My Swing (HJJ003)

[HJJ003]

Haven't updated this in a little while, mainly because I haven't taken any video  However, I thought it would be good to just I've a little update about where I am  and what I am working on. I have been a little up and down on the course as I work through some things. I have scored my best in relation to par (+12), and my second worst differential of the last two years within one week of each other. However, one of the the biggest differences I have noted between those great and horrible rounds were solid contact. I feel like I may be kidding myself a little bit working so heavily on keys #4 and #5 when the first three keys are not even consistent yet. Therefore, I am working heavily on the first three keys for the foreseeable future (and only dabbling in the other keys just to make sure sure I don't get WAY out of whack).

 

My practice session today:

30 Minutes at the range (small bucket 45 balls or so).

- Hit PW's and 7 Irons. My primary focus today was sliding my hips towards the target and making solid ball first contact despite what the ball flight was doing. The amazing thing was for the most part the ball flight was pretty dang good, and I compressed (deformed) the ball pretty well. Key#2 appears to be the biggest factor in determining whether or not I am striking the ball solidly. 

I am going to keep really working on this and see how my scores improve as I hope to be advancing the ball more with each stroke. 

 

[HJJ003]

Below is a short recap of my last 10 practice sessions. Due to illness and injury I only managed about 2 practice sessions a week (30-45 mins each session) so this represents about 5 weeks of practice:

- Driving 
    - Solid Contact drill with spray power. Most strikes with 3-wood were near the heel. Key#1 worked best for solid contact. 
- Green Reading
    - Found the Straight Putts on Three of the holes on practice green at Swanson center. 
- 3-15ft Putts
    - Worked on 4-8-12 putting drill. Completed the drill from 2 of 4 locations in 30 minutes. 
- Simple Key Practice
    - Introduced the 5 S’s of Great Practice. Used 6 iron and worked on slow and specific swings. Results were rough. Hit few full swings and and was hitting the ball fairly solidly but with short distance. 
- Mid Approaches
    - Hit 6 Iron off of mat working on inline impact drill and worked on visually hitting underneath alignment stick for better Key#4. Result was a consistent push slice ball flight. Need to work to straighten that out, but over the top swing was non-existent for most of todays swings. 
- Greenside Shots
    - Hit 10-12 balls from each spot around the green working on proper alignment, ball position, and speed through impact. Made sure to rotate through the swing and not get handsy. The results were very positive. Hit the ball with more spin than I have before, and was getting the ball to check up quicker. Often got 10-12 shots on the green before duffing a shot. 
- Bunker Shots
    - Worked on proper ball position, alignment, club face angle, and speed through impact.First time ever practicing bunker shots. The results were positive. Got 14 of my first 15 shots onto the green. After that I struggled a bit, and would often 3-6 shots before missing the green with a shot. 
- Gameplanning
    - Due to weather, the range was mats only. Instead of working on shot zones, I hit PWs and 7Is working primarily on Key#2 weight forward. Majority of my shots were solid, while my fat or thin shots still occur when I don’t shift my weight early enough in the downswing.
- Green Reading
    - Worked on bringing in breaking putts on the high side of the hole. I placed a golf ball on the low side of the hole for different puts 5-6 feet around the hole and putted until I holed each putt without striking the golf ball. It really helped me concentrate on speed, and the correct line to give my putt the highest chance to go in. Good drill. Will be doing again. 
- Short Approaches
    - Hit full shot with all four of my wedges. I worked on my hips sliding forwarded and turning through impact. Essentially my focus is key#2. It some solid full shots with my wedges which I often struggle with when trying to hit full. I hit partial wedges fairly well, just struggle with chunking or topping full wedges (expect PW that club is one of my best). The sliding/turning though has really improved my ball striking the last few weeks, but still a lot of work to do

 

During this 5 week period I played three rounds of golf. One round was as bad as I could play. The other was probably one of the best rounds of my life, and managed a 14.8 differential. The most recent round (last weekend) was rough for 9 holes, but then went back to focusing on solid contact and not "over-thinking my swing" and managed a bogey golf back nine which is fun golf for me. I am seeing a lot more solid contacts, and that will remain my focus until my weight shift is a subconscious part of my swing. 

[HJJ003]

@iacas I have a question. I am struggling with changing the picture. Some of it is my own doing by not staying committed to slow focused swings...it lasted awhile but for the last month I have been swinging full speed with different aids most of which had nothing to do with changing the picture. Shame on me . However, also I am struggling with HOW to make the changes you have suggested above. So my question: Would the following thread apply to my priority piece? 

 

[iacas]

25 minutes ago, HJJ003 said:

@iacas I have a question. I am struggling with changing the picture. Some of it is my own doing by not staying committed to slow focused swings...it lasted awhile but for the last month I have been swinging full speed with different aids most of which had nothing to do with changing the picture. Shame on me . However, also I am struggling with HOW to make the changes you have suggested above. So my question: Would the following thread apply to my priority piece? 

 

Yeah, but… You last posted a video two months ago. I told you to "change the picture" and you didn't show any proof of that. You didn't show yourself doing that.

Why not start there? Or get some good high-speed video from face-on and down-the-line and post it and take a fresh look?

