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squaddie

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About squaddie

  • Birthday 11/30/1966

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    Golfaholic

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  1. I just read this evening that Tiger was playing this tournament while he had the flu? Geez, have to imagine how he would have done if he was 100% healthy!
  2. I wasn't able to watch much Tiger this weekend, but just looking at the stats he's still having some swing consistency issues and putting issues. His drives are averaging over 300 yds so he still has power, but his GIR isn't that great. He's still well behind the leaders in putting stats, but part of that may also be due to issues with iron accuracy and missing scoring spots on the fairways. On a web-broadcast I just watched Tiger's warm-up swing on the par-3 15th hole, and he looked like he was really thinking during his two practice-swings, but also appeared relaxed. Since he's not going to win he's taking the right attitude to use the last round to practice a few things. Hope he gets things fixed for next week.
  3. All good points. In summary there is some slight rotation of the left arm, but the movement is not supposed to be intentional. Going back to the thread Zeph mentioned, I agree with the initial premise of the thread, the first post from iacas, where, "the proper position of the club's leading edge is...perpendicular to the plane". However, my problem is after I get the club to the 9:00 position (shaft parallel to the ground), and my leading edge is perpendicular, it's after that when I'm not moving my arms properly. To illustrate, I believe once my left arm was getting to the 9:00 position, it appeared the butt of the club was pointing straight down, based on some testing I was just doing. But when I try this new movement, the butt of the club is pointing on a line about parallel to my club shaft at address, but above the address line. I found it was difficult to getting back to swinging the old way, as this new way seemed to give me a better shoulder turn. If anything I feel like my backswing is more like the drill illustrated in Jeff Ritter's video above. Going back to my new technique, I found it was difficult to tell if I was rotating my left arm now or not. Maybe my arms and shoulders were just getting disconnected somehow? Well, thanks for all the info, I'll keep working on this.
  4. I had to put a larger grip on my Scotty, since the stock grip was too small for my hands, and I couldn't feel the club that well. Here's a little drill you can try to move the putter more smoothly. Get into address without a ball, then take the putter back and then forth over the putting surface, and keep it swinging with your shoulders like a pendulum. As it swings back and forth feel the weight of the putter, and once it feels a little heavy let it swing back the other way. Once you got the rocking motion going the putter should move without wobbling, and you should feel the weight of the putter driving your shoulder and arm movement. That's the feeling you should try for when moving the putter back and through, applying enough grip pressure and force to let the putter go back smoothly. During the drill ensure you keep your eyes focused where the ball would be, and your arms are helping to guide the putter on the target line.
  5. Here's a cheap and easy backyard drill for taking a divot: Place a leaf on the ground in front of where you would place a ball. Line up your club with the leaf, leaving room for a ball, and take a swing. You should be able to take a divot beginning where the leaf is, implying you would hit the ball before the ground. If no leaves then you can use a business card to mark where the club should divot, and be able to pick the biz card off the ground (in front of where the ball would be).
  6. I've had ongoing issues with my backswing, and realized last night I haven't been allowing my left forearm to rotate properly in the backswing. I found after allowing my left forearm to turn clockwise about 90 degrees that it's easier to turn my shoulders further without overturning my hips. Ideally I assume the left forearm (not the upper arm) should rotate to a point where the butt of the club is pointing at or a little above the target line the ball is on. In the last few months I've had issues with the backswing where I felt like I was getting stuck, and not sure if I was turning my shoulders and arms correctly or getting onto the right plane. I had a recent lesson where stance and posture were an issue, but even after the lesson I was having the same swing symptoms. As I was focusing on other aspects of my swing, I was just telling myself, "raise up the arms", but not allowing the left forearm to rotate as well. Before I was just trying to turn my shoulders and raise up my left arm on plane, and let the club hinge naturally, but the results during the downswing have usually been bad. The left forearm rotation has probably been natural or common-sense for most golfers, but for me I'm wired in a way where if I haven't told my limbs to do something, then they won't necessarily do it. I've had many swing problems the last few years attributed to this aspect. Are there any other _thorough_ drills or videos to recommend to help groove proper left arm movement in the backswing ? I found this one drill by Jeff Ritter that seems pretty good. Based on his breakdown of the arm movement it's like I can rotate my left forearm up to the proper swing-plane. I found another drill related by Sir Nick Faldo from his Swing for Life book that is demonstrated in this video: What Faldo also does in his pre-set position besides cocking his wrists is to rotate his left forearm, which I just now put together. Any other drills or ideas would be appreciated.
  7. Here's a quick tip I got from my instructor on fixing a shank. I had a lesson two weeks ago where one issue I went over was shanking with the short irons. My instructor told me, "On the downswing, aim to hit the space just before where the ball sits (facing the ball). Here's a mini diagram
