My Swing (whitewatersalvo)

[whitewatersalvo]

Hello everyone, TST seems like a good time!

I've been Playing Golf for: Once a year for 3 years, decided to actually learn this year. Been out 3 times this year. 
My current handicap index or average score is: Scored a 108 last round, but typically ~120
My typical ball flight is: Used to be a slice, until I watched Rick Shiels videos on youtube, now I can typically draw the ball (with driver) with the occasional pull. 
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: My swing is off-balance, I need some more consistency. My most frequent miss is hitting the ball with the toe or heel, rather than thin or thick. 

 

I probably should have posted a video of me swinging an iron, as that is what really needs the most work. I am duffing my irons more than I ever do with the driver and can't connect consistently with anything lower than 6 iron. 

Since watching some swing videos on youtube my driver has a mild draw about 75% of the time. Way up from 0% of the time before and 100% slice. 

 

Anyways thanks for the help. 

 

 

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Videos: 

 

[whitewatersalvo]

Heading out for a game tomorrow morning if anyone's got any pointers!

[iacas]

1 hour ago, whitewatersalvo said:

Heading out for a game tomorrow morning if anyone's got any pointers!

Here are two:

• Make your swing about 1/2 as long.
• Finish with your weight forward, not back.

[whitewatersalvo]

8 hours ago, iacas said:

Here are two:

• Make your swing about 1/2 as long.
• Finish with your weight forward, not back.

I’ll try those today, my weight shift is a big problem. I’m shifting it forward and then back again by the time I make contact. The half swing length I think I could manage until I have my form down.

 

Thanks iacas for taking the time, 

 

WWS

[whitewatersalvo]

18 hours ago, iacas said:

Here are two:

• Make your swing about 1/2 as long.
• Finish with your weight forward, not back.

So I went out today and shot a 104! I took two mulligans which may have saved my butt a bit, going to skip those next game as now the 104 feels a little cheaper. Still it's a big step. 

 

The weight shift thing is going to require a lot of practice, as it just feels awkward to end with my weight forward. Doing half swings with my irons helped a bit, but with my driver I couldn't get the swing motion down and I quickly reverted back to a full backswing.

 

Would you mind going into more detail, why only a half as long swing? What exactly did you mean by that?

[boogielicious]

13 hours ago, whitewatersalvo said:

So I went out today and shot a 104! I took two mulligans which may have saved my butt a bit, going to skip those next game as now the 104 feels a little cheaper. Still it's a big step. 

 

The weight shift thing is going to require a lot of practice, as it just feels awkward to end with my weight forward. Doing half swings with my irons helped a bit, but with my driver I couldn't get the swing motion down and I quickly reverted back to a full backswing.

 

Would you mind going into more detail, why only a half as long swing? What exactly did you mean by that?

Sometimes if our swing is too long, it is harder to get in the right positions on the downswing. The thread below discusses this.

Things that can happen are weight shifting back (because we over extend the backswing), right elbow getting stuck behind our side on the downswing (causing over-the-top swings) and head movement.

So shortening the back swing can help this. We don't necessarily need long backswings for power. Look at Tony Finau and John Rahm. They are two of the longest hitters on Tour and have short backswings.

There are some other threads in the section below that make good reading too. But focus on shortening the back swing a touch first as Erik mentioned.

 

[whitewatersalvo]

11 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Sometimes if our swing is too long, it is harder to get in the right positions on the downswing. The thread below discusses this.

Things that can happen are weight shifting back (because we over extend the backswing), right elbow getting stuck behind our side on the downswing (causing over-the-top swings) and head movement.

So shortening the back swing can help this. We don't necessarily need long backswings for power. Look at Tony Finau and John Rahm. They are two of the longest hitters on Tour and have short backswings.

There are some other threads in the section below that make good reading too. But focus on shortening the back swing a touch first as Erik mentioned.

 

Thanks for linking that article about the short backswing, likely could have used it today. I actually played again today and on a tough course, and played pretty poorly, even for me I hit a bunch of drives OOB. 

But it motivated me to sign up for three lessons with a top pro in the area. Ill update this thread with a (hopefully) new and improved swing after.  

[iacas]

I recommended "half" a backswing because your swing is so long your driver shaft bounces off your shoulders at the end of your backswing.

Look into Key #2 as well from the 5 Simple Keys®.

[whitewatersalvo]

After two lessons and a couple rounds of golf. I see improvement in my weight shift, but it still looks clunky to the eye. What do you all see? Sorry, I don't have a face on. 

[Grizvok]

I see just as massive of an overswing.

Edited July 31, 2018 by Grizvok

[Carl3]

I think you have a lot of potential. It would be interesting to see the swing full speed. In slo mo it looks smooth. You look to have a good amount of flexibility and some nice lag, which I envy. I did see the club shaft bouncing off your back after Erik pointed it out. That marks your transition 😊

Keep up the work.

On 7/21/2018 at 4:04 PM, whitewatersalvo said:

I am duffing my irons more than I ever do with the driver and can't connect consistently with anything lower than 6 iron. 

You do hang back, which is kind of the position you would need to be for a driver hitting on the upswing, but definitely not what you want to do with an iron, so that might explain why you hit driver better than ions.

[whitewatersalvo]

25 minutes ago, Carl3 said:

I think you have a lot of potential. It would be interesting to see the swing full speed. In slo mo it looks smooth. You look to have a good amount of flexibility and some nice lag, which I envy. I did see the club shaft bouncing off your back after Erik pointed it out. That marks your transition 😊

Keep up the work.

You do hang back, which is kind of the position you would need to be for a driver hitting on the upswing, but definitely not what you want to do with an iron, so that might explain why you hit driver better than ions.

Thanks! Nice to hear some positive reinforcement. Honestly people I get matched up get a laugh out of my relatively frequent long fairway drives followed by three to seven strokes to the green... Trying to keep that fluidity you talked about and learn proper body positioning is the toughest part, but the only way I'll end up consistent. 

1 hour ago, Grizvok said:

I see just as massive of an overswing.

That has to be my next step. I seem to have a mental block for letting my backswing go way way back. 

[whitewatersalvo]

Playing better thanks in part to this forum. My friend took this while I wasn't looking.

I've managed to shorten my swing and am finishing with my weight forward, two good tips, but I'm sure there's more to work on even with those. 

How's my rotation/flexibility? With the Driver I wind my entire body up tight and release it, with an iron in my hand it doesn't work like that... feels more static to me. 

Edited August 4, 2018 by whitewatersalvo

[iacas]

Here's what I see:

• Virtually no hip turn.
• Limited shoulder/torso turn.
• Arms working extra to compensate for the above.
• Elbow folding too much, going around you.

It all stems from the first two. It's a very clear priority, IMO, from that video.