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So I was going to post a new video of my swing but I actually don't want to mess with it or see it. In hitting the ball well and I am completely focused on my wedges, chipping and putting. I will hit the range for long irons and woods 1x per week to keep a level of comfort but 80-90 percent of practice will be at the local par 3 and putting green. I have drills I am doing and stats I am tracking. In commited to see if this will push my game to the next level. Wedges I have - 56,52,50 and 47

Tomorrow I am going to have a new video of my swing up. To be honest, I will keep working on it but in truth I realized my next step (which should have been the first), is dedicating myself to putting and wedges. I just picked up two new wedges to fill some distance gaps and i am going to join a local par 3 course. My short game is t bad, but it is not where it needs to be. Every tour pro says they need to work on the their 100 yds and in. They don't say "I need to hit the ball further off the tee". If people ever watch the LPGA they will notice the women typically hit clubs as far as amature men. They still shoot well under par. I like power but the need to show it is not relevant to scoring . If you can drive a ball 250 you can shoot in the 70s

Played a par 3 course tonight. This will be my new stomping ground. This will be where my short game gets tight. Thank you for the advice on having the club laid off. I'm going to record my swing this weekend to see what positions I am in. Your advice was exactly the stuff I was hoping would pop up here. Thanks for helping.

So I have hit a lot of buckets w my rounded swing which I'm sure looks like it is laid off at the top. It also has cured the shanks and simplified things. I will check that top position as you mentioned and I will take video of the new swing. I have been very very focused on short game lately and hitting short irons at targets.

Billy ho to win us open. I've been practicing a ton. My stats showed me my scrambling and putting has been trash. Not acceptsble

Went to the range today. There is a little practice green there. My practices are going to change. I will be hitting the practice green first w an entire large bucket . Then I will hit almost the entire bucket with wedges while targeting little greens. I will hit maybe 20 percent long irons and drives. I want my putting and up/down stats to be really good and it should show on stattracker

Played 3 rnds this weekend. Lots of good holes but I still need to shake off the high holes. I find that I can usually minimize them by July each year. My short game and touch is usually back at that point from the winter. I was wondering if anyone reading this is a fairly average distance hitter that plays less than a 5 handicap. If so I would be curious to know how you see different shots and where you find you score the best. Also - I'm going to be using statracker.com again this summer. I will be using it every round at least until the big match

Btw - my rounded swing heavily promotes a draw. I play for it. I have tried over and over to manipulate the club to a steeper outside the plane takeaway and my consistency would struggle. I like the idea of Matt kuchars coach keeping him as close to the plane as possible te entire swing. My more rounded swing is to the inside on the take away. I don't care as long as I swing to the right on the downswing. I naturally make a move to the inside on the way down. As long as the arms don't get to involved I don't come over the top. From what I gather, that's the major reason not to. I could be wrong . I just find this swing to feel a lot simpler and natural. I also recommend people look up ball flight law so they can tell what path their club and face are taking. It helps a lot to understand this. It then makes understanding how to work a ball much easier to grasp. It helps diagnose a swig too. Shanks are not covered in tl all flight law and that's why I had to figure my way out of them.

Interesting. I will note that. I went to the range today and felt real good. I'm trying to work on distance control with my pitching wedge. Now that I can hit it about 140-145 I need to e able to feel out that 120-135 range. Focusing on the entire torso turn has been so important. If I get armsy its over. Tomorrow I will hit a lot of putts and chips. I have a match with one of my buddies this weekend.

Ohhh. You mean my hips are swaying. I thought you were saying my lead leg was moving to far towards the target. Sometimes when I get sloppy my hips do make a lateral move. I've recently widened my stance which was more of a concern to me for that off balance situation I saw in the video. It has stopped the sway and retained better balance.

Same routine tonight. The swing is feeling good. Focusing on the first 2 ft of take away with the entire body. Then a good shoulder turn. I also made my putting stance and position consistent. Then I have been choosing my line and burning the image of the hole into my head. Putting went real well tonight. The short game is coming around. I will be keeping my handicap again starting this weekend.

Played 9 tonight. 3 balls per shot. The baseball rounded swing feels good. That 1 piece takeaway and shoulder turn has kept my contact solid. My distance control was very good with my wedges. I would usually put all 3 wedge shots on the green and each one closer to the pin. I'm working on getting comfortable with some putting adjustments. Consistent placement of ball relative to my body . Lining my putts up with the new stance. I missed more putts than usual but I expected that as I adjust. 5 birdie chances and all missed. Those were all on the love ball.

Any drills that helped you?

My left knee pushes too far forward? I'm not sure I follow?

So I went out and played 9 holes tonight. I walked and played 3-5 balls per shot to practice. I ended up playing another kind of swing phase I had used in the past. The difference this time was that I realized where it breaks down. It is more of a 1 piece takeaway, rounded, baseball type feeling swing. I would have to show video I guess. It is also very simple feeling. It doesn't have all of the moving parts like the swing I have now. I realized I lost this swing a while back because I became armsy with the takeaway. Today I stumbled back into it as I worked on that first 2ft of takeaway staying connected. When its working it is very accurate and very powerful. When I lost it , its very gone. I feel like I can't settle on a swing. I find one for the day (eventually) and then try to make that work.

Today I went to the range and played w a wedge only. I wanted to focus on target based shots. Only thinking of the of the target. Bob rotella stuff. It worked out well. I did spend a few balls thinking about my swing and how to produce that shoulder turn while keeping the swing under control. I started to find the power when I decided to let my backswing go until I felt my left lat tighten up. That was about 2 weeks ago. The problem was, after a few days of that, my lat was stretched and I couldn't find that pull. I tried to do what Matt kuchar mentions and that's to pinch the right shoulder blade towards the spine to get the full turn. That seemed to feel awkward at first but it works. Anyways - not too many shanks and target based practice is where I need to be.

