Byrnzee's Swing Change Thread

[Byrnzee]

Hello spies,

For those of you who haven't seen or interacted with me much on the forum, my name is Connor Byrne (aka Byrnzee). I reside in Chicago, IL and recently joined MGS after looking for another outlet for my golf obsession. I wanted to start this thread to document my swing changes that I've gone through this year. My plan is to use this thread to document my progress, share my struggles and successes, and hopefully help others who are looking to make changes to their swing.

For starters, let's understand what brought me to this point:

• What prompted the swing change?
  • I was golfing last summer with a friend of mine and he took a video of my swing just to put on his Instagram story. There was no ill intention or thought behind it, he just posted it for fun. When I saw the video I was appalled. I had never really taped my swing before or bothered to care how it looked. I mostly just focused on how I was playing vs. my form or technique.
  • I was a decent golfer growing up - I played casually with my dad and friends and could always keep up with other experienced golfers in our friend group. Now that I'm an adult and have been playing more, I have been wanting to improve my game since it felt like I wasn't getting any better over the years.
  • After seeing the video of my incredibly flawed swing in combination with my plateaued performance, this seemed like an opportunity to start over in a sense. I decided at the start of this year (2023), I would get some lessons and try to figure out how to change my swing for the better.
• Are you trying to make a minor or major change to your swing?
  • I'm trying to make major changes to my swing. I've been playing golf since I was very little. However, I never really had any formal lessons besides a few weeks of junior camp during the summer as a kid. And even then, you aren't receiving a ton of individual focus or training when the instructors are trying to handle 30 kids at once. My dad never tried to force me to swing a certain way, he just let me swing my swing and have fun with it. Now that I've gotten older, I want to basically rebuild my swing from scratch and figure out how to have a consistent, repeatable swing that I can convert to muscle memory for years to come.
• Is the change being made because of performance, appearance, both, or something different altogether?
  • For me, the appearance of my swing really prompted the change (as mentioned above). However, my performance hasn't been nearly where I would like it to be either. So it's a sort of combination between appearance and performance. If my swing didn't look great, but I was achieving good/consistent results, I'm not sure if I would've committed to a complete overhaul of my swing. Since I was very inconsistent and also didn't like how my swing looked, it seemed like an easier decision to make.
• Are you working alone to make this change or with a coach/instructor?
  • I started this swing change journey by working with an instructor who's a friend of mine. I had a few lessons with him to try and learn what I was doing wrong, what drills and exercises I can do to help relearn a proper swing technique, and how to achieve my desired outcomes. However, I didn't feel like the few lessons I had really sunk in as well as I had hoped they would. My instructor really helped me understand what was going wrong and I strongly believe the drills he gave me were helping. On the other hand, I believe that everyone learns differently and you need to find a coach or learning style that works best for you. 
  • Lately I've been watching a ton of instructional golf content on YouTube, TikTok, etc. and trying to find certain drills that I connect with. One instructor that has been particularly helpful is Adam Porzak (YT: porzakgolf). His videos are clear, concise and have really simplified a lot of things for me throughout my swing change journey. I also enjoy Cameron McCormick's (Jordan Spieth's coach) videos on Instagram (IG: cmccormickgolf).
  • I have also been filming my own swing a lot and learning more about my individual habits and what my desired outcome for my personal swing looks like. I bought a cheap tripod off Amazon and it's extremely simple to setup and use. 
  • So to recap, I started this journey by working with an instructor to find out what I was doing wrong. Then I took the feedback from those lessons as well as the drills we worked on to try and continue revamping my swing on my own. Then through instructional content on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram I found other drills, swing thoughts, etc. that I connected with and applied those to my practice on the range. 
• What is your end goal for this swing change?
  • My end goal for this swing change was to develop a more consistent and reliable swing to further improve my golf game. At the beginning of this process, I made a goal for myself to get down to a single-digit handicap by the end of this golf season (i.e., winter in Chicago when I can't golf consistently anymore). I believe that as I continue to develop my swing and convert it to muscle memory, the results I'm striving for will become more achievable.

