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Big Lex

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Everything posted by Big Lex

  1. Big Lex
    Awesome rant. I remember once trying to practice short game, and I shanked like 15 chip shots in a row. I wanted to tear my own throat out. Have you tried intentionally shanking some? To see if you discover something that is causing it to happen? FWIW, I learned that when I try drills or some swing change that's uncomfortable (like they all are), my muscles tense more than usual. If I get tense in my wrists, I don't release them down, ulnar deviation, as much as I do when I'm swinging normally. This reduces the radius, and I think sometimes my brain makes me do something else to get the club down to the ball, causing a shank. My personal rant is the OP's rant. Pipe a drive, flush an iron shot to inside 20 feet, and then three putt...while watching the other guy in your group heel cut his drive, thin-bounce his hybrid into a bunker, half-blade it out, and drain a 20' for par.
  2. Big Lex
    Yup. Great story Mike Malaska (PGA teacher) tells: His teacher took him on the course and told him he was going to change every one of Malaska's drives, and he wanted to see how Mike did, particularly if he could still shoot par or break par. The teacher would take every one of his drives and move it into some problem spot, like move it 10 yards off the fairway into rough, or into fairway bunkers, or putting it behind a tree or something. All 14 drives. Malaska says he shot 73 or something and was really happy with himself. The coach then said "I want you to imagine how the round would have gone for you if you had hit all the drives in those locations, rather than me _putting_ your drives there." Malaska says, like probably all of us would, that he would have been really annoyed, frustrated, etc., and maybe would not have dealt with the second shots as well as he did in this round. So yeah, like these guys are saying.....
  3. Big Lex
    Short answer: Avoid penalty strokes, and be conservative and practical on the short game. Those two areas account for most of my blow up holes. Long answer: 1. Avoid penalty strokes. I needed a simulator to learn that in reality, on some holes, I actually need to aim away from the fairway or away from the green. It isn't often, but on the sim I've reduced my number of penalty shots dramatically by doing whatever is necessary to avoid penalty shots from OB and penalty areas. Read Lowest Score Wins or one of the other books out there that help with aiming and clubbing decisions based on handicap and the risk of the shot. 2. Short game blow ups. For me, it means taking my time and swallowing the bitter pill. If you miss short side, you are playing with fire if you try to flop it over the bunker and get it to land short. Better to take the medicine and be sure to get it on the green somewhere, and avoid having a second short game shot. Stupid short game decisions where we end up ping ponging the ball across a green, following it up with a frustration-fueled 3 putt (or worse) are a cause of mostly avoidable blow ups, almost regardless of handicap level.
  4. Big Lex
    A pro sports commissioner needs to travel exclusively by private jet for reasons of efficiency, privacy, and security? So because he's a commissioner, he can't wait in security lines at airports? Because he's a commissioner, he can't be expected to sit next to a stranger on a plane? Are we worried that a foreign power will steal PGA Tour secrets if he travels commercial? I know high level executives in many businesses and probably government and military officials use private air travel for personal trips, and I get it, it's a perk, it's fine. But the policy statement on it is pretty ridiculous on the surface. I suppose there is some legal or tax code reason why this statement is in there but geez.
  5. Big Lex
    Day 52 (9/15/22): Today I practiced full swings as yesterday, but with a bit more focus and attempting to collect data. I hit for 30-35 minutes, dividing the session between 7 iron, PW, 4 iron, and driver, and hit everything on the launch monitor so I could follow path and face angle. I worked on Kwon elements, sometimes doing step drills as practice swings. What I was specifically experimenting with was the feel of trying to pull the grip off the club at the bottom of the swing, in the hitting area, at the same time as kicking the ground with my left leg into impact. As with yesterday, this had an immediate effect on my swing path, moving it from it's typical too much in-out to something very neutral. Contact wasn't quite as good as it was this weekend, mostly a tendency to thin hits and toe hits. But the face angle was very good, and I got pretty good dispersion with all the clubs. I finished with the driver and began getting a little sloppy and losing focus, and this resulted in a few big miss hooks, but I was able to eliminate them with feels like waiting more in transition, letting the lower body lead and control the downswing, really kicking the ground with my left leg through impact, etc. In the past, if I tried to make my club path go more left, I would usually be unable to. The only things that would make it happen would be an exaggerated outside take away, or an exaggerated open stance, and neither of these looked right on video. They also produced shitty impact. The feel of pulling the grip off of the club, however, produced a beautiful, consistent path that was neutral, and I could make it slightly open by exaggerating the move a little or taking an open stance. As I said I was hitting it thin, but often when I'm trying something new, I will have tension in my arms and wrists, and will not uncock the wrists enough, leading to the thin hits.
