My Swing (DaveP043)

[iacas]

38 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

Didn't someone famous say that golf is a test of character as much as it is a test of skill.  Stoneleigh takes that to the extreme.

Dave, c'mon… stop baiting.

[billchao]

24 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

Didn't someone famous say that golf is a test of character as much as it is a test of skill.  Stoneleigh takes that to the extreme.

Well I don't have much skill but I am quite the character. 

[DaveP043]

Well its been a good while, and I've been practicing to play about as much as I've been practicing to change.  I think the progress on the forward hip turn is slow, but happening.  Notice two different shirts, I didn't get slo-mo video face-on the first day.

DTL

Face on:

For what its worth, this is the swing that shot 73 on Saturday, and (following on @iacas instruction to "stop that") 84 on Sunday.

[lastings]

Looking good, Dave.  Posture looking way better than a couple months ago, I think.. 

[DaveP043]

1 hour ago, lastings said:

Looking good, Dave.  Posture looking way better than a couple months ago, I think.. 

Thanks, I still pay attention to that when I practice, still trying to feel almost straight-legged, and that's as straight as I get.  Still a work in progress.

[iacas]

Yeah, keep paying attention to that, and keep up the rotational rates. The hands/forearms will be a bit less active, and the clubhead will exit a bit lower, and the bigger hooks will be a lot straighter.

[DaveP043]

16 hours ago, iacas said:

Yeah, keep paying attention to that, and keep up the rotational rates. The hands/forearms will be a bit less active, and the clubhead will exit a bit lower, and the bigger hooks will be a lot straighter.

When I think I'm doing things right, I definitely feel like the rotation is driving things, and that the hands forearms are "reacting" to the rest.  My better shots are flying higher, and MUCH straighter.   I'd like to be more consistent, but I know that will come if I keep working at it.  Its just so damn hot these afternoons, no fun to practice in 95 degrees and humid.

[DaveP043]

OK, its been almost a year with no video, but I've continued to try to make the change.  Finally, I have some new vids.

I think my camera for the face-on vid wasn't quite square to my alignment, probably a little behind where it should be.  Comparing to the video from a year ago, I see my knees a bit straighter at address.  This feels almost stiff-legged to me, but its getting more natural.  I also think my left knee straightens better.  I've included a pre-swing rehearsal I'm trying to include consistently in my pre-shot routine as a reminder.  Both of these shots were solid contact, higher than I used to hit it, and pretty straight ball flight.

[billchao]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

OK, its been almost a year with no video, but I've continued to try to make the change.  Finally, I have some new vids.

I think my camera for the face-on vid wasn't quite square to my alignment, probably a little behind where it should be.  Comparing to the video from a year ago, I see my knees a bit straighter at address.  This feels almost stiff-legged to me, but its getting more natural.  I also think my left knee straightens better.  I've included a pre-swing rehearsal I'm trying to include consistently in my pre-shot routine as a reminder.  Both of these shots were solid contact, higher than I used to hit it, and pretty straight ball flight.

Looking good, Dave! How have you been playing?

[DaveP043]

4 minutes ago, billchao said:

Looking good, Dave! How have you been playing?

Thanks.  My play has been pretty up and down, from round to round, and even between 9s.  Recently I haven't been under 42 on the front (easier) side, and haven't been above 38 on the back.  While I played a lot in Scotland, there was really no chance to practice, and I think that has led to some inconsistency.  Even with a year of practice, I need continual reminders of my "swing change goal" to achieve any kind of consistency.  We have a 36-hole stroke play event this weekend, so I'll be at the range again this evening.  

[billchao]

11 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

While I played a lot in Scotland, there was really no chance to practice, and I think that has led to some inconsistency.  Even with a year of practice, I need continual reminders of my "swing change goal" to achieve any kind of consistency. 

The longer something has been "baked" into a swing, the longer it takes to work out, IMO. You have a good attitude about it and I think it's just a matter of time before it sticks without thinking about it.

15 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

We have a 36-hole stroke play event this weekend, so I'll be at the range again this evening.  

Good luck.