If you've made it to the end of this, I appreciate you reading the introduction to my swing journey! I will continue to update this thread with pictures, videos, progress, frustrations, etc., so feel free to follow along if you would like! Hopefully my journey this year and beyond can help inspire others who may be considering a similar change.

Feel free to provide any tips, feedback, experiences you've had as well! 

 

[GolfSpy_APH]

Following and best of luck through this journey!

[cnosil]

Good luck on your improvements.  I’ve been watching Porzak golf recently and I like what he says; seems to simplify things pretty well.   
 

looking forward to reading more about your progress..  

[GolfSpy_KFT]

Looking forward to your journey! I, too, am hoping to make some changes to my swing in order to find more consistency. Wanting to follow a similar path of working with an instructor to identify all the flaws, of which I know there are many, while building on what I am doing reasonably well. I also really like Adam Porzak and how he delivers his messages on his YT page. Being in the Midwest as well I fully understand what is in store for us soon and am trying to figure out how I can get something set up for indoor practice once winter sets in. I am REALLY going to try and commit to making changes this offseason so that I can continue to improve on the progress I've made to this point this year (broke 100 & 90 this season for the first time, respectively).

Good luck!

[Byrnzee]

This is the infamous video from last summer that made me start to seriously think about changing my swing. As you can see, there are a few pretty big problems that standout to me right away:

1. My takeaway is very inside. I'm wrapping the club around behind my body and lifting with my arms instead of letting my body rotation guide the takeaway.
2. There is little to no hip rotation. To compensate for not properly rotating my hips, I resort to lifting my arms away from my body and getting into a "chicken wing" form at the top of my golf swing. My hands are super high and my club path is very much across the line at the end of my backswing.
3. Over the top downswing. Due to starting my backswing very inside and my lack of hip rotation, my downswing is extremely over the top. I'm initiating my downswing with my right shoulder and coming out-to-in on my swing path. In order to compensate I'm standing up and early extending while flipping my hands through. This typically was resulting in either a weak right miss or hook and very rarely a straight shot with solid contact.

I have also included a photo from the top of my backswing last year as well for a more down-the-line view.

[Swood1994]

Swing changes are never easy but the results are usually always worth it in the end. I’m looking forward to following this thread!

Edited August 29, 2023 by Swood1994

[tdroma98]

Welcome to MGS @Byrnzee!  What an honest critique of your swing & your thoughts for your impending swing changes.  

Your three bullet points, in the photo & video, are an honest assessment of your swing.  It's amazing when you see yourself on video the reaction. I give you credit for seeing your "old" swing & taking that next seeking to make a change. I'll tell you this, be patient. Last August, one year ago, I saw my swing on video & had the same reaction as you and immediately sought to make changes, including my long time instructor.  It was appalling & disappointing to see the swing on video. It took me a few weeks of searching online for a teaching method & I found Tom Saguto. Like you found Adam Porzak, something clicks & their teaching immediately registers, it's like it makes sense all of a sudden. 

Don't get discouraged if the changes your making takes some time to click. It's been a year for me.  It's clicking and some elements of the swing are finally coming together.  My biggest fault is stopping the video lessons & trying to do it on my own.  It's what got me into this mess in the first place, LOL!!  

Good luck & look forward to following your journey!  Ciao!!  

[Byrnzee]

1 hour ago, tdroma98 said:

Welcome to MGS @Byrnzee!  What an honest critique of your swing & your thoughts for your impending swing changes.  

Your three bullet points, in the photo & video, are an honest assessment of your swing.  It's amazing when you see yourself on video the reaction. I give you credit for seeing your "old" swing & taking that next seeking to make a change. I'll tell you this, be patient. Last August, one year ago, I saw my swing on video & had the same reaction as you and immediately sought to make changes, including my long time instructor.  It was appalling & disappointing to see the swing on video. It took me a few weeks of searching online for a teaching method & I found Tom Saguto. Like you found Adam Porzak, something clicks & their teaching immediately registers, it's like it makes sense all of a sudden. 

