93civiccpe's road to the Grandaddy

[93civiccpe]

Update time. I was feeling really good about the drills and thought i was finally putting it all together in my garage sim work. The swing felt better so I went to the range on a cold and wet night. I started with some partial swings and felt like the movement was good and was getting crisp contact. I moved to full swings and when the balls weren't going as far as i felt they should i started over swinging. The fact that it was 40 degrees and wet should have been reason enough to expect the balls not to fly as far. I got a couple swing videos for my coach and he provided me the breakdown this morning:

My grip is solid now.. no longer overly strong. It's starting to feel more natural. My takeaway to the top is much better but i need to continue to check on the halfway back point. I still tend to take it too far on the inside. My coach likes everything to the top but the downswing needs a lot of work. I turn hard and lose angles quickly from the top and have to let my lead elbow come up at impact which adds loft and doesn't compress the ball as well as it should.

What I'm working on:
I'm still working with the shortened club on my grip, takeaway, and keeping my head still. Though the grip is slowly feeling more natural i still have to readjust my hands often. I naturally set up open to the target line. I've been using an alignment stick and will set up square when i address and naturally shuffle my feet and when i look down I'm back open to target. It feels awkward and will take time but I'm consistently working on it. I'm also working on new drills to get the feel of keeping the shaft loaded longer so i can release through the ball and get more compressed shots. This will involve a bunch of slow motion drills as well as half shots. I spent time in the garage working on this tonight and it feels awkward but I'll keep at it.

 

[93civiccpe]

A couple pictures showing some of the things I've been working on. Face on, look at the strong grip and narrow stance in the original picture versus the new position:
Original:


New:

 

[93civiccpe]

Also down the line at the top. In the before picture my trail elbow is behind me, the shaft is across the line, and my feet are open to the target.
Original:


New:

 

[93civiccpe]

I got a chance to walk 18 last week and it was a mixed bag. I hit some really good irons but i didn't feel comfortable swinging hard with driver yet so the distance was down with it. I was hitting it straight off the tee though. I did have a setback with my 50 yard shots. This was a strength previously and I had this distance 3 times on the course. One shot was off the heel and cut hard and the other 2 were pure shanks. From getting it on film i noticed that i still am standing open to the target and have been working more with an alignment stick. I have continued to work on my swing and hit most nights in my garage. I plan to go to the driving range later this week and get the swing on film again for my coach and hopefully play again this weekend weather permitting.

 

[IndySC]

Great follow so far. Swing looks like it has come a long way even in this short amount of time. Keep it up!

 

[Tevenor]

Also down the line at the top. In the before picture my trail elbow is behind me, the shaft is across the line, and my feet are open to the target.
Original:
View attachment 8994170

New:
View attachment 8994171

Just the hand position change alone is looking better. Very cupped left wrist to very straight to slightly bowed left wrist. Keep it going!

 

[Back9Bully]

Im going to find time between the baby and work to come down and help get you ready! You're gonna rock it in Cali!

 

[Bryndom]

Looking great! Keep up the grind. Definitely going to give Darth Finley a run for his money

 

[93civiccpe]

Had a fun round with @Smryan12 and his dad and my brother yesterday. My swing is certainly a work in process but there were some really good swings mixed in and my putting was on fire!

 

[93civiccpe]

I have continued to put in the work and had another round over the weekend. From working with my coach he gave me some new drills that I've incorporated. Part of my problem is that my entire body turns together in the swing and I have no separation. This causes the hosel to come into play a lot more often. Part of this is because I'm very upper body dominant in the golf swing so my upper body goes early and takes over. Learning to let the lower body start and use my legs more is a completely different feel. I've gotten to the point where I can hit half shots and 3/4 shots feeling the separation but after a string of getting into a good impact position I will inevitably have a bad swing where my upper body goes early. When this happens i reset with the drills then start again.

On the course i simplify down to one swing thought and just play. My coach has encouraged me to play through the swing change so i don't lose my short game feel and so that we can evaluate how the swing holds up under pressure. What I've seen are a lot of very straight iron shots but I'm 1 to 1.5 clubs shorter currently as I'm still not confident in the swing and am not swinging full. With driver I'm still rushing from the top and that causes all sorts of problems. I have ramped up the drills and training as I'm starting to see results and want to get comfortable with this new pattern.

