My Swing (nycgopher)

[nycgopher]

Hi all, longtime lurker, first time poster. I have learned an incredible amount from the instructors on this site. The content is truly remarkable. Hoping to start contributing to this community and thought I would start by posting my swing! A little bit about me: I worked at a golf course for just under a year and got as low as a 1.1 handicap within my first year and a half of playing. During this time I played at least 3-4 times a week and practiced endlessly (showed up before work, stayed after work until sunset every single day). Since then I have moved to NYC and am unable to practice or play often at all. I have not kept an official handicap since I moved but my best guess is that I am around a 12 handicap now. Hitting the center of the face with all clubs is generally not an issue but I suffer from inaccuracy with longer clubs and it is making it very hard to score on some of the narrow courses around NYC. 

 

In this video I am hitting a pitching wedge and am looking for where to improve from here. The video uploaded weird to youtube but the actual swing starts at 2:50. *I will post a face on video after the next time I am able to get on an actual course. The only driving range I can access has dividers that make it impossible to film a face on video.

I've been Playing Golf for: 2.5 years
My current handicap index or average score is: 12
My typical ball flight is: Slight pull fade or straight draw (Both with very minimal curvature until I get to fairway woods)
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Pull fade

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Videos: 

 

[g30rg35m1th]

HI,

You appear to be taking the club quite far on the outside which can be a good thing however during the transition the club isn't shallowing to the inside.

As the club is now coming in steep, you are having to release the hinge in your wrist (not the fault of your wrists but your brain compensating for the steep angle of attack).

This can lead to a club path that goes too far to the left and 'casting' the club can lead to the face shutting. This is causing your shots to start left and fade... I would imagine when you hit a straight draw you have somehow compensated for the path going left (usually lift the hands into impact). You may also have trouble with fat and thin shots as you will have little forward shaft lean at impact...

I would work on letting the club drop 'into the slot' and trying to get your hands more ahead of the ball. A good drill for this is hitting golf balls where you feel as though you drop your hands into your pockets and get the feeling of low hands through impact. I struggle with high hands at impacts so i use this drill and it feels really weird and hard to control the club face but you will get used to it! You may also feel as though you are swinging with little power however it becomes easier to apply speed when you get used to the impact position.

Hope this helps!

George

[nycgopher]

Thanks for the response! I think that my takeaway is a direct result of my prior backswing issues. I used to pull the club severely inside at the very start of the backswing and it led to a very typical over the top type swing. I actually like my takeaway and position at the top now and am concerned that by trying to change it that I will end up sucking the club way too far inside. I agree very much that I come into the ball way too steeply but I have not had issues with fat/thin shots or forward shaft lean at impact. 

 

I very much like your idea of working on shallowing out the downswing with the feeling you described. I will try that and see if I am able to make any progress. 

 

One other concern I have after reviewing my video compared to several professional players is how much more open their hips are by impact. I think this is definitely going to be something I have to address in the future. 

 

 

[nevets88]

Chelsea Piers can be a tough place to practice, is Randall's Island doable for you? Cheaper, more open, better for practice, more room to use a camera. There are shuttles that go there from the UES, you can also cycle there, there's a footbridge which many golfers use to cross the East River.

[nycgopher]

I've made the trek once but it's just not feasible (I live on the upper west side). I use citibike to bike to chelsea piers and it takes about 30 min each way. Going to randalls island by citibike takes much much longer. Fortunately I'm able to go at offpeak times so Chelsea piers isn't horrible provided I don't hit 200 balls at a time. It ends up costing me approximately $15 each time I go for 100 balls. Since I rarely have the time to go to a course in the nyc area I don't mind spending $30/wk on the driving range. 

[nevets88]

On 10/8/2016 at 3:14 PM, nycgopher said:

I've made the trek once but it's just not feasible (I live on the upper west side). I use citibike to bike to chelsea piers and it takes about 30 min each way. Going to randalls island by citibike takes much much longer. Fortunately I'm able to go at offpeak times so Chelsea piers isn't horrible provided I don't hit 200 balls at a time. It ends up costing me approximately $15 each time I go for 100 balls. Since I rarely have the time to go to a course in the nyc area I don't mind spending $30/wk on the driving range. 

