My Swing (Killa)

[Killa]

I've been Playing Golf for: 1 year
My current handicap index or average score is: -46 
My typical ball flight is: all over the place. Currently a miss is usually a pull hook/pull draw. I do occasionally push the ball, and rarely a push fade. A slice is very rare for me and is usually the result of a bad mishit of the ball. 
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is:  Currently a hook/pull hook  

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Videos: 

 

Ok so I didn't even know these boards have this section but since I recorded myself yesterday I thought I might as well post it.  

Let me expand on my "skills". Took up golf by myself in the summer of 2015. Then in the summer of 16 I took a beginner course with the local pro (7 students and 4x2 hours of instructions in 4 weeks). Then I had ~6 individual lessons from a trainer that helps the local pro with their children section (he is probably around the 10 hcp range himself). I will be getting more lessons with the pro in the future - he does give me little tips when he sees me at the range. 

While I do have an official hcp of -46 I have only posted 1 round of 9 hole golf for my hcp - I live in Europe and our golfing association has the hcp rules of the EGA. So from what I know pretty much only tournament rounds count and I only play single or with even higher hcper than me. Since then I have improved a lot, judging by the scores. For example my last round on the same course I posted the score for my hcp was a 47 for 9 holes (34 par for the course). I had 2 pars on par 4s, then 4 bogeys, and one double, triple and quadruple.

My putting and chiping is very good for my current cap - so while I work on that too, my current worst part of the game are long irons (5) and I never used a driver in a round of golf (did use a 3 wood with average results).

The video above was from my third driver practice. The camera angle isn't perfect but I'll try to add a better one soon. 

What I notice myself most is that I think that my takeaway is decent and then on the top the face is too much to the sky? The start of the downswing is too steep and while I do concentrate on coming from the inside I see on the video that my downswing is too steep in the start? 

I have incorporated the duck stance in my setup since reading those boards and it helps me with the backswing rotation. Also trying to practice with the 5 "S"'s in mind. 

 

[boogielicious]

5 hours ago, Killa said:

I've been Playing Golf for: 1 year
My current handicap index or average score is: -46 
My typical ball flight is: all over the place. Currently a miss is usually a pull hook/pull draw. I do occasionally push the ball, and rarely a push fade. A slice is very rare for me and is usually the result of a bad mishit of the ball. 
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is:  Currently a hook/pull hook  

---

Videos: 

 

Ok so I didn't even know these boards have this section but since I recorded myself yesterday I thought I might as well post it.  

Let me expand on my "skills". Took up golf by myself in the summer of 2015. Then in the summer of 16 I took a beginner course with the local pro (7 students and 4x2 hours of instructions in 4 weeks). Then I had ~6 individual lessons from a trainer that helps the local pro with their children section (he is probably around the 10 hcp range himself). I will be getting more lessons with the pro in the future - he does give me little tips when he sees me at the range. 

While I do have an official hcp of -46 I have only posted 1 round of 9 hole golf for my hcp - I live in Europe and our golfing association has the hcp rules of the EGA. So from what I know pretty much only tournament rounds count and I only play single or with even higher hcper than me. Since then I have improved a lot, judging by the scores. For example my last round on the same course I posted the score for my hcp was a 47 for 9 holes (34 par for the course). I had 2 pars on par 4s, then 4 bogeys, and one double, triple and quadruple.

My putting and chiping is very good for my current cap - so while I work on that too, my current worst part of the game are long irons (5) and I never used a driver in a round of golf (did use a 3 wood with average results).

The video above was from my third driver practice. The camera angle isn't perfect but I'll try to add a better one soon. 

What I notice myself most is that I think that my takeaway is decent and then on the top the face is too much to the sky? The start of the downswing is too steep and while I do concentrate on coming from the inside I see on the video that my downswing is too steep in the start? 

I have incorporated the duck stance in my setup since reading those boards and it helps me with the backswing rotation. Also trying to practice with the 5 "S"'s in mind. 

 

It is a bit difficult to tell from that angle, but I did notice your shaft going from shallow on the backswing to steep on the downswing. Many of us have had that issue. There are a few causes, so I won't speculate. Take a down-the-line video where the camera is pointing down your toe line. Take another face on. This will really help.

Meanwhile, the thread below discusses the problem.

 

[Killa]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

It is a bit difficult to tell from that angle, but I did notice your shaft going from shallow on the backswing to steep on the downswing. Many of us have had that issue. There are a few causes, so I won't speculate. Take a down-the-line video where the camera is pointing down your toe line. Take another face on. This will really help.

