My Swing (Slim_Pivot)

[iacas]

As usual, you're being a bit too hard on yourself. 😉

I think you know that I'm not really one to push for seeing me all that often. But I think it might be a good idea to have a visit. What I'd like to do is something like this… visit with you, record a few things, and then let you have some supervised practice time.

You're confused, and I think the first order of business is cutting through that. We need to simplify and get back to a place where you have one or two things, max, to work on.

I think we had gotten there, but (maybe) you took a break so some older things bubbled up too?

Anyway, text me or post back here.

[Slim_Pivot]

I had a lesson with Iacas on Sunday 2-9-20. I was confused and running into problems where I wasn't making progress / going in circles.

*My main issue was being blocked or couldn't do the transition move.*

 I was told to simply try to hit the ball solid, just to see where things are. When in doubt, i like to stay deep (backswing and downswing) so that was my thought.

FIRST - SETUP FO

My setup got off in a few ways. I need to bump my hips a tad forward, and tilt upper body back just a touch. My feel is "driver setup"

SETUP DTL

Need to stand taller. I made it nearly impossible to have a vertical enough shoulder turn with how far i was bent over. 

SETUP SUMMARY

1. Stand Taller (be sure to look at golf ball)

2. Hips forward, upper body tilt back

3. Grip -keep right thumb on grip (extensor pressure)

BACKSWING

1. Steeper shoulder turn on backswing. It is easier to make perpendicular shoulder turn when not bent over 40 degrees. I'm allowed to swing as deep as I want, as long as I turn shoulders steep enough.

2. Steady head. **Do not let head move down**, look squarely at ball. Dont kink neck all over.

3. Wrist breakdown. Swing wide, keep structure in wrists. The grip adjustment should help (right thumb)

4. Swing wide.

BREAKTHROUGH?

Result of better setup and backswing. I had a major issue with dropping the club in transition like I practiced for a long time. My right elbow was too tight to the body, so i had no room to drop the club to the inside. Downswing kind of felt like I was swinging in a straight jacket...lol (before)

(AFTER) From the top, I felt like I could actually bow my wrist and drop hands in transition. I have high hopes for this one.

DOWNSWING 

Main takeaway is that I was physically able to swing from inside. The right elbow would run out of space and cause club to tip out.

I will just do my main downswing feels. Bow wrist, stay deep.

FINAL QUICK SUMMARY

1. Setup. Taller, hips forward, upper body tilt back. Grip-right thumb on club

2. Dont let head drop or neck twist crazily in backswing 

3. Steep shoulder turn

4. Swing wide. Must work hard on swinging wide, this may be biggest challenge. Keep distance between shaft and shoulders at P4.

5. From the top, hit solid draws. That's enough downswing for now i think.

[Slim_Pivot]

TODAYS SESSION 2-12-20

GOALS:

1. Good setup. Hips forward, torso tilted back, stand taller, right thumb on club

2. Back swing. Wide with perpendicular shoulder turn. Avoid wrist breakdown at top of swing.

3. Drop club to inside, hit solid draws

PRACTICE

Setup, including grip was nearly 100% success (I think)

I did almost exclusively pause at the top drill (70 out of 80)

Practice session went 3 practice swings, one pause at the top drill where I hit. 

FIRST

I think this is success, esp for first session. Happy with setup and tilt.

As session went on I could add width to the equation, it was too much mental energy at first.

My lines aren’t perfect and I don’t know the degrees. But it looks ok to my eye.

SECOND SWING. I was trying to add width in this part of session.

Tried to add width by: wide takeaway and by having as much distance between shaft and shoulders at p4

SUMMARY:

1. Good start

2. Swing had a better flow to it, IMO

3. Happy with setup and shoulder tilt to P4

4. Too many fat shots, will think on it 

5. *Will work on wrist structure in backswing* I need to do some mapping work first. Too much to think about today.

[iacas]

You can do a lot better than that.

[Slim_Pivot]

13 minutes ago, iacas said:

You can do a lot better than that.

Ok, I think my feels from the lesson are just not right. (My back was in level 5 pain from the spare bed I slept in) Some of the backswing feels I had in the lesson didn’t make sense to me, but I tried them anyways today.

