My Swing (klineka)

[klineka]

I've been Playing Golf for: On and off for about 10 years, have been taking it more serious for the past 2 years
My current handicap index or average score is: 12 ish, typically low-mid 80s
My typical ball flight is: Very low ball flight with driver, some slices. Occasional pull with 3 wood but typically straight. Slight fade with long/mid irons. Occasional pull with wedges
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Driver height and slices, and 3 wood pull. Overall ball striking consistency needs improvement as well.

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Videos: 

 

The first video is with my driver, the 2nd video starts out with my sand wedge followed by a few different mid irons (I dont remember exactly which irons they were)

I have not had any formal golf lessons before, I am a former collegiate baseball player (Left-handed pitcher) and really started to try to improve at golf once I was done playing baseball. I have dropped 5 or so shots in the past year through playing/practicing more, upgrading clubs, and getting comfortable chipping/pitching onto the green. Now I feel I am at the point where I wont be able to improve much until I work on my swing and make the ball striking more consistent. My driver height is very low, and I feel that is causing me to lose distance, my 3 wood has a much better ball flight and the 2 clubs go very similar in distance (240-260). I have tried moving the ball very far forward in my stance and tilting my shoulders back at address, but the ball still comes out very low. 

With the irons and wedges, consistency is my #1 problem. I will hit 3 or 4 good shots in a row, and then top one and hit one thin. I would easily drop a few shots per round if I could avoid those types of shots and at least advance the ball more than just 30 or 40 yards with a full iron shot.

Any help/criticism would be greatly appreciated! Like I said I have never had any formal golf instruction before so I am interested to hear feedback.

Edited June 26, 2017 by klineka

[klineka]

Went to the range tonight, was working on a shorter, more compact backswing, and keeping my head as perfectly still as I could and focusing on the back of the golf ball. Had a fairly solid session in terms of ball striking so hopefully that is something I can build off of.

[boogielicious]

On 6/26/2017 at 11:15 AM, klineka said:

I've been Playing Golf for: On and off for about 10 years, have been taking it more serious for the past 2 years
My current handicap index or average score is: 12 ish, typically low-mid 80s
My typical ball flight is: Very low ball flight with driver, some slices. Occasional pull with 3 wood but typically straight. Slight fade with long/mid irons. Occasional pull with wedges
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Driver height and slices, and 3 wood pull. Overall ball striking consistency needs improvement as well.

---

Videos: 

 

The first video is with my driver, the 2nd video starts out with my sand wedge followed by a few different mid irons (I dont remember exactly which irons they were)

I have not had any formal golf lessons before, I am a former collegiate baseball player (Left-handed pitcher) and really started to try to improve at golf once I was done playing baseball. I have dropped 5 or so shots in the past year through playing/practicing more, upgrading clubs, and getting comfortable chipping/pitching onto the green. Now I feel I am at the point where I wont be able to improve much until I work on my swing and make the ball striking more consistent. My driver height is very low, and I feel that is causing me to lose distance, my 3 wood has a much better ball flight and the 2 clubs go very similar in distance (240-260). I have tried moving the ball very far forward in my stance and tilting my shoulders back at address, but the ball still comes out very low. 

With the irons and wedges, consistency is my #1 problem. I will hit 3 or 4 good shots in a row, and then top one and hit one thin. I would easily drop a few shots per round if I could avoid those types of shots and at least advance the ball more than just 30 or 40 yards with a full iron shot.

Any help/criticism would be greatly appreciated! Like I said I have never had any formal golf instruction before so I am interested to hear feedback.

Can you post a face on view? That would help. 

[klineka]

37 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

Can you post a face on view? That would help. 

currently all I have is down the line. I will attempt to get a couple face on swings tonight.

[klineka]

Here are some additional swings from tonight, both down the line and face on

 

In the order that they appear in the video, they are 3 hybrid, 7 iron, pitching wedge, 56 degree wedge

 

Any help or feedback is appreciated! These are the best videos I have for now, I will try to get some of my driver and 3 wood soon. 

 

 

[klineka]

I dont know enough about the golf swing to diagnose my own swing. I am going to the range tomorrow after work, does anyone have any tips or maybe a swing thought/priority piece that jumps out them about my swing?

