We've launched the new forums! Read more here

AngryYankee's Method of Madness: Improving in 2014

AngryYankee said:
Off to Heartland (par 3 course) this Saturday for some short game work, and then a birthday round on Sunday at Bethpage green.
Click to expand...

Rain said no for par 3 work Saturday, so I played Bethpage today.
I kept in mind what Scott Cali said last week about me being wristy and I did notice it a lot. For the life of me, i can't get the muscle memory down to prevent the early wrist movement. Just gotta force it and hope for the best.
Anyway, from the new tee stance I was taught during my shaft fitting I began to hook the ball, tried a weak grip and tried opening the face, but the results weren't great. So instead, I swapped out the stock regular stiff shaft for my Xstiff shaft and the ball went from a hook to a fade, pleased to see positive results. Playing the Covert as I am waiting for my new shaft for the Bio Cell to arrive.
I left my 6 iron at home and put my old VRS 27* hybrid back in the bag and was very satisfied with the results. I might even go as far as dropping the 7 iron for a hybrid down the road.

Taking a look as the good news from today's outing:
Better driving off the tee
Fell in love with my 56* again. 60-70y pitches were butter.
Much improved bunker play. Only had one double stoke in a bunker, otherwise I was one and done. I can thank the Golf Channel for that. I was setting up like a regular iron shot before I saw their little tidbit during the Zurich Open.
Chipping felt better. Nearly holed out of the first hole, wound up a tap in away for bogey.
2 pars! I am excited! As a 36 capper, this is stupendous! I pared the 8th (par 4) and the 10th (par 5).

The negatives:
How many of you can hit a 130 yarder with a 60*? I can. Bladed the hell out of one shot.
Iron play sucked. A lot of fat shots.
Anywhere from 130-80 yards. Shank City.
Putting. My lag putting improved to where the second putt was doable, but I still had too many three putts.

I stopped keeping score after the 8th thanks in part of some horrid wood play, and may not keep score for a while. It puts too much pressure on me and I begin to over think. Once I tossed the scorecard I was more relaxed.
I wound up ordering a new shaft for my Cobra. Should arrive within the next couple days. After much debating, I settled on a Matrix Ozik White Tie, the same shaft used in the Bio+ line.
Don't know where I will play next week. Maybe Brentwood.

I have a lesson booked on June 7th, really want to get the take away down so I can move on to another issue with my swing.
 
AngryYankee said:
may not keep score for a while. It puts too much pressure on me and I begin to over think. Once I tossed the scorecard I was more relaxed.
Click to expand...

I did this last year and found a big difference in practising, it was easier to put bad shots behind me rather than writing them down!

Now for me, practising is about how I hit the ball and practising rather than a score, I have bounce games and competitions for that. Throwing down another (or a third or fourth ball) and trying to get it right works better for me than coming home carding a 140 after a few bad shots and a disheartened round.

It might take three shots to hit the fairway, or get the 9i to 15 feet, or get the chip to close to the hole but at least when I'm standing over that shot in a real game, I *know* that I can hit it and am not filled with memories of bad shots. (Execution is a different thing obviously :D but at least I'm not thinking myself into a bad shot).
 
Keep plugging away ET.....you will get there
 
AngryYankee said:
Rain said no for par 3 work Saturday, so I played Bethpage today.
I kept in mind what Scott Cali said last week about me being wristy and I did notice it a lot. For the life of me, i can't get the muscle memory down to prevent the early wrist movement. Just gotta force it and hope for the best.
Anyway, from the new tee stance I was taught during my shaft fitting I began to hook the ball, tried a weak grip and tried opening the face, but the results weren't great. So instead, I swapped out the stock regular stiff shaft for my Xstiff shaft and the ball went from a hook to a fade, pleased to see positive results. Playing the Covert as I am waiting for my new shaft for the Bio Cell to arrive.
I left my 6 iron at home and put my old VRS 27* hybrid back in the bag and was very satisfied with the results. I might even go as far as dropping the 7 iron for a hybrid down the road.

