CNosil - Journey to a better golf game

[cnosil]

Haven't been able to get a second lesson setup due to some conflicts but I have been working on my swing.   I have been playing league matches, normal weekend round,  and hitting hybrids as part of most wanted testing and am happy with my how my ball striking is progressing.  I'm finding that my right hand is a key to the ball direction.   I am guessing I have a tendency to release my right hand which causes the pulled toe strike.    When I keep my wrist in extension I am getting good ball flight.   Just needs to be a focus area or pre swing thought.        Kind or eager to get another lesson setup so I can keep working on improving.  

[cnosil]

Still haven’t been able to get back for another lesson…instructor and his family had COVID.    
 

since I am forum testing the Shot Scope imam starting to capture some metrics.   
with 2 1/2 rounds captured, I don’t have a lot of data but starting to see trends.   Need to work on approach shots and short game shots <25 yards.  
 

in general, contact is becoming much better with the irons - mostly center contact, very few fat shots, thin is my miss especially when I try to get a little extra out if a club, and I am struggling with a push.  Scoring isn’t there but I think mentally I am trying to guide/finesse shots instead of just making a swing.  
 

[cksurfdude]

2 hours ago, cnosil said:

Scoring isn’t there but I think mentally I am trying to guide/finesse shots instead of just making a swing.

Interesting comment - something that applies to my swing/game as well...

Fwiw been trying to focus better on / be more careful with aim and alignment .. especially with approaches and wedges. Heard a good line recently = "Aim better, Play better"

[Kenny B]

6 hours ago, cnosil said:

thin is my miss especially when I try to get a little extra out if a club,

I have a similar issue, and it happens in both driver and irons.  My worst shot with my driver is a high, short push fade that is caused by dropping my right shoulder in the downswing in a effort to hit the ball a little higher for more distance... usually when downwind.

To a lesser extend that happens with an iron when trying "to get a little extra" out of it.  As long as I just make a normal swing, I don't hit thin shots.

[cnosil]

Was finally able to get the second lesson in my series after a series of events kept causing it to get delayed.   The benefit was that I had longer to practice and play to work on the things from my last lesson.   Had a couple of poor rounds, but in general average score is trending down.    

We started off hitting some full shots just to validate that the things we worked on last time were progressing.  Swing was looking good just needed to tweak the alignment a little bit.   

Worked on some finesse and distance wedges.....my weakness    Like the full swing,  we moved the ball position a little farther back and talked about letting gravity move the club through the swing and not physically moving the club through the swing.   Leveraged the ball position and swing tweaks and tested distance control by hitting various targets and varying ball flight.    

Went to some other parts of range and hit some uphill, downhill, ball above feet, and ball below feet shots.   No real swing changes and we talked about the various things to do to hit these situations more effectively.   Essentially for me,  ball position is key.   

Putting green was next to evaluate my putting putting.   No changes to the putting stroke and ended up having some discussions on expectations, the mentality for putting and some drills to help get the ball to the hole.     

Overall everything has just been small tweaks in ball position, alignment, and tempo;  nothing really major.     Going to spend a couple of weeks working on ingraining these skills and then setup the third lesson in my series.   The next lesson we are hitting the course to assess what might be happening there when you only have one shot to execute.   so far I am happy with the changes we have made as my ball striking has significantly improved and am simply amazed by how much small tweaks can influence the swing.    Eager to get out on the course and see how these changes translate to the course.  

[Goober]

Doing great sir. Looks like your tweaks have been minor compared to mine 

[cnosil]

32 minutes ago, Goober said:

Doing great sir. Looks like your tweaks have been minor compared to mine 

Thanks and Yep, pretty minor stuff. Probably need to focus and think before I take shots when on the course.  I hate to say “swing thoughts”, but probably need some basic setup check list items before I make my swing.  

[MDGolfHacker]

On 6/19/2022 at 5:43 PM, cnosil said:

Hitting greens definitely  makes the game easier.  Hit 11 today and shot 79 with 2 doubles on the card.  Getting through the short game woes was really the biggest frustration and it has really just been in the past month or so that things really clicked and I am building confidence.   

Unfortunately I don't have any stat tracking systems.  I have done some of the phone based systems (18 birdies, myroundpro) and got really distracted during the round so I stopped.   One of these days I'll probably end up with one of them but I am sure it will say I need to work on all areas of my game  

 

 

 

That's why I don't do too much stat tracking anymore either.  I spent more time trying to get the stat right instead of playing the game. Now I just play to enjoy the game.