I'm happy to help, but it chaps a bit when I feel like good advice is ignored. I asked you to film some of your practice sessions, and thus far, we haven't even gotten video from a good camera angle.

You'll get out of this what you put into it.

#ToughLove 

[HJJ003]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Yeah, but… You last posted a video two months ago. I told you to "change the picture" and you didn't show any proof of that. You didn't show yourself doing that.

Why not start there? Or get some good high-speed video from face-on and down-the-line and post it and take a fresh look?

I'm happy to help, but it chaps a bit when I feel like good advice is ignored. I asked you to film some of your practice sessions, and thus far, we haven't even gotten video from a good camera angle.

You'll get out of this what you put into it.

#ToughLove 

That’s fair. At the very least I’ll get full swing vids from proper angles this week. I’ve said that before so I’ll stop talking and do it this time 

[HJJ003]

 

Ok so after @iacas gave me a digital kick in the pants I bought a tripod and filmed a DTL swing and practice session today. I was going to do a FO swing but ran out of Golf balls:/ Ok so I hope these angles are much better, but man I struggled today with my swing. I am trying to swing slow and focused but I feel like I couldn’t find the ball at all. I was working on two feels to see if either felt good: Elbow chasing belly button, elbow close together on downswing. I have a long long road ahead of me..

[iacas]

You're standing way too close to the golf ball.

The practice swings are good, but slow down and stop being so twitchy and fast.

Do things SLOWLY. Chip the ball 5 yards, 15 yards, something. You can hit balls doing this, but just do it slowly, with discrete motions.

[HJJ003]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

You're standing way too close to the golf ball.

The practice swings are good, but slow down and stop being so twitchy and fast.

Do things SLOWLY. Chip the ball 5 yards, 15 yards, something. You can hit balls doing this, but just do it slowly, with discrete motions.

Thanks for the feedback! I’ll work on standing further from ball and slowing down my practice swings. 

[HJJ003]

Today was short game day. Worked on proper pitching technique. I watched the video/followed the thread on quick pitching guide here on TST and I have tried to incorporate it into my short game practice the last few times out. How’s it look? Where can I improve? 

[boogielicious]

14 hours ago, HJJ003 said:

Today was short game day. Worked on proper pitching technique. I watched the video/followed the thread on quick pitching guide here on TST and I have tried to incorporate it into my short game practice the last few times out. How’s it look? Where can I improve? 

Looking pretty good. I like how the pitching technique feels like the body turn and gravity are doing all the work. Usually when I warm up pitching, I start by just just hinging the club, leaving my hands almost in the set up position, and then just turn and let gravity swing the club. This works great for short pitches. You can lengthen the shot by just turning faster. It takes the hands out of the swing for the most part.

[HJJ003]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

Looking pretty good. I like how the pitching technique feels like the body turn and gravity are doing all the work. Usually when I warm up pitching, I start by just just hinging the club, leaving my hands almost in the set up position, and then just turn and let gravity swing the club. This works great for short pitches. You can lengthen the shot by just turning faster. It takes the hands out of the swing for the most part.

I agree with this for sure. My “old” swing was very handsy/armsy. That swing worked great when my timing was perfect but obviously that isn’t always easy to do. This swing is more consistent. I hit pitch shots for 30-45 minutes yesterday and never truly duffed one. Thanks for your reply. 

Edited April 15, 2018 by HJJ003

[HJJ003]

 

Full swing today with 6I after 20-30 minutes of mirror work and slow specific swings. Today felt really good, and I saw things in the mirror happening more naturally than have in the past. Decided to film a FO full swing just to document some if even small progress. 

Edited April 15, 2018 by HJJ003

[HJJ003]

 A little bit of my practice session today. Still working on elbow position throughout the downswing. Thoughts? 

[billchao]

3 hours ago, HJJ003 said:

Thoughts? 

I think you should trim your videos 😉

You're working on an elbow position piece DTL? Why didn't you take a DTL video?

[HJJ003]

10 minutes ago, billchao said:

I think you should trim your videos 😉

You're working on an elbow position piece DTL? Why didn't you take a DTL video?

Lol noted. 

And yeah i am working on the right elbow chasing the belly button. Didn’t really think about it at the time, but yeah I guess FO ain’t going to help too much with that particular piece. 

[HJJ003]

Range day today working on elbows again and then filmed some slow motion swings with my 3-wood. Everything was blocked, and push slices this past week (woods only). Little frustrating that I may have created an issue for myself here. 

[HJJ003]

On 5/4/2018 at 2:04 PM, HJJ003 said:

Range day today working on elbows again and then filmed some slow motion swings with my 3-wood. Everything was blocked, and push slices this past week (woods only). Little frustrating that I may have created an issue for myself here. 

Bump. I’m blocking and push/slicing shots like crazy now. Is this my elbow position still or aim I doing something else that is causing these misses? 

[GolfLug]

32 minutes ago, HJJ003 said:

Bump. I’m blocking and push/slicing shots like crazy now. Is this my elbow position still or aim I doing something else that is causing these misses? 

I think not shallowing shaft enough at the top. Let that right wrist bend back max. Either set early or gradually.