Thank you. I'll try to follow up with a better aligned video asap. That one wasn't meant for publication but just for me to view during the practice session, but then I discovered this subforum. 

[Killa]

 

So I managed to go to the range for an hour today. Had trouble with the camera so this is the best I got.

 

Whatever I did I always came out too shallow on the backswing and too steep on the downswing. Problem is that I thought I went steep on the backswing and then everytime I watched the video i saw that it was untrue. It's not by accident that "feel isn't real" is all over these boards.

 

So the only way to go steep for me was to watch the clubhead all the way. As soon as I took a swing it got lost. Didn't matter if it was slow or fast...

 

[Killa]

SOme more videos. Decided I should work on my irons. 

So my main concerns rigth now is to make sure that my wrists don't snap after/through impact and that my left arm is straight after impact. 

Also can't seem to keep my head still even though it feels perfectly still. 

 

Another thing that might not be visible in these videos because of my pants is that I don't have enough flex in my right knee on the backswing. 

 

And the final thing is that my downswing is on a much steeper plane than my backswing that looks pretty good to me. I was thinking that might be because I start too much down with my hands instead of more forward down. 

Any drills for these flaws? Any other major flaw that I need to address?

[Killa]

So I have actually played 9 holes this week instead of just practicing. 

Took the driver out for every par 4 and 5 even though it wasn't the smart play. But it was a casual round and I need some valuable course time with my driver. Somehow by not practicing with it this week has added a slice to my driver - I'm thinking most of my troubles were because I forgot how I'm supposed to setup with the driver, especially the spine angle. 

I am currently hitting my irons really well, my putting was decent (had one 3 putt but it was on a blowup hole anyway). Chipping was hot and cold. I chipped pretty close with some long irons but overshot once with my 60 that is usually my most trusted club and also had 2 total shanks with it. One was from the fairway about 30 yards out, and the fairway was like hitting of off bouncy rubber, so because I didn't hit it 100% it bounced and I bladed it. Luckily for me it still ended up on the green. 

 

So I'm not going to be able to work on much this week, mostly "dry" 5-10 mins drills at home in the evening but hopefully I'll be able to practice on Friday and Saturday, because I'm playing a tournament on Sunday (same course I played 9 on Monday). 

 

I will be playing smart, possibly leaving the driver in the car or maybe hit it only on "safe" holes, so my goal is to break 100 and by as much as possible. I think a "fake" 100 should be easy as it's Stableford and I'm supposed to pick the ball up on any hole I do a quadruple on. 

 

My strategy is to play for par on all par 3's, play for single on all par 4s and play for double on all par 5s. In an ideal round that would leave me with a 90, so I still got 10 shots to "waste" and break the 100. A round like that will also heavily influence my HCP. It will only be my 2nd ever 18 hole round. 

Edited May 17, 2017 by Killa

[Killa]

Pro told me I'm way too bent over so I followed his advice today 

 

also worked on keeping my head still and shallowing my downswing (and steepening the upswing) 

 

I'm seeing progress :)

 

[Killa]

Played my first tournament today. Second ever 18 holes. Won the 36-54 HCP category with 42 net points (had 8 gross points). 

So my first 9 started shaky but I managed to play 50 with 2 pars and 1 single with my only triple coming on a par 3 that I went into deep rough with my first shot and then 3 putted. Had 3 GIR on OUT. 

Then the second 9 I though I would do fine but stamina got the best of me and from the 13th hole on we had a ranger on our backs that we didn't play fast enough even though we had no one waiting for us (had a big gap behind us) So that threw me off quite a bit especially as he was parked 10 yards away from me for 4 or 5 shots... 

Had 5 3 putts but these greens were probably the fastest around here by a mile and they kept getting faster as the sun was burning down. My lag putting was pretty good but my finishing left to be desired. 

[boogielicious]

19 hours ago, Killa said:

Played my first tournament today. Second ever 18 holes. Won the 36-54 HCP category with 42 net points (had 8 gross points). 

So my first 9 started shaky but I managed to play 50 with 2 pars and 1 single with my only triple coming on a par 3 that I went into deep rough with my first shot and then 3 putted. Had 3 GIR on OUT. 

Then the second 9 I though I would do fine but stamina got the best of me and from the 13th hole on we had a ranger on our backs that we didn't play fast enough even though we had no one waiting for us (had a big gap behind us) So that threw me off quite a bit especially as he was parked 10 yards away from me for 4 or 5 shots... 

