My Swing (Killa)

[Killa]

So this is my current swing. So on the backswing / top of the swing there is pretty much only one thing that I will change - I actually did it in front of the mirror already and it’s an easy fix is to do what’s in the attached picture. 
 

On the downswing I want to shallow a bit more and that will come with the improved rotation where I’m still lagging a bit behind and I tend to “flip” at the ball a bit. I’m having flip in parentheses because I don’t actually flip but I want more shaft lean on impact with my irons and a more negative AoA. 
 

So that’s this winters project. 

[Killa]

Ok so I was indoor again today. About 15 minutes putting and an hour of full swings. My plan is to work on my putting quite a bit this winter. It’s still possible to play but I’m busy at work so I might not get more than a couple of rounds in in the next two months. 
 

But this is my current swing at about 80%. Don’t know why but I cannot translate the same move at full power. I guess my sequencing is off then and I try to do too much with my hands too soon.  
 

I’m again having trouble to upload a slowmotion video to YouTube, but you can just change the playback speed to 0.25x in YouTube directly

 

[Killa]

Here is a correct video - straightened and slow motion

 

 

[iacas]

So what's the game like these days?

[Killa]

3 hours ago, iacas said:

So what's the game like these days?

Well it’s off season right now but last few times I guess I average about 95. 
 

When I hit my driver well I’m in the low 90s, when the driver is off I can slide over 100. 
 

Gamegolf says that vs a 10 hcp I lose 0.4 of a stroke off the tee, 5.6 on the approach 3.5 on the short game and 7 strokes on putting. 
 

And I feel that’s about right - the approach shots are decent but get difficult if I got a 6 iron or longer in my hand, 7 and down it should be a nGIR. Putting is atrocious. 
 

So for example last round - 420 yardish par 4. Hit my driver 287 yards, hit my 8 iron on to about 8 yards and 3 putt for bogey. Then hit my driver 230ish below a bush on a par 5, but still manage to bump out with my 3 wood about 180 yards. Hit a wedge 3 feet of the green and then chunk the chip and 3 putt for double...

 

So right now there are two ways for me to mess up the hole - 3 or even 4 putting, or that big driver slice like 220+ and OB. 

[Killa]

I have been working on my putting daily for the last two weeks or so. I think I have improved vastly. I hope it shows on the course. Because right now any putt under 10' seems makable, and before that I was sweating on 4 footers. It'll  be some time till I play on a real course though. 

In the meantime I got a birthday gift of 4 hours on a skytrack simulator. I used my first hour up yesterday. I have been working on my swing for the past month without hitting a ball outside. And I was pretty disappointed with the sky track results. I don't know if it was the indoor setup that was bugging me but the ball flights didn't feel right to me. The distances were probably accurate but I couldn't get a driver over 262 yards and over 100 mph swing speed. I think my top was 98. But that is how fast I was hitting about a year ago when I hit 5 drivers on a trackman. I feel like all the work I've put in over the last year didn't amount to much. 

 Another thing bugging me is how I'm so good and fast with a 7 iron (well it makes at least a bit of sense since I practice a lot with my 7 iron) and so far off with my driver while I feel I'm smashing it. 

If I look at the attached charts - I hit my 7 iron with 87 mph according to skytrack. So that's about as fast as the average tour player hits an 8 iron or 3 mph behind their average 7 iron. But when I look at the driver swing speed I'm 15 mph off the tour average. I mean I know I won't ever reach the PGA tour average swing speed but why is the discrepancy so high? I mean from the 87mph 7 iron I'd expect at least a 105 driver speed, why isn't that carrying over? 

On Monday I have arranged for an hour of Trackman (indoor). I know I can fully trust the Trackman numbers. So I will be hitting about 5 shots or so with every second club in my bag, just to get some readings. I'm currently not really interested in ball flight but what I do want to know are carry numbers for my PW, 9, 7, 4, 2 irons, 3 wood and driver. And I also want to know the AoA on these shots. Especially what +5% feels like on the driver. I think I am hitting up on the ball with the driver, but I will know on Monday. I also want to know the spin rate of my driver and I will tinker a bit with the adjustable settings just try to "fit myself". 

