My Swing (Killa)

[Killa]

Played 18 today. 6600 yards, scorching hot. We played match play 2v2 and thing is I get distracted too easily. I started with 3 bogeys and a par which should be a great start but we were the maximum 8 points down after them so it kinda got in my head that I’m not playing good (in reality the other pair played lights out). 
 

Shot a total of 94 with one lost ball where the group behind us pissed me off and I shanked my 7 iron in very deep rough and instead of watching the ball I was looking back at them. 
 

Did hit some monster drives of 306 and 312 yards total. 38 putts (very fast greens and some very long first putts from GIRs)

[Killa]

Played two more times and was the first time I really should’ve broken 90. Shot 92, I’ll only say one thing about the round - started with 9 on the par 4 first hole where my perfectly struck pitching wedge flew 10 yards over the green, got an unlucky bounce and ended near a tree stump. 2 airballs later I finally took an unplayable. Anyway...

Continued to work on the hip rotation and the chair drill really helped with that. So seeing some big progress there pic 1 from November last year and pic 2 from this week, I today added a drill/feeling of stopping the flip. I’m not flipping per se (the hands are still in line with the shaft at impact), but I still flip it after the impact. 
 

So this was earlier today:

 

I have been working on the right elbow for a long time but today it clicked when I talked for 15 mins with my pro-to-be friend. I did feel like I’m pulling my elbow towards my torso on the downswing but in addition to that I was extending the right hand way too early. Instead of doing it after impact I did it much earlier. So this was only after about 5 swings after I realized that. The feeling is that I’m keeping my elbow at the same bend angle as on the top of the backswing for the whole swing (that obviously doesn’t happen, but the improvement was visible in the first few swings)  

 

 

[Killa]

So played in a tournament on Thursday for the first time in over a year. A new course on which I got my ass handed to me. Shot 107, but we pretty much all sucked that day. 
 

The course is super hard and even harder when you don’t know it. For example there is a par 4 where you play your first shot to a plateau and then your second over a ravine to an elevated green. So we lasered the group in front of us at 195 yards. So I striped my 5 iron exactly where I wanted it. When we came up we saw that there was another 30-40 yards of the fairway in front of where my ball was. So I had a 180 yard shot left into the green instead of a 140 yard one. 

 

Another is the hardest hole (hcp 1) on the course. And it’s a 285 yard par 4. You know you’re in for a treat when a 285 yard par 4 is the toughest hole on the course. You have to hit your tee shot to a landing zone about as big as a postcard, thing is, the post card is 220 away. So I hit my 4 iron to the left side and instead of it fading it didn’t start to turn and caught some high branches and I was 60 yards short. And then it just went downhill from there....

 

nevermind, I’m now working on my shoulder turn to be more perpendicular to my spine angle. I tend to dip my left shoulder way too much. 

[Killa]

So all the work I’ve been putting in doing drills at home and learning about the proper movements seems to finally be showing some results. 
 

I have learned today that if your hip and shoulder turn on the backswing are correct than the shallowing of the club happens automatically. I made absolutely no effort to shallow the club on these swings, the only thought was the “correct” hip loading in the backswing and transition. I would still like to open my hips more at impact and I’d like a bit more of forward shaft lean as a result of that, but I can see the early extension and chicken wing to slowly disappear. 
 

For anyone who wants to look more into the proper hip turn and loading check out the videos of Athletic Motion Golf. I’m a very visual person and their skeleton videos really help me understand what the good players are doing.  
 

From the start of October I’m changing my workweek to only 4 days working being off on Tuesdays. So that should hopefully result in golf 2-3 times per month. 

[Killa]

So... covid happened and home schooling came with it and the 2-3 times a month golfing became 0 times a month golfing. 
 

Anyway. We did a change with my swing using the DNA swing “method” as used by Tischler and others. The main change is in my right elbow. I set it back in the backswing and keep it there down to impact in the side/cover position. Meaning keeping the right hand in front of my right elbow at all times. More like Stenson, much less (or the opposite of) DJ. 

this is the swing from early December and many things improved from there but no videos as they are pretty poorly lighted. Will try to get some this month.

There are many things that I have “incorporated” or at least tried to in the past that made my progression slower IMO. The worst being “weight forward”. We don’t need weight forward in the golf swing, we need force forward. While some people understand weight forward correctly and in their mind it translates to force forward I have personally tried to move my weight forward for the past 2-3 years. Now that I “understand” that I can stop sliding excessively and also that I understand the hip turn more. The hip turn is a result of the golf swing and not the other way around. The best explanation I heard was - back swing try to get your right hip as far back as possible (depth) and on the downswing try to get your left hip as far back as possible - so the extension of the left leg creates the rotation and not the rotation causing the extension of the left leg. By forcing rotation you “spin out” and end up with some sort of early extension. 
 

So by changing the right elbow I got rid of the push slice that was my worst miss, and it especially came into play with the longer clubs 4i,2i,3w and D. Now it looks like I completely eliminated that and my worst miss is a push when the ball doesn’t draw.

