Psychonana

JDP... flattered you think I can help you with comments on your swing. I'm afraid I'm not close to being qualified beyond the very basics. I'd probably point you in a very wrong direction if I tried. You'd get real feedback from @iacas and others who work as coaches and trainers. Your swing looks pretty solid it me. Your poor extension probably could be fixed by doing some advanced yoga classes!

So, I had a little time on the range yesterday and I tinkered with two things that you guys brought up... @iacas's stick drill to help correct DS plane and @JDP 's idea on arms takeaway. I have to say I appear to have gotten some positive results from combining both. I'd like to finesse it a little more before I post a video. On my takeaway, I found that if I keep my hands a little closer to my body, I have a more upright back swing which minimizes that funky shift in plane I have at the top of my swing, and the downswing is coming in comfortably under the stick and much closer to the same plane as the backswing, which I love. And whatever was happening with my hands before, which was producing more draw than I was comfortable with, appears to have cancelled itself out. The draw is in a far better place now - much more in the category of high-draw than hookey-draw. Ball flight also has the height I am looking for. All good.

Ok, ok in honour of the funky move I'll give it a try and report back with video. :) Re handicap, you are too kind! But I wish I was at that level. For that I have a lot more work to do! I'm averaging high 70s these past few months. Bit more than than before Christmas.

Thanks for the feedback, interesting what JDP says about the hip sync. It's only now, when you say it, that I noticed that mechanic in my swing. I do feel this would take serious work to implement a change on this aspect - (maybe more work and hardship than I want to take on right now :) ) As @iacas says right now I think I have other more obvious things to worry about. I did try out the stick drill you suggested with some good results but all with a lot more draw than I'm comfortable with and with some horrific hooks as well. Trying to correct this resulted in strong pushed shots - I find it difficult to keep path straight at point of impact with the drill. Wasn't able to get a video this time but I'll post one as soon as I can - I'd be interested to hear if you can see positive changes.

What is the difficulty index of that hole? This is something worth considering when you assess the risk. If I am tied between 2 shot options I often will let the index decide. If its rated as a difficult hole, I'll take the safer less risky shot. My thinking being that on average others will be having difficulties on this hole and will be paying the price of their over risky shots. I'm smarter to play it conservatively and walk off with a clean result, reserving my riskier shots for easier holes.

It's hard to tell, of course, especially not knowing the severity of the slope and how much the ball will run out. The way I see it is that there is more risk involved in laying up in front of the creek. (165yds will put you in it on the right.) Add the downhill aspect and I imagine even a 7 iron off the tee risks scampering down into the creek. (I play a similar hole here in Spain and its unreal how much the ball can roll out depending on the conditions) AND you are still left with the 140-150yd uphill approach possibly with a downhill lie. Eek! Either way the risk is a penalty drop, compounded with the risk of that drop not giving you a clear line to the green if you are under the trees on the right? You also seem to have a visually impaired line to the green off that back tee box. If this is something that you are weary of then you should also consider the effect this has on the risk of executing the shot badly - a huge factor for many golfers. In regards to the alternative shot, I can drive 270yds consistently and can fade without problem so I know I'd be playing that shot over the right side of the bridge, probably with a little more height than normal to ensure I carry the trees (in the event of a miss hit), and the creek if it leaks a bit to the left. With your 210 drive, the risk of catching the creek particularly on the left side would come more into play than it does for me. Certainly if wind is on your back and you can launch it a little higher, I'd tend to go for the drive rather than the layup if I were you. (Although if you've snap-hooked your last 2 drives, maybe reconsider that!) :)

Agreed, your goals will work with each other to help other aspects of your game. Improving your green side chipping will help eliminate your 3 putt stats, simply working on keeping your ball on the fairway off the tee will help eliminate those OABs and consequentially some of your trebles and doubles... remember EVERY single golfer started as a high handicapper.

Well, quality of ball strike is one thing, short game skills another and playing smarter is another. I'd argue that learning to play smarter, particularly for higher handicapped players, is a lot easier to implement than elevating the quality of their ball striking, and a lot faster than elevating your skills to the next level. Blackjack Don, I feel, maybe looking for a fast track means to drop his handicap - IE "One Fix". I really don't think it is this simple. Fixing your swing or improving your skills usually takes a lot more time and practice. At his HC level I believe the easiest way would be through smarter play.

Lol, yes it's when our thought process starts to look more like when playing chess - trying to anticipate 2 or 3 moves ahead. Although, did you mean underestimating the risk rather than overestimating it?

I'd suggest first identifying where you are creating risk or loosing shots in all aspects of your game; errant drives, number of bunkers you get in. How many 3 putts, trebles and doubles do you typically have. Write them All down on a hit-list. Identify the skills that will help negate those more challenging shot scenarios and link them to your hit-list items. Now create a fallback plan for each scenario. E.g. Hybrid rather than driver on the tee, lay up or play around when faced with a bunker, lag putting, etc. Going forward play only your fallback plan. Set your goals for a limited but realistic period of time. (Eg: hit 8 fairways off the tee rather than 3 or no OABs rather than your usual 3) Take one skill a time and work on it until you can confidently implement the stroke into your game and only then will you allow yourself to retire the fallback option. Bit by bit you will see your hit-list disappear and your scoring improve.

Yes, just through the survey. There is no other way to capture the information I'm looking for which is pertaining to risk assessment, confidence, experience and goal setting. The data is solicited from golf forums and social communities worldwide. Yes, absolutely, the results and analysis will be published for debate and discussion.