At the very least I'll get a feel for how accurate the Skytrack simulators are, because I still have 3 hours of their use remaining. 

Now the only problem I currently have is that the nearby golf centre is closed for "winter". And while I wanted to really put some time in into my short game, my chipping and pitching practice is non existent at the moment. I have come up with some drills that will help me tune in the short game, hopefully resulting into breaking 90 this spring and keep breaking 90 regularly in the fall. While I will continue working on my full swing I will now concentrate on my current weaknesses more - short game and putting, with my short game feeling worse than putting at the moment as I've put so much work into that already. I am pretty confident pitching (I'm confident standing over a ball from 30-120 yards, I will rarely be far from a nGIR at worst) I don't chip the ball near the pin enough, rarely get up and down, so that's my focus as soon as the outdoor facility opens. I have switched to a lot of bump and runs with my 8 iron over the last few rounds and I bring the ball much closer than with my lob wedge that was my favourite chipping club for a long time. I will also try out the "rule of 12", meaning using a different club for shots to get the ball rolling as soon as possible to different distances. 

I will post the trackman results on Monday and hopefully 4 videos - 7 iron and driver from both perspectives. 

 

[ncates00]

25 minutes ago, Killa said:

I have been working on my putting daily for the last two weeks or so. I think I have improved vastly. I hope it shows on the course. Because right now any putt under 10' seems makable, and before that I was sweating on 4 footers. It'll  be some time till I play on a real course though. 

 

In the meantime I got a birthday gift of 4 hours on a skytrack simulator. I used my first hour up yesterday. I have been working on my swing for the past month without hitting a ball outside. And I was pretty disappointed with the sky track results. I don't know if it was the indoor setup that was bugging me but the ball flights didn't feel right to me. The distances were probably accurate but I couldn't get a driver over 262 yards and over 100 mph swing speed. I think my top was 98. But that is how fast I was hitting about a year ago when I hit 5 drivers on a trackman. I feel like all the work I've put in over the last year didn't amount to much. 

 

 Another thing bugging me is how I'm so good and fast with a 7 iron (well it makes at least a bit of sense since I practice a lot with my 7 iron) and so far off with my driver while I feel I'm smashing it. 

 

If I look at the attached charts - I hit my 7 iron with 87 mph according to skytrack. So that's about as fast as the average tour player hits an 8 iron or 3 mph behind their average 7 iron. But when I look at the driver swing speed I'm 15 mph off the tour average. I mean I know I won't ever reach the PGA tour average swing speed but why is the discrepancy so high? I mean from the 87mph 7 iron I'd expect at least a 105 driver speed, why isn't that carrying over? 

 

On Monday I have arranged for an hour of Trackman (indoor). I know I can fully trust the Trackman numbers. So I will be hitting about 5 shots or so with every second club in my bag, just to get some readings. I'm currently not really interested in ball flight but what I do want to know are carry numbers for my PW, 9, 7, 4, 2 irons, 3 wood and driver. And I also want to know the AoA on these shots. Especially what +5% feels like on the driver. I think I am hitting up on the ball with the driver, but I will know on Monday. I also want to know the spin rate of my driver and I will tinker a bit with the adjustable settings just try to "fit myself". 

 

At the very least I'll get a feel for how accurate the Skytrack simulators are, because I still have 3 hours of their use remaining. 

 

 

Now the only problem I currently have is that the nearby golf centre is closed for "winter". And while I wanted to really put some time in into my short game, my chipping and pitching practice is non existent at the moment. I have come up with some drills that will help me tune in the short game, hopefully resulting into breaking 90 this spring and keep breaking 90 regularly in the fall. While I will continue working on my full swing I will now concentrate on my current weaknesses more - short game and putting, with my short game feeling worse than putting at the moment as I've put so much work into that already. I am pretty confident pitching (I'm confident standing over a ball from 30-120 yards, I will rarely be far from a nGIR at worst) I don't chip the ball near the pin enough, rarely get up and down, so that's my focus as soon as the outdoor facility opens. I have switched to a lot of bump and runs with my 8 iron over the last few rounds and I bring the ball much closer than with my lob wedge that was my favourite chipping club for a long time. I will also try out the "rule of 12", meaning using a different club for shots to get the ball rolling as soon as possible to different distances. 