Had 5 3 putts but these greens were probably the fastest around here by a mile and they kept getting faster as the sun was burning down. My lag putting was pretty good but my finishing left to be desired. 

Read more  

[Killa]

Played another course for the first time (9 holes). 

 

It's a great hilly course, beautiful. Shot a 49 but I was really uncomfortable on the first 2 holes (felt really rushed by the couple that started behind me - they started 5 minutes early). Then I got more comfortable as I pulled ahead. 

And then I rediscovered key #2. So my modification to the 5SKs for now is #1 steady head, #2 don't overdo on the backswing - I actually feel like a 3/4 swing but in reality it's somewhere in the 90% range. #3 weight forward #4 inline impact #5 don't go full blow. 

 

I'd have shot 47 if I didn't pull out the driver on the 9th hole, shanked the first one into water (decided to re-tee) and then made a 5 with the second ball (par4) so instead of 47 I got +1 stroke and 1 penalty and it was 49. 

Currently I'm working on keeping my head still but it's really hard when I'm swinging full swings. I can do it easily in front of the mirror though... Small steps.

[Killa]

So I managed to lower my hcp again by 4 points. I'm a bit disappointed by that, thought I'd lower it more. But can't play 9 lousy holes and expect that...

I played 9 great holes (3 par, 6 singles) one double and the rest was just crap (4 triples 4 ESC). 

I have been putting badly, I don't make enough intermediate putts (5-8" away). I have changed the putting technique again and I will have to make a video of it soon so I can work on it more. I hope I can get to the range this week to do some recording, as I have been working on Keys 1-3. Specifically key #3 is doing wonders to my swing. Reading LSW at the moment, had some AHA moments in the first 100 pages.

 

[Killa]

So after reading LSW I decided I really have to put in the work with my driver because right now I don't even pull it out except on the really wide open holes with no danger at all. 

 

Hit about 50 yesterday (and 30 3 woods) and 40 today. While I was pleased with the intended results (fading the ball about 250-270 yards with a series of 10 in a row going straight at the target) the video shows a different story. Especially the head on videos.

 

Had the time to take a couple of vids. 

So focusing on a few things with slow repetitions between hits - need to practice slower but I'm a bit strung for time and I rush it a bit instead of just hitting fewer balls and being more deliberate -

1. weight pretty much even on the backswing, about 55% on the back leg (this was an aha moment from LSW)

2. Keeping the head steady - while my head feels pretty steady it shows I move it way too much - especially on the head on video - on the DTL it looks decent but I think I start raising it too soon - am I right? This is something I keep working at but fail to do it at real speed. When I am working without a ball with a mirror I can keep it steady, but as soon as I place a ball at my feet I go 2-3" back on my backsing...

3. Weight forward at impact - I think this was a key for improving my impacts with all clubs and I thing it's the key I'm closest to mastering - a pressure plate might tell me otherwise though...

4. Swinging up at the ball - I started really hitting nice drives when I chose a specific point on the ball where I want to strike it the point is under the midpoint and a bit further away from me - this should in theory result in a negative path and positve AoA  

5. Nice extension through the impact and follow through

I am basically working on all 5 keys, maybe I should concentrate on one at a time for faster progress though?

 

I'll be thankful for any input.

 

 

[Killa]

Played 9 holes today. Had 2 great shots and 50 bad ones. Ok maybe not 50, because I holed some nice putts but 40 would be somewhere right). 

I could feel that I have been working on driver and 3 wood for the past 2 days and basically nothing else. So the first hole is a short 275 par 4, but you have a blind shot to the green and it has water behind it. So I nailed my 3 wood 225 yards and left me about 60 to the pin and I pitched my gap wedge to about 5" with a lucky bounce. Made my first birdie so I was up to a great start. 

But then on the next tee shot I needed my 5 iron to carry 160 to a green 185 away. Duffed it and hit the pond. Followed it up with a flyer 150 yard pitching wedge over the green, and another flyer with my 60º wedge 70 yards with a 1/2 stroke (no I didn't blade it). 

Then came the only par 5 and I really gunned my driver. Went 255 yards and it plays about 10-15 yards uphill. And that was about it. Only had one more par, and a single, but that was it. I was really struggling with iron play, because I didn't put the practice in, even though I hit them solidly on the range warming up. 

 

I'll need to develop a practice routine, that will cover all aspects of the game, but hard to do in 1 hour blocks...

[klineka]

9 minutes ago, Killa said:

I'll need to develop a practice routine, that will cover all aspects of the game, but hard to do in 1 hour blocks...