  6. Big Lex
    Day 51 (9/14/22): Another long work day, but before bed (just now) I had a nice practice session of about 30 minutes. Foam balls first, then real balls. I was still using the Kwon ideas but not step drills. Just concentrating on body driven pivot, and kicking the ground a little with the right leg going back, and then really kicking with the left leg for the downswing. I also tried to imagine pulling the grip off the golf club as I was kicking the ground. At first this made me swing left which is great; I was hitting an 8 iron and had a path very close to zero, sometimes a degree left, with just a fade of a yard or two. Eventually my right path and draw took over, but if I really concentrated on the pull of the grip, the path would tend to zero out or tip left a little. Contact was excellent. I hit mostly 8 irons, but then did a few with a lob wedge and then with a hybrid. I would say I hit maybe 12 foam balls and maybe 20-25 real balls.
  7. Big Lex
    Day 50 (9/13/22): Today I had 2 practice sessions, one of about 10 minutes in the morning, and another of about 20 minutes in the evening. I practiced chips, short pitches, and a few 3/4 length shots, all with wedges or short irons. I was mainly focusing on pivot and form, using foam balls mostly, with a few real balls in the evening. I finished the session with about 5 minutes of Kwon drills, mostly the step drill, focusing on using the ground, waiting on the downswing, and having the body control or initiate movements and trying to eliminate becoming too arm-driven early in the downswing.
  8. Big Lex
    Day 49 (9/12/2022): Back to work today...I did some dry swings in the morning just to feel the pivot motion, specifically the lateral move left as the club is still going back but close to the top. Tonight I did a 15 minute session on Hack Motion and then some chip/pitch practice into a net.
  9. Big Lex
    Simulator round (I know, I know), but still. 18th at Wentworth. After a drive of 269 in the fairway, I absolutely pured my 3 hybrid (220 carry) on the right center of the green, it took the slope and finished 11 feet from the hole. Missed the eagle putt but had a tap in birdie.
  10. Big Lex
    Day 48 (9/11/22): Today was a repeat of yesterday, sans the speed training. Warm up, hack motion, sim round, then some swing work. Sim round striking was excellent. Had an eagle and 5 birdies.
  11. Big Lex
    Day 47 (9/10/22): I had alot of time to practice today, and did it all on the simulator. I did range sessions, simulated rounds, and some Hack Motion work. In Hack Motion, I was fairly consistent with my wrist angle at impact, but was going into a bit too much lead wrist extension at the top (about 2-3 degress more than recommended). But it was consistent, and I was able to fix it about half the time by the end of the practice session. The main range session came after the simulated rounds, and I decided to do speed work. I had been hitting the ball fairly solidly and was warmed up and I thought it was a decent time to do speed work. I was able to get swing speed above 100 mph for most of the session, including a few swings in the 110-114 range. I cracked 150 on ball speed twice, which is pretty good for me. My typical "gamer" club head speed is more like 94 these days (sad trombone sound), but I hope to improve that ). FWIW, I shot 74 at a simulated round at Sunningdale's old course, playing it at about 6300 yards. After the speed session, I shut off the simulator and hit foam balls into the screen, working on an exaggerated flattening of the shaft plane in transition. This move is very difficult for me (I feel like I'm going to shank it when I flatten the shaft alot), so for now I'm doing it with foam balls to remove the anticipation of the hit and try to get my body used to doing the move.