 

MDGolfHacker

[Kenny B]

1 hour ago, MDGolfHacker said:

That's why I don't do too much stat tracking anymore either.  I spent more time trying to get the stat right instead of playing the game. Now I just play to enjoy the game.

 

MDGolfHacker

I agree.  I don't need a stat tracker to tell me what I already know about my game.  

[cnosil]

Had a great weekend of golf; 36 holes with a bunch of spies.    Was really happy with most everything about my game.  As I look back over the weekend tee game, approach game, and putting my game was solid.   I felt there were some inconsistencies in my short game that led to my scores of bogeys and worse.  I did hit some great finesse shots around the green but also some awful ones.  50 yards and in continues to be my major stumbling block.  Need to figure out how to move short game skills from the range to the course on a consistent basis.  

After some discussions at the spy get together, may try some equipment tweaks.   I did a Titleist wedge fitting and based on some feedback, I may have to big of a weight difference between my iron shafts and wedge shafts.  Might try some 95 or 105 graphite shafts.  
 

I still have a few lessons left and at this point, not sure what I want to cover during them.  

[cksurfdude]

57 minutes ago, cnosil said:

I did hit some great finesse shots around the green but also some awful ones.

Well you were not alone in that over the weekend - seems both a few of the better along with a few of the not-so-better golfers had a few hiccups trying to escape from that funky stuff surrounding some of the greens...

So blame it on the Bermuda!

 

[cnosil]

1 hour ago, cksurfdude said:

Well you were not alone in that over the weekend - seems both a few of the better along with a few of the not-so-better golfers had a few hiccups trying to escape from that funky stuff surrounding some of the greens...

So blame it on the Bermuda!

 

Can’t really do that,  Bermuda is what is prominent in my area.  The grass didn’t really higher me, it was mostly poor technique 

[cksurfdude]

7 minutes ago, cnosil said:

The grass didn’t really higher me, it was mostly poor technique 

Well based on everything I've seen, heard and read Mr Smooth Swing Nosil will be developing a pretty good short game technique pretty quickly!

[cnosil]

Went back to the first post of this thread; which was made a couple of years ago,  and read through the post to see how I am doing.  My initial goals were:

• Get my scoring average to 75
• Break 70
• Improve course strategy
• Improve approach game (struggle with pull hooks, toe shots, and fat shots)
• Improve short game (still isn't where I want it to be)
• Improve distance wedges
• Improve iron distance control (in between distances)

So how am I progressing?  

• still haven’t broken 70 but that has been a stretch goal form many years
• my scoring average isn’t 75 but I am seeing more scores in the 70s.   I was curious and entered my last dozen scores into an online handicap tracker and it said my handicap was 3.7 so I guess I am not playing that badly.   Seemed like the Maryland crew thought I played pretty well.  I think we personally put more of a negative spin on our game than we should and think we are worse than we really are.  If I can Avoid the big numbers and improve my short game proximity to the hole this should be achievable.
• Since I found my new instructor my iron/approach play has really improved.  Amazing how just tweaking ball position can have such a huge influence.  I am not perfect but more centered contact and moved from having fat shots as my mistake to thin shots. Would much rather be thin than fat. 
• short game and distance wedges are still in need of improvement.  I can execute on the practice range and have moments of solid play on the course but is probably the single thing holding me back from my first two goals.
• with the improved iron play, it has become much easier to take a little off or hit it a little harder to get those in between distances.  GIR numbers are creeping up!
• Applying the DECADE principles as my course strategy and it does help.  With that said, being able to consistently execute shots makes it infinitely easier to follow an approach like DECADE and see the benefits.  
   

with most wanted testing completed for 2022, time to take the time I was at HQ and head to the course and work on distance and finesse wedges.  

[Goober]

What a great write up. Love reading positive posts about swing changes working 

[pineneedlespro]

Sometimes if a golfer wants to smooth out the putting stroke just look at the hole drill while putting and not at the ball or putter head.

To break into the 70's for 18 holes it is a numbers game.  Hit 9 greens in regulation, no more than 32 putts, get up and down 50%, and miss no more than 2 fairways.  If you do not get these numbers it will tell you what part of your golf game you need to work on the most.

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

17 minutes ago, pineneedlespro said:

Sometimes if a golfer wants to smooth out the putting stroke just look at the hole drill while putting and not at the ball or putter head.

To break into the 70's for 18 holes it is a numbers game.  Hit 9 greens in regulation, no more than 32 putts, get up and down 50%, and miss no more than 2 fairways.  If you do not get these numbers it will tell you what part of your golf game you need to work on the most.

