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McLovin's Journey to Improve

Carolina Dundee said:
I think a playing lesson is a great idea to get a full assessment of your game and locate areas to focus on right away
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it was his idea. I have done playing lessons before, and I find it beneficial so a teacher can see what is actually going on, instead of the perfectly controlled environment of the range. he is likely to see a low double-digit handicap off the tee. high single digit handicap on approaches. low single digit handicap with a putter. and brand new sure-i'll-give-golf-a-try-can-I-borrow-your-club-because-this-is-my-first-time-ever-being-on-a-golf-course short game.
 
McLovin said:
it was his idea. I have done playing lessons before, and I find it beneficial so a teacher can see what is actually going on, instead of the perfectly controlled environment of the range. he is likely to see a low double-digit handicap off the tee. high single digit handicap on approaches. low single digit handicap with a putter. and brand new sure-i'll-give-golf-a-try-can-I-borrow-your-club-because-this-is-my-first-time-ever-being-on-a-golf-course short game.
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Couldn't figure out which expression to use on this one with the way it finished. Big, big fan of the playing lesson here though. Especially with the yippie wedges. That kind of thing just doesn't show up the same at the range usually.

Love the continued commitment, @McLovin . Rooting for you, and looking forward to the updates.
 
today's lesson was pretty awesome. we did a playing lesson. I wanted Tyler to see me "in the wild." My iron play was pretty weak today, but he was at least able to see me swing with some intention and purpose. he said my driver and iron swing is something we can work a little on, but it doesn't need a ton of attention. we need to get the release a little more down the line instead of around and to the left, and everything should be good. I can still stand to get a little deeper in the backswing, but he didn't hate it.

short game started very poorly, which was good because that needed the bulk of his attention. we put a lot of work on a hole with an uphill shot of about 20-25 yards. very straight forward, nothing strange or needing a specialty shot. the problem was trying to add way too much speed, and the low point was very far in front of the ball. so we worked hard to soften the hands and arms, and get the low point much nearer to the ball.

the way we did this was to lengthen the backswing, and square the face at impact. with a shorter backswing and open face, I HAVE to add speed to get distance. so by lengthening the backswing (more energy) and squaring the face (more distance), we were effectively increasing smash factor and if I wanted any chance to get the ball close, my brain knew I had to soften everything. he said the hard part is most of my positions are good, it's now just about feel and it's tough to teach feel. we need to train the feel. so the practice swing for me is extremely important. I have to get that feel first, then replicate it. by the end of the session, I was hitting some beautiful little shots around the green. it was awesome!

we also did a little bunker work. again, the low point was just too far in front of the ball. so we lengthened the backswing and kept the motion much smoother. again, things got so much better by the end.

I've said before that I "have it" only to lose the feel and good vibes, so i'm trying to be cautiously optimistic right now. I am very energized though, and somewhat excited to practice the short game stuff.

he'll send me some videos and i'll post them in here. my plan was to spread these 5 lessons out over the summer, but he plans to be out of town from june through September, so we'll try to cram everything into this month if possible. i'm ok with that, and he said he was available via text/facetime while gone if I need him to check in. he's so great to work with. expensive, but i'm very happy I found him.
 
Good work man. Tyler seems like the perfect teacher for you and I love that he uses all the tech to help reiterate what he’s teaching.
 
McLovin said:
today's lesson was pretty awesome. we did a playing lesson. I wanted Tyler to see me "in the wild." My iron play was pretty weak today, but he was at least able to see me swing with some intention and purpose. he said my driver and iron swing is something we can work a little on, but it doesn't need a ton of attention. we need to get the release a little more down the line instead of around and to the left, and everything should be good. I can still stand to get a little deeper in the backswing, but he didn't hate it.

short game started very poorly, which was good because that needed the bulk of his attention. we put a lot of work on a hole with an uphill shot of about 20-25 yards. very straight forward, nothing strange or needing a specialty shot. the problem was trying to add way too much speed, and the low point was very far in front of the ball. so we worked hard to soften the hands and arms, and get the low point much nearer to the ball.