  12. Big Lex
    Day 46 (9/9/22): Today I practiced chipping and pitching with foam balls. I was just hitting them too poorly, and needed to focus on the motion without the anticipation of the hit. Doing this for about 15 minutes allowed me to get my rhythm and pattern a little better. I followed this with maybe 5-6 balls. Next I worked on transition drills at different speeds, with no ball, then foam balls, and then a few real balls. I did the drills with a lob wedge first and then a 4 iron.
  13. Big Lex
    Hmm. I don't know. If the forearm is supinated when the wrist is fully uncocked, then yes the rotation only turns the club face a little. But if the lead forearm supinates while the wrist is still cocked/"lagged", the club head gets an accelerating torque. At the top of the backswing, it seems like in many expert swings, the lead forearm pronates a little, which "flattens" or shallows the plane of the club when viewed from behind. If you imagine supinating the left forearm at the top, the club head would go above the plane and be steep and I can't think that happens. But maybe it happens a little later in the downswing? I know the motorcycle move of the lead HAND also flattens the shaft, and I don't know if expert golfers do BOTH moves to shallow the club, one, or the other. I'm going to see if the GEARS data on tour pros shows forearm supination and I'm going to see if it's happening early in the downswing.
  14. Big Lex
    Good that you are going to see someone. Reflecting on my experience with a similar issue in the cervical spine, I will tell you that depending on your insurance, the doctor might be (probably is) forced, by insurance regulations, to try certain things before ordering an MRI or referral. I had definite symptoms of a cervical nerve root compression; a neurosurgeon colleague/friend examined me and requested an MRI for me. He oughta know, right? It was rejected by insurance because there was no documentation of a trial of "conservative treatment." So, my regular doctor documented my symptoms and referred me to physical therapy, and I went for 6 weeks. I got better, but not completely, and still had activity-limiting pain. They then relented and OK'd the MRI. I had 2 herniated discs with some degree of nerve root impingement. The point of saying all this is that it's worth it to go through the rigmarole and insurance game-playing to get the MRI, because nerve root compression is potentially amenable to surgery or something like a steroid injection. If you don't ever get it documented, you can end up in this cycle of flare ups that put you out of action repeatedly and never get a more definitive treatment than can have a more enduring benefit. I missed the second part of last golf season with my cervical spine issue, and I'm doing fine this year. But if I get another bad flare up, I now have the injury documented, and it will be easier to get follow up imaging, surgical referrals if it comes to that, etc.
  15. Big Lex
    I read the whole paper. Pretty interesting to read. The swing models and the "Darwinian" approach to creating the model golfer is just wild. 2000 generations of golfers in 50 minutes 🙂 I have about the same physics background as you, so I'm not sure I know the answer to your question. But that 22% number was a difference in model-generated swings, and was comparing a swing with zero forearm rotational torque to one with some amount of it. Is that a realistic representation of the range of how we use our forearms in real swings? I don't know. The model is supposed to be based on validated parameters for how we can move our muscles, though, and the model should have rejected any swings that were not humanly possible. One way to look at it is that adding a torque late in the swing should have a proportionally larger effect than earlier in the swing. The club head is already moving pretty fast by mid downswing, and an effective arm torque, being later in the kinematic sequence, could have an unexpectedly large effect on club head speed, because it's further accelerating something that's already moving fast.
  16. Big Lex
    Day 45 (9/8/22): I was feeling a bit sore this morning as I didn't sleep long...I kept practice simple. I spent about 30 minutes total. First was pitching and chipping. My chips had been getting very sloppy, stabbing at it and drop kicking them. I worked on chips clipping the ball first, and a little on pitches using the bounce. Then I did 10-15 minutes of Kwon step drills and low speed, finishing up hitting about 8-10 pitches with a gap wedge using the Kwon drill motion feel.
  17. Big Lex
    If you've never had an MRI and don't know whether or not you have a disc issue, you should probably go see someone.