Fairways hit is a red herring stat. That doesn’t matter as much as keeping it in play with distance. Driver in light rough with a shot at the green is 99% better than 3w 30 yards back in the fairway

[cnosil]

5 hours ago, pineneedlespro said:

Sometimes if a golfer wants to smooth out the putting stroke just look at the hole drill while putting and not at the ball or putter head.

 

Not trying to break into the 70s, goal is to break 70.   

[cnosil]

I’ve been working on writing my final review for the ShotScope LX+ so I have been digging a bit into my shot data and reflecting on my past few rounds trying to correlate information.   Wish I had the data from my Maryland trip since that could give some additional insight on play improvement after my second lesson.   
 

At this point I am still not sure what to cover in my next lesson or remaining lessons (I have 3 left).  Mentally after seeing my swing in the Maryland trip video, I’d say I need to work on how it looks but I know that is not important; it is the results that matter and I am getting good results.  Looking back at my round last weekend, I hit some really bad shots, but confidence was high and I hit good follow up shots.  Biggest thing I need to work on is getting comfortable with the new ball position for all my clubs but that doesn’t require a lesson just practice time.   
 

Eager to get my new wedges into the bag and see if the lighter shafts help my finesse and distance wedge game.    The directed force putter may have found a permanent spot in the bag; just needed to be a bit more aggressive and not do the die in the hole approach as we talked about during my last lesson.  9 birdies over the last 3 rounds indicates that the strategy is working.  

No golf for another week or so which is kind of disappointing since my game seems to be coming around.  may need a trip to HQ to leverage the GCQuad to build a wedge matrix and get some swings in or just go out and play 9 after work.

[cksurfdude]

6 hours ago, cnosil said:

Looking back at my round last weekend, I hit some really bad shots ...

Is that something you could identify and cover with your instructor..?

[cnosil]

27 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Is that something you could identify and cover with your instructor..?

Lack of focus and didn't go through my normal preshot process; ball position was probably a little off and I wasn't really prepared to hit the ball.   It was three tee shots two that I kind of topped and only went about 125 yards and one that I tried to hit too hard and snap hooked.    Ball position has been the big focus during the first 2 lessons so it is something we are working on.   During the last lesson we talked about doing a playing lesson so he can see how I play on the course.    

[B_R_A_D_Y]

Heard a very interesting podcast a while back that impressed me, about the mental side of golf. They made the point that you don't need to think how to walk, you simply do it subconsciously. The golf swing should be exactly the same, and until you can do it, you won't play the best that you can. Check it out. It will make you think. It's GOLF SMARTER, episode #854. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

Nothing simple about the golf swing.

 

[MyWifesSwingCoach]

1 hour ago, B_R_A_D_Y said:

Heard a very interesting podcast a while back that impressed me, about the mental side of golf. They made the point that you don't need to think how to walk, you simply do it subconsciously. The golf swing should be exactly the same, and until you can do it, you won't play the best that you can. Check it out. It will make you think. It's GOLF SMARTER, episode #854. 

I have been thinking (Ironically lmao) about not thinking so much and what it can do considering my mental game/course strategy are pretty lacking. In high school my best score was I believe 76, I was number one or two on the team and I was paired with guys that were ranked lower on their teams so I didn't stress as much, and I really don't remember much about that day except when one of the other guys dads was near the green and I pitched to about 5ft and dropped for birdie and the dad told me great job, next thing I remember was getting a little medal at the end lol I must have been really clear headed as its all just a complete blank haha I really need to get that clear headedness back and see how I shoot.

[cnosil]

Playing lesson today;  played 4 holes and made some plans for my remaining couple of lessons.   

Driving, putting, and course strategy were good.  Based on the assessment we are going to work on irons and I am going to work on shots around the green based on what we discussed.  During the lesson I was pulling my short irons; which is my miss, so we are going to work on face control.   For around the green I am going to start using less loft to get the ball on the green faster and let it roll out.   During my lesson,  I was much closer to the hole using this strategy vs higher lofted clubs.  If I can improve my around the green play,  I should be able to lower my scores a bit more.   

Next couple of weeks will be practice time so I can try to incorporate what we discussed and see how it impacts my play.   

 

[Kenny B]

30 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Playing lesson today;  played 4 holes and made some plans for my remaining couple of lessons.   