I would pick the area you are the weakest at, and devote the most amount of time there, dont try to practice all aspects of your game in 1 hour. I typically have 3 different types of practice sessions, short game, where 75% of my range balls are 9 irons or lower, I work on flighting the ball, distance control, etc. my short game sessions are usually a smaller bucket of balls (40 or so) followed by a good amount of time at the chipping/pitching/bunker area, and occasionally I'll do a little bit of putting. I also do long game sessions, mainly long irons and woods/driver. Then I will have a simulated round type practice session where I visualize holes in my head and hit shots based on that. Example I will start with a driver, then hit a 7 iron, then a chip. Then I'd hit a 3 wood and a wedge, etc etc simulating the varying club selection I would face on the course. 

My chipping and pitching is the worst aspect of my game right now, so I try to do 2 short game sessions for every 1 long game/simulated game sessions I do.

Focus on one small aspect/area of your game at a time and keep checking them off the list as you improve.

[Killa]

45 minutes ago, klineka said:

I would pick the area you are the weakest at, and devote the most amount of time there, dont try to practice all aspects of your game in 1 hour. I typically have 3 different types of practice sessions, short game, where 75% of my range balls are 9 irons or lower, I work on flighting the ball, distance control, etc. my short game sessions are usually a smaller bucket of balls (40 or so) followed by a good amount of time at the chipping/pitching/bunker area, and occasionally I'll do a little bit of putting. I also do long game sessions, mainly long irons and woods/driver. Then I will have a simulated round type practice session where I visualize holes in my head and hit shots based on that. Example I will start with a driver, then hit a 7 iron, then a chip. Then I'd hit a 3 wood and a wedge, etc etc simulating the varying club selection I would face on the course. 

My chipping and pitching is the worst aspect of my game right now, so I try to do 2 short game sessions for every 1 long game/simulated game sessions I do.

Focus on one small aspect/area of your game at a time and keep checking them off the list as you improve.

Yeah I actually do that, but after reading LSW (and by analyzing my rounds) I know that if I have to devote most of my time (at this moment) to my driver, 3 wood and long irons. I have been practicing a lot of short game in the past (last week I played a -1 9 hole round at my local par 3 course that has holes from 70-160 yards). But all tee shots are off a mat there (which should't matter since all my tee shots on 18 hole courses are from tees anyway) so I'm pretty good with my short game (for a 36 hcp). 

Thing is that I don't have time to practice a lot so this weekend it was driver and 3 wood and today I managed to play 9 holes. And scoring wasn't the first thing that I cared about in this round but rather to use all clubs in my bag, because if I just want to shoot the lowest possible score (for me) I just need my 5,7,9,P,G,S,L and putter. But to ever break 80 I need my driver. 

But since my driver swing (or hit) and setup is so different than my iron setup and swing I think I'll have to incorporate my 5 and 7 irons (or maybe just the 5) into my driving sessions as the 5 iron is the club I will hit from the tee on narrow fairways - I only got a cheap Dunlop hybrid that I can't hit for the life of me, my guess is that the shaft is way too soft and it just flops around. :) 

 

[Killa]

 

 

Pasted the wrong clips above. It's hard to shoot in the sun when the screen is glaring. I need to set up closer, but still, the main things are visible.

[Killa]

So I have been thinking about my backswing and how to steepen it, and I looked at Brooks Koepka in slow mo, that has been posted in another topic.

And I realized, that my problem is that I have always thought that my upper arm and torso need to be connected. That's why there is no way I can get so steep as the pros, as I would literally need to be bent over 90º to rotate that way.

So I think that by simply raising my arm on the backswing I will get the steeper backswing. I don't think flattening the downswing will be a problem for me. 

[Killa]

I was working at the range today, just one bucket but took almost an hour. 7 iron and driver. 

Working on Key #1. It's really hard for me to keep my head still, but with a really slow backswing I can do it. Much easier to do with the irons than with the driver. 

Also worked on Key #3 and on steepening my backswing. I only took face on videos so it's not as visible, but I could see some improvement (I could see I was not coming over the top when I did it right). 

Key #3 is just the opposite from key #1. Much easier with the driver as I have the ball setup more forward. If I don't really concentrate I get a bit flippy with my irons. It's getting better though. 

Keys #2, #3 and #4 are much easier for me than key #1. If I am working in front of a mirror (watching my reflection directly) I can keep my head perfectly still, but as soon as I am looking down I go back on the backswing and up on my downswing. 

 

Anyone got a good key #1 drill for me? @iacas @mvmac