My Swing (Foot Wedge)

[Foot Wedge]

@iacas Thanks for the response.  I agree that it's not too steep, but I'm not sure if you looked at the video of the nasty pull that I posted.  Here are the screen grabs:

Backswing:

Downswing (looks a touch steeper than BS):

Club looks like it's coming over my hands a little:

Impact looks like it should have been ok, but it wasn't:

Edited September 15, 2017 by Foot Wedge
Removed pasted link

[iacas]

Eh, you have a few things going on.

Backswing has a sway and a forward lean toward the target.

You're still leaning forward here at A5 or so, and your head is about to start tipping back.

Head tipping back.

And hitting down, swinging left.

I'd probably work on the axis tilt issues you have first, but basically… your hands go left much more quickly. Compare the sequence to Justin Rose. Yes, he's deeper, but your club is on its plane to A6, and then your hands just go left harder than his.

[Foot Wedge]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

Backswing has a sway and a forward lean toward the target.

 

Interesting, I hadn't worked on that during my lessons since I had much more glaring issues to correct.  I'm assuming this hurts consistency.  I appreciate you pointing this out, I'll make it a practice priority.

[Foot Wedge]

Been a while since I've updated this.  I've been working with Evolvr, mainly focusing on correct hip turn, instead of swaying as well as correcting my spine angle during the backswing.  Additionally, a few smaller things to raise my ball flight, but the main issues to address were what was brought in the posts above.  Still working to get a bit more hip turn, sometimes my right knee feels like it gets a little stuck, but I'm just doing reps to get used to the right feeling.  Looking forward to any feedback!

 

 

 

 

[iacas]

26 minutes ago, Foot Wedge said:

Been a while since I've updated this.  I've been working with Evolvr, mainly focusing on correct hip turn, instead of swaying as well as correcting my spine angle during the backswing.  Additionally, a few smaller things to raise my ball flight, but the main issues to address were what was brought in the posts above.  Still working to get a bit more hip turn, sometimes my right knee feels like it gets a little stuck, but I'm just doing reps to get used to the right feeling.  Looking forward to any feedback!

Since you're on evolvr, I won't throw too much in here because obviously I trust our guys there to have you on a great path.

I'll just point out the setup position a bit here - the weight appears to be well into the heels. Unlike a lot of people, it stays there for you, mostly because you're set up pretty close to the ball (so if it "re-centered" you'd be screwed).

Just try taking a bit less flex out of your knees at setup and feel the weight on the balls of your feet more (it'll probably just be centered). It may even feel like you have NO knee flex. If you get an inch or two further from the ball to accommodate this, that's okay.

[Foot Wedge]

22 hours ago, iacas said:

Just try taking a bit less flex out of your knees at setup and feel the weight on the balls of your feet more (it'll probably just be centered). It may even feel like you have NO knee flex. If you get an inch or two further from the ball to accommodate this, that's okay.

Thanks for the input.  I have been setting up this way since I noticed I was hitting the ball a bit better than before like that.  However, in that time I've improved my spine angle and hip rotation so......

I gave this a shot yesterday with a few shots into the net.  Set up like I would with a 6 iron, but with a 7 iron and less flex in the knees to have weight more centered.  Contact felt good for randomly taking a few minutes to hit balls, so I'll have to go to the range to see real results.

One thing I'm wondering about is my position at the top of the swing.  It hasn't been brought up in my lessons, but I'm wondering if where the club is at is something I should try to change.  The angle the shaft makes with my arm is quite different than any other swing I would consider to be 'good'.

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, Foot Wedge said:

One thing I'm wondering about is my position at the top of the swing.  It hasn't been brought up in my lessons, but I'm wondering if where the club is at is something I should try to change.  The angle the shaft makes with my arm is quite different than any other swing I would consider to be 'good'.

You'll get there soon. Just keep sharing what you're working on and what the ball is doing with your evolvr instructor.

[Foot Wedge]

Fair enough.  Probably best to take it 1-2 steps at a time anyways.  I'll keep the thread updated throughout.

[SunkTheBirdie]

On 1/28/2018 at 9:50 AM, iacas said:

I'll just point out the setup position a bit here - the weight appears to be well into the heels. Unlike a lot of people, it stays there for you, mostly because you're set up pretty close to the ball (so if it "re-centered" you'd be screwed).

Less flex in the knees at setup is a great tip.

I think reducing the knee flex will encourage a better hip turn.

I wonder if the left knee traveled more towards the ball target line (versus parallel to it) during the backswing (especially during the takeaway) ... would that allow the right leg to straighten a bit more and have the hips and shoulders be a bit more on a more vertical plane).

I like my hip turn when I get things going in the right direction from the beginning.  I started this as an anti-sway move.   The initial move of the left knee is to bend (knee cap moves directly towards the ball target line) and the right leg is to straighten (move your right hip  directly AWAY from the ball target line). My backswing swing is thinking of these two things while keeping my spine angled away from the target (whereas yours tilts towards the target).