[iacas]

1 hour ago, klineka said:

I dont know enough about the golf swing to diagnose my own swing. I am going to the range tomorrow after work, does anyone have any tips or maybe a swing thought/priority piece that jumps out them about my swing?

Look at the tilt of your spine FO at A4.

[klineka]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Look at the tilt of your spine FO at A4.

Are you saying that the spine in the left picture is leaning too far forward and should be closer to vertical? I cant find many pictures of the proper spine tilt at face on in A4

 

Actually I just found this from the The Ps or As thread in Swing Thoughts. It looks like my hips are lagging behind where it are, or do I need more spine tilt to the left?

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by klineka

[DaveP043]

27 minutes ago, klineka said:

Are you saying that the spine in the left picture is leaning too far forward and should be closer to vertical? I cant find many pictures of the proper spine tilt at face on in A4

You might want to review this thread:

If I understand correctly,  your right hip should move back (away from the ball) and around, or towards the target, in the backswing.  Your right hip seems to move further right, away form the target.

[klineka]

On 7/20/2017 at 11:58 AM, DaveP043 said:

You might want to review this thread:

If I understand correctly,  your right hip should move back (away from the ball) and around, or towards the target, in the backswing.  Your right hip seems to move further right, away form the target.

Thanks Dave! I read over that thread and watched a youtube video with Dan Whittaker where he was helping a student with a swing that looked very similar to mine. I attempted some dry swings last night in my yard working on the feeling of the back pocket going towards the target. The swing feels much more rotational and engaging my legs more than I ever have before. Interesting to see how that will translate when I hit actual shots tonight on the range. 

 

[klineka]

I went to the range Friday and Saturday, along with a round on Sunday. I feel like I am using my legs more in the swing, and as a result each club was going 10-15 yds further than normal with the same controlled swing, not trying to over swing. Previously a normal PW was 135, now its right at 150. 9 iron was 150 now right about 160. 8 iron was 160 now 170. 7 iron was 170 now its closer to 180-185. 

I had 188 left, slightly up hill, I hit a 7 iron and was about 3 yards short of the green just off the right edge of the fairway. I surprised myself and my buddies with how much extra distance I gained seemingly overnight. 

The distance was nice, but the tee shots were sporadic, which surprised me a little. At the range the drives were mainly straight with a little draw flight on some (something I hadnt seen from my swing before) but on the course I dropped back to the fading/slicing ball flight a few times. I think my front hip was still swaying back, where at the range I was making a deliberate effort to keep the front hip steady and not let it slide back during the back swing. 

It was also interesting though, on both the slicing drives and the straight drives, ball flight was much improved, more of a soaring ball flight compared to the low line drives I've been used to hitting. On the straight drives, distance increased about 10 yds as well. Before making any swing changes, solid drives were 250-260, I hit multiple that were 270+ confirmed with range finder. The ball visually appeared to be coming off much hotter/faster than it had previously from my driver. 

Here is a video of a swing from Saturday and then Sunday at the range, Driver on the first one and my 3 hybrid on the 2nd clip. I slowed them down to 50% of original speed to make it easier to watch. I think I am on the right path by making the centered hip turn and keeping the hips in place and not letting them slide back. As always if you have any tips or advice let me know!

 

[klineka]

Made another minor breakthrough last night, just doing some dry swings in my yard and watching over my previous range footage. In addition to the lack of a hip turn, I also have some early extension, my head and upper body move up and back throughout my down swing, and I was able to see on some of my mishits that it was pulling the club further back, and that movement away from the ball is probably not helping the fade/slice at all. Sure there are some shots where I am able to square the clubface up and center the strike, but not nearly as consistently as I feel I should be based on my ability. 

I started doing the chair drill last night where the back of the chair was up against my backside. I was just doing dry swings in the living room. I was still thinking about making the hip turn, feeling the right back pocket nudge the chair on the back swing, then stay connected to the chair throughout the rest of the swing until the hips fully clear. I filmed a couple and there were almost no head/upper body movement in the swings. Really encouraging progress so far. Range session tonight, have an old driver shaft and Im going to put a headcover over the top of that to feel it on my backside as I make swings.