Taking a look as the good news from today's outing:
Better driving off the tee
Fell in love with my 56* again. 60-70y pitches were butter.
Much improved bunker play. Only had one double stoke in a bunker, otherwise I was one and done. I can thank the Golf Channel for that. I was setting up like a regular iron shot before I saw their little tidbit during the Zurich Open.
Chipping felt better. Nearly holed out of the first hole, wound up a tap in away for bogey.
2 pars! I am excited! As a 36 capper, this is stupendous! I pared the 8th (par 4) and the 10th (par 5).

The negatives:
How many of you can hit a 130 yarder with a 60*? I can. Bladed the hell out of one shot.
Iron play sucked. A lot of fat shots.
Anywhere from 130-80 yards. Shank City.
Putting. My lag putting improved to where the second putt was doable, but I still had too many three putts.

I stopped keeping score after the 8th thanks in part of some horrid wood play, and may not keep score for a while. It puts too much pressure on me and I begin to over think. Once I tossed the scorecard I was more relaxed.
I wound up ordering a new shaft for my Cobra. Should arrive within the next couple days. After much debating, I settled on a Matrix Ozik White Tie, the same shaft used in the Bio+ line.
Don't know where I will play next week. Maybe Brentwood.

I have a lesson booked on June 7th, really want to get the take away down so I can move on to another issue with my swing.
Click to expand...

It's all about positives. Keep plugging away!


Side note, have you tried the White Tie before? It isn't the stock shaft in the Bio Cell +. It's a fun shaft that gets the ball up, regardless.
 
I really like your plan, AY. Good luck in 2014. And remember...keep your eyes on the ball!
 
blugold said:
It's all about positives. Keep plugging away!


Side note, have you tried the White Tie before? It isn't the stock shaft in the Bio Cell +. It's a fun shaft that gets the ball up, regardless.
Click to expand...

I got my "ties" confused. It is the Red Tie shaft, but the color is white. Came in yesterday and now I have to wait four days to play with it, really excited.
 
In your 1st post you spoke about lessons.
Have you had any yet and what have the results been?
 
JB said:
In your 1st post you spoke about lessons.
Have you had any yet and what have the results been?
Click to expand...

I have one booked on June 7th as I can only do weekends and that was the first available slot. When I went for a driver shaft fitting the fitter worked on my stance a bit and that seemed to help off the tee.

In other news, the back nine fared much better than the front. Drives were straighter as I had to adjust going from my back up Covert to my BiO Cell. Irons were still ugly and my wedges were not spot on as they were last week. I did have a Caddyshack moment where the wind and rain slammed in on the 17th and I had a great hole. Drive was straight and far, second shot with my hybrid put me close to the green just on the other side of a bunker. Pitch shot was spot on and if it weren't for the wind I could have made an easy birdie. Wound up going for par on a par 5.
Before I left I put in the chipping lesson from the PGA Tour Academy and went to the blue track work out after a quick home lesson. I was addressing my chips wrong and immediately fixed it on the range. The blue track lesson was mostly hing and hold swings while putting nearly all of your weight on your lead foot and having your rear foot placed behind you. This was to work on your weight and balance. Needless to say, I have balance issues.

Recap:
The Good:
Got used to my driver with the new shaft, slowed down my tempo and saw improved results
Changed my putting grip to a double interlock and saw immediate results. Lag putts were actually close to the hole instead of leaving me with another long putt
Hit my woods cleanly and got the results I wanted
Two more pars, one on a par 4 and one on a par 5

Bad:
The entire front nine; slices, hooks, chunks, and an overall bad eating disorder with my clubs (fat and thin shots). I didn't even bother to finish two holes since I did so poorly.

Another 18 on Tuesday. Gonna work on the blue track on chipping again, and start the blue track on impact zone.
The day ended on a high note, I think the golf gods had pity on me.
 
Played 9 yesterday and 6 today. Quick recap of the rounds:

Yesterday was a great day in ball striking. Long, straight drives, decent short game, and powerful hybrid shots. Only time I needed to use an iron was on the par threes teeing off.