I practiced swinging with steep shoulder turn for a long time now. Ill go back to those feels for a session with better posture and see what it looks like.

ill make sure to keep it wide tho.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Slim_Pivot said:

Ok, I think my feels from the lesson are just not right. (My back was in level 5 pain from the spare bed I slept in) Some of the backswing feels I had in the lesson didn’t make sense to me, but I tried them anyways today.

I'm not sure what you mean. I thought we had a good handle on everything. Crunch the left side, stretch the left. You didn't say anything about your back being in pain during the lesson.

Look at your profile picture. Very shallow shoulders.

[Slim_Pivot]

3 minutes ago, iacas said:

I'm not sure what you mean. I thought we had a good handle on everything. Crunch the left side, stretch the left. You didn't say anything about your back being in pain during the lesson.

Look at your profile picture. Very shallow shoulders.

Seriously, thanks for letting me know. I thought they were steep enough. I’m not great with drawing the spine line correctly.

To be fair, the profile pic was before I joined the site. I get the point of having history of shallow shoulders.

Feels in the lesson were very strange with the shoulders. I tried to copy the feels...cause why not, they produced the pictures we were going for.

I’ve been doing steep shoulder drills for months. I like to crunch the left side...I don’t know why the right side was crunching during backswing in lesson. Some backswing “Feels and reals” didn’t make sense that day.

It’s ok-I’m off tomorrow and can practice/post early. I’ll make sure 1) steep shoulders. 2) backswing width.

Thanks again for letting me know! I would’ve kept mapping the same feels

[iacas]

28 minutes ago, Slim_Pivot said:

It’s ok-I’m off tomorrow and can practice/post early. I’ll make sure 1) steep shoulders. 2) backswing width.

Thanks again for letting me know! I would’ve kept mapping the same feels

Okay. Do a lot with mirrors. Instant feedback. Just doing shoulder down "drills" isn't necessarily going to translate if they're done away from a ball, always with your arms folded on your chest, etc.

[Slim_Pivot]

Today’s Session 2-13-20

I got there early, and the bottom row was all taken by retired folks. So video angles suck.

GOALS:

1. Steep shoulder turn

2. Maintain width in backswing

3. Setup. hips forward, torso tilted back, right thumb on grip

SWING 6i

After some trial and error, I may have found a feel that works. I tilted shoulders a lot early and used my core/turn to elevate the club from P1 to P2. Then I could just hinge up and keep it wide...while continuing steep turn.

(Before I was  “sweeping the clubhead back low” for contrast before/after.)

I think this was success:

For someone in the medical field...I’m not good with drawing lines through bones/joints. But I think these swings are ok.

SUMMARY

1. Setup was success >90%. Thumb would sometimes slip off grip by end of swing.

2. Almost all swing vids looked the same once I got through trial/error phase

3. A lot of fat shots. With setup change I feel very far behind ball at start and esp at P4. Might need to really move forward to start downswing? Not a today problem. Just a note for later.

4. Grip thing. Stronger grip lets me keep right thumb on longer...but seems to cause cupping in backswing. Still fiddling with grip strength to help keep right thumb from slipping during swing. Unsure

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Slim_Pivot said:

4. Grip thing. Stronger grip lets me keep right thumb on longer...but seems to cause cupping in backswing. Still fiddling with grip strength to help keep right thumb from slipping during swing. Unsure

A slightly stronger grip can cup a little on the backswing. That's fine. Plus, then you have room (if needed) to go toward arched. It's probably fine.

Also, better:

[Slim_Pivot]

TODAYS SESSION 2-15-20

GOALS:

1. Setup. Hips forward, upper body tilted back, stronger grip with right thumb on club.

2. BACKSWING. Steep shoulder turn and more width at the top. Less wrist breakdown at P4

3. Hit the ball solid

SWING. Many similar swings, I just picked one.

SUMMARY:

1. Setup goal was success. Grip is still a work in progress. Too strong and the club just feels shut the whole swing. I’m due for new grips, I may go skinnier on the grip size. I’ll continue to fiddle.