Man, how does he get so far inside... definitely will search out his swing videos. Looking at them now, interesting that he also has such an open stance... I do the same, and even exaggerate this on purpose when I'm having an off day with my swing to help be square off the face.

Assuming something like this? Sounds like it would help... I'll give it a go and report back.... I'm still worried about that blip on the top of my backswing, it looks so weird.

Well spotted, but could it be that it's the right arm that is causing the blip or shift in swing plane to the outside... if you look at it just before the top of my backswing you can see this weird right arm angle shift that pushes my left arm up considerably. Its like my shoulder joint does something funky forcing a change in direction. If I shorten my backswing it all but disappears and the swing plane is far better looking. The problem for me with swinging from the inside is that it also magnifies slice considerably.

Yep, I have an instructor. I've made great gains in the past 12 months so I can't say really what is my biggest weakness regarding my ball striking, I'm fairly happy with that right now. Currently I'm working on adding a bit more height to my ball flight so I have a bit more flexibility on approach. That said, that driver tends to let me down, and I probably should leave it in the bag more than I do. Overall I think I am loosing my shots with my course management to be honest. I'm always interested in what people have to say... and I'll take from it what I feel I can put into practice. :)

Thanks RandallT, Ill try to sort out these links.. I'm not a paying Hudl subscriber so I don't think I can access these... I'lll see what else I can dig up. What Other media formats will display?

I've been Playing Golf for: 46 years... since I was 4 years old... I am now 28!!! My current handicap index or average score is: 5.2 - Average score is approx 78 My typical ball flight is: Low and piercing off the tee and with long irons, more lobbie with approach The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Pull hook! Grrrrrr.... Videos: Frontal: Down the line: Dancing with my pull hook:

Currently Creative Director of my own Barcelona based design company. Do lots of work for the Irish golf industry. Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mick-walsh-3983a311

So, I'm an Irish man, working in my design company, currently living in Barcelona, who has been playing golf for the past 45 years. I first started in Cavan, Ireland under the instruction of my father. We lived just beside the 2nd green so getting hooked wasn't difficult! At 16 years old I was able to take a trip to Scotland to play all the greats, St. Andrews, Turnburry, Carnoustie, Muirfield etc... (Green fees were about $10 at the time and for the most part we were walk-ons! - How things have changed) I finished that phase of life playing off an erattic 9 handicap index. Thereafter life has thrown me in different directions that effected the way I could focus on what I consider my main sport. College in Dublin, my part time job in the famous Stag's Head bar and all the distractions that come with it meant I could only play in the bar staff's monthly game at another gem - Baltray, Co. Louth. Then after immigrating to New York, those games fizzled down to just 3 or 4 games a year, if that. 12 years later I was starting to establish a more regular game with good friends on the Jersey shore, but them the family came and spoiled everything again! :) Then it was time to move again, and we ended out in Barcelona where my first venture back into the golf world there, didn't allow me past the front gate security at the famous and exclusive El Prat golf club. (I don't think my car was big enough!) So I turned and focussed on bringing up my kids and got on with the trials of life. It wasn't long before the itch returned, as my kids got old enough to allow me to have more time to myself. Soon I was discovering all the beautiful courses of Catalunya, (PGA Catalunya, Montanyà, Costa Brava, Masia Bach and of course See's Sant Joan) returned to competitive play and started to focus on my game improvement. Over a 4 year period I've been able to move from a 16 to a 4 handicap index. With it I've become fascinated on game improvement techniques and methodology. Going forward I'd love to sometime work in the golf industry using my design and development experience. I have a few ideas up my sleeve for this. Wish me luck! That's pretty much it!

Ah yes, for me playing with great golfers really helps me tidy up my game. I'm glued to them as they make their club choices. :)

Risk and pressure definitely interact for most of us, I would think, but definitely we all handle these factors differently. (picture a 3ft lateral downhill putt on a slope for a birdie!) I think it's a balance that we all need to find in our game to give us a sense of control. You are lucky that you seem to have found a nice balance, it certainly isn't as easy for me - it's one of my challenges for this year! :) To further your nice story, I'm interested to know what you feel would have happened if he had told you to take more risk at the beginning of your round rather than at the end. Say you gave it a go, how do you think it may have gone? If it was me, I likely would have started to take chances that I should not and I instantly would have tried to match his game... It might not be a pretty sight in the end! Although if I was to repeat the scenario maybe 1 time out of 4 I would achieve what I set out to do. So is it worth the risk?

Yes, this is definitely a factor, and would definietly account for the 22% who are happy with their level or don't believe they can improve their scoring or h. index. But I'd argue that the 76% who say they want to improve, including yourself, might be less inclined to take the hero shot if they had a good card going. (as you say you'll try it; "when it really doesn't matter") I am also seeing that as the handicap index gets lower the evaluation of risk gets more conservative. Interesting because we can assume that their skills are better and they would be more capable of success. Yes, I guess a little... :) but the questions in general are specific. Only a few that ask about one's perception.

??? Well, it's not really based on this either. The questions were specific to certain situations.

It's not what I think GolfLug, it's what the data I collected says. Yes, all shots have a risk of being badly executed, but this is pretty much unmeasurable and not what the survey was focusing on. I'm not sure many would agree with you that improving your swing is the only means to reduce risk! You are comparing apples and oranges I would think. Yes, LSW does deal with these issues. Exactly, you can't define risk in golf as one single entity. For my research I separated it into 2 main types to keep it simple. Essentially; Risk you can't anticipate. Such as a tee shot. And risk you can anticipate such as a sand shot, or a bad or obstructed lie. Just PM'd you.