So that are my main 2 projects (force transfer and right elbow) till March/April when most of the courses will be available for regular play. If I am able to play regularly I feel like low 80s or even breaking 80 is doable this season.

[Killa]

Did a quick Trackman session yesterday. Nearly wanted to throw away my clubs. Basically we were trying to get my friend to 120mph with the driver. He started at about 113 and after a few swings and some tweaks to his motion (not his swing) we got him to 119,5. Maybe 120 next time. 
 

Now to my problem - I thought I gained speed and distance in the past year since my last Trackman session. And on the course it shows. I mean my longest total drive was 312 yards. But when I hit driver on Trackman my fastest speed was 105 and it depleted me so badly I almost threw it away 🙂 

But then my friend/pro told me to hit some 7 irons. Started with 83. A couple of swings later I was up to 89. Then we were just playing around with some shafts (it’s also a Ping fitting center) and he gave me a whacky graphite shaft and the first swing with that shaft was 93, the second was almost 94. Then we switched back to iron shafts and I got up to 92. Then back to my irons and it was hovering around that 92 area. So that just confirmed to me what my friend/pro was telling me all along - I just can’t hit my driver. Because I should be over 110 with my on course swing with the driver if I’m swinging my 7 iron in the 90 range. But we will continue to work on my irons before we take on the driver. Slow and steady. 
 

And it could also be a bit of a gear issue. My king cobra f6+ - he was swinging 119 with Ping G410 and he could barely break 113 with mine. 

[Killa]

Finally managed to break 90 today and it was an 87. And that was an 87 with a quad   bogey, a triple bogey and 5 3 putts (and the 3 putts weren’t on the quad/triple holes) 

The swing changes really start to take effect in game as well. Managed to slow down my backswing and thus getting a good tempo. 
 

I also had an eagle putt on 18 from about 5 meters and it lipped out to about a foot, would be my first ever eagle but ended up being a tap in birdie. 
 

I have gained more distance off the tee so my last drive was over 300 yards. (downhill par 5, it’s always nice when you are hitting 6irons into your par 5s)
 

The triple bogey came on the hcp 1 hole and it was a series of bad events. My drive went into the rough but I still was hitting a 5 iron, the ball sat on piles of mowed grass and it literally went undeneath it so the ball flew 60 yards in height and distance. Then I quickly proceeded to shank an 8 iron back into the mown grass and that ended with very poor strike as well. So I hit my 5th on the green and 2 putted. 
 

My quad came 2 holes after when on a tight par 5 that has 2 bends I hit 5 iron off the tee and I pulled left into some shrubs. I took my medicine, punched out about 40 yards down the fairway and then wanted to lay up with my 7 iron as the fairway is severely tilted and the ball was below my feet. I then hit a very poor shot towards OB into the same shrubs. And then came the shot that really almost threw me off my game completely. I wanted to take my medicine again and punch out but the twigs caught my club weirdly and I hit a tree and the ball bounced OB... dropped a ball and punced out in anger about 50 yards down the fairway. So I was lying 6 already. Then I managed to calm down and hit my pitching wedge to about 3 meters. Just missed the putt for triple. But what I’m most proud of is that after this quad bogey when I felt like I just ruined a really good round I proceeded to shoot par/bogey/birdie on the final 3 holes. So mentally that was a huge milestone. 

Edited March 23, 2021 by Killa

[Killa]

Played again yesterday and even though the whole round was pretty bad, shot about a 95 with a lot of mental errors and bad chipps and putts. The course was still set up from the national tour that was played past weekend and all the pins were tucked into corners like the Masters on Sunday and much faster on the stimp as well. 
 

But again I finished with a tap in birdie on the 18, again a par 5 (different course). It’s a short par 5 450 yards but the teebox is 40 yards below the bunkers you see on the pictures and then the fairway goes down to the green. So had 145ih in to the pin and hit my 8 iron just right of it to about 5 yards. Then hit the put to tap in distance for birdie so still waiting for my first eagle. But as my driver swing keeps improving a lot of the par 5s become reachable so it’s just a matter of time. 
 

After the round I went to the range with my playing partner and worked on our swings. After a couple of shots my driver got dialed in and I was like a robot. Straight arrow after straight arrow, carrying about 250y (the net is at 220 and I was hitting it in the top half). Tried his g400 that had a regular flex shaft and it went the same. Launched a bit too high because it’s at 12°. Will get fit for a g425 max in April with a stiff shaft. Was hitting my coaches g410 with an xstiff shaft a couple of weeks back and it also went very far and straight. So I’ll probably still go with a stiff shaft because it’s much less tiring. Also in the 9° head because it can go +-1,5°. 

[Killa]

Set up a net in my backyard for the first time today. And immediately I did somewhat of a breakthrough. Shallowed the shaft and made a great turn, no flip, no early extension hitting foam balls. I was so excited that I drove to the nearby driving range to test it out. And there was no way I could repeat it. I thought the only problem would be to repeat a practice swing but obviously a foam ball is like a practice swing in my head as well even though I was hitting the foam balls great. I will continue to work with foam balls though because if I can ingrain the moves they will have to translate to hitting real balls sooner or later...