 

[93civiccpe]

It is time for another update. My backswing to the top still looks good but it has been incredibly difficult to get the new move from the top incorporated. I've played two rounds of golf since my last post and my drives and swings on the course have been quite bad. My short game has prevented my scoring from being worse than it should and is the one area that has remained solid. My chipping has been solid and my putting has been better than normal since putting the single line Ten putter in the bag. I don't know if it's a honeymoon phase with the putter but I'm hoping it will last as my long lag putts have improved greatly and I'm making more longer putts than usual.

Now, updates on my swing and what I'm working on. I have felt that i couldn't get the swing timed up when i tried to swing fully and i was frustrated at the lack of distance. I have been doing a ton of drills trying to not let my lead elbow buckle at impact and was seeing minor success. I sent videos to my coach showing him the state of my swing and asking if I was missing something. He broke down my downswing again and realized that from the top I squat and turn my hips into the ball really well but my upper and lower body stay connected / move at the same time which is wrong. He explained that i should have a slight lateral move with my lead hip to create the separation and that will help me not get stuck in the position where my lead elbow would have to lift/ buckle at impact. I worked on two drills a bunch. One was swinging a club slowly with a headcover under my left arm to keep it from lifting. I gradually incorporated short chips then partial swings. I also used a drill where i put my head against a doorframe and swung slowly feeling my hips go first and trail shoulder dropping and coming through lower. Somewhere during this i incorporated a hard push off my lead leg coming into impact and i think this is because i had it in my head that if the lead leg was straight i should have room to not have the lead elbow buckle. I practiced this a ton and then had the 2 terrible rounds of striking mentioned above. I got my swing recorded and sent it to my coach and now after a squat and twist i almost jump and uncoil. It is way too much up and down and still very little lateral shift and separation. My lead elbow was no longer buckling but the impact position is even worse and I'm having to flip / release hard to get to the ball.

I got frustrated with myself as I was not practicing properly and made it worse not better. The doubts started creeping in as though my swing was ugly last year i was able to play quite consistent and my driving had improved a ton. Now i was having difficulty and doubts with my swing in general and my driving is terrible. I reminded myself to trust the process and had a very open conversation with my coach about my practice and swing. He simplified the move that I've been struggling with and reiterated how he wants me to do the drills and gave me a single swing thought when hitting / playing. I went back to work and am now hitting half and 3/4 shots which feel so much better and look better on video. I'm finally getting the lower and upper body separation and my first move from the top is a drive towards the ball. When I try a full swing or driver my instinct to "hit the ball" from the top still creeps in but I'm working on it. At the range last night i was primarily hitting half and 3/4 shots and the ball flight is straighter than it's ever been. I have another check-in with my coach on Friday and am doing drills multiple times a day.

 

[Bryndom]

It is time for another update. My backswing to the top still looks good but it has been incredibly difficult to get the new move from the top incorporated. I've played two rounds of golf since my last post and my drives and swings on the course have been quite bad. My short game has prevented my scoring from being worse than it should and is the one area that has remained solid. My chipping has been solid and my putting has been better than normal since putting the single line Ten putter in the bag. I don't know if it's a honeymoon phase with the putter but I'm hoping it will last as my long lag putts have improved greatly and I'm making more longer putts than usual.

Now, updates on my swing and what I'm working on. I have felt that i couldn't get the swing timed up when i tried to swing fully and i was frustrated at the lack of distance. I have been doing a ton of drills trying to not let my lead elbow buckle at impact and was seeing minor success. I sent videos to my coach showing him the state of my swing and asking if I was missing something. He broke down my downswing again and realized that from the top I squat and turn my hips into the ball really well but my upper and lower body stay connected / move at the same time which is wrong. He explained that i should have a slight lateral move with my lead hip to create the separation and that will help me not get stuck in the position where my lead elbow would have to lift/ buckle at impact. I worked on two drills a bunch. One was swinging a club slowly with a headcover under my left arm to keep it from lifting. I gradually incorporated short chips then partial swings. I also used a drill where i put my head against a doorframe and swung slowly feeling my hips go first and trail shoulder dropping and coming through lower. Somewhere during this i incorporated a hard push off my lead leg coming into impact and i think this is because i had it in my head that if the lead leg was straight i should have room to not have the lead elbow buckle. I practiced this a ton and then had the 2 terrible rounds of striking mentioned above. I got my swing recorded and sent it to my coach and now after a squat and twist i almost jump and uncoil. It is way too much up and down and still very little lateral shift and separation. My lead elbow was no longer buckling but the impact position is even worse and I'm having to flip / release hard to get to the ball.

