Dlow206 does away with double bogeys

[dlow206]

5 hours ago, GolfSpy Stroker said:

I did that - and sometimes still do - quite a bit.  Recently I've tried to remember to "post up" on my lead leg and that helped me minimize the "slide" and rotate my hips more.

Good luck - it's a tricky one as you still want to bump towards the target but not slide towards it.

Thanks. I need to really work on getting rid of the excess head movement laterally. Going to work on it today if I can make it out to the range.

[dlow206]

Made it to the range today and was trying to work on keeping the head from moving around too much laterally. There were small glimpses of hope. When I was able to put a good swing on the ball, I flushed it. But there was also a mix of thin shots, and then some pull hooks when getting too quick with the 7 iron.

Today was the first day hitting the SIM Max driver at the range. It was awesome. The poor shots that I thought would be snap hooks didn't go as far left as I expected. The flushed shots were small push draws. I almost could never get the ball to start to the right with my PXG driver.

[dlow206]

I was at the range again today. Struggled to get the right feel on my backswing. Felt like I was making non-consistent backswings, wrists getting bowed too much, taking it too far inside, etc.

I came across this from Jake Hutt who I follow on Instagram. He explains that the backswing arm movement is just lifting the arms straight up while pivoting. It feels like it could make things more consistent, but need to try it out.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5ToLKqF6Fi/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Edited February 13, 2020 by dlow206

[dlow206]

Had a big mental breakthrough today on what the right feel is for swinging the golf club semi-properly. My main problem is that everything moves laterally towards the target: head, upper body, lower body, etc. Everything is moving so far forward that often don't hold a finish position well, sometimes off-balance even to the point of having to take a step. 

I don't know the right way to describe it, but i need to feel like I am almost moving backward on a portion of the downswing. The key is "feel", because when I do it, I'm actually moreso in the same spot with rotation instead of slide and going off balance. Can't make it to the range today to test it out, but have been swinging on a mat at home. I can tell the club path looks better, i am not slamming into the mat fat with the club, and I am not almost falling over.

[cksurfdude]

If you can, try to get someone to capture video of you making swings and mark each one with where you thought your "feel" was .. when you review it can help you correlate the "feel vs real".

I've been taking a series of lessons where they always video you; at first I didn't even wanna watch it (ughleeeee!) but now I'm understanding the insights and visual reinforcements the vid clips can give you.

[THEZIPR23]

One of the hardest things in golf is that feel doesn't equal reality. 

[dlow206]

I made it to the range yesterday and was out there for almost two hours. I typically warm up with short pitch shots before getting into full swings. When I was hitting short pitch shots, I was pulling the ball left. I had been having this problem lately, and just couldn't figure out why. I'm not making that bad of a swing that the ball should be pulled on a short pitch. Anyway, continued on to full swings, still struggled with left pulls, but able to manipulate my swing a bit to somewhat straighten out my shots. At this point, I felt like there was just too much swing manipulation going on.

I remembered that during my lesson with Monte, one of the things we talked about at the end was that my grip was too strong. So i decided to try to weaken my grip a bit. It felt strange, especially with how the wrist position felt at the top of the swing, but that straightened out my shots. After that, I focused on getting my arms into the right position that Monte and I had talked about, and also focused on trying to keep my arms closer together during the backswing and not allowing the flying right elbow. After making the grip change and the feel of the arms closer together, I then started to flush the ball like I never have before. Balls started flying straighter and higher, with a small push draw ball flight. I was even able to flush 5 irons which I could never do before. 

Once in a while, I would start to pull the ball again. When this happened, I noticed that my grip was creeping back too strong again. To prevent this, I need to line up to the ball, and then put my left hand on the grip in the proper position first before gripping the club with my right hand.

Overall, yesterday was a successful day. Now I need to continue this, and not fall into my old ways. I also need to try to apply the same concepts to my driver swing. The weaker grip (it is still a neutral to strong grip, just not strong to the extent that it used to be) feels really strange with the driver. 

[dlow206]

Since my last post, i stumbled upon the following video online. What I realized from that video is that I suffered from the "deep interlock" problem. I had thought that I was interlocking correctly, but since my hands are small, my proper interlock doesn't look the same as when I see pictures/videos of interlock grips. Tying the grip back to swing plane totally makes sense. The way I was gripping would cause an almost immediate breakdown in my right wrist, which causes me many problems.

 

[dlow206]

Very excited that I was selected on here to test the new Fujikura Motore X driver shaft. I will be posting about my experience in the official reviews thread. 

[dlow206]

Played 9 holes today. Today was the 4th time playing on a course since my return to golf back in July 2019. That's not many rounds, but it will be increasing now that I am a member of a country club that is 10 minutes away.

I don't keep score on all holes yet, and still take some do-overs. I will start to keep legitimate scores after I play more and start to play more consistently. One accomplishment was a legitimate par on the par 5 2nd hole. No do-overs, no moving the ball to a better lie or anything. Was very happy with that par, it shows that there are glimpses of hope. My other accomplishment was a bogey on the 9th hole, which is a 130 yard par 3 over water. It really should have been a par. I hit the first shot over the water onto the fringe. And then three putted from there

My main issue right now is inconsistency off the tee. I had some good drives that were in the fairway or slightly off in the rough, but I also had some of those drives that go 120 yards are are near OB. Gotta stop doing that. 

