My Swing (jkelley9)

[amoline]

I find that when I try to "steer" the ball is when I lose clubface control and then driving turns into a close your eyes and hope for the best situation. In fact, I think sometimes I might hit better drives if I did close my eyes.

In all seriousness, the more of a steer job you try and put on a ball the worse it's going to end up for you. I even started steering them on the driving range. Something that has helped me, at least recently, is going to the driving range and my last balls from the bucket I'll just swing as hard as I possible can in balance at them, and I don't give an ounce of care about where they end up. Slice, hook, whatever. I know, it sounds strange, but if nothing else it made me swing as fast as I could in control, and not think about so much where I'm steering the ball.

It's helped quite a bit. I got it in my head that I was so afraid to lose the ball on a hole or something I could never actually just swing at one to hit it. But if I'm going to be in the trees, most always I'll take 250 out somewhere in the trees over 200 out somewhere in the trees.

Just my two cents

[jkelley9]

7 hours ago, amoline said:

I find that when I try to "steer" the ball is when I lose clubface control and then driving turns into a close your eyes and hope for the best situation. In fact, I think sometimes I might hit better drives if I did close my eyes.

In all seriousness, the more of a steer job you try and put on a ball the worse it's going to end up for you. I even started steering them on the driving range. Something that has helped me, at least recently, is going to the driving range and my last balls from the bucket I'll just swing as hard as I possible can in balance at them, and I don't give an ounce of care about where they end up. Slice, hook, whatever. I know, it sounds strange, but if nothing else it made me swing as fast as I could in control, and not think about so much where I'm steering the ball.

It's helped quite a bit. I got it in my head that I was so afraid to lose the ball on a hole or something I could never actually just swing at one to hit it. But if I'm going to be in the trees, most always I'll take 250 out somewhere in the trees over 200 out somewhere in the trees.

Just my two cents

Yep I think that's basically what's happening to me. I choke over the ball because I'm super worried about where it's going to end up and how I'm going to have to rescue my second shot. And it just got worse and worse. That's essentially the same thing I did at the range except I just cleared my mind of all swing thoughts (which I almost NEVER do) and just walked up and quickly hit the ball. 

I'll see if it holds up today, and then a next day and a next day to see if this is a meaningful method for me.

[jkelley9]

I played a 9-hole round yesterday and 18 this morning.

I played with my usual group (although I haven't gotten to play Saturday mornings in at least a month) this morning and shot an 82. I had 10 GIR, 3 nGIR. It was an excellent round.

I made the only MAJOR change (yesterday and today's rounds) that I would allow myself immediately before a round: relax. I told myself that I want to be able to play 36 holes in a day if I wanted to and with my current (old) ways I was so TIGHT and STIFF that it was taking a major toll on my energy level and fatigue. So I went back to a relaxed swing and DANG. I was hitting everything! 

So this is a win-win for me. I feel like I'm playing "real" golf for the first time. It was almost effortless (relatively speaking). This is how I want to play for the rest of my golf life. I had plenty of energy left after my round yesterday and today. No real soreness anywhere.

Hopefully I can keep this going.

[jkelley9]

Played again Sunday (wife was out of town this weekend, if you couldn't tell ). 

I'm back to consistently hitting ~250 yard drives. Both on the course and at the range I probably hit ~50 drives yesterday. My swing is also a lot more effortless than before. Much more fluid. I'm not even taking a full back swing. So I may be able to eek out some more yards there. I want to keep it effortless though. If all I could do is 250 yards for the rest of my life and be able to significantly reduce injury/back problems I would be more than happy. 

Oddly my iron distances are just average, or below (all carry distances): SW 75, AW 85-90, PW 105, 9i 120, 8i 135, 7i 145, 6i 155, 5i 165, 4i ???

But my ball height is super high. Not sure exactly how high but they seem quite high. I like it, for now. I feel more confident on shot zones with a higher flight. 

Edited September 12, 2016 by jkelley9

[jkelley9]

I seem to be able to hold on to my new swing. I just have to remember that I want it to be relatively effortless. Several ~250 yard drives again yesterday and a 265 yard on a par 5 that was needed. Unfortunately I didn't hit my "easy" 3H to the green for an eagle chance - about 15 yards off the green - but I did get up and down with a tap in par.

One thing I may go back to my instructor for is working on severe hill lies. I seem to be able to aim the ball well, but I have a lousy strike/impact do to the whole weird body center of gravity with the swing arc. I'm able to hit side-uphill (hill goes up in the direction perpendicular to my waist, so ball above my feet) lies okay, but I have the hardest time with severe downhill lies parallel to my waist. 

[jkelley9]

My game has progressed well but I believe my full swing is getting worse.

I've been shooting 81-84 again this season on the easier par 72 courses in my area, which is a little better than what I was shooting at the end of last season.

I've learned that my swing is a half-swing at best. I'm terrified of a full turn. I'm hitting a 7i about 145 and irons are pretty well gapped down to AW which is where things get funny. My AW goes only about 80 yards and my SW goes only about 60 yards. Unbelievably short. Oddly, I can hit a 240-250 yard driver (with roll out) with this half swing. 

I started realizing that on AVERAGE I'm missing a LOT more greens now. Sure I have a good GIR day here and there, but my average # GIR now blows. I kind of realized this when I started getting "good" with chip and pitch shots. I realized I was getting "good" with them because I was NEEDING them a lot - from poor approach shots. Anywhere from 5 to 40 yards, all the time. And even though I was putting it to 5-15 ft... that doesn't mean I was making a lot of those putts. My putting is also wildly hit or miss - which means it sucks.

I haven't been going to the range much at all these days. I need to. I went yesterday and "lined some stuff out" which probably means nothing for my game. But I did focus on making a full turn again. It's amazing the difference even just the sound the ball makes.

I make an incredibly few amount of birdies. MAYBE 1 birdie for every 54 holes.

A great golfer at work that I play with often told me straight up that I'm never going to be good if I don't make a full swing and that I need to stop kidding myself. I told him before I didn't mind my half swing because it would "protect my back for more years." But this may have just been naivety. I'm 29 years old so I've got plenty of golf left in me, but I will start working on a full swing again. I'm just terrified of the big misses that are going to come back.

[jkelley9]

Did the dry erase marker test. My half-swing and full swings were hitting 1/2" towards the heel every shot. I had no freaking clue. I did this test probably 25-30 times with SW, 9i, 7i, 5i and even my 3h. All we're 1/2" into the heel. 

So I'm already making some adjustments there. Basically trying to hit the toe, and it lines out into the sweet spot much more often (and getting better distances).

I had this problem with my driver all along. I do the same thing and aim for a little toward the toe. Has been working like a charm for many months now.

My irons are new enough that I never really noticed any wear spots in the heel. Hm.