Don't get discouraged if the changes your making takes some time to click. It's been a year for me.  It's clicking and some elements of the swing are finally coming together.  My biggest fault is stopping the video lessons & trying to do it on my own.  It's what got me into this mess in the first place, LOL!!  

Good luck & look forward to following your journey!  Ciao!!  

Thank you for the kind words @tdroma98! I've definitely been humbled quite often this year while going through this journey. Things definitely got much worse before starting to get better and I couldn't help but get discouraged. It's definitely helpful to hear that others have gone through similar changes and come out on the other side with some level of success. I wish you the best of luck on your own journey I thank you for following mine!

[cksurfdude]

On 8/29/2023 at 11:53 AM, Byrnzee said:

...everyone learns differently and you need to find a coach or learning style that works best for you. 

Absolutely! 

Curious what was it that clicked with you when looked at porzakgolf..? 

For me, I've gotten a LOT out of in-person clinics with Monte Scheinblum (fyi he usually does one near Chicago each year). And am working with an instructor at my club now (in fact gonna see him tomorrow).

Keep up with the drills - and practice practice practice - and I look forward to reading about some awesome progress

[Byrnzee]

Went to the driving range last night to get some practice in before I play this weekend. I hadn’t filmed my swing in a few weeks so I wanted to get an idea of how it was looking. 

I’m really happy with how everything looks in this video. My main focus lately has been taking the clubhead back on a straight line for longer. I believe this is a Tom Watson tip - keep the club face facing the target for as long as possible on the takeaway. 

My backswing is relatively short compared to my “ideal” look, but it’s way more consistent than my previous swing and I’m getting the same distance. My thought is that as long as I’m not losing distance, I’m perfectly content with the shorter backswing (shoutout Tony Finau and Jon Rahm). 

All in all, I’m really proud of how far I’ve come since beginning this swing journey. I am definitely not done with trying to improve, but I feel way more confident that I am on the right path now. 

[Byrnzee]

12 hours ago, cksurfdude said:

Absolutely! 

Curious what was it that clicked with you when looked at porzakgolf..? 

For me, I've gotten a LOT out of in-person clinics with Monte Scheinblum (fyi he usually does one near Chicago each year). And am working with an instructor at my club now (in fact gonna see him tomorrow).

Keep up with the drills - and practice practice practice - and I look forward to reading about some awesome progress

One thing with porzakgolf that clicked with me was "soften the elbow" on the backswing. I don't know why it was so hard for me to understand that concept beforehand, but on my backswing (as shown before with videos and photo above) my arms stayed very straight on the takeaway and then my hands got high at the top with a "chicken wing" right elbow away from my body. 

When he was working with one of his students on "softening the elbow" it immediately made sense to me and I was able to start collapsing that right elbow in the backswing, which resulted in a better swing path almost instantly.

He's had plenty of other drills on shallowing during the downswing, swing thoughts and drills with alignment sticks that I've used very often on the range. The way he explains things really resonates with me and becomes more "common sense" than "exact science."

I'll definitely have to checkout Monte Scheinblum! I'm always looking for new instructors that can provide some tips and tricks to improve my game. I hope that your work with your own instructor goes great! @cksurfdude

[tdroma98]

2 hours ago, Byrnzee said:

Went to the driving range last night to get some practice in before I play this weekend. I hadn’t filmed my swing in a few weeks so I wanted to get an idea of how it was looking. 

I’m really happy with how everything looks in this video. My main focus lately has been taking the clubhead back on a straight line for longer. I believe this is a Tom Watson tip - keep the club face facing the target for as long as possible on the takeaway. 

My backswing is relatively short compared to my “ideal” look, but it’s way more consistent than my previous swing and I’m getting the same distance. My thought is that as long as I’m not losing distance, I’m perfectly content with the shorter backswing (shoutout Tony Finau and Jon Rahm). 

All in all, I’m really proud of how far I’ve come since beginning this swing journey. I am definitely not done with trying to improve, but I feel way more confident that I am on the right path now. 