Today I wound up walking off the course. Day started off normal with a straight drive, but I was playing my fade which didn't fade, but was still set up for a good second shot. That was the only decent hit all day. I proceed to shank my wedge shot, then blade the shot coming back, then shanked the chip. I didn't bother putting out. Second hole I hooked and topped my drive and lost a ball. Proceeded to hit a booming wood, but was about 60 yards of from where I was aiming. Chunked my pitch shot, chipped on and two putted to get out. Third hole I sliced the ball gone. In frustration I tossed a ball on the ground and smashed it. Pretty good distance as well. In fact, this was the best hole all day. Chipped on close but missed the easy putt. Fourth hole was a par three. I proceeded to thin slice the ball OB and lost. Provisional shot put me in the bunker with a perfect rest on the sand. Hit the ball out of the bunker about 2 yards, duffed my chip another two yards. I picked up my ball and placed it on the green and putt out. Fourth hole I hooked one left and lost. Took a dropped shot and hit a my wood about 60 yards off target. Shanked the pitch shot. Then the chip yips started. Chipped a ball clear across the green. Dropped another ball for practice and did the same. Dropped another and had the same results. Decided not to put tout. Fifth hole was somewhat different. Had a decent drive that put my in good position for a second shot. I was in the rough and behind some trees so instead of getting air under the ball, I wanted to punch it low, something which I am fairly good at. Except today. Chunked the hybrid 20 yards and did it again on the third shot. Fourth shot presented troubles. Pull hook on left, dropped, blade sliced one right, dropped, blade slice again. I didn't even bother to pick up the balls, left them there and walked to the 7th. Had a few moments to calm down and rethink my strategy. Par 3 and I proceed to hook a 7i far left. Went to pitch the second shot up and wound up shanking it right. Told my partner that I am done and I am going home.
There was no reason why I should have stayed and let myself just melt down like a nuclear reactor. I went to the start of the course, had my beer, changed shoes and left.

I am going to the range tomorrow and have 18 planned on Sunday.
 
Hehe never give up brother!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
 
After four months my slice is nearly fixed. Here is the video from January:


Notice how I seem to be reaching out towards the ball at address, the hunchback, and the high finish.

This was today:




I do tend to "crunch" up my legs when I set in my secondary spine angle, but hearing the pop and watching the ball go straight is a great feeling.
 
Have a lesson coming up tomorrow. Really hope that I grooved my back swing enough so I am not going for a refresher lesson and more of a let's work on the next step lesson.
 
Maybe the pro isn't correcting the right problems. Not to step on their toes but within two shots my new pro noticed I wasn't a consistent distance from the ball which was starting a chain reaction causing flipping and fat irons.
 
Had my second lesson today.
We worked on a lot of things that was solved by a couple of minor swing tweaks. During my warm ups I was bringing the club to far inside on the back swing, I was breaking the left knee and thus dropping the shoulder and swing plane, impact position was too noisy, and I was leaning forward in my finishing pose.
The first thing we did was a simple inside out drill and worked from there. While he had obstacles in the way of my swing so I had no choice but to do an inside out swing, he began to dissect my swing. he first thing he did was correct my back swing. I was bring the club back properly initially, but after the club went past parallel, I was really going inside and that was affecting my downswing resulting in my hooks. He placed another obstacle behind me to avert me from hitting it on the back swing.
After we got that done he had me put my feet together and take half swings and work on the spine rotation. For the longest time I thought I had decent spine rotation, nope nope nope. My rotation was more of a breaking the left knee, twisting the hips, and pulling the arms back with my arms. This drill as well as the next drill helped me work on proper spine rotation. A little tip he told me to prevent my "discus thrower" knee break was to simple have my left knee aim into the arch of my right foot. No break, just a simple turn. After spending time with my feet together, he then had me place a larger ball between my knees to help with spine rotation. My knees were fighting this with a passion, but I eventually got used to the movements. Still uncomfortable, but useful. After all was said and done, we looked at my finishing pose and I was standing up straighter, still leaning, but not to the point where I was breaking the laws of gravity.

A few other things he mentioned were:
Grip the club in my lead hand with the fingers, not the palm. A grip that I once had, but evolved into a palm grip.
When I lean into my stance, let the arms hang, then grip the club. I had my arms reaching out to the club.
At address, bring the hands ahead of the ball and get the "y" shape with the shaft and arms. I was more of a "Y".
Chin up! I tuck my chin in my chest during my swing.

Scheduled another lesson for next week. Pitching and putting. Will bring an iron along just in case we go back for a refresher.

Range work tomorrow. Will work on the feet together drill, and some inside-out work.
 