 

I will post the trackman results on Monday and hopefully 4 videos - 7 iron and driver from both perspectives. 

I'd focus in on ball speed because different units measure club head speed differently and at different points in the swing.  Most all units are pretty good with ball speed though.  Further, it's a bit more informative because club head speed only tells you how fast you swung the club, whereas ball speed tells you what result you produced.  Do you know what ball speed you were getting with driver and 7i?  One tip I'll give with ball speed would be to get as fast as you can, but don't try to achieve it by hitting pulls or over draws.  Try to get really fast ball speeds with a good neutral flight.  Trap draws give seductively high ball speeds but are no good your game.

Edited February 5, 2020 by ncates00

[Killa]

8 hours ago, ncates00 said:

I'd focus in on ball speed because different units measure club head speed differently and at different points in the swing.  Most all units are pretty good with ball speed though.  Further, it's a bit more informative because club head speed only tells you how fast you swung the club, whereas ball speed tells you what result you produced.  Do you know what ball speed you were getting with driver and 7i?  One tip I'll give with ball speed would be to get as fast as you can, but don't try to achieve it by hitting pulls or over draws.  Try to get really fast ball speeds with a good neutral flight.  Trap draws give seductively high ball speeds but are no good your game.

[ncates00]

On 2/6/2020 at 1:19 AM, Killa said:

Could be strike-related.  143 mph ball speed with driver isn't very high.  My ball speed with my 7i is similar to yours (I have a traditional loft iron set), but my driver ball speed is typically in the 150s mph.  Or maybe you've got something going on in your swing that hinders your speed with driver.

Looks like pretty good face control because you have a fairly neutral flight.  Love the draw with irons and fade with driver.  I do the same.  Nice.

Edited February 7, 2020 by ncates00

[Killa]

1 hour ago, ncates00 said:

Could be strike-related.  143 mph ball speed with driver isn't very high.  My ball speed with my 7i is similar to yours (I have a traditional loft iron set), but my driver ball speed is typically in the 150s mph.  Or maybe you've got something going on in your swing that hinders your speed with driver.

Looks like pretty good face control because you have a fairly neutral flight.  Love the draw with irons and fade with driver.  I do the same.  Nice.

 

I’ll see on Monday when I’ll be using a Trackman. It could also be that I was supposed to set the ball up differently for the driver on the Skytrack. 
 

 

[ncates00]

2 minutes ago, Killa said:

 

I’ll see on Monday when I’ll be using a Trackman. It could also be that I was supposed to set the ball up differently for the driver on the Skytrack. 
 

 

Maybe.  I dunno.  I don't know much about skytrak.  I don't see why it would require any thing different since they're both radar-based machines.  I know on my gc2, with driver because of the tee, you have to either push the gc2 back a little or tee the ball up further away on the mat.  But that's just because the ball is teed up and the gc2 has a "field of vision" the ball has to be within.  

[Killa]

Ok so I’ve been hitting on a Trackman today. I got a bit lost with what I wanted to do but I hit plenty of 7 irons and drivers. 
 

And as expected the Skytrack numbers were off. 
 

My average driver swingspeed was 102,5mph with the highest being around 105. 
 

My AoA average was 1,9 with some being as high as 3,9 and some being as low as -0,5.  

Average carry was 235 with a under 200 and some over 255 (this was just 10 shots data). Average total was 260, longest was 282. Smash factor was still a bit low, average of 1,40, highest 1,46. 
 

The 7 iron was interesting as well. Swing speed was 86mph average with some up to 89. AoA was -4,3 on average. Club path was 1,5 average and face to path was 0,4 on average. Average carry was 152, longest was 178. Total was 165 average 194 longest. 

[Killa]

Ok so back to putting - working on my full swing daily by a bit of thinking and small motion repetitions without a ball and usually Mondays for about 1,5 hours indoor. Hopefully I will be able to start working on my short game soon, maybe I’ll be able to do it for 30-45 mins tomorrow if the sun comes out. 
 