the way we did this was to lengthen the backswing, and square the face at impact. with a shorter backswing and open face, I HAVE to add speed to get distance. so by lengthening the backswing (more energy) and squaring the face (more distance), we were effectively increasing smash factor and if I wanted any chance to get the ball close, my brain knew I had to soften everything. he said the hard part is most of my positions are good, it's now just about feel and it's tough to teach feel. we need to train the feel. so the practice swing for me is extremely important. I have to get that feel first, then replicate it. by the end of the session, I was hitting some beautiful little shots around the green. it was awesome!

we also did a little bunker work. again, the low point was just too far in front of the ball. so we lengthened the backswing and kept the motion much smoother. again, things got so much better by the end.

I've said before that I "have it" only to lose the feel and good vibes, so i'm trying to be cautiously optimistic right now. I am very energized though, and somewhat excited to practice the short game stuff.

he'll send me some videos and i'll post them in here. my plan was to spread these 5 lessons out over the summer, but he plans to be out of town from june through September, so we'll try to cram everything into this month if possible. i'm ok with that, and he said he was available via text/facetime while gone if I need him to check in. he's so great to work with. expensive, but i'm very happy I found him.
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Glad the lessons are working well Chris. Tyler sounds like an incredible instructor!
 
feedback video 1 of 3 from my lesson on may 6

 
feedback video 2 of 3 from my lesson on may 6

 
feedback video 3 of 3 from my lesson on may 6

 
Says the videos are private...

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
yesterday I went to the short game area for some quick practice after work, and it was pretty terrible. I feel like brad pitt in fight club when he's in lou's tavern and letting lou pound his face. "Ok ok I GOT IT!!! Sh1t, I lost it."

this morning I went back out because I refuse to give up. tyler really wanted me to focus on the low point of my practice swing. I was doing that, but still seeing really bad result. he also wanted me to raise the handle through impact because my low point was so far in front of the ball. with the handle raising, the low point is moved back closer to the ball, and voila things got really good. so I found something this morning that was clicking, and I went back at it this afternoon to some mixed but still encouraging success.

also worked on full swing with an 8i, just really trying to get all the way back, keeping my hands low on the backswing so the club can set on its own. I hit some really nice iron shots, so i'm feeling ok right now. lots more work to do.
 
Swing looks good! It shows that you're fighting the wedge a bit. A little disconnected rhythm between hands and body trying to find that low point. Looked more relaxed on the one in the sand though. Was that at the end of the lesson?

Is it just me, or do you look more upright on the 2nd swing in video 2? In the first one you look more crowded trying to come back across your body to me. Left shoulder tilted down like more of steep digger's position. The 'smoothness' he's talking about in the second one to me just feels like yours arms are more free/less boxed in by your position/lean. Anyway, I don't know ****. It's just cool to see the work you're doing and glad to hear you found something this morning that hopefully can translate long term.
 
Great videos, thanks for sharing Chris. Definitely shows what you were saying - what are some of the drills he gave you to focus on the “low point” ?
 
OldandStiff said:
Swing looks good! It shows that you're fighting the wedge a bit. A little disconnected rhythm between hands and body trying to find that low point. Looked more relaxed on the one in the sand though. Was that at the end of the lesson?