The other focus on this thread is to find out how guys with good putting and chipping practice and dial in. Anything they do that really makes them accurate.

Ok. So I went to the range hoping to hit some shanks. How often does a thought like that come up? Anyways, I took the day off yesterday so I came in fresh and not fatigued. My tempo felt good and I was hitting shots pretty well. I started to think, go figure I wont be able to hit one today. Then sure enough, I got a few. I was able splice 6 of them together and then show the same 6 shots at 50% speed. Camtasia Video is awesome for this. I filmed my shots in groups of 3 and then cut in the shanks. All 6 of these ARE shanks or very close. I am trying to find something in common causing it. If anyone needs me to edit it in a different way, draw lines, slow it down, just let me know. Shankompilation - ((Skip to 10 sec. The first 10 seconds are blank)) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stljckE9ju8 ------------------------------ These shots are non shanks to compare what I am doing Good Shots http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiZ9BV2tWmA - Something interesting on the good shots was that after my swing it looks like my balance kept forcing me to fall closer to the ball and step towards it with my right foot. I am not sure what to make of that

Thanks for the help. I will have videos tomorrow. Hopefully some good shots and then I'm sure I'll hit the shank streak and post those too. My normal ball flight with irons is a draw. Starts straight or right and comes around left (closed face) with in to out. Sometimes I can overcook it. This is new since I found this increase in power. I used to hit a fade pretty consistently. My woods tend to have a little fade on them. Those pictures are good but now I need to see for myself where I am in the video. I know what feels like something usually isn't what I am actually doing. I need to find the right positions and then drill getting into them. Right now my confidence in ball striking is low so it will be a work in progress. ------------ Side note - I sent my buddy that I am going to be in a match against the thread so he will be possibly posting and most likely keeping tabs. We are trying to keep and eye on where one and others games are during the lead up to the match. His game has greatly improved so I need to really focus. He will be at a 10 in a month.

Ok. So some people might remember me from a couple of years ago where I wanted to break into the 80's. I kept a journal on here and hit my goal. Now I need to fast forward and I have a new task. Ill start with the fact that I was as low as a 10.8 handicap. I play golf a ton and I am willing to work to fix or get better. I know to get to a 7 I will need to make more putts and scramble better. That is what primarily got me into the 80s. Here is my issue, I have caught the shanks after finding power in my swing. I also have a friendly match against a business associate for $100.00 per hole, match play, in October. He has to play at his target 10 handicap and I am at a 7. I have to give him 3 strokes no matter where our games are sitting at that time. It is go time. I will journal very frequently and post videos. I know there are some players on here and guys that know the golf swing. I like to think I have a pretty good understanding of it, but I am at a loss right now. I have seen pro's and they give good tips and help but I need to settle on a swing that I can be confident with. I caught the shanks in April and I have been battling them since. I have put together some good rounds, but when they show up, it seems to be a 24hr virus no matter how I try to get out of it. My recent finding when tweaking things was that I was not making a full shoulder turn. I started to really turn into my swing and bang my pitching wedge went from 125 to 145. I didn't realize I wasnt using my shoulders enough. I thought I got rid of the shanks by creating this lag at the top of my swing. Then, I got to the range earlier this week and now I am hitting powerful shanks. Only 1 thing seems to stop me from shanking after it starts - A hard S&T; stance and an armsy swing. This is just temporary during a session to get my confidence back as it is not a good swing. ------------------- Things I have tried - 1. I was on my toes a bit and thought I was delivering the hozzel 2. Taking club away to outside/steep/shallow/inside - you name it 3. Loosening grip 4. Taking club more shallow and more steep 5. Quick takeaway and slow take away 6. Pinning my head to watching the ball 7. Exploding from the hips at the top 8. Trying to stay connected by turning with torso 9. Right armpit tight/left armpit tight 10. Left arm straight/both arms relaxed All of these seem to have individually helped as a bandaide until it shows up again. There must be something in the swing I am not seeing. I did see a pro that noticed I was pulling my head out of my swing at contact and moving away from the ball and then reaching with the hozzel. -------------- Moving forward - I will have videos this weekend as I know it is probably a guessing game with out them. I need to retain my power and get rid of the shanks On a side note, I am practicing chipping and putting a lot. I know how important it is and even with the best ball striking, I can't shot in the 70's without scrambling. On the other hand, if I can't get near the green, I can't get a chance to scramble. As always all help is much appreciated.

so it seems my rough spurt is not over. ive been up and down over the last few weeks with scoring. i dont know why i can get back to that mid summer play where an 88 was an off day. yesterday was history in the making for 2011. i shot over 100! on the second 18 i played i shot an 89. im going to go into the winter just playing casually and not thinking too much about strides. then during the winter im going to practice a lot. i would say the below list from most drastic to least is what i have noticed in my game that has been not good in the last couple weeks. 1. up and downs - not making nearly as many as when i was shooting low 80's 2. putting - ive missed more putts in the last few weeks than i can remember missing in a long time 3. ball striking 150yds+ - it just isnt as solid as it has been.

Keeping it interesting

Chris lieD. Yes I did break my top 10 and got the tailor-made superfast. I tried so hard at dicks sporting to give my self a reason not to buy it but compared to the other 3 woods it was that much better. I did not have white clothes on but I did have a purple thong. I'm thinking chris is jealous because my new 3 wood is longer than his drives. He will convert soon enough. You can't deny science.

i have another thread for winter plans i started and got some great advice for progressing. i will be tracking 10 rounds worth of stats to see where my real flaws are.