So this is my putting setup, the hill at the end easily adds about 2” to the distance in strength as it’s pretty steep. I work on the same things as before, tempo and rhythm while the mat and floor aid as alignment aids so I get the beat down as well. The read will have to wait till the practice greens open. 
 

I have tried lowering the BPM to 90 and 80 but after my discussion with @iacas in the Don’t accelerate through the ball while putting I finally got the mindset right and I feel that 100BPM currently works best for me. 
 

After I hit at least 10 in a row from 6” (which is much faster now than when I started this, sometimes I actually hit 10 in a row from the start) I usually continue for 5-10 minutes more working on the tempo and the feel of a smooth stroke without acceleration while keeping the rhythm 2:1. And then I move back 6 more feet and don’t stop till I hit 3 in a row. It’s pretty hard with the hardwood floor but that’s the best I can do at home. 

As for the full swing I had a quick chat with our pro and the shallowing of the club really left me at a disadvantage, because I am doing it the wrong way. My trail elbow gets in front of my right hip too much and then I get stuck, and I have a very open face very long into the downswing so when my timing is just a bit off it results in a 40yard slice.  I will try to get my downswing a bit steeper again while still coming from the inside  

 

[iacas]

I'd like to see video of your 100 BPM stroke. That's incredibly high. Brandt Snedeker is north of 110, so it's not like it can't work. It's just really pretty high.

I also feel like maybe you got there because you liked the math and the number, not because that's the tempo that felt the best to you.

[Killa]

20 hours ago, iacas said:

I'd like to see video of your 100 BPM stroke. That's incredibly high. Brandt Snedeker is north of 110, so it's not like it can't work. It's just really pretty high.

I also feel like maybe you got there because you liked the math and the number, not because that's the tempo that felt the best to you.

Here is a video. Can’t get a better framing at the house but will probably(hopefully) be able to get me fully into the frame on Monday if this isn’t good enough. @iacas

 

 

 

[ncates00]

On 2/10/2020 at 11:43 AM, Killa said:

And as expected the Skytrack numbers were off. 

Might've just been the day.  People fluctuate, particularly amateurs like us.  Just because you saw different numbers on different days doesn't evince that the skytrak was wrong.

How did the ball speed numbers stack up on Trackman?  You showed a driver speed of 143 mph and a 7i ball speed of 115 on single shots respectively on the Skytrak previously. 

[Killa]

1 hour ago, ncates00 said:

Might've just been the day.  People fluctuate, particularly amateurs like us.  Just because you saw different numbers on different days doesn't evince that the skytrak was wrong.

How did the ball speed numbers stack up on Trackman?  You showed a driver speed of 143 mph and a 7i ball speed of 115 on single shots respectively on the Skytrak previously. 

Up to 152 on driver and 118 on 7 iron. So I’d say it was pretty spot on with the 7 iron and driver was off. I think I’ll be able to get another hour of the Skytrack in on Tuesday after work and I’ll hit 10 good shots with each club just to get a good average out. 

[ncates00]

23 minutes ago, Killa said:

Up to

Be careful with this.

 

23 minutes ago, Killa said:

get a good average

This is to what I am referring.  I call it "reasonably well-struck shots."  Don't base things off your maxes; go with a reasonable average.  Truth is, you don't always hit, in your case, the 152 mph ball speed with driver or a 118 mph 7i.  Often, you will get the 143 mph driver.  Of course, you should always strive to get the 152 (and higher).  However, don't base your expectations or yardage book on your perfect shots--that's a good way to disappoint yourself and shoot higher scores.  Nothing like standing over a par 3 tee shot over water and you know you can hit 118 mph ball speed with a 7i to get your 165 yard carry.  After a reasonably well struck shot, you come up short and blow up the hole.  It's just not reasonable to approach the game basing expectations off your perfect shots.  On TV, you'll hear even the pros base their yardages on reasonable shots--their level of reasonableness is just higher because they are pros.  You'll hear a pro talk about how they got around the course and only hit a couple of shots, if that, perfectly--where they absolutely flushed it.  I heard Tiger tell Joey as soon as he hit an approach shot something to the effect of "oh no, Joey, I flushed it--it's over the back."