Is it just me, or do you look more upright on the 2nd swing in video 2? In the first one you look more crowded trying to come back across your body to me. Left shoulder tilted down like more of steep digger's position. The 'smoothness' he's talking about in the second one to me just feels like yours arms are more free/less boxed in by your position/lean. Anyway, I don't know ****. It's just cool to see the work you're doing and glad to hear you found something this morning that hopefully can translate long term.
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man, fighting the wedge "a little bit?" more like the wedge game has been beating me down for years and my corner won't throw in the towel just yet!

yes, the sand video was right at the end. this was from our playing lesson. he set me up on different holes, and had me hit a tee shot. he'd throw down a ball or two for different feels, or to get a different video angle. then we played some balls where they finished, other times we'd drop in different spots.

hard to say on the upright differences in those two swings. on the first that is not so good (ok awful), the lie was uphill and into the grain with an elevated green. basically, if you struggle with low point, let's find a really hard shot to expose it. the second video was from a very level lie, no grain issues, green pretty much even elevation with the shot. maybe that's the difference?

I appreciate you following along! it's been a journey that at times has ranged from exhilarating to debilitating. and we're not even a year into it yet lol. lots of work to do, but I am seeing some progress which is good.
 
OITW said:
Great videos, thanks for sharing Chris. Definitely shows what you were saying - what are some of the drills he gave you to focus on the “low point” ?
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tyler said if we had started working together 3-5 years ago, our short game work would have been entirely about positions. but he said now that he knows more about motion and how the brain is involved, he's taking an approach to train the brain to feel everything the right way. he said my setup is good, and most of the ideas in the motion are spot on. it's just feeling the low point.

so if you envision a circle around your body like a hula hoop, and then you bend over into a golf position, the hula hoop is at an incline. there is a starting point of the hula hoop which is address, then varying positions along that circle. for me, I am shifting the bottom (low point) forward. so one of two things happens: I either blade the ball because the point at which the face contacts the ball isn't the bottom - the club is still working down - and I catch it thin, or I chunk it because at the last minute I know where the low point will be and have to fire hard to hope for a not-thin contact. it looks yippy, but it's really not, it's trying to manage the low-point fault.

so he did 1 thing to the pre-shot routine, 2 things to the swing, and 1 (intentional) thing for my brain.
* pre-shot routine was to make practice swings. but it goes beyond that. step back and jab the toe of the club into the ground a couple times, then make the swings, watching where the club is interacting with the ground. make smooth, rhythmic swings until the club is interacting at the right spot. when it does, internalize that feeling, step into the ball and go, trying to repeat that feel. it sounds like a normal practice swing routine, but he emphasized focusing hard on the feeling of the good swing and immediately stepping in to repeat that feeling.

* he lengthened the swing. when you watch that first video, there is a lot more energy in the swing than needs to be. if you shorten the swing, you're going to swing harder (@Greg Kulbick is a big fan of the panic stroke!). I obviously don't need to swing harder for these short shots, I need to swing softer. so a longer swing will force softer hands and arms and a smoother tempo. and he also had me try to hit the ball with a square face, as opposed to an open face. again, the brain knows that a square face will produce a faster, flatter, and longer shot than an open face. so the brain will soften everything to try to manage distance.

* the only swing thought besides tempo was to raise the handle through impact. this isn't a flip, so much as manipulating the low point. the handle was moving down and through the ball, with the low point quite a bit ahead of the ball (about 6 inches or so). if the handle moves up, that automatically shallows out the club, and moves the low point back. this handle raising has been the key so far.

sorry for the wall of text!
 
The improvement is looking good Chris. I can relate to thinking I have it then it immediately disappearing. In those times I bring it up with my instructor and have him show me on video what I'm doing wrong. Learning those subtle differences has really helped me. When I'm hitting like dog poo on the range I will record a quick video and usually can spot what is going wrong and start working on correcting it.
 
as i continue to work on my short game, specifically controlling the low point of the chipping/pitching motion, i recently messed with setup and found some success. my feet have been a bit apart in my setup, a little inside shoulder width. recently i put my heels together and flared my front foot to about 10 o’clock, and found some really good consistency.

