My Quest to Break 90.

[MNUte 367]

7 hours ago, Jonny_Crash said:

This is a great idea, I need to get out and hit a bunch of approach shots. 

Enjoy! Being from Minnesota originally, I'm not as turned off by cold weather as others. And Mulligans will let you play through the winter as long as there's not snow on the ground, so it's a great way to try stuff out throughout the winter.

[Jonny_Crash 247]

15 hours ago, MNUte said:

Enjoy! Being from Minnesota originally, I'm not as turned off by cold weather as others. And Mulligans will let you play through the winter as long as there's not snow on the ground, so it's a great way to try stuff out throughout the winter.

Yeah, as long as there isn't snow I'll get out there and duff around (unless I'm skiing).  Good to know about mulligans. I do appreciate the thoughts on this, it really is helpful!  

[Jonny_Crash 247]

Figured it was time for an update.  I've had a bunch of range time over the past month or so.  I stumbled across Porzak Golf on youtube and his process really seemed to resonate.  I'm trying to implement what I hear from them and think it is going pretty well.  I've shortened and smoothed out my swing.  I'm making much more consistent contact (still a slight push or hook depending on my club face control).  I have lost a bit of distance in this process, but the gains in consistency seem to more than outweigh that fact.  

My take away is still way too far inside, but I feel like I'm in a good place at the top of my backswing and in the downswing.  I'll try to post a video in the coming days of a couple of DTL swings.  

Golf is such a puzzle

[RickyBobby_PR 9,241]

3 hours ago, Jonny_Crash said:

Figured it was time for an update.  I've had a bunch of range time over the past month or so.  I stumbled across Porzak Golf on youtube and his process really seemed to resonate.  I'm trying to implement what I hear from them and think it is going pretty well.  I've shortened and smoothed out my swing.  I'm making much more consistent contact (still a slight push or hook depending on my club face control).  I have lost a bit of distance in this process, but the gains in consistency seem to more than outweigh that fact.  

My take away is still way too far inside, but I feel like I'm in a good place at the top of my backswing and in the downswing.  I'll try to post a video in the coming days of a couple of DTL swings.  

Golf is such a puzzle

Porzak has some good content and simple swing thoughts. If you have watched the ones with Hannah yet I would suggest checking those out.

[RollingGreens 2,182]

I know your focused more on swing thoughts currently but I read some of your earlier content and was wondering if you have put any thoughts into course management. It seems that you can hit the ball longer than most but have some some control issues from time to time like most of us. You have or had some issues with playing roughly inside of 100 yards. Have you thought about playing to yardages that are advantageous to you to hit into greens? Using clubs that you are the most comfortable with and building everything else up in the meanwhile 

[Jonny_Crash 247]

On 1/28/2022 at 5:54 PM, RollingGreens said:

I know your focused more on swing thoughts currently but I read some of your earlier content and was wondering if you have put any thoughts into course management. It seems that you can hit the ball longer than most but have some some control issues from time to time like most of us. You have or had some issues with playing roughly inside of 100 yards. Have you thought about playing to yardages that are advantageous to you to hit into greens? Using clubs that you are the most comfortable with and building everything else up in the meanwhile 

 

This is very much something that I need to work on.  This winter I'm working on the swing, but I plan to implement some better damage limitation/course management this upcoming season.  

[RollingGreens 2,182]

2 hours ago, Jonny_Crash said:

 

This is very much something that I need to work on.  This winter I'm working on the swing, but I plan to implement some better damage limitation/course management this upcoming season.  

It takes a lot of variables to come together to score well. Making it as easy as you can so you can on yourself is important. MaKes the harder shots or holes just that much easier for us to succeed. 

[Jonny_Crash 247]

37 minutes ago, RollingGreens said:

It takes a lot of variables to come together to score well. Making it as easy as you can so you can on yourself is important. MaKes the harder shots or holes just that much easier for us to succeed. 

