Swing development over winter

[Jimaroid]

I've signed up to a package of lessons for the winter and before they kicked off I thought I'd get a video of where my swing is at now so I can see how it all develops in the coming months. I've got an idea of what I want to work on and I thought it'd be interesting to share the progress. Thoughts welcome.

[video=youtube;UBN650zh4Pc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBN650zh4Pc[/video]

 

[patricks148]

hey hombre, that is a nice sweeng..

 

[Jimaroid]

:thup:

 

[Farneyman]

Stunt double used there?

 

[stevek1969]

Which one did you sign up for as i did the same with the very same man?

 

[Jimaroid]

Which one did you sign up for as i did the same with the very same man?

All-in with the "tour" package, a whole bunch of lessons, trackman and physio sessions to come. I'm going kill or cure.

 

[stevek1969]

All-in with the "tour" package, a whole bunch of lessons, trackman and physio sessions to come. I'm going kill or cure.

Haha , the physio will kill you, joking aside Shelly is top class she knows her stuff, i went for the Pro as id seen Shelly last year

 

[daverollo]

Good luck with the development Jim, I think you have some good foundations to work on (having seen you at Dundonald), change is tough though, 2 steps forward, 1 back. I am finding it tricky to take my golf range form to the course at the moment, slow progress!!

 

[patricks148]

I've signed up to a package of lessons for the winter and before they kicked off I thought I'd get a video of where my swing is at now so I can see how it all develops in the coming months. I've got an idea of what I want to work on and I thought it'd be interesting to share the progress. Thoughts welcome.

[video=youtube;UBN650zh4Pc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBN650zh4Pc[/video]

In all seriousness Jim, i think you have a lovely looking swing, what are you not happy with and looking to change?

 

[Jimaroid]

In all seriousness Jim, i think you have a lovely looking swing, what are you not happy with and looking to change?

Basically it's a loss of confidence in ball direction. Most of this year I've been struggling to hit greens with regularity, typified by poor par-3 performances where I'm hitting the ball pin high but not knowing if I'm going to be 30 yards left or right. My irons between 120 & 180 yards have been pretty poor even though I feel like I'm striking the ball much better than I used to. I'm not looking to change anything for the sake of it but I want to get better advice and find more focus on what to practice for consistent results.

In a sort-of related way, I also have a lingering problem with my left foot which I hurt when out running earlier in the year. I was planning on going to see the local TPI physio about it but recently the local Pro started offering package deals with lessons, trackman and physio sessions all included. So with that and all the above it seems too good a package to refuse.

 

[the_coach]

think it's a good thing for folks who have kinda reached a plateau of performance levels often times with a pattern to the issues happening that's stopping further progression to book a series of lessons.

thing is to go with an open mind to what areas are goin to be looked at & in what order - but goin with an underlying acceptance that a bunch of things through the process will need to change

although many folks who have decent overall movement so the swing motion feels fluid, an observer would see a decent motion there but there are some things happening within that that still give the issues & variable shot outcomes

problems with little ways more inconsistent contact & face angle will be down to the lateral movement off the ball not always being able to be matched with the amount of movement to get back to the ball for good impact conditions overall so affects face angle direction at strike - plus a little ways bigger variable in vertical height going back to coming back to the ball will affect the consistency of the 'low point' of any swing falling in more consistent place for better impact conditions

this along with set-up, grip, ball position - so not only how the hands are on the handle but the shaft angle at address

stance width so how the legs work - lead leg over active some will play into any height issues

in the meantime looking to keep a more 'centered' swing motion a 'feeling' of maintaining vertical height keeping little more stability in the legs - weight pressure into ground rather than left to right lateral feeling of movement - so there's not so much lead leg bend motion not so much height variables back & through

not exactly sure of the club in the vid but ball position appears a little forwards no doubt it's probably got there to help accommodate contact

would try flaring the lead foot out some more to target should help with lead knee stability with perhaps a tad more stance width too to stabilize the lateral - trail shoulder 'turns' not move away from target

good luck with the lessons & swing re-work

 

[Jimaroid]

Thanks coach. I'd not looked at my own swing since the start of the year and I was pretty surprised how much lateral and vertical movement seems to have crept in. Definitely take your point about being open minded, I'm expecting some difficult times ahead but am confident I'll be better off come spring.

