My Swing (JGus)

[JGus]

I've been Playing Golf for:  20+ years, but didn’t start playing seriously (practicing and trying to get better) until about 8 years ago.
My current handicap index or average score is:  9.5  
My typical ball flight is:  Army Golf (left, right, left).  Up until about 1 ½ years ago my typical ball flight was a draw, but after tearing my quad tendon in my left leg my ball flight is now a little unpredictable.
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is:  This is also a tough one to answer as sometimes I pull it left or push it right, so I would like to eliminate both, or in other words, be more consistent and get back to a ‘typical’ ball flight.

I took lessons about 7 years ago, I think I was a 24-26 handicap.  The lessons helped me understand the golf swing better and helped me play better, but they didn’t really help to ingrain a proper swing.  So with some self teaching and of course reading and learning from here I was able to get down to probably a 16.

My last set of lessons were 3 years ago, which seemed at the time and for about the next year to help build a better swing and helped me to get down to a 9 handicap, but then my swing started getting worse.  I was slowly working to get back to where I was, but then tore my quad tendon and my swing hasn’t been the same sense.

I was hoping that I could get my swing back to where it once was before creating a My Swing Thread, but I am at the point that nothing I have worked on the past year has helped fix the things I think need to be fixed.  And what I think needs fixed could be totally wrong.

I know I need to identify a priority piece, which has been really hard for me to figure out exactly what that is, as like most, I seem to work on to many things.

The things I have been working on, unfortunately not that successfully:

• Shortening my backswing – can’t figure this one out, as you’ll see in the pic’s

• Keeping my right elbow in front of or even with shirt seem – not doing this well either, and think it’s because of #1

• Transition into Down swing / Hip turn – I feel like I do turn, but don’t think my weight shifts properly

• And just grooving a better swing – but think the above is preventing it

 

I haven’t had time to figure out how to cut down videos yet as I usually record 3-4 swings at a time, so am only posting pic’s for now.  Pic’s are with a 7 iron and Driver.

A1:                   

 

 

A2:                   

 

 

A3:                   

 

  

A4:                   

 

 

A5:                   

 

  

A6:                   

 

  

A7:                   

 

 

A9:                   

 

 

A10:                 

    

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[Antneye]

Good Luck! 

I'm not the one you want swing advice from, but I would highly recommend you drag a friend to the range and at minimum use a cell phone to get some swings recorded. All you need is a cell phone and a youtube account.  If you check out my swing thread you can see that there is nothing fancy about my videos but it is more than enough to get good feedback.

Edit: Re-reading this it seems you do have video but havent had time to edit?  If so, I wouldn't worry about that. Just upload to youtube and embed it here.

Edited July 16, 2017 by Antneye

[iacas]

Compare your A3 - the hinge and the amount of turn - to any other good player.

I think you'll find that you can do some work there. Most pros and good players are 70-90° turned by then.

[JGus]

19 hours ago, Antneye said:

Edit: Re-reading this it seems you do have video but havent had time to edit?  If so, I wouldn't worry about that. Just upload to youtube and embed it here.

Eventually I'll get some video's uploaded, but need to shorten them up a bit.

9 hours ago, iacas said:

Compare your A3 - the hinge and the amount of turn - to any other good player.

I think you'll find that you can do some work there. Most pros and good players are 70-90° turned by then.

@iacas, thanks, I started some mirror work last night and will start to focus on this the next range session.  Hopefully I can get a couple practice sessions in this week before our 2-man better ball tourney on Saturday.

Just doing a little mirror work last night, I was very surprised how quick my left arm wraps around when my left shoulder isn't under or close to being under my chin at A3. Excited to start working on this.

[JGus]

On 7/16/2017 at 8:20 PM, iacas said:

Compare your A3

I think you'll find that you can do some work there. 

@iacas, All I can say is WOW, what a difference!

I know I'm not there yet, but wanted to post a quick update.  I've done a lot of mirror work at home, went to the range Monday as my new wedges came in and I needed to practice with them before my 2-man better ball tourney this Saturday, but focused more on getting into a better A3 position.  I spent about an hour on the range yesterday before playing 9 with a buddy, and again just focused on getting into a better A3 position.  

While focusing on the A3 position, it had a direct impact on two other areas as well.  It helped me keep my right elbow tucked into my side and changed how I start my transition. The past year I have felt like i was forcing my hip turn, whereas now while focusing on the A3 position I feel like I am bumping/sliding first and then making a turn, resulting in much better contact.  I plan to get some video in the next week or two, which will show if this has really changed or if it's all in my head.

So my question, I'll continue to work on a better A3 position as my priority piece, but is it okay to also focus on my right elbow staying tucked to my side and my transition?  I don't want to overload my brain, but it seems like these two things automatically come into play when I focus on the priority piece.

And I have to also add that I shot my lowest ever 9-hole score yesterday, shot an even par 36! Can't wait to get to the course Saturday.

Ok, guess it wasn't a quick update...

[iacas]

Let the focus on one thing improve others without you having to think about them.

[JGus]

24 minutes ago, iacas said:

Let the focus on one thing improve others without you having to think about them.

Thanks, I will continue to work on the A3 positioning and try to keep my mind away from the other two.

[JGus]

Reviving my old swing thread, from Aug 17 - Feb 19, I didn't play a lot of golf due to a crazy work schedule, but the wife and I joined a course this past April and I'm close to finishing a set of lessons.  I think I have improved, been practicing at least 3 times a week and I'm playing a lot better, but I hate seeing my swing on video, it never feels as bad as it looks 😂.

Main focus of my lessons was changing my hand path(s), which I think I have figured out on the backswing, but I don't think how I transition is correct, which may be causing me to still come over the top a little, but I am working on it.

Working on this has also increased my hip and shoulder turn which @iacas pointed out a couple years ago.

Current progress on changing my hand path in the backswing:

I know we're suppose to have one priority piece, but I can't get away from having two, unless the first one will help with the second one?

1.  Hand Path during downswing and through impact.  When working on drills it seems to look right, but when I'm doing full swings I can't seem to repeat the positions from the drills.

2.  Hands farther in front of club at impact.  As I said, I don't know if continuing to work on the above will help fix this, but I'm trying my best to focus on #1.

[JGus]

I worked on my transition last night based on feedback from @mvmac and will incorporate his latest comments and drills from the video about not separating the lower and upper body when shifting weight/pressure forward.  This may be part of my issue as I was trying to do this to help change my hand path on the downswing.

Range session last night was positive, I could feel the transition and the weight/pressure "fall forward", but struggled a little with consistency when I tried to force it.  When I don't feel like I am forcing it I have great results with my irons, and okay-good results with my woods/driver as it feels a little steep, but overall I think it's the right direction.  Just need to figure out how to code my brain to remember when it's right and how to repeat it.