Driving, putting, and course strategy were good.  Based on the assessment we are going to work on irons and I am going to work on shots around the green based on what we discussed.  During the lesson I was pulling my short irons; which is my miss, so we are going to work on face control.   For around the green I am going to start using less loft to get the ball on the green faster and let it roll out.   During my lesson,  I was much closer to the hole using this strategy vs higher lofted clubs.  If I can improve my around the green play,  I should be able to lower my scores a bit more.   

Next couple of weeks will be practice time so I can try to incorporate what we discussed and see how it impacts my play.   

 

A year ago I was only using my 60º around the green for all shots (still use it a lot), but based on your suggestion to use less-lofted clubs, I've been giving them a try.  With my SGI Bridgestones that was not possible; the face was hot and control was difficult.  Now that I've switched to my old Macgregors, the lofts are much weaker and the forged feel makes these shots much easier.  My PW which is 48º is now my goto bump and run, whereas before I would hit a very low 60º shot for short pins and more lofted shot for longer pins.  I am now starting to experiment with 9i and 8i shots when I have more green to work with.  I found out that during the on-course lesson with Monte a couple of weeks ago that I just couldn't bump and run my PW far enough on long uphill shots.  I have to practice this shot a lot; it's something I never did before, but I've found that by spending more time on these clubs, I am mis-hitting my 60º more often because I don't practice it as much... always something!!  

[tommc23]

19 minutes ago, Kenny B said:

A year ago I was only using my 60º around the green for all shots (still use it a lot), but based on your suggestion to use less-lofted clubs, I've been giving them a try.  With my SGI Bridgestones that was not possible; the face was hot and control was difficult.  Now that I've switched to my old Macgregors, the lofts are much weaker and the forged feel makes these shots much easier.  My PW which is 48º is now my goto bump and run, whereas before I would hit a very low 60º shot for short pins and more lofted shot for longer pins.  I am now starting to experiment with 9i and 8i shots when I have more green to work with.  I found out that during the on-course lesson with Monte a couple of weeks ago that I just couldn't bump and run my PW far enough on long uphill shots.  I have to practice this shot a lot; it's something I never did before, but I've found that by spending more time on these clubs, I am mis-hitting my 60º more often because I don't practice it as much... always something!!  

I love using my 60* around the green. I used to try nothing but flop shots and higher shots but I learned that putting the ball off my back foot and hitting it lower I have holed out more. Same kind of concept as a PW but smaller base and different bounce.

[Kenny B]

3 minutes ago, tommc23 said:

I love using my 60* around the green. I used to try nothing but flop shots and higher shots but I learned that putting the ball off my back foot and hitting it lower I have holed out more. Same kind of concept as a PW but smaller base and different bounce.

All of my 60º shots around the green I play the ball forward of center.  Easy to hit flops, but most shots are mid-trajectory to a spot on the green or a very low bump and run punch type shot.  I tried the ball back in my stance with no success; many fatted.  Even with my less lofted clubs, I still play the ball forward.

[cnosil]

42 minutes ago, Kenny B said:

All of my 60º shots around the green I play the ball forward of center.  Easy to hit flops, but most shots are mid-trajectory to a spot on the green or a very low bump and run punch type shot.  I tried the ball back in my stance with no success; many fatted.  Even with my less lofted clubs, I still play the ball forward.

I used to be ball forward for most everything;  we have moved the ball to middle/back and I am hitting the ball much better.   I generally default to using my 54 and sometimes will pull gap or pitching wedge but need to start using the other clubs.

[cnosil]

Haven’t had the opportunity to play or practice much over the past few weeks so I haven’t gone back for a follow up lesson.   Looking back over my last few rounds I see that I am losing about 2 strokes on approach, short game and putting based on shotscope numbers against a scratch golfer.  
 

digging into those stats a little deeper and it appears fairway bunkers  are a weakness as the distance remaining to the hole is very high. Rough performance on long shots are also mediocre.    Reading the shotscope page, if you don’t hit the green on your second shot on a par 5  it should be marked as positional. This is strange but is definitely inflating my proximity to the hole numbers.  Next could of lessons will probably be focused on face control to narrow my dispersion cone.  
 

short game is definitely improving.   Going with lighter shafts in my wedges was 100% the right decision.   I have better control and contact with the wedges and performance is improving.  Leveraging a multiple club approach to finesse wedges is also helping with proximity to the hole.  
 

been experimenting too much with putting and putters.  I need to go back to the foundations that I learned from my putting coach.  While some performance improvements would be nice, just looking to get more comfortable over the ball and stop tweaking setup and stroke.