 

[Junior]

I don't know much about swinging........but that looks mighty fine. Great tempo.......you lose a bit of height, which is a problem I have, .......but then again so does Westwood and Tiger

 

[the_coach]

Thanks coach. I'd not looked at my own swing since the start of the year and I was pretty surprised how much lateral and vertical movement seems to have crept in. Definitely take your point about being open minded, I'm expecting some difficult times ahead but am confident I'll be better off come spring.

if for practice you got golf range balls with the 'hoop/circles' marked on this can be pretty useful to help monitor lateral shift, both away or too much towards target before impact

put ball down with the 'hoop' horizontal to the ground then to check out lateral off the ball at set-up raise up the hoop marking on the front side of the ball from horizontal so the edge of the circle can just be seen through the left eye - as you take a practice turn to the top, atop the swing the edge of the hoop should still be visible
if too much lateral the edge of the hoop will disappear from the field of vision

like-wise to check out too much lateral in the downswing if you do the complete opposite raise hoop so the edge just being visible on the trail side of ball at address through the right eye - slower practice swing to the top then slow practice down to just before impact - the very edge of the 'hoop' should still be visible with the right eye up to the moment of impact

 

[Qwerty]

I had an issue earlier in the year with lateral movement to the left and similar to you Jim I couldn't believe how much my whole body had shifted to the left from address to impact Once I'd finally sought help and saw it on video.

Our swings look very similar, deliberate with a steady tempo and my ball position had also crept forward, Possibly to accomadate the 'shift'

It took me a while to regain staying 'Centered' over the ball through impact but I'm finally getting there and the scores have started to improve again. Definately a better contact with more power and Control.
Just to let you know though if you are going down this route.. Personally I got worse before I got better.

Im no expert but the rest of your swing looks Pretty Steady.
Good Luck :thup:

 

[Jimaroid]

Cheers! Not expecting this to be an easy transition but it has to be done. I've been unhappy with my results this year and I was reviewing competition stats ahead of my first lesson yesterday and one thing was shocking:

Par 3 performance: 60% of returned scores were bogey or worse
compared to:
Par 5 performance: 12% bogey or worse

As I said above there is something really bad happening with mid and long irons and it shows in that Par 3 stat - I knew it was bad but not to that extent. Anyway, pleased to say that the first lesson last night was good but tough. I hit a randomised 15 shots between 120 and 180 yards on Trackman and pulled every one 20-30 yards left of where I was aiming which is exactly what I've been fighting against this year. Path was fine but clubface angle is getting very closed. Likely culprit being a strange interlocking and very basebally grip that I seem to have developed this year - something I've been conscious of getting worse but have convinced myself I had better control of the clubface that way. (Oh, Golf, how you tease us!)

So much like the_coach was leading to above, the first thing I'm working on is grip and club angle. Obviously it feels wrong to start with but I feel good about drilling into specific issues like that and I'm happy with the initial results. Long, long, long way to go yet... I'm sure we'll come to the lateral movement once I've got my grip under control.

 

[stevek1969]

Jim had my first lesson with Stuart yesterday, posture was all wrong ,left shoulder leaning low ,hands very low with the club and scooping the ball ,7 iron going as far as a wedge. Now left shoulder higher trying to get the hands higher and dropping the club instead of casting it, lots of slow motion swings ahead to get it but ball striking much better after . A long winter a head i think but worth it

 

[Jimaroid]

Good stuff, Steve. Hope it works out well for you. Not sure when I'll be back for the next lesson as it depends how quickly I get used to the new setup. Looks like a lot of cold evenings ahead for us both.

 

[stevek1969]

First time on the course trying to bed in the new swing changes ,83 blows for 37 pts, knocked my first drive straight out of bounds but after that i swung pretty well ,still a work in progress but definitely much better:thup:

 

[stevek1969]

Hows the lessons going Jim ?