I got frustrated with myself as I was not practicing properly and made it worse not better. The doubts started creeping in as though my swing was ugly last year i was able to play quite consistent and my driving had improved a ton. Now i was having difficulty and doubts with my swing in general and my driving is terrible. I reminded myself to trust the process and had a very open conversation with my coach about my practice and swing. He simplified the move that I've been struggling with and reiterated how he wants me to do the drills and gave me a single swing thought when hitting / playing. I went back to work and am now hitting half and 3/4 shots which feel so much better and look better on video. I'm finally getting the lower and upper body separation and my first move from the top is a drive towards the ball. When I try a full swing or driver my instinct to "hit the ball" from the top still creeps in but I'm working on it. At the range last night i was primarily hitting half and 3/4 shots and the ball flight is straighter than it's ever been. I have another check-in with my coach on Friday and am doing drills multiple times a day.

The doubts affect us all..hang in there, You've got this

 

[93civiccpe]

The doubts affect us all..hang in there, You've got this

Absolutely!! I don't want to go back to my old swing. There are no quick fixes. I'm putting in the work.. forward is the only option!

 

[Doubleb21]

Nice improvement @93civiccpe!

 

[golfinnut]

It can take a long time to get swing changes correct. Keep at it & it will slowly but surely come. You will start to see improvements ... may not come all at once, but it will eventually. You've got this!

BTW ..... when you use the alignment stick to check your alignment, do you find you're still open to the intended line? Meaning is everything aligned left of the target line? Cause you can have your stance open a bit (to facilitate a good release) but your shoulders & hips can be square to the target line. Just make sure to swing along the intended line, down the line, & not down your stance line. That's what facilitates the left to right shot & the hosel rocket.

Oh also tell your cousin @Smryan12 that he is punk for not calling up a brutha to play! I know he's out my way

 

[Stemmy66]

It can take a long time to get swing changes correct. Keep at it & it will slowly but surely come. You will start to see improvements ... may not come all at once, but it will eventually. You've got this!

BTW ..... when you use the alignment stick to check your alignment, do you find you're still open to the intended line? Meaning is everything aligned left of the target line? Cause you can have your stance open a bit (to facilitate a good release) but your shoulders & hips can be square to the target line. Just make sure to swing along the intended line, down the line, & not down your stance line. That's what facilitates the left to right shot & the hosel rocket.

Oh also tell your cousin @Smryan12 that he is punk for not calling up a brutha to play! I know he's out my way

he is punk for not calling up a brutha to play!


Even @JohnSinVA doesn't want to play golf with you and he's desperate!

 

[93civiccpe]

It can take a long time to get swing changes correct. Keep at it & it will slowly but surely come. You will start to see improvements ... may not come all at once, but it will eventually. You've got this!

BTW ..... when you use the alignment stick to check your alignment, do you find you're still open to the intended line? Meaning is everything aligned left of the target line? Cause you can have your stance open a bit (to facilitate a good release) but your shoulders & hips can be square to the target line. Just make sure to swing along the intended line, down the line, & not down your stance line. That's what facilitates the left to right shot & the hosel rocket.

Oh also tell your cousin @Smryan12 that he is punk for not calling up a brutha to play! I know he's out my way

Thanks Chris. Using the alignment stick and video i found everything was pointed left (well open). The past few weeks I've exclusively used the alignment sticks when practicing and am slowly getting it to feel more normal. At first it felt very restricted but now I'm aligning up more square to the target line more naturally. I'm working at the swing every night and slowly starting to trust it. We need to get out and play soon. And @Smryan12 isn't playing any time soon.. he and his wife had their first child 2 weeks ago!