2. Shoulder turn is a success. I’m very close to not having to pause at the top. I was also able to (successfully) rapid fire some without 3 practice swings before.

3. The width and wrist angle at P4 is getting there. It started to really improve the 2nd half of session.

4. Contact. Not so great. I hit almost every shot 3” fat. I can hit it solid if I “release at P5” I dunno if this is a flip or like a JT type release.

After a while I started getting “comments from the peanut gallery” about how to hit the ball. So I started to let the arms fly.

Overall very successful session. Very happy with backswing progress. Able to achieve success over and over.

[Slim_Pivot]

TODAYS SESSION 2-18-20. My tripod died, RIP, so couldn’t get good video.

Goals:

1. Wanted to keep engraining backswing. Be able to not stop at the top of swing.

2. Get right thumb on grip better.

3. Stop hitting ball fat

SWING. Not at great angle, but it’s what we got today. This was also a shank😩 

As long as shoulders were steep enough, that’s ok. Will get better video next time

I had some good swings where I didn’t pause. Hit a lot of draws today. I had other swings i liked but the camera angle is horrible.

[iacas]

Sounds good.

[Slim_Pivot]

TODAYS SESSION 2-21-20

GOALS:

1. Backswing. Steep shoulder turn, wide backswing arc, no wrist breakdown at P4 (made progress on grip)

2. Be able to complete (successful) swing without stopping at P4.

3. Since I have no plan to stop hitting ball fat. Goal is steady head, bow wrist in downswing, hit draws.

SWING 7i FO

 

SWING 7i DTL

 

[Slim_Pivot]

SUMMARY (I labeled positions only cuz my little analysis ran between the images. It became hard to easily see which words went with which picture.)

P1

Happy with setup. Hips bumped forward, torso tilted back, right thumb on club.

P2

Good width at P2

P4

Much better wrist structure at P4, white line is the “ideal goal”. Before lesson I had club shaft like 2” from shoulders. I’m happy with it.

P4

I think my shoulders are steep enough. I couldn’t get them as steep as previous sessions when I was doing pause drills. But I was really exaggerating then. (If not steep enough, I can make this only priority again.)

P6ish

I was getting my left hip out of the way to stop early extension. Shanks can’t be tolerated for too long.

P7 IMPACT

im happy with the lead arm at impact. My COG is way behind ball...prob explains fat shots. Can’t really worry about that now tho. That would be way too much.

[Slim_Pivot]

TODAYS SESSION 2-22-20

GOALS:

1. Setup. Hips forward, torso leaned back, trail thumb remains on club through swing

2. Backswing. 90* shoulder turn

3. Downswing. Bow wrist, hit draws.

6i FO. I had to borrow a guy’s station, so I only got one shot at this. Came out blurry, but w/e. Bright side is this is getting consistent; I ran over and took one swing.

6i DTL

SUMMARY:

1. Setup and thumb work were a success IMO.

2.

I think my shoulders were steep enough.

My wrist conditions felt really weird today. I’m mostly going to ignore it, I’ll try to feel my wrists hinging vertically (after p2) in my “mapping swings” at home.

3. I did start to hit the ball a tad better, but impact felt weird (bad), maybe it was the wrist thing? w/e doesnt really matter, just a note.

[iacas]

Looking better

[Slim_Pivot]

TODAY’S SESSION 2-25-20

Had a pretty bad day, but it was my only day to practice and I don’t wanna skip too many actual hitting days. Running out of time.

Did my best to focus and was able to get a steady 80% for duration. Swing was not working well today, shoulders kept swinging too flat.

7i DTL

7i FO

-“Felt like reverse pivot” (not that I think it really was) 

-then “back out” on way down. 

-hit ball ok. Very high, less fat shots. I think my body is doing things to not hit ball fat.

-hit ball better if I let hands get deep in takeaway, don’t like look tho

P2

not happy with that arm pinched against my shoulder. Going for more of a “wide-triangle”. Will do a lot of mapping work on takeaway.

P3&P4

Not happy with how my shoulders moved today.

Not happy with club path in backswing

For a bad day, this was “close to success”

Been working hard on mapping days, so today is a letdown

will work mainly on takeaway before next session