the ground and when I hit it it tells information about the spin, launch, and face/path angles. Its not trackman and not GC2/4. Maybe you know what it is?

This was today. Poor swing day, but for the most part ballstriking was as consistent as it's been all winter. 8 or 9 times out of ten I strike middle and the other couple are out of the toe. 

This is the 4 iron, I've been working on keeping the face closed to start the backswing and shallowing and turning my hips to start the downswing. Looking at this video I'd say that my path is not 1* "in-to-out". Though, it was cold and I was getting a bit armsy with my swing because I wasn't a stupid monkey and starting hitting harder to get my ball to go further in the cold. No excuses, but it definitely had an effect.

Here is an example of a toe'd ball with my 7 iron. This shot comes up every 9 or 10 and starts super low and either fades softly or hooks hard.

And for the first time in a while, I was pushing my wedges. I think I was honestly just getting tired as it was a really late night for me with schoolwork and I got about 4 hours of sleep. Again, no excuses.

Just to take away a few things that I myself feel good and bad about: I think my hip turn is good on the backswing and downswing, but at address my hips and shoulders are aligned really far to the left. Even my feet are aligned to the left slightly. I think a good amount of posture practice can help tremendously with the downswing. I start the swing with my hips but I honestly think they get too open and that causes my shoulders to turn to match it. Other than that, I feel good about it.

[iacas]

@freshmanUTA, aren't those all pulls?

The swing is looking better, and it's not like you must align parallel left of the target, but those looked like pretty good pulls to me.

[freshmanUTA]

5 hours ago, iacas said:

@freshmanUTA, aren't those all pulls?

The swing is looking better, and it's not like you must align parallel left of the target, but those looked like pretty good pulls to me.

The 7 iron was for sure, I remember that 4 iron shot finishing far right but to be fair i don’t remember if i pulled it to start. I need to continue working on shallowing and I’m going to give straightening my shoulders a go. I play tomorrow so I won’t be able to try to work with that feel until Friday or the weekend.