 

[golfinnut]

Thanks Chris. Using the alignment stick and video i found everything was pointed left (well open). The past few weeks I've exclusively used the alignment sticks when practicing and am slowly getting it to feel more normal. At first it felt very restricted but now I'm aligning up more square to the target line more naturally. I'm working at the swing every night and slowly starting to trust it. We need to get out and play soon. And @Smryan12 isn't playing any time soon.. he and his wife had their first child 2 weeks ago!

Oh wow! Tell him Congrats for me! & welcome to fatherhood. There goes his golf game ... well, at least for the first couple of years.

 

[Back9Bully]

Oh wow! Tell him Congrats for me! & welcome to fatherhood. There goes his golf game ... well, at least for the first couple of years.

You can hope and dream all you want buddy. I'll take it to you any day of the week. Lol
Jk you probably are not wrong, golf will be slow for me for the first couple of months, but still hoping to get out every now and then. I got your number, we will get a round in here shortly! Hope all is well with you and the fam!

 

[OITW]

Great reading up on your progress bud! Looking forward to you dominating in December.

 

[93civiccpe]

I had family in town over the weekend so i am late on my update but Friday afternoon I had a "live" lesson with my coach using my cell phone in a tripod and zoom. (Reminder, the coach is in the UK). I went in unsure of how effective a coaching session would be over a zoom video call. This past week something clicked and i was striking the ball much better but still would have the occasional heel strike or shank. The good strikes were really good though. I get set up on the range with my ear buds in and quickly talk through the drills I've been working on with him and then it was time to hit.

My first two balls were pure shanks. My coach said "I'm not worried about those, just warm up and hit a few more". I hit 2 decent shots and he says "hit one more and we'll fix it". He saw something on my first swing in the takeaway that was a little off. I over-corrected from where i previously took the club back too much on the inside and now was pushing the club too far away. I proceeded to start striping one ball after another. Occasionally my right hand got active and i pulled a shot left and my coach gave me 2 new drills to help counter that. We talked through the tendencies in my swing and how to diagnose my swing if my striking is off. I was blown away by the end of the lesson at how effective the remote lesson was. Over there his time was 4 hours later than mine but he was so engaged and went long because he was excited at where my swing was. I no longer am actively flipping at impact. And he even spent the last few minutes looking at my driver setup and making a tweak which made a big difference as i finished up the range balls after the session. I have one more update I'll provide in my next break later today from a quick round at a par 3 course Saturday morning.

 

[MattyD-MPLS]

I had family in town over the weekend so i am late on my update but Friday afternoon I had a "live" lesson with my coach using my cell phone in a tripod and zoom. (Reminder, the coach is in the UK). I went in unsure of how effective a coaching session would be over a zoom video call. This past week something clicked and i was striking the ball much better but still would have the occasional heel strike or shank. The good strikes were really good though. I get set up on the range with my ear buds in and quickly talk through the drills I've been working on with him and then it was time to hit.

My first two balls were pure shanks. My coach said "I'm not worried about those, just warm up and hit a few more". I hit 2 decent shots and he says "hit one more and we'll fix it". He saw something on my first swing in the takeaway that was a little off. I over-corrected from where i previously took the club back too much on the inside and now was pushing the club too far away. I proceeded to start striping one ball after another. Occasionally my right hand got active and i pulled a shot left and my coach gave me 2 new drills to help counter that. We talked through the tendencies in my swing and how to diagnose my swing if my striking is off. I was blown away by the end of the lesson at how effective the remote lesson was. Over there his time was 4 hours later than mine but he was so engaged and went long because he was excited at where my swing was. I no longer am actively flipping at impact. And he even spent the last few minutes looking at my driver setup and making a tweak which made a big difference as i finished up the range balls after the session. I have one more update I'll provide in my next break later today from a quick round at a par 3 course Saturday morning.

Love all the updates! Keep up the hard work! Crazy how easy it is to get a lesson over video now!

 

[93civiccpe]

Right after my previous lesson I played a par 3 course with my friend and we played a match play format to make it fun. I had a ton of confidence and hit most of the greens and ended up beating my friend 6&5.