 

A6 analysis:  Your hands are high indicating you are coming in steep.

The green line is the height of the end of your grip at address.  I manually put in all the photos to see if it can help me  

Try my hip motion tips and see how they feel.  It really helps with a centred pivot body swing. FWIW, your knees control the hip motion ... or at least that's how I see it.  

[Foot Wedge]

20 hours ago, SunkTheBirdie said:

I like my hip turn when I get things going in the right direction from the beginning.  I started this as an anti-sway move.   The initial move of the left knee is to bend (knee cap moves directly towards the ball target line) and the right leg is to straighten (move your right hip  directly AWAY from the ball target line). My backswing swing is thinking of these two things while keeping my spine angled away from the target (whereas yours tilts towards the target)

This is in a nutshell what I've been working on for the past month or 2.  Still a work in progress given how far I was swaying and tilting forward as you can see earlier in the thread.  But it's a different perspective on it since the feeling I was using was having my right pocket being pulled straight back.  This has basically given me the motion you described with the knees.  However, having less flex in my knees and being aware of knee movement as you described could be useful.  Thanks for the input, I'll give it a shot next time I'm practicing.

[Foot Wedge]

Analysis for the swing I posted came back. Feedback was focused on my hips stalling a bit during/after impact, explaining that this can cause the club to overtake a bit and the ball to go a bit further left than it should.  I was instructed to work on the 'toss' drill. 

I gave it a shot from address just using the end of my swing to toss the ball and sure enough...it went a bit left.  Worked on really turning my hips all the way through to toss the ball and it coming out slightly right.  Did full swings after this and contact felt good, but this was into a net so results are TBD.  May be better just using the net for now so I can focus on reps without worrying about ball flight.  Also, setting up with less knee flex, can't forget that.

[Foot Wedge]

Haven't been able to play in a while because of the rain, so just been doing reps of the toss drill/mid irons.  I think it's helping?  I had been using my net without the hanging mat since it was a lot quieter to hit directly into the netting.  Seemed to hold up well...until yesterday.  I put a 7i through the netting and have a fresh hole in the garage wall to patch up.  

The good news is that I'd been working on starting the ball to the right since I hit a draw, and the break in the netting is right of center.  So 1 of 2 things happened.  Either my ball speed has gone up enough to tear the netting with a 7i (unlikely) or I'd weakened the right of center spot enough for it to finally break (more likely)

Live and learn I guess.

[billchao]

2 hours ago, Foot Wedge said:

Haven't been able to play in a while because of the rain, so just been doing reps of the toss drill/mid irons.  I think it's helping?  I had been using my net without the hanging mat since it was a lot quieter to hit directly into the netting.  Seemed to hold up well...until yesterday.  I put a 7i through the netting and have a fresh hole in the garage wall to patch up.  

The good news is that I'd been working on starting the ball to the right since I hit a draw, and the break in the netting is right of center.  So 1 of 2 things happened.  Either my ball speed has gone up enough to tear the netting with a 7i (unlikely) or I'd weakened the right of center spot enough for it to finally break (more likely)

Live and learn I guess.

It could just be the quality of your netting. Some of the cheaper nets don't hold up very well at all.

[Foot Wedge]

28 minutes ago, billchao said:

It could just be the quality of your netting. Some of the cheaper nets don't hold up very well at all.

That's very possible.  Especially since I'm supposed to hit into the target strip that hangs from the top of the net.

[Foot Wedge]

Snuck out during lunch to the nearby course to hit a small bucket of balls.  It wasn't a stripe show but this was my first time hitting balls not into a net in a few weeks and since being advised to reduce knee flex. 

The difference in quality between my best and worst strikes has definitely increased.  I can still pull hook with the best of em but I have to get REALLY quick with my tempo for that to happen and I knew immediately when I did it.  Good swings resulted in a straight ballflight with good height and consistent results.  This is an improvement from where my better swings still went left, just less left.  I couldn't hit greens, I'd either hit a straight draw and be just left or compensate and hit a slight push.  

I'm fine with hitting a few pull hooks today, recently it's rained any time I've had a chance to play golf and I was antsy to see ballflights.  Bad swings will always be punished, but knowing my "better" swings get me good results is encouraging.

[Foot Wedge]

Been working on tilting my head back a touch at setup to line up with my spine and reducing knee flex.  I do several reps of the toss drill before I start practicing.  Shots going left is starting to become a rarity, though this has yet to be course tested.  My miss is looking to be a push and I've noticed on what feel like bad strikes at impact actually end up on a very playable trajectory, minus maybe a few yards.  I think I'm actually starting to take advantage of the club's forgiveness.

6 Iron DTL:

 

6 Iron FO:

 

[Foot Wedge]

Decided to take a quick look at an older swing video (mid-October timeframe) and compare it to my most recent one.  I know what I've changed the most is my position at the top.  Seeing them side by side was interesting.

[iacas]

I'm glad the more recent one is on the left.