bankquant

Good news on 2 fronts. I picked up GameGolf during the recent Amazon prime day for about $140 and shot another sub 90 round yesterday. Been eyeing GameGolf for awhile now and finally decided that compared to other training aids it would probably be the best investment. First round with it is linked below.. First hole I feel like I did extremely poorly almost entirely because of the gamegolf setup and trying to get used to it. It threw off my routine but as the day went on I was less conscious of it. After that things were going great until the 14th hole when we got stuck behind a couple guys hacking it around the course. I must have sat on that tee box for 10- 15 mins and every hole afterwards (wish Gamegolf also showed time between shots and pace of place so I can see how things slowed down there). Feel like I completely lost my rhythm on that hole and was surprised to see I actually carded 2 pars after that cause I just felt like the old me every shot after that. Overall it was a good round and I really love the gamegolf system, there were a few shots that I forgot to tag before I took them but the system seemed to know I took those shots anyway and exactly where I took them from...crazy. I was alittle surprised by the distances with my 3wood, not so much avg distance because I chunked a few but the higher end of the range because I hit a few good ones and was expecting them to go 250+. Only used driver 3 times, all on par 5s but was surprised only on the lowest distance because it felt like they all went similar distances. 260-280 range seemed about right as I was taking 70% swings focusing on keeping the ball in the fairway. http://www.gamegolf.com/player/abh84/round/471122 I'd like to get back to the range soon and film my swing some more. I'm still struggling with my driver (though my first gamegolf round would say otherwise, 100% fairways hit). I just dont feel like im striking it solid and my ball flight is usually very low, with a fade or slice. If I could get it launching at a higher angle i'm sure I could get another 20-30 yards on average. My handicap has gone from ~25 a couple months ago to 16.5 today. And hopefully with came golf I can identify things I need to work on the most.

Haven't had much opportunity to play or practice recently. Yesterday was my first time out since shooting that 86 a couple weeks ago. The course I played was in the worst condition I've ever seen and I felt like I played terrible yet somehow I shot a 90 . I think the biggest difference between when I felt like I was playing bad previously and playing bad yesterday was that never I had any holes that I felt like I completely broke down on. There were no shots where I completely chunked or thinned the shot. They might not go in the exact direction I want but all my shots were making a good amount of progress towards the hole.. I'm probably not going to get another chance to play again for a couple weeks but maybe I can get out and practice and get some footage of my swing to see how I am progressing. However, I feel good about the progress I have made. My handicap went from about a 24/25 to 17.1 in the last month and a half. I still feel that my biggest struggle is getting off the tee box and setting myself up for a good approach shot to the green.

I don't find it hard to believe at all. I've been driving it over 300 from almost day 1 when I started playing about 4 years ago. I love disproving people who don't believe me when I tell them how far I hit. Yet my handicap is about a 22 Last two times I've played have been with people that have low single digit handicaps and they both had the same opinion . Even after seeing me match that their drives with a 3wood on multiple occasions. I hardly ever hit driver because I'm so inconsistent with it. First round, after seeing my partner hit a huge drive right down the middle of a particularly wide fairway I decided to pull out the driver and have a go at it. I ended up outdriving the end of the fairway and ended up in the rough. After measure distance to the hole and the knowing the length of the hole, his drive was about 280. Mine was 60 yards further in the rough and almost no roll out. I only had 60 yards left to the pin. Funny thing is though, he parred the hole and I ended up getting a double bogey. So driving isnt everything. Next round on a long dog leg left par 5, there was a huge lake to carry. We lasered the carry at either 230 or 250 depending on how far down you carried the water. My partner said he's never seen anyone try to carry the water. Again, I went after it and not only carried the water but carried the entire fairway on the other side, probably atleast another 50 yards and ended up out of bounds on the other side. I somehow saved par even though I had to take a drop but I only had about 170 yards to the hole on a 500+ yard par 5.

Early this last week I went out to the range and tried to work on changing my grip...going from a really strong grip to a weaker/neutral grip...suffice to say that did not go well. I was slicing everything like crazy and couldnt figure out how to get my hands back to square in the swing. I played a round yesterday and tried to forget all of that for now...Went out on a course I've never played before, with no warm up at all except some putting. I'm not sure what it was but I felt pretty good the entire day...there was a couple times where I felt like the game was slipping away from me but each time I got it back. Finished the round with an 86 my best score ever! Started off the round bogey, bogey, bogey then rattled off 4 pars in a row then went bogey..TRIPLE bogey :( . Put down 4 more pars on the back nine and the rest were bogeys with 2 double bogeys in a row on 13/14. Now that I've finally broken 90 my current goal is to try to maintain scores between 85 - 95, round over round. Then hopefully I can break 80. Because although I know I have all the shots in my bag I also know I'm really inconsistent because just last weekend my most recent score was a 102. A 16 stroke swing between rounds is kind of crazy...

