My Swing (Double Par)

[Double Par]

 

I've been Playing Golf for: 10 years or so. I recently started to take it more seriously. I received three lessons last year.
My current handicap index or average score is: 22 handicap.
My typical ball flight is: 3w I slice and occasionally hit a fades.

Long Irons I tend to fade  mid and short Irons I hit fairly straight
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Slice with my 3wood. I would like to try and get my ball to draw slightly.

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Videos: 

 

This is my 3W. The shot I managed to record was a decent shot and wouldn't be posting if this was the result of 80% or more of my shots

 

 

This is my 8 Iron

 

 

I believe this is my 9 Iron. After watching this, I believe the ball is a little to far back in my stance.

 

My biggest thing I would like to take away from this post is some direction on what I should be trying to work on. I have been trying to get out to the range at least twice a week with upwards up to 4. I have already written this years league off, I am not even in contention for to many wins. So I have been trying to incorporate good technique to shots on the course.  This year I have been trying not to have my arms move my shoulders. I am also trying to slow down my backswing, when I take a slow steady backswing good things tend to happen for me. I have recently read a post about flaring my feet out to help with my knees moving to much, that is something that was really bad last year.

With my 3wood I have noticed that if I center my ball position more (less forward in my stance) my slice seems to be a lot less and resemble a fade. I am also not the biggest terminology type of guy, so please respond with simple terms. If not, no big deal, I guess that's what they made the internet for.

[iacas]

If you pause the face-on video at A7 (impact) you'll see that your weight isn't forward very much at all.

Key #2 in 5SK is to have 85-95% of your weight forward at impact.

[Double Par]

Thank you for the input. I will search the internet for some good drills and practice those while I am at the range next. 

 

I dont know why, but I have it in my head that my shoulder turn on backswing and downswing are not where they are supposed to be, i.e correct plane.  Do you see any truth to this or is this all in my head? 

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, Double Par said:

Thank you for the input. I will search the internet for some good drills and practice those while I am at the range next.

Lots of videos on getting your weight forward properly here…

Some good drills in there too.

[Double Par]

Went out last Thursday for my league night and tried to work on my hips. (Note, we only golf 9 on league night) the first 5 holes I was shooting boggy golf. I was extremely happy about that. The last four holes were terrible. Double boggy was my best score for final holes. 

The difference between those first five and last four, my drive. I don't use a driver because I never know where it's going to go. I use a three wood. 

My question is why can I hit my irons so well but my dives are so terrible. I am all over the place. Normally I am happy if I have one to two drives that are nice. Last night I thought I was going to shoot a personal record, and then the wheels fell off. Hit a bad drive, creates bad second shot, leads to swinging way to hard to try and catch up. 

Are there any tips for the driver that I could use. I have been hitting mid and short irons great lately and long are have been pretty good also. 

[Double Par]

I will be posting more swings with my three wood and also my hip movement with my shots. Any tips on the mental side of the game? I think my head gets in the way sometimes. 

[klineka]

On 6/24/2017 at 6:23 PM, Double Par said:

My question is why can I hit my irons so well but my dives are so terrible. I am all over the place. Normally I am happy if I have one to two drives that are nice. Last night I thought I was going to shoot a personal record, and then the wheels fell off. Hit a bad drive, creates bad second shot, leads to swinging way to hard to try and catch up. 

I am not comfortable enough to even attempt to help you with your golf swing, but I am more confident in the mental side of things, since you asked in post #6 for help on the mental side, I think I can help a bit. The sentence that I put in bold from your quote really sticks out to me. Lets say you are on a 400 yd par 4 and you hit a bad drive like you said. Maybe it only goes 150 yds and you are in the rough. That means with your next shot you still have 250 left to the flag. Instead of trying to hit a 3 wood and get on the green from there, hit something that will advance the ball and get you safely back into play, maybe 150 yds like a 7/8/9 iron (or whatever club 150 is for you). Now you are hitting your 3rd shot from 100 yds and in the middle of the fairway. Wedge on the green and 2 putt, or if you miss the green then a chip and 1 putt would leave you with a 5, pretty much guaranteeing the worst you would get is a 6. Many of the par 4s I play are even shorter than 400 yds, so if it was only 375 and your drive went 150, youd only have 225 left, itd only take a 2nd shot of 125 yds to get you to that 100 yd mark. 

I presented that scenario because you said in your league half of the round you were playing bogey golf, so I assume you have somewhat of an idea of a club you can consistently hit 150 yds. The point I am trying to make is dont let the bad drive dictate the quality of your next shot. Just because your drive was bad doesnt mean you automatically are going to card a double bogey or worse. Whether you are in the rough 100 yds from the tee box, or just drove it down the middle 300 yds, swinging too hard to try and catch up is hardly ever going to turn out the way you want it to. 

[Double Par]

7 hours ago, klineka said:

I am not comfortable enough to even attempt to help you with your golf swing, but I am more confident in the mental side of things, since you asked in post #6 for help on the mental side, I think I can help a bit. The sentence that I put in bold from your quote really sticks out to me. Lets say you are on a 400 yd par 4 and you hit a bad drive like you said. Maybe it only goes 150 yds and you are in the rough. That means with your next shot you still have 250 left to the flag. Instead of trying to hit a 3 wood and get on the green from there, hit something that will advance the ball and get you safely back into play, maybe 150 yds like a 7/8/9 iron (or whatever club 150 is for you). Now you are hitting your 3rd shot from 100 yds and in the middle of the fairway. Wedge on the green and 2 putt, or if you miss the green then a chip and 1 putt would leave you with a 5, pretty much guaranteeing the worst you would get is a 6. Many of the par 4s I play are even shorter than 400 yds, so if it was only 375 and your drive went 150, youd only have 225 left, itd only take a 2nd shot of 125 yds to get you to that 100 yd mark. 

I presented that scenario because you said in your league half of the round you were playing bogey golf, so I assume you have somewhat of an idea of a club you can consistently hit 150 yds. The point I am trying to make is dont let the bad drive dictate the quality of your next shot. Just because your drive was bad doesnt mean you automatically are going to card a double bogey or worse. Whether you are in the rough 100 yds from the tee box, or just drove it down the middle 300 yds, swinging too hard to try and catch up is hardly ever going to turn out the way you want it to. 

This is a great point. I know I fall into trying to make up that distance with one good Swing of the club and I just can't do it. Funny thing is that I have removed my driver from my bag completely to remove temptation during a round to try and hit a "good" shot with it. I use a 3 wood off the tee, it acts like my "driver". 

 

Another side of the mental segment is that is that there are holes where I have a bad drive and that seems to even throw off some of my iron game. Even when I am not trying to make up for it in one Swing. I seem to get sucked into a black hole with a bad drive and it progressively gets deeper and deeper. What can change mentally from the first couple of holes to the last? How can bad drives make the rest of your swings start to suffer? Maybe subconsciously I am over swinging to help make up that distance lost. Or make up for that drop I had to take because of an OB drive.