I totally agree, in the past I made so many stupid errors... cost a lot of strokes.  I'm starting to be a bit more repeatable with my swing, so that will only help the on course decision making.  I'm very excited for the upcoming season

[Jonny_Crash 247]

Been spending a lot of time bashing balls at the range.  My practice routine isn't great, but I am starting to hit the ball a bit better.  Still struggle with an open club face on my driver, but the rest is starting to gel.  

One thing I have noticed is that when I swing easy, I hit the ball really well.  However, as I swing I tend to get more and more tense and try to muscle the ball.  When this happens I lose the clubface and will start getting steep and chunky.  It's something I'm becoming more aware of, so that helps.  It's also something I know from actual swings.  I hit the ball better when I swing easy.  That being said, I find the urge to muscle the ball creeping back in.  

Anyone have any tips or swing thoughts for swinging easy?  I took a lesson a long while back and the pro told me there were two ways to play golf, with effortless power or with powerless effort.  This is my current go to swing thought.  

 

[cnosil 24,352]

Just now, Jonny_Crash said:

Been spending a lot of time bashing balls at the range.  My practice routine isn't great, but I am starting to hit the ball a bit better.  Still struggle with an open club face on my driver, but the rest is starting to gel.  

One thing I have noticed is that when I swing easy, I hit the ball really well.  However, as I swing I tend to get more and more tense and try to muscle the ball.  When this happens I lose the clubface and will start getting steep and chunky.  It's something I'm becoming more aware of, so that helps.  It's also something I know from actual swings.  I hit the ball better when I swing easy.  That being said, I find the urge to muscle the ball creeping back in.  

Anyone have any tips or swing thoughts for swinging easy?  I took a lesson a long while back and the pro told me there were two ways to play golf, with effortless power or with powerless effort.  This is my current go to swing thought.  

 

When I start doing that I just think make a 3/4 swing. 

[russtopherb 9,305]

8 minutes ago, Jonny_Crash said:

Been spending a lot of time bashing balls at the range.  My practice routine isn't great, but I am starting to hit the ball a bit better.  Still struggle with an open club face on my driver, but the rest is starting to gel.  

My suggestion is to have a defined practice routine, which may result in you swinging easier because you won't feel like you're just trying to bash the ball as far as you can.

I hit balls in chunks of 5, to remind myself to take a step back every now and again to really think about what I'm doing, or trying to do. Unless there's something very specific with my swing I'm working on, I vary up the clubs I'm using too and I ALWAYS have a target in mind, even with the driver. I also will play a simulated round with at least half a bucket, which again helps me think about targets and what club is the best to get the ball there. Constantly switching up clubs doing that helps me stay loose, just like I try to be on the course.

[MmmmmmBuddy 1,521]

41 minutes ago, Jonny_Crash said:

Been spending a lot of time bashing balls at the range.  My practice routine isn't great, but I am starting to hit the ball a bit better.  Still struggle with an open club face on my driver, but the rest is starting to gel.  

One thing I have noticed is that when I swing easy, I hit the ball really well.  However, as I swing I tend to get more and more tense and try to muscle the ball.  When this happens I lose the clubface and will start getting steep and chunky.  It's something I'm becoming more aware of, so that helps.  It's also something I know from actual swings.  I hit the ball better when I swing easy.  That being said, I find the urge to muscle the ball creeping back in.  

Anyone have any tips or swing thoughts for swinging easy?  I took a lesson a long while back and the pro told me there were two ways to play golf, with effortless power or with powerless effort.  This is my current go to swing thought.  

 

Here is my .02...

If your normal 150 club is 9i, try to hit some full swing shots 150y with a 7 or 6 iron.  Try taking 2-4 more club and hit them a specific yardage with full swings.  Try it on the range and then take it too the course.

 

Good Luck!

[Jonny_Crash 247]

4 hours ago, MmmmmmBuddy said:

Here is my .02...