IMG_4526.MOV

Just wanted to say WOW, what a difference in your swing from your old one! Great job! 

[Byrnzee]

4 hours ago, tdroma98 said:

Just wanted to say WOW, what a difference in your swing from your old one! Great job! 

I really appreciate that! It's definitely been a grind and taken a lot of time to break those old habits, but I've already started to see the benefits and I know for sure that my swing is way more consistent than it was before.

[Byrnzee]

After shooting an 83 yesterday, I can officially say that my handicap has dropped below 10 for the first time since I've started my swing change journey! I'm now an official 9.9 handicap with plenty of room for even more improvement.

I'm really happy with how my swing and game has progressed over the year. I've become more consistent off the tee, better at course management and have avoided big mistakes (double bogeys or worse) more often.

I want to make sure I'm maintaining my current form and improving on my ball striking throughout the rest of the year. I definitely think I have the ability to lower my handicap even more, but I'm going to be patient and just enjoy this small victory.

Next goal for the year is breaking 80! Playing tomorrow on Labor Day so I'm hoping to go low.

[Byrnzee]

I had a great driving range session this morning before work so I wanted to come on here and talk about some of the things that have really helped me during my swing change process.

Firstly, I wanted to take a second to appreciate how much I've learned throughout this whole process. I took everything I thought I knew about the golf swing and essentially threw it out the window. I've been relearning the fundamentals from scratch and trying to focus on the swing thoughts that work best for me and my game.

I will definitely provide more photos and videos in the future to help explain these thoughts, but for now I'm going to try and explain them as clearly as I can:

1. Begin your takeaway with your body - I used to rely heavily on my arms to lift the club, especially at the beginning of my takeaway. The more I've learned, the more I understand that you need to initiate the swing with your body. Have a smooth, connected turn with your arms and body before you even think about lifting your arms. I've also been using an alignment stick in front of my feet in order to think about keeping the clubface straight down the line as I turn. I've been focusing on keeping my hands close to my body while the clubface is further away. This step ends when my right hand is at about my right thigh.
2. Lift straight up and turn - This concept really took a while for me to grasp. I've heard that the right arm should be moving in a "bicep curl" motion on the backswing and it was hard for me to believe/understand. I always thought that the right arm needed to turn around your body, when in reality your body turning is driving that rotation. So my second swing thought after the initial takeaway is to just lift my right arms straight up while continuing to rotate.
3. Let the right elbow win - Once I get to the top of my backswing using the first two steps, this has become one of my more prominent swing thoughts on my downswing. I have a history of coming over the top and leading my downswing with my right shoulder vs. rotating through with my hips. I've had trouble grasping a lot of the shallowing tips that you'll see online (dropping the arms, feeling like the head of the club is falling behind, etc.), so this is the one that has helped the most for me and feels the least like "manipulation" of my swing. I think about letting my right elbow reach the bottom of my downswing before my left elbow. This thought helps me lead my downswing with the butt of the shaft as opposed to the head of the club. As a result, my swing path is more in to out as opposed to out to in and over the top.

So to recap, I've broken down my swing into three parts: 1) Takeaway with body and arms connected down the line, 2) Lift arms up and continue to rotate to the top, 3) Let the right elbow win the race to the bottom of the swing.

Again, I'll be sure to provide some pictures and videos going forward that may help to explain these thoughts better. But hopefully it can provide some insight into my current swing thoughts and how I've continued to progress throughout this journey.

Thanks for reading!

[Byrnzee]

3 hours ago, Byrnzee said:

I'll be sure to provide some pictures and videos going forward that may help to explain these thoughts better.

I was live streaming my driving range session this morning and put together a short video that I think helps explains this 3-step swing thought process in more detail.

You can watch it here if you'd like! (Apologies for the quality - it uploaded in 360p even though the raw file was 720p; hopefully you'll still get the idea!)

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by Byrnzee

[Byrnzee]

Although this thread has been solely focused on my swing change throughout this year, I wanted to bring up another topic that I've been working on - putting.