I generally practice much slower but often I try to hit a bunch in a row when the camera is rolling just so I can get several quick comparisons and then turn it off and go back to focusing on swing thoughts. And then there are times when I just like to go out and hit ball after ball as hard and fast as I can as sort of a stress-relief. I also do this sometimes when I feel like I've made a change and seems to be working well so I will try to engrain it by repeating it over and over.

Had a good day at the range on Thursday Only had a handful of complete mishits. Almost everything was really solid but I think I'm only getting my desired ball flight about 60% of the time. I think I have improved in keeping my head steady, at least laterally. Not sure if I should also try to keep it steady vertically or how to achieve this. Also, I thought I was taking a more neutral grip but looking at the video it still looks very strong. I'll have to work on that and see if moving more neutral helps me at all. I've been working on getting my left knee to move inward as my right leg straightens and my hips turn but now I think im getting too loose with that and moving my left knee/leg too much. 3W Driver:

Dont think I ever hit high hooks... If I end up hooking it, its usually very low. Biggest missing is probably a high slice. Like skyrocketted to the next zip code slice. I played last weekend with a guy from work who is almost a scratch golfer and I was struggling a bit off the tee all day but I was telling him how if I hit good drives I can get out around 300. Like a lot people normally say he said "you probably think you hit it 300 but its probably more like 270 or 280) . So around the 12th hole which was a 400yd par 4 he gets up there a smashes a drive way past the 2 other guys we are playing with. I got up last and just really went after it.. Ended up hitting it about 340 yds...all the way through the fairway. I had 60 yards left to the hole and I was 60 yards past him. About 100 yards past the other guys in my group. I have to take those moments like that when I can find them because he ended up shooting a 78 I think and I shot a 102 ...

Speaking from my own experience and general knowledge of sports science the best way is to work on a number of different power lifting moves in the gym. Short burst, low reps, heavy weights. It may not seem like something like power-cleans, hanging cleans, deadlifts and squats would translate directly to a more powerful golf swing but you'd be surprised how much those exercises trigger a total anabolic state for all your muscle groups and increase your core power. Those type of large motion exercises should make up the bulk of a workout with a few things like cable woodchops, bench press, shoulder press, etc mixed in. Again, this should all be short fast bursts with as much weight as you are comfortable with. I'd usually do 5 sets of 5 or if im working towards a 1 rep max i'd go from 8 reps (warmup), 6, reps, 4 reps, 1 rep.

Played a late round Friday after I got out of work early...Played at a course I am sort of familiar with by now but have never really played great there. However, this time I shot a full 17 shots (99 vs 116) better than I did when I started playing again a couple months ago. I was also playing from the champions tees which increase the total yardage by about 450. The round was pretty good and I started off the first 9 holes striking the ball beautifully. I had a lot of trouble getting the green speeds right and had far too many 3 putts I think this round was the best I ever had with ball striking. There were a few slices with the driver later in the round and then couple over-correction hooks as I got a little tired but overall it was a great round. I think I only had a single complete mishit but that worked out ok because I popped up a 3W off the tee and it went straight about 100 yards. Normally I'll have 5 or more complete shanks and mishits per round. That has been one of my biggest goals for a long time... No one wants to see their drive barely make it off the tee box.

Couple new videos from practice on Thursday night. I also played another round today and again showed some improvement (especially considering the conditions of the fairways and greens on this course). I'm still working on making sure my head stays centered over the ball and that my left knee works inward on the backswing. Secondary to that is trying to work my swing path in to out. My round today was the best one I've had in a long time and likely the best I've ever driven the ball. I had more long, straight down the middle fairway hits today than I've ever had. I was disappointed with my short game which usually makes up for my inability to get off the tee but the course I played was in terrible condition. The fairways were either like shag carpet or dirt and weeds. One was completely covered in clovers. The greens werent much better and one was even a 'temporary' green in the middle of the fairway. Even with all of that I ended up shooting a 94. It feels to go out each time and see a solid improvement in scores. Hopefully I can keep the momentum going next time. The best I've ever shot is a 90.