Following that I kept working on my swing and played a full course and had a mix of good and bad shots. I was losing some of my drives out to the right and distances are still a bit shorter than they were prior to the swing changes. I know that as i get more confident the speed should return.

The following trip to the range I regressed a bit and started by hitting 7 straight shots which were shanks or heely fades. I slowed it down remembering my lessons and took the club to first parallel and immediately noticed a problem with my takeaway. I fixed that and started striking the ball well again. I have continued to work each night on drills and partial swings.

Earlier this week I spent a good bit of time at the range working on my driver. I recorded some swings and sent them to my coach. It appears that with driver my desire to hit from the top is causing a lot of the swing flaws to return and me to lose focus on what I have been working in. My coach noticed a positional issue at the top that could be contributing and gave me additional drills to work on and a new focus and feel from the top with driver. So far the position does not feel natural but it looks much better on camera and when i catch the ball it is launching well. I was hoping to play this weekend but there's rain in the forecast and the one morning it may be clear I have family obligations. Likely that means more garage sim work and watching the masters

 

[HarlettoScara]

Right after my previous lesson I played a par 3 course with my friend and we played a match play format to make it fun. I had a ton of confidence and hit most of the greens and ended up beating my friend 6&5.

Following that I kept working on my swing and played a full course and had a mix of good and bad shots. I was losing some of my drives out to the right and distances are still a bit shorter than they were prior to the swing changes. I know that as i get more confident the speed should return.

The following trip to the range I regressed a bit and started by hitting 7 straight shots which were shanks or heely fades. I slowed it down remembering my lessons and took the club to first parallel and immediately noticed a problem with my takeaway. I fixed that and started striking the ball well again. I have continued to work each night on drills and partial swings.

Earlier this week I spent a good bit of time at the range working on my driver. I recorded some swings and sent them to my coach. It appears that with driver my desire to hit from the top is causing a lot of the swing flaws to return and me to lose focus on what I have been working in. My coach noticed a positional issue at the top that could be contributing and gave me additional drills to work on and a new focus and feel from the top with driver. So far the position does not feel natural but it looks much better on camera and when i catch the ball it is launching well. I was hoping to play this weekend but there's rain in the forecast and the one morning it may be clear I have family obligations. Likely that means more garage sim work and watching the masters

It looks like there's some really good progress being made, am enjoying watching along! I know all about how hard it is to make even the smallest of changes to the swing and how easy it is to regress to bad habits because they 'feel' better. Often the game drops out after a couple of lessons while you try and grind out the changes, is hard to force yourself to play through it. Looking good though....

 

[93civiccpe]

Quick update. I've continued to work on my swing and the drills my coach has given me. A week ago he realized there was a slight issue in my takeaway that I've been working to fix. I went on a trip to play golf and go deep sea fishing with some friends and in the first golf round my driver was all over the place but I hit my irons really well. The second round my driver wasn't great for distance but was straight and i continued to hit really solid iron shots. I have a 4 iron set up as a driving iron and it was extremely reliable. I have never hit it so well for an entire round. I ended up with a couple birdies and a bunch of pars and played really well.
Tonight i had a virtual lesson with my coach at the driving range. I let him know that I have been striking my irons better than ever but my half wedge shots have often resulted in shanks and my driver has been short with lots of pulls & hooks. He first had me hit a string of 8 irons and commented that I've obviously been practicing as there's nothing he would change with my iron swing. (This was a huge confidence boost). I'm finally getting the pattern down. Then we moved to the half wedge shot and he watched what i was doing then explained the proper technique and how i needed to adjust my setup. Very quickly i was hitting the shots one after another and landing them in the same area. I was gripping too tight / steering the club on the shorter shots and he explained that i had to soften my grip and let the clubhead release. It worked. We moved to driver and he said i had the same problem. He told me to make the same swing but to soften my hands and let the head release. I hit a dozen drives which were all straight or slight draws and much farther than where i usually hit my driver to at that range. We still had time so he explained to me how to hit a stinger to have some fun at the end of the lesson and i started hitting the lower shots with my 4 iron but that's a shot that will take a lot more practice before putting it into play. In any case, I'm still grinding but excited to see results on the course!!