I realized yesterday when practicing on my Perfect Practice Putting Mat (shoutout to my fiancée for the great gift), that the forward press I've been doing with my putter actually might be hurting me more than helping me.

Many of you may be familiar with what a forward press means. For those that don't - think Phil Mickelson pressing his hands in front of his putter head right before he takes the putter back. A quick search on YouTube will likely clear up any questions on it as well.

I liked the feeling of the forward press because it was a "trigger" in a way to setup my putting stroke. Similar to how some pros have triggers right before taking a golf swing, I liked the feeling of setting up, forward pressing, and go. However, I believe that with my putter shape (I have a half-mallet or mid-mallet shape), the forward press is actually causing my putter to be closed at impact.

The result of this is less consistent contact with the putter head and therefore more missed putts. I could take a perfect putting stroke with a dead straight putt and miss it because my face was closed due to the forward press. I've tried reverting back to a more standard look without press and I could tell almost instantly that the contact was more consistent.

So all that being said, I'm going to try it out this weekend on the course and see what results I can achieve. I'm sure it will be a slight adjustment for me, but I think it'll be worth the change in the end.

For all those that read this whole message, I appreciate your time and continued interest!

TL;DR Forward Press while putting might actually be hurting me. Will be trying more traditional putting look to achieve more consistent results.

[RickyBobby_PR]

On 9/7/2023 at 3:12 PM, Byrnzee said:

I was live streaming my driving range session this morning and put together a short video that I think helps explains this 3-step swing thought process in more detail.

You can watch it here if you'd like! (Apologies for the quality - it uploaded in 360p even though the raw file was 720p; hopefully you'll still get the idea!)

 

A couple things that stand out. Your left hip is working towards the ball in the takeaway, it should be only moving that way as a result of the trail hip going back. Also it’s moving early in the swing.

I know you are using Porzak or at least started to, but I think your missing out on what he’s trying to the the club to do at the start. The shoulder especially the lead shoulder moves first with a 45° hinge. This puts the club on the toe line.

you aren’t getting the club on the toe line. Also you are moving your upper body closer to the ball in the takeaway/backswing.

I would recommend doing this drill from Porzak

 

also with Porzak he’s about the body causing pressure shifts. You aren’t really getting pressure shifted because of the way your hips are moving and how early.  You are making progress in that your arms aren’t driving the swing like your old swing, but you have started making other incorrect movement patterns. 
 

This is where going swing changes alone can be difficult. I don’t know what your practice routine looks like, but base on what you posted in the video it’s some rehearsals and then hit the ball.

You need to be doing slow motion swings and drills. Example, hitting balls from what Porzak calls checkpoint 1 or what is commonly referred to by others as p2 or club parallel to the ground. Work on hitting the ball from there for 5 swings then hit a full shot with that feeling. Do that for 20 min. Then do some kind of block mimicking playing golf or working on different shots.

then once that’s comfortable work on checkpoint two which is lead arm parallel. Most of your practice sessions should be done hitting balls from this position. The full swing is just a finish of the turn at this point, so 80% of practice hitting from here

[cnosil]

1 hour ago, Byrnzee said:

However, I believe that with my putter shape (I have a half-mallet or mid-mallet shape), the forward press is actually causing my putter to be closed at impact.

Interesting that you associate it with the head shape and that you close the face.  Most people tend to open the face when they forward press 

[Byrnzee]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

Interesting that you associate it with the head shape and that you close the face.  Most people tend to open the face when they forward press 

These are just my personal takeaways. I think I have a bit of an arc in my putting stroke, which results in more of a closed clubface with the forward press. Could also just be user error though and I'm doing forward press wrong somehow  hard to say without having someone with more knowledge watch me putt. But either way, the conventional method seems to be more better (at least in the comfort of my own home)

[cnosil]

5 minutes ago, Byrnzee said:

These are just my personal takeaways. I think I have a bit of an arc in my putting stroke, which results in more of a closed clubface with the forward press. Could also just be user error though and I'm doing forward press wrong somehow  hard to say without having someone with more knowledge watch me putt. But either way, the conventional method seems to be more better (at least in the comfort of my own home)

I thought you were saying that the press itself closes the face and not what you seemed to say here that the face appears to close more during the stroke itself when you have done a forward press.  
 

im not a forward press or person,  I like seeing the shaft vertical at setup. 