Here is that 9th hole:

[dlow206]

Yesterday was the day it finally came together. Only 1 lost ball over 18 holes (1 OB), only one blow up hole, only two topped shots. When I had played two days ago, I had lost like 6 balls over 9 holes. Overall, I shot a legitimate 46 on the front 9 and a 42 plus whatever the max is on the 1 blow up hole. Here is a bit more analysis of what went well and what didn't:

• Had a lesson yesterday morning and learned that my driver swing was way too to the right (too far from the inside), which is the opposite of my iron swing. I found a feel change that made me straighten out my path. For me, it's a very distinct feel on the backswing, almost like I am just lifting up my arms, with a very flat wrist feel. With this change, I am actually able to produce pretty good drives. Was now hitting drives in the fairway. Need to work on hitting the ball a bit longer once I get confidence in the swing change.
• Lag putting was really good. Not quite sure what happened. I was paired up with someone else yesterday, so I am thinking I was just more focused. Almost holed out a few long putts, and dropped a 15 footer.
• My chipping has been pretty decent ever since I adopted a putting setup/stroke while chipping. I tend to leave a few short though, especially with uphill chips
• Bunker shots are iffy still. Once in a while I hit a good bunker shot, but most times I hit them "thin" (low) and too far. I actually have never really learned properly how to hit a bunker shot, so this is something i should work on. There is a practice bunker at my club, so I can do some work on this outside of the course
• Pitch shots are iffy as well. Two main issues, distance control and hitting thin. For the distance control, I just need to put in more work to understand how far each wedge goes with different backswing lengths.
• Overall short game, I need better strategy. When I am between 60 yards and 20 yards out, I don't really have a good strategy on what club to use and what type of shot to hit. I need to spend time practicing different types of shots and seeing what works well for me and coming up with a distinct strategy of what type of shot to hit when and with what club.

[dlow206]

One interesting note about my home course. It definitely favors a fade, and punishes anything too far to the left side. I can hit a pretty good fade with irons, but can't for the life of me hit a fade with a driver. My stock driver shot is slight draw or straight, and my miss is the snapper left. I need to figure out how to start to work the ball to the right. Most beginners have a problem with slicing the ball, but it's very rare that I ever hit a slice with the driver, can't even remember a time doing it except maybe on a launch monitor indoors when messing around. 

[BMart519]

Go to the driving range and try to hit 5 big draws or hooks and then 5 big slices, feeling these 2 extremes will help guide you to something in the middle. To hit a fade play around with any of the following: open up stance, weaker grip, out to in swing path, more upright or steep backswing, get the hips turning ahead of the arms in the downswing. 

[dlow206]

34 minutes ago, BMart519 said:

Go to the driving range and try to hit 5 big draws or hooks and then 5 big slices, feeling these 2 extremes will help guide you to something in the middle. To hit a fade play around with any of the following: open up stance, weaker grip, out to in swing path, more upright or steep backswing, get the hips turning ahead of the arms in the downswing. 

Thanks, I will try that out. In the back of my mind on the course is the double crosser. 

[dlow206]

When I played the other day with another member that I met on the course, he encouraged me to enter the club tournaments. He said that there are all levels of players in the tournaments, and I shouldn't feel hesitant because I am a high handicapper. I am planning to try to join some of the tournaments just for fun, it gives me more incentive to focus on improving my game. 

I also for the first time am signing up to get a handicap. Now I just need to play some real rounds to get some scores in. 

[dlow206]

Was at the driving range today, trying to make some swing tweaks. Hit some really good shots, hit some bad. One thing I noticed is that I actually tend to hit better shots on the course. When on the driving range, if I hit a bad shot, then I start banging out shots to try to fix the issue. On the course, I walk, so there is a good amount of time between shots, so that calms me.

[dlow206]

Was at the driving range again today and today was a better day overall. One thing i am going to change is no more random practice swinging at home. All those different feels that i try at home without a ball don’t end up working well.

will be out on the course on sunday, can’t wait.

[dlow206]

Played yesterday, didn’t play very well. Shot a 110. Driver off the tee hurt me a lot. Couldn’t get the right swing feel, was hitting a lot of low hooks off the tee. I have an idea what went wrong but need to put in some work to fix it. Need to find some consistency because i was hitting driver decently my last round. My short game, specifically pitch shots saved me from having an even worse score. Hit quite a few pitch shots that left me with short putts.

Previously, pitch shots were a weakness. Once i can put together some consistency in the long game with the new found short game, things are looking up.

[dlow206]

I was also under the weather yesterday, probably shouldn’t have played to begin with.

[Kenny B]

6 hours ago, dlow206 said:

I was also under the weather yesterday, probably shouldn’t have played to begin with.

Get some rest...  I hope you didn't visit anyone at the senior care facility in Kirkland.