If your normal 150 club is 9i, try to hit some full swing shots 150y with a 7 or 6 iron.  Try taking 2-4 more club and hit them a specific yardage with full swings.  Try it on the range and then take it too the course.

 

Thanks, I've been trying to hit one club more to certain targets.    Our range has top tracer, so it is easy to pick targets and distances.  It's been pretty helpful!

[Jonny_Crash 247]

I was down in St. George, Utah the early part of this week for a conference and figured I'd play some golf while down there.  I drove down from SLC to Mesquite on Sunday and played 18 at Conestoga.  I warmed up on the range okay, but played a total disaster of a round.  I took me almost 9 holes to realize I was sliding my hips forward on the downswing resulting in a nasty top.  I started to pull it together on the back 9 and hit a couple of decent shots and scrambled a bit better.  Of course by the time I got on the back 9 there was a 30 MPH cross wind on most holes.  It was not a great round, but that course is something I'm going to have to play again.

Wednesday afternoon I played Copper Rock   This is sort of a strange course, it is relatively new ~ 5 years and is still growing into itself.  However, it was fun and I played much better.  I did purchase a new driver while down there.  I got a Ping 425LST 9* with the Rouge White Shaft.  I had done some driver testing a while back and really loved this one.  I put it in play and hit really well.  Only lost one out to the right, which is a marked improvement! 

I still am fighting a push/push-slice with my longer irons, but I think things are coming around for the golf season. 

[MNUte 367]

On 3/25/2022 at 1:34 PM, Jonny_Crash said:

I was down in St. George, Utah the early part of this week for a conference and figured I'd play some golf while down there.  I drove down from SLC to Mesquite on Sunday and played 18 at Conestoga.  I warmed up on the range okay, but played a total disaster of a round.  I took me almost 9 holes to realize I was sliding my hips forward on the downswing resulting in a nasty top.  I started to pull it together on the back 9 and hit a couple of decent shots and scrambled a bit better.  Of course by the time I got on the back 9 there was a 30 MPH cross wind on most holes.  It was not a great round, but that course is something I'm going to have to play again.

Wednesday afternoon I played Copper Rock   This is sort of a strange course, it is relatively new ~ 5 years and is still growing into itself.  However, it was fun and I played much better.  I did purchase a new driver while down there.  I got a Ping 425LST 9* with the Rouge White Shaft.  I had done some driver testing a while back and really loved this one.  I put it in play and hit really well.  Only lost one out to the right, which is a marked improvement! 

I still am fighting a push/push-slice with my longer irons, but I think things are coming around for the golf season. 

How's your game from 125 yards in been? 

[Jonny_Crash 247]

On 3/29/2022 at 8:19 AM, MNUte said:

How's your game from 125 yards in been? 

Honestly, it's a bit rough.  I tend to lose a lot of shots on dumb chipping/pitching errors.  TBF, I've been working on full swings this winter so that isn't too surprising.  Now that the days are longer, it's time to hit the short stuff again.

[MNUte 367]

3 hours ago, Jonny_Crash said:

Honestly, it's a bit rough.  I tend to lose a lot of shots on dumb chipping/pitching errors.  TBF, I've been working on full swings this winter so that isn't too surprising.  Now that the days are longer, it's time to hit the short stuff again.

Trust the short game! 5-10 minutes of targeted putting practice 4-5 times a day does wonders. And chipping and pitching practice has helped me a lot with my contact and striking on full swings. 

[YourKillingMeSmalls 48]

Agree, short game, short game! It Will improve your scores, when you get confidence around the greens, getting green misses up and down for pars, it takes pressure off your approach shots. Approach shots over 150 are my weakness but I am pretty consistent getting chips or pitches up and down for par so I don’t stress over missing greens, on the flip side, get me under 150 and I’m deadly. I practice short game shots at least twice a week on my club’s practice area and once a week I’ll find an open area on the course and hit a ball to the green from 150, 125, 100, 75, 50, 25. It has really helped me the last two years.

