squaddie

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!

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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

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?

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.

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.

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...

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.

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...

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...

(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.

Find a golf shop that does clubfittings and ask if they can measure your hand size, so you will know better if you need bigger grips. I went through a full club fitting this past December and it turned out I needed a +2 sized grip, which is in the mid-sized range. I ordered my new irons set all with +2 grips. I have long fingers but didn't realize I needed a bigger club grip.

Thanks, that makes sense. Once my elbow heals I'll be working on using my hip rotation to power my downswing more, so as to avoid the casting problem.

Just an update on my recovery: I haven't been doing any serious golf swinging in about 10 days. My elbow feels better from last week, and I'm able to move objects and grab everyday things with my right arm without feeling any pain. But I tried my push-test (mentioned in my last posting) with my left and right arms just now, and felt a stiffness inside the base of my right forearm near the elbow. Since I still feel some stiffness I'm going to continue holding off on swinging until the stiffness goes away. I plan to test again in a few days. This makes me realize a tricky thing about an elbow tendon injury - even though you don't feel pain from everyday use, it doesn't mean the tendons and ligaments are fully healed.

No. From the few articles I have read they indicated you should wait for the pain to be 100% gone, then gradually get back into golf. Taking anti-pain medicine prior to swinging also won't help, since one will still damage the elbow area but just not feel the pain. If you don't wait for the arm to fully heal then you can make the injury worse. A few articles I read of people's experiences who didn't wait long enough to heal developed bone spurs and required surgery to repair the elbow (in this case a weight-lifter). The reason why this problem has continued for 5 months is probably due the fact you haven't waited for the elbow to fully heal, which is understandable, since one can get impatient with an injury like this. I am also trying to recover from golfer's elbow right now. I first had the injury back in December, caused by hitting fat too much. I've been healing up, but every time I tried to get back swinging when the pain was minimal it would flair up again. I have hit the gym a few times and did some exercises where the arms just supported the routine (like bench press, lat pulls, moderate weight), but the elbow remained agitated. I've gone cold-turkey on swinging, and just using my right arm naturally, being sure not to strain my elbow. So far this seems to be helping recovery the most. To measure the healing process I found a simple technique: stand over a mattress or couch cushion. Bend over slightly and rest your palms on the mattress. Then slowly push down into the mattress with both arms, like you are trying to push the mattress lower. If you feel any soreness, stiffness or pain in the affected arm, it means the elbow still hasn't fully healed. I would try the above mattress test once every 2 or 3 days to see if you are recovering. If the pain level or stiffness is the same after a month, and you haven't been doing anything to strain the elbow further, then you will probably have to see a doctor about your elbow.

I currently use short-thumb on my grip. So far I like my grip since I seem to hit the ball fairly straight. But that's a good concept that grip can affect the torque you can produce through the impact zone. Perhaps there is some aspect of grip pressure that could be contributing to my casting of the club. You have given me an idea for something else to try: I had an injury on my right hand that prevents me from fully gripping the club with my right ring finger. I appear to be able to control the club OK, but wonder if I am overcompensating with my left hand too much since I can't grip firmly with the middle and ring fingers of the right hand. For fun I just now tried an odd-ball grip, the reverse overlap, where the left index finger goes over the right pinky. I appeared to be able to hit the ball well off my indoor practice mat, while with my regular overlap grip I was still hitting chunky. I'll have to try the reverse overlap a little more and see if that gives me better grip pressure on my right hand, and then see if it has any affect on my swing speed. Not intending to replace my grip, but perhaps using the reverse overlap grip would be useful as a drill. From Googling more info on the grip I found that Steve Jones won the 1996 US Open with a reverse overlap grip, which he took up due to a motorcycle accident that caused him to lose the tip of his left ring finger.

That's a good idea, to measure swing-speed while trying a few technique changes. I have one of those Medicus swing-speed measurement devices that one places up near the grip of the club. It seems to read my speed in the same ballpark as measurements from launch monitors at my golf instructor's place. I'll try to monitor my speed during practice after my right-elbow heals. On the right arm, I'll have to study the position a little more to see if that has an effect. I also have the Jim McLean video on the 8-step swing I can go back and review, and a few other golfing books that discuss the right-arm position (Snead, Woods). From past lessons my right arm is a little lower than the left at times, but part of that was a result of my left arm not being extended enough at the top of the backswing. I'm still leaning towards casting the club as being my main power and speed drain. I'm going to try to ensure I don't release the club until I've got more weight on my left side in the downswing. I'll be putting a priority on that aspect once I can get to work on my swing again.

I was going through recent swing videos and realized one problem that may be causing me to loose club-head speed is casting the club, or an early release. I think casting is also what contributed to my recent right-elbow injury. Can anyone recommend some good drills or video links to avoid casting the club? I found one reference to a pump-it drill but wanted to see if there were any others.

I agree, that's a good reminder. My intention is to start the downswing with the hips (not the shoulders).

Right, I agree on that suggestion. My instructors believe my shoulder turn was pretty good, just needed a little more weight transfer to the right to get in the proper backswing position. I was mentioning the bent arm since I was letting it bend significantly and didn't feel it (which was a bad thing per my instructors). I'll keep that in mind. My instructors said my hips should rotate more in the downswing, which could mean I need to turn them quicker before impact. But I'll test that out after I've first tried turning my shoulders faster in the downswing (based on the suggestions above). I'm still waiting for my elbow to heal before hitting the range to try out all the suggestions. Worst is my new driver and 3-wood also showed up in the mail (Taylormade 2010 Burner Superfast 10.5 driver and 15* Taylormade 2010 3 wood), so I have to put them out of eyesight so I'm not tempted to swing them while I'm still injured.

Thanks for that input. My left arm has been bending too much, mainly at the top of the backswing, even though I felt I was keeping it straight. In my past two lessons the instructors felt I was overturning, and had me try to shorten the backswing a bit. When they asked me to take a swing and feel like I had the club-head pointing at the wall behind me, at that point I was in the correct backswing position, the club shaft less than parallel (and my left arm straighter). Also my arms were too tense at address. I was overdoing the Hogan setup method and trying to point my elbows to my hips and feel like the elbows were staying close together. In the same lessons above I was asked to relax my arms more and let the left arm straighten more naturally in the backswing. The feel for me now is like I'm pushing with my shoulders and arms to get the club away from me in the backswing. I haven't been able to practice much further to an elbow injury (from hitting the ground too hard). The PGA tip article posted by The Road Dog above also comments on how tension in the arms can produce a weaker impact. When my right arm heals up I'm going to try a more relaxed arm position at setup and also try to turn my shoulders quicker in the downswing.