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Natural Patrick's Final Post (The Straw that Broke…, etc.)
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By TxGolfDude ·
Feel free to read or not, this is more of a benchmark post for me but I wouldn't mind questions and feedback either. In the words of Arnold Palmer, "Swing your swing". So much easier said than done. Videos to come soon (to the probable horror of most of you here lol), but man: this took along time. Hogan wasn't kidding when he said the secret was in the dirt. Can't say I'm not happy about it though. So here was my situation: My first (and only) post here was back in 2019 about trying to game a new 3-wood to replace my old 2008 Taylormade Burner (which I loved but only carried 208 yards with a stupid-high spin rate). At that time I had been golfing for about 8 years., I was hitting four 80-ball buckets per day (320 total, I'm a psycho) and playing two rounds per week. I was using a "Width Swing" (probably my 15th try at a 'better' swing) from a book and videos called "The L.A.W.S of Golf" by Jim Suttie, TJ Tomasi and Mike Adams. Since I had hardly any flexibility back then at 49 (still don't lol), I had to get my clubhead depth from the width dimension, meaning dropping back my right foot, flaring my feet, and swinging around my body. This took a ton of work, but I got down from a 15 handicap to an 8 by using it, so I was pretty ecstatic. The problem? My lower back hated it, and I mean bad. Really bad. Like pull-out-in-the-middle-of-a-Houston-Amateur-Golf-Tour-tournament bad. Soooo...while playing some of my best golf, I just figured my golf days were over, especially after the Rona hit the next year in 2020 and shut everything down. I figured I would simply be a golf fan for the rest of my life, and that my days of playing (painfully) were done Fast forward three years. I *really* missed playing golf. I started watching (hold your nose) videos of Moe Norman's swing on YouTube and then that led down the rabbit hole of watching videos of Matt Kuchar and Craig Stadler and Bryson DeChambeau and videos by Kirk Junge and Todd Graves...you get the idea. This went on for weeks...and this is how we always get sucked back in, right? Single plane was supposedly the cure for lower back pain because the extension and torque could be mitigated to a degree that might make a golf swing tolerable for someone with lower back issues. I really missed playing the game, so last fall I thought to myself: "Self, you have nothing to lose. Get your clubs out of the trunk (they'd been sitting in there for three years). Hold your arms straight and look like an idiot at the PGA Superstore in one of the swing bays trying this single plane swing and at least you'll be the only one who has to witness it." I tried it...and it went horribly wrong. I couldn't even get the ball in the air, I was topping everything at first. Then when I tried Moe Norman's famous 'vertical drop' as he called it, I fatted the mat every time. This went on for the hour I was in there. I left there tired, frustrated and about to say 'screw it'. But when I got to my car and went to get in the seat, I noticed something: Even after about a hundred swings, my back was totally fine. I thought maybe it was because I had injured it all those years ago with a rotary swing and now it had healed. Hmmmm...maybe that was it. After a couple days at home, and more video-watching of Moe and Moe alone, I went back to the hitting bay to see if I could find some sort of workable single plane swing based on what I had watched and taken notes on. This session went much better. Pretty straight ball flight (my miss was a slight cut), and no pulls or hooks (my old misses were the dreaded two-way misses, block or pull-hook). I had kinda-sorta figured out the 'vertical drop' deal, but it was too hard to time it consistently. When I did get the timing right, the ball went dead straight. HOWEVER...I was hitting with a 7-iron the whole time and my normal 148-yard shot now only traveled 134. 14 yards is a lot to give up...but I chalked it up to my swinging slower to get the timing down. Plus, I had no idea how the longer clubs would do or if I could even hit, say, a 3-wood with this swing. After another hundred shots or so, I called it a session and went home. So far, all I hit was a 7-iron with this 'swing' of mine. I had completely forgot about my back and didn't think about it until that evening and realized it felt fine. I thought to myself: "Even if you never get your normal distance back...wouldn't it be fun to just play golf again?" Then I thought to myself: "Self, it would be fun to be back on the golf course again." BUT...I was determined not to make a fool of myself out there, so I kept going back to the hitting bay. This third time I went back, I brought in only my Taylormade Burner 7 wood, thinking the shaft length is short enough that I can make contact with the ball, but it's a fairway wood, so I'll see if this swing can handle that. I hit it great...and straight...but the distance was, alas, like the 7-iron...just not there. "You're hitting it *really* straight though", I sad to myself, as if saying that would console a Recon Marine veteran who's ethos is that manly men do manly things...and a 165 yard 7-wood for me is about the furthest thing from 'manly' there can be on a golf course. Ego... I was torn between my love of playing the game on one hand, and on the other hand going out to the course with a swing that would be mocked, ridiculed and laughed at...but would look passable and understandable if I was 75 years old (I'm 54). Decisions decisions... I went back to the drawing board at home and thought "There's got to be some sort of compromise to this swing...some kind of combination of swings...something I can build that would get my old distance back but not destroy the lower lumbar of my spine." In the past 13 years, I had tried it *all*. Conventional swing, modern swing, stack and tilt (my back still hurts when I think of that one), rotary swing (hello shanks), the peak performance golf swing (don't ever fat one while trying that swing, you might break your wrists), 3/4 hold-off swing (great for wedges, not so much a driver), hand-and-arm swing...and on and on. Soooo...I went back to thinking about the width swing I had learned in the L.A.W.S of golf book and videos I had studied, and how I could implement the width element of that swing without destroying my back. It was the only swing technique I ever tried that got me comfortable distance and consistent impact and ball flight while swinging around say 85% or thereabouts. Hmmmm... What if I could combine it with a single plane swing? I know, I know...it sounds loony tunes. But I had already plunked down the $149 for a year's worth of unlimited hitting bay time at the PGA Superstore (commitment, right?), so I figured I had nothing to lose by attempting what would appear to be moronic and ridiculous-looking setups and stances and swings in a hitting bay all by myself. The results have been nothing less than astounding to me. Setup (after four months of this on an actual driving range and getting *really* strange looks) is as follows (I'll have pics and video soon for whoever can bear to watch it): Grip: Left hand *slightly* strong, right hand neutral (this is to keep the ball from hooking off the planet). Alignment: All irons straight off the nose (I'll explain why in a bit), fairway woods of my left cheek, driver off my left nipple. Posture: *Slightly* hunched over with rounded shoulders (this is to give me room for my arms to come under my chest in the back swing). Foot Position: Left foot flared, right foot flared and dropped back about 12 inches (this gives me room to rotate my thoracic spine and gives the club depth in the width dimension, since I don't have Bubbas Watson's flexibility). Shoulders stay square with the target line. Hands stay high and in line with the lead forearm a la Moe Norman. Slight spine tilt away from the target. Backswing is in and up at a 45 degree angle if looking from behind. I only swing back until my lead forearm is parallel to the ground. I tuck the left elbow on the downswing and let it rip. The reason I play all my irons off my nose? Wait for it... All my irons... 7 iron to Sand Wedge... are single length irons. So I'm using a rotational swing...on a single plane...with single length irons (based off my 7 iron). Never hit my irons better in my life - and hitting just as far now as I was when I started golfing 13 years ago. Also - driver and fairway woods are stupid-easy for me to hit now. My misses are mostly a high cut now, and that only happens when I slide my left hip because I get fast at the top. As long as I keep my lower body quiet until my hands drop (they don't have far to drop, either), then I get a pretty dang straight ball flight. Pull hooks and block are now a thing of the past. Anyhoo, here's the setup of my clubs. I have about a 94 mph driver swing speed. Driver: Ping G410 9 degree cranked up to 10.5 degrees, Alta CB R flex carry is 235-ish 3-wood: Ping G 410 13.5 degrees Alta CB R flex 65 grams, flat setting, stated loft, carry is around 215 5-wood: Ping G-410 17.5 degrees Alta CB R flex 65 grams, flat setting, stated loft, carry is 202 7-wood 2008 Taylormade Burner, 21 degrees, stock REAX S flex 49 grams, carry is 192 9-wood Ping G410 23.5 degrees Alta CB R flex 65 grams, flat setting, stated loft, carry is 182 6 hybrid Ping G425 31 degrees Alta CB R flex 70 grams, stated loft, flat setting, carry is 158 Irons: are all custom fit Sterling single-length irons by Wishon Golf. 7 146 yds 8 135 yds 9 125 yds PW 110 GW 98 SW 83 Putter: Custom Edel blade I had made in 2012 after golfing for a year and I can't hit the broad side of a barn with it. REALLY interested in getting fitted for a L.A.B DF 3 with a forearm grip...stroked a L.A.B. DF 2.1 at the PGA Superstore they had on the 'pre-owned' rack and it was $519 wuuuuut!!! So that's only 13 clubs...but I am looking on eBay to fill that gap where the 5 hybrid should be, would be a perfect 170 yd club right there I think. Before doing to the single length clubs, I had Ping irons 7-PW and four Vokeys in 48, 52, 56 and 60 in the bag and the single length clubs were gathering dust in the closet for the last 5 years. However, after actually playing a few rounds and seeing where the numbers were adding up, it was missed greens from 150 and in. So, I wanted to take the variable length mid and short irons out the the equation to keep my setup simpler. Gotta say, it worked like a charm. Same setup as a 7-iron for all my scoring clubs and it keeps everything repeatable. Yes, it feels weird looking down at a wedge with 7-iron length, but I got used to it. The ball goes the same distances as my Ping irons and Vokey wedges used to but flies *way* higher and lands super soft. Also, if I want to chip or pitch with them I just choke down a little, as the swing weight difference won't matter much for those shots. I haven't actually kept score yet, as I haven't even gotten around to really working on my short game or putting at all. Right now, I'm just scoring fairways and greens hit or missed, approaches hit or missed and how many pars per round I can make. So far my best since this 'comeback' started is 8 pars, 1 birdie (almost had a hole-in-one lol), two bogies and seven 'others' (fats, thins, skulled chips across the green and tears may have been involved). I hit 3 of the Par 4 greens in regulation and hit 10 of 14 fairways. The ones I missed were not off the fairway by much and I finished the round with the same Pro V1X I started with - albeit a little scuffed up. Anyway, that's the story and after years of struggle I finally found something that works *for me*. I'll try to get some pics of setup and possibly video if anyone's interested and has a strong stomach haha. I'm gonna start reading the Dave Pelz short game and putting bibles this week, I'm sure that will be an adventure haha! Thanks for the space to write this.
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