[Byrnzee]

1 hour ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

A couple things that stand out. Your left hip is working towards the ball in the takeaway, it should be only moving that way as a result of the trail hip going back. Also it’s moving early in the swing.

I know you are using Porzak or at least started to, but I think your missing out on what he’s trying to the the club to do at the start. The shoulder especially the lead shoulder moves first with a 45° hinge. This puts the club on the toe line.

you aren’t getting the club on the toe line. Also you are moving your upper body closer to the ball in the takeaway/backswing.

I would recommend doing this drill from Porzak

 

also with Porzak he’s about the body causing pressure shifts. You aren’t really getting pressure shifted because of the way your hips are moving and how early.  You are making progress in that your arms aren’t driving the swing like your old swing, but you have started making other incorrect movement patterns. 
 

This is where going swing changes alone can be difficult. I don’t know what your practice routine looks like, but base on what you posted in the video it’s some rehearsals and then hit the ball.

You need to be doing slow motion swings and drills. Example, hitting balls from what Porzak calls checkpoint 1 or what is commonly referred to by others as p2 or club parallel to the ground. Work on hitting the ball from there for 5 swings then hit a full shot with that feeling. Do that for 20 min. Then do some kind of block mimicking playing golf or working on different shots.

then once that’s comfortable work on checkpoint two which is lead arm parallel. Most of your practice sessions should be done hitting balls from this position. The full swing is just a finish of the turn at this point, so 80% of practice hitting from here

I appreciate the feedback and will definitely take all of this into consideration. I'm definitely aware that I'm far from perfect in my golf swing - however, I've come leaps and bounds from my mess of a swing last year and I'm happy with my progress up to this point. 

As it relates to my practice routine, I do an assortment of different drills and exercises to try and implement these changes. I don't always record/share my full practice routine because I like to see the full swing on video. That's my personal preference and how I choose to share my progress. However, I definitely understand the importance of these drills and the time it takes to improve on these incorrect movement patterns, as you say.

I'm always willing to accept constructive criticism and I'm very eager to learn and improve. I appreciate you taking the time to provide your insight @RickyBobby_PR and I hope I can continue to move forward in the right direction!

[Byrnzee]

Just now, cnosil said:

I thought you were saying that the press itself closes the face and not what you seemed to say here that the face appears to close more during the stroke itself when you have done a forward press.  
 

im not a forward press or person,  I like seeing the shaft vertical at setup. 

I apologize for the confusion - I think what I meant to say is that the press results in a more closed position on impact due to the nature of my stroke. I used to have a more traditional setup growing up, then changed to forward press at some point in the last few years. Would like to see if I benefit from going back to shaft vertical

[RickyBobby_PR]

6 minutes ago, Byrnzee said:

I appreciate the feedback and will definitely take all of this into consideration. I'm definitely aware that I'm far from perfect in my golf swing - however, I've come leaps and bounds from my mess of a swing last year and I'm happy with my progress up to this point. 

As it relates to my practice routine, I do an assortment of different drills and exercises to try and implement these changes. I don't always record/share my full practice routine because I like to see the full swing on video. That's my personal preference and how I choose to share my progress. However, I definitely understand the importance of these drills and the time it takes to improve on these incorrect movement patterns, as you say.

I'm always willing to accept constructive criticism and I'm very eager to learn and improve. I appreciate you taking the time to provide your insight @RickyBobby_PR and I hope I can continue to move forward in the right direction!

For sure you have made good progress compared to where you were and that’s important. The changes are moving in the right direction, just somethings to adjust that will reduce the number of compensations. 
 