Last edited:
Went to the range. A complete waste of time and money. Every single shot hooked left. Every one. I tried to work on what the pro was telling me and it is not working. Ever since I began lesson my golf game has gotten worse and worse. And now it's no longer the irons, I can't hit any of my clubs.

The only positive thing really that I can graso at is that I am making better contact. I am still hitting fat and taking foot long and deep divots. But to see the ball curve left at a 90* angle destroys all confidence amd I fall back into my bad habits. From the beginning of the year I was hiting 90* slices, now I am hitting 90* hooks. I am at a loss. I was playing better golf before I started taking lessons.

I don't know what to do anymore.
 
Last edited:
Warm-up routine:
50 slow and deliberate swings with the SKLZ tempo and 50 with a clubless shaft.

Heading off to the range later. Plan of attack:
First hour alone I am not hitting any balls. Work on a 3-9 partial swing. Get the left knee turning in properly, break the wrists at the top of the swing, work on hip and spine rotation. Work with a towel under my arms and keeping the chin up. I really want to ingrain the proper backswing and downswing.

Second hour:
Hit 50 balls. 25 with my 6 iron using the 9-3 swing with towel. 25 with the 8 iron with the towel. Going to keep my feet within a clubs head apart so my body focuses primarily on spine and hip rotation.
40 balls: 10 each with the driver, two woods, and hybrid.

Third hour:
40 balls left. 20 with the 6 iron, 20 with the 9 iron. Regular stance, towel under the arms.
 
Last edited:
All credit to you man, not sure I could spend 3 hours and only hit 90 balls.

Hope you find what your looking for :)
 
Range recap:
Did 10 warm up swings. 50 would have been way too many. Swinging the clubless shaft after the SKLZ felt very odd. Will have to work on changing it up.

Before I left I saw a video from Golf Fix about swing balance. The guy placed an empty shoe box inside his right leg and would swing the club. If the box tipped over and hit your left leg, you were doing it right, if it fell back or forward out of your stance, you were doing it wrong. I was doing it right :clap:

First hour alone I am not hitting any balls. Work on a 3-9 partial swing. Get the left knee turning in properly, break the wrists at the top of the swing, work on hip and spine rotation. Work with a towel under my arms and keeping the chin up. I really want to ingrain the proper backswing and downswing.
This did no last an hour, may 30 minutes. My biggest issue with this is breaking the wrists at the 9 position. I noticed that by the time I reached the 9 position, my wrists had already broke about 35-45 degrees. This was a problem throughout the entire night. I really had no idea how to do the towel routine because when I did a 3/4 swing, I felt wonky. Like I was swinging and twisting like a garlic knot.
I tried doing what Tadashi was explaining in http://www.thehackersparadise.com/f...6-Swing-the-bottom-from-the-top-of-your-swing, but it didn't work. I don't know if I was doing it right, or it was something I did not need to utilize.

Hit 50 balls. 25 with my 6 iron using the 9-3 swing with towel. 25 with the 8 iron with the towel. Going to keep my feet within a clubs head apart so my body focuses primarily on spine and hip rotation.
40 balls: 10 each with the driver, two woods, and hybrid.
Again, I did not use the towel technique because of garlic knots. What I did do was set up my alignment rods to help with an in to out swing. I had one rod for my feet alignment and another at about 25-30* pointing away for my swing. Three things happened.
1) Hitting fat again. 8 inches before the ball fat.
2) My mind not following the concept of hitting away and hooking it 90*
3) Actually making decent contact with a nice fade.
Hitting the big sticks brought out another issue. No elevation. Could be the mat I was hitting off, but both woods and hybrid were low flying hits.

40 balls left. 20 with the 6 iron, 20 with the 9 iron. Regular stance, towel under the arms.
No towel, garlic knots. Took some slow and deliberate half swings, but again, my mind said no to swinging away and decided to hook the balls.
 