Yeah, the crosstown traffic even on a bike from the UWS is awful, off peak is definitely more reasonable at CP plus you can't use Citibike to get to RI. 

Another alternative to Randall's Island is Edgewater in Fort Lee NJ, but it's about the same amount of time to ride there and no Citibike.

A little off topic, if you're going to post your swing videos, one thing I never tried at CP w/respect to videoing the swing face on (there's no room there) was to ask to use the 3rd level, the teaching floor to practice. It's not always full and there are no dividers. If you want to video yourself face on at CP, might be worth a try, off peak, teaching floor usually isn't busy. 

Citibike is awesome, less hassle compared to dealing w/your own bike and lock.

[nycgopher]

Yea, I am a big fan of citibike. I wish the bikes were a little bit lighter but it makes sense to have heavier, more durable bikes for the program. Hmm, I have used the third floor within the past month or so and dividers were between all of the stalls still. Maybe I can go to the end and have a hair more room than normal and get an awkward close up face on video though. 

 

Nevets - do you live in the NYC area? You seem to know a lot about the area. If so do you have any course recommendations that are reasonably easy to get to from the upper west side? Van cortlandt has been the only course I have made it to although I would like to try the Pelham Bay and Split Rock courses in the near future. I have read a lot about liberty national and would kill to play the course but it's obviously not going to happen. Apparently they have a boat to take you from chelsea piers to the course - too bad I can't afford the half a million dollar initiation fee lol! It must be surreal to have the view of the NYC skyline and the statue of liberty while playing.

[nevets88]

It's been awhile since I've been to the third level, I guess they put the dividers back up, oh well. 

I'd Zipcar/Lyft/Uber it to Rockland State Park. Not too far and not as busy.

[nycgopher]

On 10/5/2016 at 4:24 PM, g30rg35m1th said:

HI,

You appear to be taking the club quite far on the outside which can be a good thing however during the transition the club isn't shallowing to the inside.

As the club is now coming in steep, you are having to release the hinge in your wrist (not the fault of your wrists but your brain compensating for the steep angle of attack).

This can lead to a club path that goes too far to the left and 'casting' the club can lead to the face shutting. This is causing your shots to start left and fade... I would imagine when you hit a straight draw you have somehow compensated for the path going left (usually lift the hands into impact). You may also have trouble with fat and thin shots as you will have little forward shaft lean at impact...

I would work on letting the club drop 'into the slot' and trying to get your hands more ahead of the ball. A good drill for this is hitting golf balls where you feel as though you drop your hands into your pockets and get the feeling of low hands through impact. I struggle with high hands at impacts so i use this drill and it feels really weird and hard to control the club face but you will get used to it! You may also feel as though you are swinging with little power however it becomes easier to apply speed when you get used to the impact position.

Hope this helps!

George

 

Went to the range last night to incorporate your suggestion of lower hands at impact and my realization that my hips needed to be more active in the downswing. Video shows that I made significant progress. My follow through was a little lower and I was able to shallow the club a little bit better. In making these changes my ball flight shifted to a push draw with the occasional push fade. Unfortunately I was getting way too much curvature suggesting that my path was a little too far in to out.

 

For one range session of approximately 60 balls it was huge progress though. I will post another video in the near future but the quality of the videos from last night are extremely poor due to the poor lighting at night. My next range session I will try to decrease the amount that I am swinging in to out. I would rather not have misses of a giant snap hook or giant block with a slight mistake!

[nycgopher]

Hi all,

Been a while since I have posted a swing and thought I'd do so. Have been working on my swing as much as I could over the winter and have made progress. I was also able to get away from Chelsea piers to get a face on video in addition to a down the line video.

Current results are very high push draws but am struggling with fat shots and launching the extremely high. From the face on video it is apparent why - I have very minimal shaft lean at impact and am not quite sure how to fix it. Any thoughts? Is my upper body hanging back too much? (The Chelsea piers DTL video is after grooving my swing on the range. Other video is towards the end of a round.)