my wife and i played 9 holes last night at a very demanding course. arccos had my chipping at +5.4!!!! i hit some truly impressive shots. on #3 i flew the green, and the ball was in the rough a bit uphill to a tucked pin. grabbed sixty, heels together, handle raising through impact, and hit a high soft shot to a couple feet. on #4 i missed the green short right. down wind, down grain, water long, had to carry the ball about 15y. again grabbed 60, heels together, another higher shot with good spin hit and stopped about 8’ from the hole. guys, these were NIGHTMARE scenarios for me, but i pulled them off.

what’s interesting is i played monday and the short game was its normal dumpster fire. i messed with setup tuesday morning and hadn’t touched a club since. then last night the short game with the new setup was absolutely money. so maybe, just maybe, i found something.

i’m playing again today and tomorrow, with a lesson after tomorrow’s round. will check back in.
 
45 holes of golf over 3 days tested where i am. and i did not pass. everything got progressively worse, and some patterns came out that 1) were incredibly frustrating and disappointing, but 2) were good for tyler to see and address.

for today’s lesson, tyler wanted to start with the short game. he noted that i needed the ball farther back in my stance, more weight leaning forward, and more body rotation in the back and through swings, maintaining a one piece arm structure (like a tour striker). i was way too armsy. so the structure moves back and the trail hip opens up without the weight moving (almost stack and tilt esque). i wouldn’t say it was the biggest breakthrough, but some promise.

then irons. tyler saw that i was lunging toward the target with my upper body to initiate the downswing. so he had me drop my hands a little behind me, but stretched away from me. it’s a bizarre feeling. i’ve always thought the arms pulled into the body to start the downswing, generating speed and lag. but he said the fastest guys on tour actually move their arms away from their bodies to start the downswing. and with the arms extended away at about hip height, you can just rotate to the finish. after a few reps, we started hitting some glorious shots. there was speed with minimal effort, and excellent balance. super promising.

then driver. as i was swinging, my path was 10* left. whoa. we used pretty much the same move, but tweaked it a little. the thought was to almost drag the head along the ground from the inside and release out to the right. but we also needed to free up the lower body to press into the lead side, lifting the trailing heel off the ground, but without lunging the upper body at the same time. i struggled with this. a lot. but at the end we were at 0* path, just having trouble with good contact.

i’ll post the feedback videos when they come.
 
Good luck, Chris. The lessons will kick in. Took mine about 3 yrs- just started kicking in about the time corona hit .... lol.
 
feedback video 1 from lesson 5/17/2020

 
feedback video 2 from lesson 5/17/2020

 
feedback video 3 from lesson 5/17/2020

 
Subbing. As I to am going through lessons and swing changes. I feel your pain about trying to break these old habits
 
Looking good, Chris. Keep it going.
 
tyler and i messaged yesterday and decided it was a good idea to get together, even though i’ve only played once and hadn’t practiced the move from sunday. he wanted to do 3d mapping with audio feedback.

we started on trackman with a 7i. i wasn’t really feeling good about the swing. the path was way left, normal short backswing, and i was swinging pretty aggressively and topping out under 80mph.

he hooked up the sensors, and we got to work. the first thing he saw was that my pelvis was moving to the ball too much. so he gave me the feel of pressing my finger on my trailing hip flexor, and feeling like i’m squishing the finger in the back swing. basically moving the trailing hip back and away. we made two rehearsal swings, and the first swing was what he wanted to see so we didn’t focus much more on that.

we set the sensors with a baseline backswing depth and wrist position. the goal was to make the backswing with the tone present the whole way. if the tone stops, that’s a bad thing. it was going ok, but inconsistent. so tyler wanted me to slow it down. the goal was to swing under 75mph. which was damn near impossible! one of the smoothest, most effortless swings i made to keep it under 75mph was actually 86mph! we finally got it at 78mph and tyler was liking the path more.

we made a few swings with driver. again, one of the smoothest, most effortless swings i tried to keep at 75mph was 98mph. crazy town.

the wrists are still not getting there. but the feel will still be to keep the swing under 75mph in practice, and nice and smooth to get deeper in the backswing.
 
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