My Swing (Lloyd Martinez)

[Lloyd Martinez]

I've been Playing Golf for: ~18 months (I average 1 maybe 2 rounds per month)
My current handicap index or average score is: ~115
My typical ball flight is: fade on clean irons, low straight stinger/topped shots with longer irons/hybrid/woods 
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Hitting the driver into the ground ~1 foot in front of the tee.  Since this video I have moved the ball forward, teed up higher and bumped my left hip forward (reverse K).  Last time at the range I hit maybe 50% of my drives up, but I still feel that I am not getting the launch angle I should.  I am swinging a Cobra Bio Cell (10.5*) with a Project X stiff shaft.

For my last two rounds I have been hitting my 5i (Nike Covert 2.0, Dynalite SS (R)) off the tee box.  I have also been hitting my irons better than ever with my 7i approaching 170 yards on average and 10/15 yard gaps between the irons (up to the 5i).

My game needs a lot of help (especially around the green/putting), but I really think hitting the driver consistently would help me achieve more approach shots from ~100 yards and result in a lower score overall.

I will update the link to my GolfPadGPS dashboard after I have a few more posts...  

Videos: 

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Edited May 6, 2016 by Lloyd Martinez
remove link, fix embedded video

[saevel25]

I recommend uploading your video to Youtube and then embedding the link. Thx!

[Lloyd Martinez]

 

Edited May 6, 2016 by Lloyd Martinez

[RandallT]

Welcome, Lloyd! You've got a lot of good things going on with your swing for a player who shoots 115ish. I think you have a shot at improving your contact fairly quickly since your starting point is pretty good for that type of score. I play regularly with people who shoot 100 or so, and their swings don't look near as good as yours.

Far be it from me to offer much advice, but here's a good starting point:

I'd start with the basics: Posture and Grip are good. If you read through the links on that page, you'll see where those are covered in detail.

There's also a link to how to hit up with the driver, since you mentioned that you are hitting into the dirt. I recall that link giving great info about what a good driver shot looks like in terms of arc of the club, ball position, club path, and your form. Typically players start with more fundamentals, but I only offer this one because you mentioned specifically the issue you have in hitting the driver into the ground. Perhaps helpful to you, if you can spot some key things maybe you are doing wrong or misunderstood about how to swing the driver.

[Lloyd Martinez]

Thank you for the kind words @RandallT!  I have been practicing the broom sweep drill and I spent some time reading the advice in the link you provided.  With any luck, I will get to the range and take a down the line video soon.  :)

[Lloyd Martinez]

Over the weekend I made it out to a local course and shot a 116.  I had five penalties (3 lost to water, 1 lost to thick rough and 1 off the fairway that I could not find), four putted twice, three putted six times, and one putted once. I ended with a 3 putt bogey on a 485 yard par 5 (5i, 5i, 6i, 60 foot putt, 3.5 foot putt, tap in), so I know the potential is there for shooting under 100 if I can iron out the bugs and learn to hit the driver to make my approach shots more manageable.

Today I was able to go to the local Top Golf facility for lunch.  I worked on three things with the driver and I was able to improve trajectory off of the tee, but I did develop a pretty aggressive slice.  The positive is I was able to carry the ball ~215 on shots that did not slice.  

The following items were the focus of my swing today:

1. Teeing the ball just inside my lead foot
2. Starting with my weight distribution 60/40 (left foot / right foot) and Reverse K (left hip bumped forward)
3. Keeping my arms extended, but close to my body from A1 to A2
4. Rotating my hips and getting my front shoulder under my chin while keeping my head centered and behind the ball
5. Slight pause once I reached A4

l will work on getting new videos up by the end of the week, so I can ask for assistance on the next area to focus on to improve my driver.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Lloyd Martinez

[Lloyd Martinez]

Well, we are going to play the Jack Nicklaus course at Bay Creek in Cape Charles, VA on Saturday, so I spent a little bit of time hitting into the net at home.  

I focused on many of the points from the post above and took a video of a full swing.  I know I need to do a better job of keeping my hands closer to my body on the downswing and getting the club head square at contact (last time at the range I had developed a slice).  Does anyone see anything else from the DTL view that stands out as something to address?