  8. Wow, guess I won't be going to the gym today. With the scores so close, what are the odds of a playoff happening? Would they play individual holes or an entire round?
  9. Graeme appeared really unhappy during his final holes on Friday, his head down while waiting on the teebox, muttering. The guy shouldn't be too hard on himself for what he's accomplished. But I agree that grit is probably what will drive him to do better next time. So for Tiger today will his performance off the tee be the biggest deciding factor? I couldn't tell from the Masters.com site how many fairways Tiger hit yesterday. His irons seem well dialed in and his biggest advantage compared to the youngsters, but his putting performance was a little mixed, though as others have said the greens are challenging. Based on older stats from the PGA Tour website both Day and Mcilroy drive an average 10 yards further than Tiger, and Day has been up to 10% more accurate on hitting the fairways. But Tiger has the advantage in GIR. Choi's stats are a little better than Tiger's except for GIR. I think Day has the best chances to win, unless he makes a big mistake. Tiger will have to play consistently and capitalize on any openings, and also not make any big mistakes if he wants a shot to win on Sunday.
  10. It sounded like the fitting was thorough, as he even measured the size of your grip, and also recognized you needed a stiffer shaft, probably since your swing speed has increased over the years. I had a fitting this past Christmas and found I was hitting the Callaway Diablo Edge irons 10 yards further than the others I tried, including my Cobra irons. Without the fitting I never would have tried the Callaway clubs since I consider them an expensive brand and I prefer to save money on clubs. But due to the performance I didn't mind spending a little extra money, especially since the clubs were adjusted to my specification. But, yeah, it makes sense to get a fitting from someone who seems objective and not biased by commissions. I had lessons from the guy that fitted me, and also knew he had club-making and club fitting experience, and also paid him for the fitting separately, so I trusted his intentions.
  11. Another update after 16 days: Over a week ago I noticed my arm didn't seem worse, but also didn't seem any better. I was using the flexbar every other day, but also doing exercises at the gym once a week on the upper body, which appeared to be stressing my elbow (due to the pressure of my grip). So I decided to stop doing anything to put pressure on my elbow, including not using the flexbar. I still used my arm for common daily activities, just avoiding putting any major strain on it. After going a week without any pressure on the arm seems to be working great. I'm going to wait another week, then try the flexbar again just to see how my elbow tolerates it. In addition to the red flexbar I also bought the 15lb flexbar model (the green one) just to see how it compared, so I will try that one next. If I can do the flexbar and not feel any stiffness then I think I will be good to go for swinging a club again (fingers crossed). Until next week...
  12. The video offers some interesting theories, but it's all very difficult to prove. And the video's author doesn't offer any citations or proof on issues with some of the past golfers, like Sam Snead. It's true Snead had the yips, but from Snead's books he only mentions that problem with his putting. SomaxSports should also disclose in their video that they offer an expensive MicroFiber Reduction program From their website at http://www.somaxsports.com/ Microfiber Reduction (MR) is available only at Somax . The fee for Microfiber Reduction is $350 an hour at our headquarters in Tiburon, CA, as part of our flexibility and videoanalysis program. We recommend you start with a three-hour evaluation. Minimum program is 30 hours. Perhaps there's some merit to their assertions, but they should indicate in the video they are selling a service.
  13. I've been using the red flexbar for a week. Only used it 3 times so far, as I don't try the exercises every day, and skipped using the bar on Sunday due to a workout at the gym. My golfer's elbow is not fully healed, yet. But so far using the red flexbar, I don't think the bar is contributing to pain or delaying the healing process. While using the flexbar I can feel the strain of the injury on the inside of the affected elbow, which tells me I'm still healing, but after the exercises I don't feel any pain or stiffness. I'll continue another week with the flexbar and report back...
  14. I just received a red Flexbar from Amazon ($14 + free shipping with my Prime account). My right elbow was doing better but still not at a point where I can swing a club. I'll try this red Flexbar for a few days and report back on the results...
  15. (Tiger Woods fan here) So what are the impressions of Tiger's first match this season and his swing? I know swing changes take time, but Tiger has already gone through swing changes a few times before, so he should take on adjustments quickly. Despite bad luck with the bunkers I expected Tiger to place in or near the top 10 in scoring. Does this mean Sean Foley's input is not that effective? Or does it just take a little longer to transition from an old-school swing to a stack-and-tilt-like swing? From a few posts I have seen on this forum, those who have switched to stack-and-tilt appear to take it up quickly with positive results. So I wonder why Tiger would have issues with a similar transition, unless Foley has not correctly conveyed some SnT-like principles, which could contribute to inconsistencies in a swing. At the Farms Insurance Open, Tiger had 12 bogeys and 13 birdies, while Bubba Watson had only 8 bogeys, 20 birdies, and 2 eagles. Whatever Tiger has been working on the past couple of months, I think he needs to change his game plan.
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