Played another round on Saturday, at another course I've never played before. Still not happy with my scores but I saw some improvements in my drives off the tee and had a few holes where I felt like I was playing golf instead of just scrambling around a golf course and hacking the ball. A few highlights... I came within an inch of a hole in one; I had a 310 yard drive right down the middle on a par 5 (end up making a 7 after shanking my 2nd shot and landing in a ditch); I ended high on a hill over the green and behind a bunker with the green sloping away from me on one hole. I hit a 64degree lob shot that was perfect. It landed just on the fringe and trickled down to within 2 feet of the whole. If I had to take that shot 100 more times I probably couldnt have done that again. If I look at my 3 rounds since starting to play golf again I see improvement but I'm still not where I left off at Rnd 1: 116 Rnd 2: 106 Rnd 3: 103

Do I need to correct my setup? It kind of looks like my hands might be too far forward from the face on view which is causing my shoulders to be more tilted that my spine angle.

Frustrating day at the range...I needed to blow off some steam after work. It didn't put me in the best mindset to work on a slow and steady swing and concentrate on changes. I normally might hit 10 or 20 shots with driver out of 100 balls. I think I hit closer to 80 today. Been trying to get my knee working inwards in the backswing and also keep my head steady but it just doesnt feel right. The swing doesnt feel balanced. Think I need some more practice in the mirror.

Yea was definitely working on rotating my left knee inward in my practice swings and in the mirror at home. During my actual swings I was only really thinking about keeping my head still.. Hard to think about multiple things at once or at all during a real swing.

Got my tripod in the mail today so I can finally get some better angles...just wish I had a camera that could capture over 60fps Lets start off with the ugly first... This is what bothers me the most and besides the slice its the worst part about my swing. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here compared to my good swings. I hit 2 off the bottom heel of the club and then the next one off the top toe of the club. These were my first few swings with my driver after practicing laying it down or flattening it out in the downswing. Next is the good swings. I think I narrowed my stance slightly compared to the bad swings but other than that didnt change anything. Almost all started out right on line and either went dead straight or had a slight fade near the end. I really need to figure out these mishits and get some better consistency. Not sure what is happening.

I often have trouble maintaining proper tempo and swinging too hard but I dont think I ever swing so hard that my feet come off the ground. Right at impact your left pivot foot pops off the ground. You may want to slow it down slightly and focus on having the same rhythm and tempo in your downswing as your backswing.

Are you hitting the ball off the ground with your driver?

I was able to get out and play 18 holes today (sort of 27 because I started playing 2 balls on the back 9) on a course I've never played before. I went out without any warm up because I was a single and there were a couple 4-somes about to go off so I jumped ahead of them. First drive was low straight pull but was ended up playable. Ended up getting a triple on the first hole which I attributed mostly to not knowing the speed of the greens but then I had a long string of bogeys, usually always in a position to make par followed by a tap in bogey.. Definitely not my best day putting but my balls striking was much better then the last time I went out. On the 7th hole my new laser rangefinder that isnt even a month old stopped working (it kind of worked in fits and starts for the rest of the day) and at the same time I stepped in an ant hill and got bit a couple times...Shot a 9 on that par4 and then followed it up with an 8 on the next par5. Ended up shooting a 53 on the front 9. I felt like I got back it my groove on the back nine and started playing 2 balls because no one out front or behind me. I made a few bad decisions because it was an unfamiliar course and the wind was playing tricks on me. Since I was playing 2 balls I didn't adjust my club if I came up way short or too long with the first hit I just tried to play it with the original club selection I made. I shot a 53 and a 52 with my 2 balls on the back 9. The last time I was out, which was my first round in about 6 month I shot a 110 and I was playing from the white tees on about a 6000yard course. This time I shot a 105 or 106 shooting from the blue tees on a 6911 course. The overall score wasn't much better but I felt a lot better about my game. My ball striking was much better. I may have shanked 1 or 2 shots. I think I only lost a single ball off a tee shot and I never saw that ball in the air, it may have landed somewhere playable but I just had no idea which way it went. Most of my drives were low, straight fades. There were a couple that went dead straight or even slight draws and rolled out well past 300 yards. My iron ball striking was pretty good but I misplayed the wind or just set up wrong several times. My tripod should arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday so I hope to get back to the range it get some better footage and really work on my swing path.