 

 

Thank you,

[RandallT]

To my untrained eye, it seems like your weight is a bit on your heels on address and that you are a bit more vertical than they recoomend. I'm not trained in this stuff, but that's what my eye sees. Maybe go back and review the posture thread.

Also, I think your shoulder turn is a bit flat. Perhaps a better posture like the pic above will allow your shoulders to rotate on a different angle (basically 90 degrees to spine). 

Good luck!

 

[Lloyd Martinez]

Well, I spent some time at the range today.  Overall things are improving contact/distance wise, but I have certainly developed a slice from an out to in swing path.  I would call it an aggressive fade with my short irons and as the irons get longer the slice is more dramatic.  

My brother was with me and he said it looked like my swing path is out to in.  This was tested by placing a head cover slightly behind and outside the ball and I made contact on nearly every full swing.  When I slow the tempo down I can hit short shots without hitting the cover, so I need to really focus on this.

I did not get a chance to get a new video, but if anyone has any additional drills I can work on I would greatly appreciate it.  As of now, I have found the following to promote an in to out swing:

1. Head-cover/tee slightly outside and behind the ball
2. Ball marker/tee slightly outside and in front of the ball
3. Keep a head cover/towel tucked in my right arm pit until just after contact
4. Work on a slow take away and make sure the lower half starts the down swing, so my hips clear and I am not swinging around my body.

Any others?

[Lloyd Martinez]

Here is an updated video from today, DTL 7 iron.  I played nine yesterday and shot my best score of the year (50), so I wanted to see how my swing was looking.  I was struggling with a push/slice today, so I my aim was left of target.  Generally, I still struggle with coming in too steep, so I really need to find a drill and focus on that.  

In this video I realized my head is not staying centered vertically as I start the downswing.  Overall, I am making progress, but I have a long way to go.

 

 

[boogielicious]

14 hours ago, Lloyd Martinez said:

Here is an updated video from today, DTL 7 iron.  I played nine yesterday and shot my best score of the year (50), so I wanted to see how my swing was looking.  I was struggling with a push/slice today, so I my aim was left of target.  Generally, I still struggle with coming in too steep, so I really need to find a drill and focus on that.  

In this video I realized my head is not staying centered vertically as I start the downswing.  Overall, I am making progress, but I have a long way to go.

 

 

I apologize I can't take a snapshot because I don't have Analyzer on my work laptop. You are not steep in this video. I managed to freeze frame it at A5 and A6. At A5, your shaft was pointing outside the ball, which is good. At A6, the club head was inside your hands, which is also good.

The push, push fade could just be from your wrist position. I am working on similar things and my Evolvr instructor asked me to flatten my wrist more at A4 to A5. This will close the face a bit and stop the push. It is hard to see from your video because of the lighting, but your wrist looks cupped at A6 like mine was.

Do some slow swings and think Dustin Johnson/Ricky Fowler. Flatten the left wrist at A4 or just after A4 as you start the downswing. Film the slow swings for us. Keep all the other feels the same. Let us know what it does to ball flight too.

Flattening the wrist is called palmar flexion. It controls the clubface angle on the downswing.

[Lloyd Martinez]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

I apologize I can't take a snapshot because I don't have Analyzer on my work laptop. You are not steep in this video. I managed to freeze frame it at A5 and A6. At A5, your shaft was pointing outside the ball, which is good. At A6, the club head was inside your hands, which is also good.

The push, push fade could just be from your wrist position. I am working on similar things and my Evolvr instructor asked me to flatten my wrist more at A4 to A5. This will close the face a bit and stop the push. It is hard to see from your video because of the lighting, but your wrist looks cupped at A6 like mine was.

Do some slow swings and think Dustin Johnson/Ricky Fowler. Flatten the left wrist at A4 or just after A4 as you start the downswing. Film the slow swings for us. Keep all the other feels the same. Let us know what it does to ball flight too.

Flattening the wrist is called palmar flexion. It controls the clubface angle on the downswing.

Wow, thank you for the great tip.  I just did a few slow swings trying not to change anything, but really focusing on my wrist position at each stage.  You are correct, my wrist is extended at A4.  The weather in the area is iffy today, but I will try to get a better video posted this weekend.