[Killa]

Made some mental breakthroughs 2 days ago swinging a club in my living room. Realized for the first time where the release happens. And my chicken wing is gone. Will need a while to incorporate that into my on course swing as my miss started to change from slice to hook even before doing this. Now the slice is gone completely, can get a slight push but the real miss is a bad hook. 

Also realized today that I can’t do this on my pitch shots as it’s much harder to control direction of partial shots.

On the game side I expect to break 80 this year on an easier course. One round with no penalty shots should do it as my chiping and putting have improved vastly, so more up and downs, less 3 putts and more longer putts (over 8”) hit than in the past. 

 

[Killa]

Also in the meantime I have played my first tournament in the past year and won my club championship in the net Stableford group. Don’t know what my hcp is at the moment but I have played -13 to my 27 index. I have shot +1 on the first 9, that should’ve been 0 as I was in a greenside bunker on a par 5 8th with my 2nd and got it to about 4” but was overthinking the putt and pulled it for a tap in par. 

[iacas]

Congrats! How does one over-think a 4” putt?

Does your club use the WHS?

[Killa]

19 hours ago, iacas said:

Congrats! How does one over-think a 4” putt?

Does your club use the WHS?

Thanks. Lined my putt up right edge and when I went to stand over the ball it looked straight so I pulled even further left than intended. If I just stood back and confirmed my read that would be an easy roll. 
 

We do use the WHS but we can’t enter our scores ourselves, and we have to pay if we want them entered (and you need to declare before the round that you will be playing for hcp purposes and you need a below 18 capper with you to mark your scorecard). I did finally manage to call our golf association and they reset my password so my official hi has now dropped to 22,7, but I only have 10 official rounds recorded in the 4 years I’ve been playing. If I just add the two last times I was out with my friends it would probably drop to around 15. 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Killa

[Killa]

Played again today, a course I played a couple of times before and broke 90 easily. Shot 86 with 2x ob and one water hazard. The work that I put in the last year really shows and I feel that on the right course on the right day I could break 80 even this year. It probably won’t happen but that’s the goal for next season. 
 

I see that I must work on 100 meters and in. So on one of the hardest holes which is a 440 yard par 4 I drove the ball over 310 and then had a pitching wedge in. It was a bit of an awkward stance but I was just left of the green. Almost chipped in but then messed up the comeback putt and instead of an easy par I made a bogey. 
 

Maybe I’m being too hard on myself looking at the tour averages but I feel like that’s one area of the game I need to clean up - no 3 putts and more up and downs. And I really need to put more work / decide on how I want to pitch and then really let that sink in and finally get the distances for all 4 wedges for 1/2, 3/4 and full swings printed out and stick them on the clubs. 

[Killa]

So this is my new “top” of the backswing. 
 

From the hands position and the shaft position I feel like this is somewhere I really like to end up. The shaft is pointing much more towards the target and that’s something that seems to suit my physiology. I still need to get my hips deeper to make sure I can then push back and rotate more through the swing but that’s another element to work on. This position is definitely a position of power for me. The swing caddy might not be the best tool to hone in your carry distances but as I tested it against Trackman the ball speed is almost always very close (+- 1mph) so that’s the data I’m looking at and today I was getting close to 170 mph ball speed with my driver. I will be working on the speed, my general strenght and losing weight over the winter and I also decided that this winter I will hopefully be able to use the trackman enough to really hone in my pitching from the impact/spin control/carry distance. I will be doing this until the end of the season as well but I will dedicate winter for another leap like I did this year and hopefully I’ll be breaking 80 regularly next season (hoping to break it once this season but it might be too optimistic). 

[Killa]

So last weekend something clicked practicing in front of the mirror and I just felt how to sequence and accelerate the club correctly to get it to shallow. I was working on this semi succesfully for the past couple of years but now it fell into place. I was trying to get it to do passively but you need to add force to the club head if you want it to move a certain way. I was throwing it back behind me a lot with a lot of success this season but it was too steep still and if I didn’t throw it behind me enough, especially with the long clubs I would still come into impact with an open face that would then result in a push slice. Now I everything I hit is a draw. I still need to control it better as I am starting the ball too much directly at the target so it curves left too much for my taste, but that’s something that we will work on over the winter. I am also planning to get my max driver clubhead speed to around 125 if I can hit the gym enough I might try for 130 but that might be a long shot. 
 

So here are a couple of videos from today. I still got some major things to work on but for the next few weeks I will focus on the drop and shallow to really sink in. 
 

 

[iacas]

You're too shallow/laid off left, so you steepen it on the right:

I would not continue down that road.

4 hours ago, Killa said:

I still got some major things to work on but for the next few weeks I will focus on the drop and shallow to really sink in. 

You're dropping and steepening.

[Killa]

Yes but that is a backswing fault. I can correct that in a couple of swings as I was working on that in the past. I was looking at your swing videos for comparison and I’m coming down much more shallow. 
 

this would be an earlier example