Still plenty of golf left this year, maybe I'll head down your way sometime if you're interested. 

[DaveP043]

15 minutes ago, billchao said:

Still plenty of golf left this year, maybe I'll head down your way sometime if you're interested. 

That would be great, let me know when you think you might get down here, I'll do my best to clear my schedule.

[iacas]

I'd spend a little time seeing about getting a little more depth. You had more depth in the initial videos. Your left arm is barely in here, and it's from a bad camera angle (too far out toward the ball), so it appears more "in" than it really is. Compare it to your foot line, for example.

Then when you swing down, it's also still out.

Would love to see a little more depth, as that too will let you feel the need to rotate more on the downswing. Right now your hips almost have to stall to let you drop the club to the inside, which you do in the yellow line graphic:

[DaveP043]

17 hours ago, iacas said:

I'd spend a little time seeing about getting a little more depth. You had more depth in the initial videos. Your left arm is barely in here, and it's from a bad camera angle (too far out toward the ball), so it appears more "in" than it really is. Compare it to your foot line, for example.

Then when you swing down, it's also still out.

Would love to see a little more depth, as that too will let you feel the need to rotate more on the downswing. Right now your hips almost have to stall to let you drop the club to the inside, which you do in the yellow line graphic:

So I have to do a little homework, read through some earlier pieces about hand depth.  What I'm getting, after a very quick reading, is that I need to improve my turn going back, to improve the depth of my hands.  Essentially, I'll be swinging more around, as opposed to up.  That will get me in a better position to rotate positively forward.  I'll review this early in the week, before I get out for my Thursday practice.

[iacas]

2 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

So I have to do a little homework, read through some earlier pieces about hand depth.  What I'm getting, after a very quick reading, is that I need to improve my turn going back, to improve the depth of my hands.  Essentially, I'll be swinging more around, as opposed to up.  That will get me in a better position to rotate positively forward.  I'll review this early in the week, before I get out for my Thursday practice.

Yes.

[DaveP043]

Well I didn't wait for a proper practice session, I had a little extra time warming up yesterday so I tried some very preliminary tweaks.  Understanding that my goal is to rotate better in the backswing, I did a little rotation with a club across my chest, striving to get my left shoulder under my chin, while maintaining my posture.  Then a few slow backswings with the same goal, checking that my hands SEEM to be going more around.  Moving to 3/4 and eventually full swings, trying to feel my right elbow in tighter, swinging more around and not lifting my hands.  This actually feels comfortable and stable, with less "flop" of the club at the top of the swing.  I used a bit of this feel on practice swings on the course, generally with good results.  I think its probable that I regressed a little on the forward rotation/left knee extending stuff, I felt the knee sagginess a couple of times.  Of course, I may not be changing anything at all, I'll wait to get some video to see what I'm really doing.   But I'm encouraged at the moment, I can hope that this won't be a yearlong project like the previous change has  been.

[DaveP043]

Here I am, another year later.  I've been playing reasonably well, outside of a few really loose shots.  Ball flight is much straighter than it used to be, and a bit higher as well.  I've been meaning to get some video for a while, and have simply not made the effort.  No excuses really, but yesterday I finally got around to it, after playing my best round of the year, even par 72.

Those were both 6-irons, hit solid, pretty straight ball flight.  With my own non-expert eyes, I honestly don't see much change from a year ago.  I still work on the feel of having my swing go more around, with my hands deeper, but I'm not sure there's a real change.  

[SG11118]

@DaveP043

Have you always allowed your back foot to slide or lift up during the contact through follow-through portion of the swing?  Does doing this cause you any problems?

I personally have a problem where I keep reverting to a swing problem where I don't get enough weight transferred to the front foot during the swing.  It comes back every spring.  I fix it for a while during the golf season and play solid golf, but then all of a sudden it comes back and I have to train it away again.  I played nine last night and focused on making sure my back foot slid forward on the follow through like this to ensure weight transfer was happening and liked the results.  I'm tempted to try and make this part of my swing, so wanted to see if you purposely do this, and if it causes you any other problems.  Thank you.