 

Edit...  I might have my terms confused.  I generally thought that an out to in swing and a steep swing were one in the same.   Is this not the case?  You can come in on plane, but with an out to in swing?

Edited June 17, 2016 by Lloyd Martinez

[boogielicious]

26 minutes ago, Lloyd Martinez said:

Wow, thank you for the great tip.  I just did a few slow swings trying not to change anything, but really focusing on my wrist position at each stage.  You are correct, my wrist is extended at A4.  The weather in the area is iffy today, but I will try to get a better video posted this weekend.

 

Edit...  I might have my terms confused.  I generally thought that an out to in swing and a steep swing were one in the same.   Is this not the case?  You can come in on plane, but with an out to in swing?

Steep at A5 does not necessarily lead to an OTT swing. We make compensations that can bring it back in plane. It can lead to an OTT. Getting more flat at A5 helps keep in on plane and shallow out the attack angle at impact.  I will try to grab your video when I get home and show you. Erik did a great thread explaining it below.

Meanwhile, remember to practice the change slowly at first and film your practice. The palmar flexion can lead to hooks if you let it take over the downswing. You want to see in your video keeping all the other good parts while making the change.

[boogielicious]

@Lloyd Martinez

Below is a screen shot of you at A5 and A6. You can see that your shaft is pointing outside the ball at A5 and is in pretty good position at A6. There may be some other aspects that a good instructor would want you to do, but you are not too steep. Your head dips a little bit, but that is not always an issue. Rory does a lot more than this.

You come back to your set up head position at impact.

[RandallT]

22 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

@Lloyd Martinez

Below is a screen shot of you at A5 and A6. You can see that your shaft is pointing outside the ball at A5 and is in pretty good position at A6. There may be some other aspects that a good instructor would want you to do, but you are not too steep. Your head dips a little bit, but that is not always an issue. Rory does a lot more than this.

You come back to your set up head position at impact.

Damn, those look like better positions than mine. 

[Lloyd Martinez]

Well, I had my first lesson with Jason Bowman.  He said the mechanics of the swing were above expectations for the scores I shoot, but did identify a few things I did when I addressed the ball, causing my posture to be inconsistent.  He also identified a couple of issues with my swing that I should focus on before the next lesson.  I will make a list below, so I can track my personal progress going forward.

Today's takeaway:

1. Pre-shot routine - Stand behind the ball and grip the club in my left hand with the face parallel to the target.  Make sure the club is in my fingers and not creeping towards the palm of my hand.  When addressing the ball, verify the face of the club is facing the target, hands slightly forward, and align my feet accordingly.
2. Bend, Bend, Drop - Bend at the hips, maintaining solid vertical posture, shoulders back, butt out / slight bend at the knees / drop the club down.
3. Check for proper shoulder tilt and verify the right forearm is not too tense.
4. Keep my head behind the ball during the takeaway.

Drills:

1. Mirror drill to verify shoulder posture and head position.
2. Chair drill to verify my hips rotate and not push towards the ball.
3. Rotate, rotate, rotate.  Focus for the next lesson is to shorten the takeaway and make a full turn/follow thru.

[Lloyd Martinez]

Updating to include screen shots from my first lesson.

1. Change in posture at address giving more room between the body and arms.
2. My right elbow is very close to my body.  
3. Hands are going towards the ball too aggressively causing an out to in path and more frequent impact with the hosel
4. Right arm extends early, need more rotation with the lower body
5. Follow through needs work

Next lesson is on 6/27.  I will continue to focus on the post above until that time.

[Lloyd Martinez]

Time for a quick update.  After my last lesson, we confirmed I am doing a better job of maintaining my posture to the point of contact.  I am keeping my hips away from the ball and rotating my weight forward much better.  I still need to work on not extending my trail arm too soon and rotating the club head thru impact (trying to get a draw).  

Swing thoughts when I hit the range before the next lesson:

• Keep the takeaway short.  What feels like stopping after I set the wrists (~9 o'clock) results in my left arm getting somewhere between 10 and 11.
• Try to hit the ball with the toe of the club (by rotation, not extension).
• Follow thru and continue the rotation after impact.

The difference in the feel/sound of hitting the ball solid and compressing with a nice divot after vs. scooping and having the divot start just before the ball is amazing!