Got my wife to come out and film me this time ...apologies for the slightly shaky video. I ordered a tripod as soon as I got home haha I consolidated everything into one video because its much easier to upload. I'm liking my new driver, its so much louder than my old Adam's tight lies driver and the ball really seems to fly off the face. I'm probably going to need much more repetition with my swing changes. When I swing without consciously thinking of keeping my head from sliding back or my swing going in to out I fall back into my natural swing very easily and come over the top of let leave the face open. Its hits like the 2nd Driver swing in the face on view that really drive me crazy... I basically hit the ball on the bottom heel of the club and I have no idea why.

I was going to wait until thursday to go to the range but my new driver arrived early and I remembered the draft is today. So I went last night even though I still kind of have a cold I got a new Tour Edge Max D-45 driver for $58. It seems like a great investment so far. I'm not sure if it was the recent practice I've been doing at home to really swing in to out and keep my head still, or maybe that I was swinging much slower than I normally do because I was afraid of scuffing up the driver on the first use or that I was also swinging slow because I have a cold but I was hitting about 9/10 solid shots compared to my usual 1/10. Don't remember hitting any slices with it, hit a couple straight pushes and a few pull hooks but for the most part they were almost dead straight carrying about 250 to 280 while I only felt like i was swinging 60% Hopefully I can repeat the swing next time I go and get some video of it.

For the high handicapper like myself, until I can keep the ball in play consistently I'm going to be practicing 90% long game. I lose so many shots off the tee its not even funny. My short game is actually pretty good. I know i could use some work on my bunker shots but I might have 1 of those a round on average so its not a big concern.

Taking a few days off to rest my hands and back...also I think I'm getting a cold so it might end being longer I've been coming up with a list of drills to do , some at home and some to do at the range next time I go. However, I'm a little unsure about one. At the very top of my back swing my head tends to sway back due to the increased tension in my core...It like an automatic response to take some of the tension off and maintain the spine again.. My question would it be advisable to practice tilting my up body toward the target at the top of the backswing to keep the head steady. The combined backswing pull away from the target with the feeling of tilting toward the target cancel eachother out and keep my head steady. Is there a better way to practice this? The other drills I'll be working on are: Slow motion swing from in to out. Trying to over-exaggerate Breath out throughout swing and keep mouth open. Do not clinch, swing smooth. Maintain a constant grip pressure Uphill lie swing for flat swing plane

....Neither Been I've had many amazing shots and been close to a hole in one, many close eagles, great bunker shots but they've never gone in. I drove the green once over trees on a dog leg par 4 and from the look of where the ball stopped I had a good shot at an albatross but then I 2 putted for a birdie...

I remember this video from some time ago.. I personally have trouble with this as well and tense up too much in my actual swing vs practice swing. I think exhaling throughout the swing is a good drill

Went to the range again today and primarily focused on trying to flatten out my swing path. I was also trying to focus on keeping my head from moving laterally but I think next time I should only focus on 1 thing at a time. Not sure which is more important at this stage though. Also, I'm going to look into getting a tripod for my camera. I've been setting it up on a chair and trying to prop it up but the angles dont always come out right. I feel like it was another solid day (compared to what I'm used to) for my 3W and Driver. The consistency I'm used to seeing with my irons has dropped off somewhat but I guess thats to be expected when I'm working on changing my swing. I feel like I was over-exaggerating the 'in to out' swing in my practice swings but when I look at the video maybe thats actually how it should be at full speed. When I went from the practice swing to the full swing I was still coming over the top somewhat...slightly less than before. The cumulative effect however straighten out my 3W and Driver and I was seem much larger draws than I'm used to in my irons. I attempted several swings, hitting a ball at 50% power but I pretty much shanked every single one of those. I find it very hard to practice at slow speed because the tempo and sequence of my swing falls apart. Not sure if I should only practice at 70%+ power or keep working at the slow speed stuff until I get it and then move back up to high power. I'm going to have to take a few days for recovery because my back and arms are not used to hitting this many balls. The slow motion swings and holding certain positions at the top are really straining my back. I'm determined to fix my swing but I feel like I may have jumped in too quickly since I havent really played much in over 6 months. PW DTL - in to out practice PW Face on practice 3W DTL practice 3W Face on practice Driver practice (DTL & face on)