The key thing to remember is that you are having to change motor patterns and those take time and require slower movements with lots of reps. The body won’t learn them at full speed.

I am a fan of Porzak and his teaching is pretty simple. The key thing is to nail his position 1. It won’t happen day 1 but with enough rehearsals it will come. One of his better video series is the one he did with I think her name was Hannah from barstool. You can see how she wasn’t in the best position at checkpoint 1 but she was in a much better spot than where she started. Another video on the takeaway and I think backwing videos with one of his “older” students that I’ve posted before is good too, he had some bad movements that were starting to get corrected,

[Byrnzee]

7 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

For sure you have made good progress compared to where you were and that’s important. The changes are moving in the right direction, just somethings to adjust that will reduce the number of compensations. 
 

The key thing to remember is that you are having to change motor patterns and those take time and require slower movements with lots of reps. The body won’t learn them at full speed.

I am a fan of Porzak and his teaching is pretty simple. The key thing is to nail his position 1. It won’t happen day 1 but with enough rehearsals it will come. One of his better video series is the one he did with I think her name was Hannah from barstool. You can see how she wasn’t in the best position at checkpoint 1 but she was in a much better spot than where she started. Another video on the takeaway and I think backwing videos with one of his “older” students that I’ve posted before is good too, he had some bad movements that were starting to get corrected,

Will be sure to check these out! 

[RickyBobby_PR]

3 minutes ago, Byrnzee said:

Will be sure to check these out! 

Feel free to post videos and/or ask questions, get feedback. Here to help where I can 

I’ve watched and studied a lot Porzak, Chris Ryan, Monte, GG and AMG videos and what they teach, where issues arise, etc. so I feel like I have a good enough understanding of the swing plus their philosophies, which many times they have a lot in common 

[Byrnzee]

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I was able to get out to the driving range last night to get some practice in before I leave for my bachelor party on Thursday. 

I’ve been trying to work on starting my takeaway with a shoulder turn instead of my hips as @RickyBobby_PR pointed out. 

To help with a better takeaway, I’ve lined up two alignment sticks: one down the line of my feet and the other down the line of the ball. 

The stick near my feet is used as a guide for where my hands should stay during the takeaway and the stick above the ball is a guide for where my clubhead should stay.

I have a tendency of bowing my left wrist in the takeaway, which can lead to the clubhead getting too inside. Keeping hands close and clubhead further away should help this habit. 

I like the look of my swing in this video. I think the takeaway is better than previous videos. However, one of my biggest issues (always has been) is early extension on the downswing. 

I typically rush the transition between backswing and downswing and end up coming over the top with early extension. I’ve done the pause drill over and over and hit the ball great using it. 

I’m thinking about even adding a pause to my actual swing à la Hideki, but I’m a bit nervous about committing to that change. 

Overall I’m happy with the direction I’m moving but still working toward a more “picturesque” golf swing. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

31 minutes ago, Byrnzee said:

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I was able to get out to the driving range last night to get some practice in before I leave for my bachelor party on Thursday. 

I’ve been trying to work on starting my takeaway with a shoulder turn instead of my hips as @RickyBobby_PR pointed out. 

To help with a better takeaway, I’ve lined up two alignment sticks: one down the line of my feet and the other down the line of the ball. 

The stick near my feet is used as a guide for where my hands should stay during the takeaway and the stick above the ball is a guide for where my clubhead should stay.

I have a tendency of bowing my left wrist in the takeaway, which can lead to the clubhead getting too inside. Keeping hands close and clubhead further away should help this habit. 

I like the look of my swing in this video. I think the takeaway is better than previous videos. However, one of my biggest issues (always has been) is early extension on the downswing. 

I typically rush the transition between backswing and downswing and end up coming over the top with early extension. I’ve done the pause drill over and over and hit the ball great using it. 

I’m thinking about even adding a pause to my actual swing à la Hideki, but I’m a bit nervous about committing to that change. 

Overall I’m happy with the direction I’m moving but still working toward a more “picturesque” golf swing. 