[klineka]

Went to the range this evening after work. Forgot the GoPro at home but did a few extra dry swings once I got back. Focusing on stopping the early extension while making the centered hip turn. I really like the ball striking I had at the range today. I am really happy with how my swing looks in this video. First 3 swings are at 30% video speed, last 3 swings are the same swings at 100% video speed. As always, any tips or advice is appreciated!

 

[klineka]

Went to the range today, driver felt the best it ever has, almost every drive was straight, even a little draw on a couple, only 2 sliced drives out of about 20 total. Have been doing alot of dry swings inside focusing on keeping my hips back and not allowing my body and specifically my head to rise up during the down swing. This  swing looks much better than some of the earlier ones I have posted (in my opinion) @DaveP043 @iacas you guys have been helpful so far, does this look like I'm heading in the right direction?

 

[klineka]

Just signed up for and submitted my first video to evolvr! This will be the first time I have any professional swing instruction and I am so excited to hear the feedback. 

Even though I thought I had figured out the huge slice and was driving dead straight at the range in my previous post, the slices with the driver came back once I was out on the course. They were bad. So bad that I ended up using 3 wood for most of the round from the tee. Fortunately the course was very short, <6000yds, so I was able to get away with it, and the fairways were hard and running so most of the 3 woods rolled out to 240-250, even had one that was from an elevated tee box that flew perfect and took a few huge bounces roll out to 285. 

But I know I need to fix my swing because on longer courses it will be much more difficult to score If I am 230 yds off the tee with a normal 3 wood instead of 250+ with a normal straight driver.

I'll keep this updated once evolvr identifies my first priority piece and we'll go from there.

[klineka]

Just got my first evolvr lesson back and the feedback was completely different than what I expected (in a good way) and started with parts of my golf swing I had never researched or thought about before, but it makes sense to start with the basics and build from there. The first two pieces that I have to work on are my grip, my right hand is pretty strong, and my left hand is very weak. My instructor wants me to get both pointed towards my rear shoulder. 

Another minor piece is the ball position with my hybrid needing to be moved further forward in my stance and not be in the middle as much. That piece is easier and wont feel as foreign as the other two pieces will.

I had never even gave my grip a thought before, just grabbed the club in a way that felt comfortable, interlocked my ring finger and pinky finger, and swung away. Im sure this will feel very weird and different for me.

The 2nd piece is my left arm at address. Mine right now has some flex and bend in it, my instructor recommends straightening that out, similar to the guy in the right half of the picture below, but making sure to keep it loose and not locking it out or allowing it to get tight. 

I will be heading to the range tonight to give these a shot. Very happy with the feedback I received so far from evolvr and am looking forward to building a more solid, consistent golf swing.

The lines on the picture below are ones that I added myself after watching my analysis. My instructor zoomed in and added lines during the lesson, but I wanted a visual picture I can reference showing the two main pieces from my first lesson.

[klineka]

Just submitted my 2nd lesson into Evolvr. I really like the advice I got from the first submission and can see the improved ball flight and an increase in consistency already. I have the TST central ohio outing today so excited to take the slight tweaks out on the course and see if I notice a difference there.

[klineka]

Have just started my 2nd month with Evolvr and I absolutely love the progress I have made so far, I cant imagine where I will be 6 months or a year from now. 

So far we have worked on a number of things including grip, straight left arm at address, steady head throughout the swing, rotation of right hip, and now just starting to get into flattening the swing to eliminate the sever over the top motion I have which causes me to stand up and out of shots. Here is a screenshot showing my position before working with evolvr, and where I am currently, with the night picture being the first time attempting to deepen the hands, take my left arm more in line with my shoulder angle instead of letting it go above my shoulder angle. I still think there is room for improvement, but pleased with the progress so far.

I am seeing much more consistent contact, especially last night working on that shallower swing, and I was actually seeing some right to left ball flight, something I'm definitely not used to seeing.

@iacas @saevel25 I already feel like a much different golfer than I was at the central ohio outing, I am actually getting my drives in the air now with my mishit being more of a pop up compared to the topped 40 yd dribbler which I hit quite a few of a month ago.