  18. Big Lex
    Day 44 (9/7/22): Today was playing only, simulator round, after a warm up (still too rainy to play when I was free today). It was a very good striking round, hitting 9 greens and only 1 double bogey. I played National Golf Links, and the sim had it set up with very fast greens; hit the first green and had a 21 footer which I promptly putted 20 feet by and off the green. Anyway, striking is better. Launching the driver much better, much less dispersion, no smothers.
  19. Big Lex
    Day 43 (9/6/22): Today I practiced with Kwon step drills, concentrating on having good, active body motion in both the backswing and downswing, with proper sequencing of the shift/turn. I also worked on face awareness. It rained so I played 18 holes on the simulator at Fisher's Island and hit it very well...only 6 greens but was within a very short chip shot or in a greenside bunker on 9 other holes. Drove it really well, length wise, and my miss was consistently right and playable.
  20. Big Lex
    Day 42 (9/5/22): Today I practiced with a Hack Motion sensor and played some simulated holes. When I follow the HM parameters for wrist conditions, the shots are generally good.
  21. Big Lex
    Day 41 (9/4/22): I was supposed to play today, but we got rained out. Luckily I went to the range to hit about 3 hours before the tee time and got in about 30 minutes of practice. I hit about 20 balls over 30 minutes. It was the first outdoor range practice I've had in a while. I just tried to keep it simple and have it be useful; I did Kwon step drills a few times before hitting each ball. I wasn't flushing it, but the pattern was far better than the last time I was out. Most of the summer it has just been left or more left...hooks and smothers, very rarely a big block. Very frustrating. With the Kwon drills I hit 1 hook out of the whole bucket. I was hitting the irons straight or push draws. Drivers were going too far right but solid hits, and I wasn't really trying to fix direction but just get the flow and shift rhythm from the Kwon drills. We were away at a golf resort about an hour from my home, but the tee time for tomorrow was also going to be washed out, and so we decided to come home (sad trombone). I'd be more pissed, but this is the first measurable rainfall our area has had in quite a while it seems, so it's hard to be too upset about it.
  22. Big Lex
    Day 40 (9/3/22): Today it was more Kwon step drills, trying to keep the same flow and shifting pattern with 80% effort swings and 100%. I also worked on my wrist set in the backswing, trying to avoid being too shut at the top. In the Kwon drills, he talks about being patient in the downswing and “letting go,” sort of letting the arms fly and having the body turn control the downswing. This feel worked really well today. A lot of my face control issues of late seem to be that I’m doing a bit too much with arms and hands and not enough with body. I get to play alot in the next few days and am looking forward to it.
  23. Big Lex
    Day 39 (9/2/22): Today I felt like I was in a rut practicing these limited swings and feel like I was starting to lose the feel for the swing, lose dynamics, etc. So today I practiced the Kwon step drills, mixing in a practice ball after 4-5 reps of his drills. The goal was to feel 1) continuous swing motion, 2) that there is a vertical component to the body turn, 3) pivot driven swing, not arm driven, 4) as if I am swinging back fast, but really taking time and not rushing the downswing. After about 20-30 minutes of this type of practice, I played a simulated round.
  24. Big Lex
    Day 38 (9/1/22): Today I started out with one arm drills, and got in a fairly nice pattern with 3-9 swings. Then as soon as I lengthened, hooks returned. The only way to get workable shots was to really hold off/block the club, which felt very weird. So I went back to slower, shorter swings. I took a break for dinner and then went to the Hack Motion device, which told me "you tend to bow your wrist too much at the top of the swing, which can lead to hooks and hitting left." I worked on my arm action in the backswing and was able to get it back with a bit of cup in my wrist, with the degree of wrist extension in the range recommended by Hack Motion, and voila, I could get the club back to the ball with an open face and good ball flight. Didn't push it beyond about arm-parallel length swings.
  25. Big Lex
    My standard would be mini golf. Been shooting my age there for at least 20 years.
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