Takeaway is looking a little better. One of the things is you are drilling the hands going out so in your practice swing and your real swing you get arms disconnected from the body. Some drills to do 1) put a club under your arms and work on your left shoulder starting the movement 2) put a long towel under your armpits and make swings to lead arm parallel. 3) this drill can be done in between drill 1 and 2 to get the feel

The other issue as you point out is your wrist movement. What you do is incorrect and will lead to continued issues. The wrist set at a 45° angle. You need to train this movement all the time. I believe Porzak shows that in one of the videos I linked

you have to early extend in order to make contact with the ball. Early extension isn’t a fault it’s a compensation. What causes this is improper shoulder and hip movement along with how you set the wrists.

You have to figure out if you want to pursue how Porzak teaches pressure into the trail side or what many instructors teach of a slight movement to get pressure into the trail side to start the swing, have that pressure shift be done by club parallel or not later than lead arm parallel. This will help with using the ground properly as well and being able to actually rotate.

But the key thing is to fix checkpoint 1 and check point 2 in porzaks method. From checkpoint 2 the rest of the backswing is just completing the turn.

[RickyBobby_PR]

53 minutes ago, Byrnzee said:

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I was able to get out to the driving range last night to get some practice in before I leave for my bachelor party on Thursday. 

I’ve been trying to work on starting my takeaway with a shoulder turn instead of my hips as @RickyBobby_PR pointed out. 

To help with a better takeaway, I’ve lined up two alignment sticks: one down the line of my feet and the other down the line of the ball. 

The stick near my feet is used as a guide for where my hands should stay during the takeaway and the stick above the ball is a guide for where my clubhead should stay.

I have a tendency of bowing my left wrist in the takeaway, which can lead to the clubhead getting too inside. Keeping hands close and clubhead further away should help this habit. 

I like the look of my swing in this video. I think the takeaway is better than previous videos. However, one of my biggest issues (always has been) is early extension on the downswing. 

I typically rush the transition between backswing and downswing and end up coming over the top with early extension. I’ve done the pause drill over and over and hit the ball great using it. 

I’m thinking about even adding a pause to my actual swing à la Hideki, but I’m a bit nervous about committing to that change. 

Overall I’m happy with the direction I’m moving but still working toward a more “picturesque” golf swing. 

Another thing after going back to rewatch is your setup. Your balance points are too far back. The back of the armpits should be over the balls of your feet, they are close to mid foot.

Work on this video

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lb9LkROgns

[Byrnzee]

23 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Takeaway is looking a little better. One of the things is you are drilling the hands going out so in your practice swing and your real swing you get arms disconnected from the body. Some drills to do 1) put a club under your arms and work on your left shoulder starting the movement 2) put a long towel under your armpits and make swings to lead arm parallel. 3) this drill can be done in between drill 1 and 2 to get the feel

The other issue as you point out is your wrist movement. What you do is incorrect and will lead to continued issues. The wrist set at a 45° angle. You need to train this movement all the time. I believe Porzak shows that in one of the videos I linked

you have to early extend in order to make contact with the ball. Early extension isn’t a fault it’s a compensation. What causes this is improper shoulder and hip movement along with how you set the wrists.

You have to figure out if you want to pursue how Porzak teaches pressure into the trail side or what many instructors teach of a slight movement to get pressure into the trail side to start the swing, have that pressure shift be done by club parallel or not later than lead arm parallel. This will help with using the ground properly as well and being able to actually rotate.

But the key thing is to fix checkpoint 1 and check point 2 in porzaks method. From checkpoint 2 the rest of the backswing is just completing the turn.

Definitely understand what you're saying. I'll try out this drill sometime this week. I've tried before on several occasions to do the 45° drill and I think I've struggled because it's so foreign (I know that's the point) to feel like the clubface is not staying within the swing arc.

I do like Porzak's teaching methods and can understand his methodology for pressure into the trail side. I'd like to try and continue trying his methods but if I can't seem to grasp them properly, I may have to move onto other content that resonates more.

As always I appreciate the feedback and constructive criticism.