Played 9 this past Saturday and felt really good about a lot of things. Did hook some balls including a few off the tee resulting in a couple of lost balls, but I finally had more good shots than bad shots. The only two shots that I shook my head at was using an 8 iron out of the fescue when I should have opted for me 56*. I had some distance to cover and wanted to get as much of it as I could. Wound up hitting it 4 yards. The other was a fat putt. Only one this time.
Some things that I have changed: Moved the ball a tad back in my stance. About 1/2-1 ball widths back depending on the club. I stood a couple inches further away from the ball which is going against what I was taught. I noticed that when I address the ball and let my arms hang down as a distance measure, I hook the ball, a lot. Standing a bit further back helped remove a lot of hook to where it was a manageable second shot. Still slapped a couple OB left though.
Really liked my pitching. Felt very confident about it and it has really turned around from where I was earlier this year.
My nemesis, the iron, wasn't all that bad today. Apart from standing a bit further back I also shifted my weight slightly forward at address, about 55-45 instead of 50-50. Seemed to help a lot.
I think in my next outing I will keep score and see where I am at.
 
Been a while since my last update. Since then I saw my pitching go from bladezilla to sweet soft landings. Even had a person ask me how I get the ball up and down so easily.
-My putting accuracy has improved a lot since I began using the SKLZ 21" putting mirror. My feet were misaligned and resulted in my shoulders opening. I still can't sink 10 footers, but I get close enough for a tap in.
-My wedge play has really shows some major improvement. I read something about distance control that basically threw the SCOR method out the window. Basically it said to find out your distances when you bring the club back to 7, 8, 9, and 10 o'clock, and again while choking down an inch. This turned my one 56* wedge into 8 56* wedges. Need to save up for the VC100 so I can get better distance measurements.
-My iron play is still bad, but there is improvement. I need to remember what both Freddie told me about dragging the grip through the zone and what my pro told me about early casting. A work in progress, but there is progress.
-Hybrids and woods are still fun to hit. No issue here.
-Driver has gotten a bit sloppy. Just need to slow down and stop forcing my body to move and let the club move the body.

Had a lesson today. Was told to being my PW and putter. Brought along the 56* in case. Went over the full swing and I still have a left push, but not as bad as it once was. He worked on my grip a bit to make it weaker and that helped straighten the ball out, but it was still left, but not danger left. On my follow through he wanted my to have my arms pointing towards the target instead of the left side. My arms said no. was a bit of a struggled but we powered through it. Some range work to get the muscle memory going should help out. Went over pitching and he was quiet most of the time. Apparently there was nothing to teach there. He did remark about the tempo I was using and said that I need to use my pitching tempo in my iron work and he'll be happy.
Gonna try to sneak in two more lessons before the season is unofficially over and then prepare for the winter range sessions.
 
Had a horrid day this past Sunday. Sloppy off the tee, all hooks and slices, nothing good. Even hit some tee shots fat, embarrassingly fat. Not your typical 2-3 inches fat, but closer to a whole foot before the ball. I have a major casting issue that I need to work on.
Iron play was just as bad. Left hooks. One hook was so bad that I wound up on the previous hole. The holes were about at a 100* angle from each other. Hit the ball, hook left, and bounced onto the rough in the previous hole.
Wedge play was ok. The only problem I had with that was I lost control over my distance. Need to redail in my backswing distances and get back into a groove.
Putting was pretty amazing. I had to leave after the 13th hole, and I was averaging 2 putts per. I was really excited about that. Had one three putt and had a nice 15 footer drop in to bring my average back down.
I don't have another lesson scheduled because I want to work on what my pro told me at the range and get some muscle memory ingrained.
 
Something happened today, something good. Something awesome. I am hitting my irons much better, much straighter, and much cleaner. I took what Tadashi, my pro, and the PGA Tour academy taught me, rolled it into one big range lesson, and saw awesome results. I still get the occasional hook, but that is because I rushed my ball address. I did hit a couple fat shots, but was able to quickly fix the issue.
But with good, comes bad. Horrid short game. Ugly out of the sand, no distance control, and completely forgot how to hinge and hold.

Overall today was a huge success.
 
Ugly outing on Friday. Played a short par 3 where the longest hole was a 110 yarder. It seemed like a complete reversal of what I was working on. Never did warm up and was hooking everything and 3 putting everywhere. This carried out onto a regular course where I played nine and just saw ugly shot after ugly shot.
However, I did record my first ever birdie!!!! The par 3 course had no fringe, it was green, then rough. Hit the ball about 6 inches away from the green. Used my 56*, delofted the heck out of it, and "putted" (chutted?) the ball for a chip-in. Would have saved the ball but I was running low and needed what I had. Wound up losing it :banghead:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top