[jayBird 74 13]

On 9/21/2021 at 3:00 PM, Jonny_Crash said:

I picked up golf in earnest last summer during the covid lockdown.  It seemed like good way to get outside and still keep some social distance.  I'd played off and on for years, but never more than a round or two a summer.  I decided to hit the range a bunch and start playing weekly.  It's been a great outlet, but I just cannot get a decent score on the card.  So I figured I'd make a journal of the process here. 

About me.  I'm 42 grew up skiing and playing soccer in Utah.  I've always been very athletic, most sports come relatively easy for me (except hitting a f@#*!&g baseball).  So, I'm approaching this from a decent athletic base, but not a great technical base.  I was playing with some old Taylormade RAC OS2 clubs from '05.  They were fine, but I wanted to get something new to juice the system. I bought the Sub70 699 Pros around Christmas 2020 and just love them.  They are plenty far and give me enough workability/control for my level. 

I did the typical youtube, internet hunting for a while to figure out my swing last year (found this forum though, so that was nice).  I thought it was going pretty well, but really fought a slice all of last summer and couldn't get a driver in play to save my life.  As a result I was losing shots off the tee left and right.  Scores were all over the place and generally not low.

My mom got me a swing analysis at Golftec for Christmas in 2020. I had the analysis in late Feb.  This really helped to get me on a better swing path and I worked into a baby draw.  Here are my swing at the swing eval: 

Before swing: https://gt.golf/LVTMle

After Swing:  https://gt.golf/Vwlu9A (not sure what is up with that follow through) 

I was able to groove a draw in the ensuing months. I shot my best ever round in Early April (a 42 (+6).  However, I ended up with a torn Achilles in April  at a soccer game.... which stalled out this summer's golf.  I've been back at it since July and have quite a few rounds in and lots of range hours.  

My current yardages are as follows (carry) (obviously mostly good shots):

• DR: 275
• 3W: 240
• 3U: 230
• 5I: 204
• 6I: 193
• 7I: 180
•  8I: 168
• 9I: 156
• PW: 147
• GW: 125
• SW: 115
• LW: 105

My biggest problem right now is the complete and utter inconsistency with my club face/path.  After my lesson I was working a slight draw, which felt good. However, I think my swing has gotten to steep in the interim and I now fight a push to push/slice. I have a hard time releasing the club to the right through the ball.  I don't trust it and end up yanking the club head inside causing the club-face to open and slice.  I'll try to get a better /more current video this evening. 

It's obviously time for a lesson again. So I'll be setting that up and will update accordingly.  Thanks for following along.  Golf sure is a fun (frustrating) puzzle.  

 

keep up the good work but do not forget to enjoy the game.......I've been playing for over 50 years and was very competitive.........have since moved up a few tee's but still get great joy from hitting the perfect shot, at least once a round

[Jonny_Crash 247]

I recently bought a new Ping G425LST driver.  With that purchase I was able to get some free Arccos sensors and a free 45 day trial.  Those should arrive next week.  Looking forward to seeing how that works. 

The G425 LST has been great purchase.  Provided I don't overswing (still my problem) or stop my rotation I hit a nice strait fairway finder.  It's been super forgiving and a lot of shots that I would have lost far right/left are in the first cut.  It isn't the longest or hottest face, but it goes plenty far for me.  

I did some back to back "testing" with a friend who has a TSI2 with HZDRS Black RDX shaft.  The Titleist was consistently longer for both of us, but I had a lot bigger dispersion for both of us.  The Ping settled in at 280-290, which is more than fine for my purposes.  Keeping it in play off the tee is one of my number one goals this year (I'm so tired of OB reloads on the tee box). 

I've turned the 9* head to 10* for now.  The key benefit is slightly closing the face.  It does tend to spin up on me a little bit, but that might an acceptable tradeoff if I keep the ball in play.  We shall see as the season progresses.  

All in all, very happy with the purchase.  It sure is loud, but I can overlook that if it works.