That trail arm connection is something I’ve been working on as well. It’s crazy how much more effortless power you get when that connection is right.
GolfTEC Lessons
125 ball speed with a seven iron? What did that ball do to you!
The people make the experience for sure. The fact your coach is so invested is the absolute best!
Prior to my swing eval I think I broke 90 twice... Maybe even once. Since then I broke 90 FIVE TIMES. Most recently today right after my first formal lesson yesterday from 6900y no less.
I knew today would be interesting. Incorporating new feels and technique can be tricky, but creating a more closed address and in to out path became natural on the back 9 as you'll see above. Finding the right feel and more importantly the trust paid dividends. I do not think I've ever had 3 pars in a row.
It's extremely fun to know this is just the beginning and get a glimpse of what's possible, especially when not playing an extremely long, difficult course! Pretty soon I won't be able to be called a sandbagger because my cap will match we see on the course
I knew today would be interesting. Incorporating new feels and technique can be tricky, but creating a more closed address and in to out path became natural on the back 9 as you'll see above. Finding the right feel and more importantly the trust paid dividends. I do not think I've ever had 3 pars in a row.
It's extremely fun to know this is just the beginning and get a glimpse of what's possible, especially when not playing an extremely long, difficult course! Pretty soon I won't be able to be called a sandbagger because my cap will match we see on the course
So my coach hasn't uploaded my latest lesson for whatever reason but I had a really good lesson and practice session on Monday. Last Saturday I played in a tournament at my club and had the worst round I've ever had there. Started out fine but quickly lost my swing completely. Shot a 99 from the Whites which is about 15 strokes worse than what I normally shoot from those tees. I put up a 10 on one hole and had a 4 hole stretch where I shot 30. I just couldn't get any part of the game working.
Told my coach and he had take a few swings to see if he could see anything glaring that we could fix to get my swing back. Biggest issue he saw was that I wasn't keeping much separation between my forearms which was causing them to collapse and come into my torso. This was causing me to top the ball or not make solid contact. Also worked on shortening the backswing as it was tending to get a bit long and thus further collapse on the downswing. Also worked quite a bit on club path and swinging out to right field.
Left the lesson feeling much better about my swing and played in a charity scramble on Tuesday and the swing was so much better. You could buy unlimited mulligans, and it was basically me and a friend vs the field as his dad and uncle didn't provide much overall. We shot 11 under and lost to 4 teams at 20 under which was fine as all the money spent on those mulligans for the other teams goes to charity and there wasn't any big prize to worry about.
Overall hope my coach gets the lesson uploaded soon, but if not I'll give them a call when he is back from a trip to Scottsdale next week.
Told my coach and he had take a few swings to see if he could see anything glaring that we could fix to get my swing back. Biggest issue he saw was that I wasn't keeping much separation between my forearms which was causing them to collapse and come into my torso. This was causing me to top the ball or not make solid contact. Also worked on shortening the backswing as it was tending to get a bit long and thus further collapse on the downswing. Also worked quite a bit on club path and swinging out to right field.
Left the lesson feeling much better about my swing and played in a charity scramble on Tuesday and the swing was so much better. You could buy unlimited mulligans, and it was basically me and a friend vs the field as his dad and uncle didn't provide much overall. We shot 11 under and lost to 4 teams at 20 under which was fine as all the money spent on those mulligans for the other teams goes to charity and there wasn't any big prize to worry about.
Overall hope my coach gets the lesson uploaded soon, but if not I'll give them a call when he is back from a trip to Scottsdale next week.
Good 30 minute lesson today. Trying to swing more in to out, less in to in. Worked on keeping the club more closed on the way back and then not letting it fall open in transition. Really good time.
Tonight was the first time in coaching for a long while where the concept feels completely alien and will take a lot of drilling.
This is sometime my other coach brought up but we didn't drill it enough and it was left in the dust. My fault, I complained a bit that it felt like crap and was more concerned with playing for the next weekend rather than long term; I own that. So this time I'm committing to it.
I'll get into it more when the notes are uploaded but the towel drill will be what I work on for the foreseeable future. The good news is the THP caddy towel is perfect @jdtox .
I'll leave tonight with one of my favorite quotes:
This is sometime my other coach brought up but we didn't drill it enough and it was left in the dust. My fault, I complained a bit that it felt like crap and was more concerned with playing for the next weekend rather than long term; I own that. So this time I'm committing to it.
I'll get into it more when the notes are uploaded but the towel drill will be what I work on for the foreseeable future. The good news is the THP caddy towel is perfect @jdtox .
I'll leave tonight with one of my favorite quotes:
This sounds like a fun one. I’m looking forward to hearing more when your notes are up.
Ok. Now I like what I am seeing here.
Way to go bud. Swing is really looking good. Can't wait to see what irons you end up getting fit into.
Same! LOL. Appreciate the kind words. A long way to go, especially working through some new stuff this week.
Lesson 3 Update:
I worked hard on the drills that we did in Lesson 2. The takeaway and backswing are looking better so now we need to focus on the downswing and impact.
Here are some fun comparisons between my swing eval on the right and my current swing on the left.
Today we wanted to start focusing on face to path and low point for better impact. To help with this, he wanted to focus on knee flex getting from bent to straight. We want to get the knee going towards the target instead of more to the right.
The first drill we worked on was half swing with the AW. I hit a smooth shot to get a benchmark distance. The goal was to take half swings and hit it 20 yards past that using better ground force and knee direction to help the turn and impact. The feel he had me looking for was almost like the Scottie shuffle with my right foot sliding behind my left.
This turned out to be such a big change that wasn’t so comfortable for me that my half hour lesson turned into a full hour and we will be getting to drill two next time.
At the start, you can see that my knees are working in opposite directions and not together.
We did a lot of dry swings reallly slowly working on the feel. It never felt comfortable and I was trying to force the club through the ball. Jordan told me “don’t think anymore, just let the club come for a ride.” When I stopped thinking/worrying about direction, it started feeling better. By the end of the lesson, it looked a lot better.
In the befor pic on the left, you can see the knees and hips going in opposite directions. On the right, you can see them inline and working the same direction. Having the tech to see the improvement is such a big help because it never feels right.
I also started hitting the AW 7 yards further with way less effort.
I’m going to grind on this drill and feel for a week and half until the next lesson.
I worked hard on the drills that we did in Lesson 2. The takeaway and backswing are looking better so now we need to focus on the downswing and impact.
Here are some fun comparisons between my swing eval on the right and my current swing on the left.
Today we wanted to start focusing on face to path and low point for better impact. To help with this, he wanted to focus on knee flex getting from bent to straight. We want to get the knee going towards the target instead of more to the right.
The first drill we worked on was half swing with the AW. I hit a smooth shot to get a benchmark distance. The goal was to take half swings and hit it 20 yards past that using better ground force and knee direction to help the turn and impact. The feel he had me looking for was almost like the Scottie shuffle with my right foot sliding behind my left.
This turned out to be such a big change that wasn’t so comfortable for me that my half hour lesson turned into a full hour and we will be getting to drill two next time.
At the start, you can see that my knees are working in opposite directions and not together.
We did a lot of dry swings reallly slowly working on the feel. It never felt comfortable and I was trying to force the club through the ball. Jordan told me “don’t think anymore, just let the club come for a ride.” When I stopped thinking/worrying about direction, it started feeling better. By the end of the lesson, it looked a lot better.
In the befor pic on the left, you can see the knees and hips going in opposite directions. On the right, you can see them inline and working the same direction. Having the tech to see the improvement is such a big help because it never feels right.
I also started hitting the AW 7 yards further with way less effort.
I’m going to grind on this drill and feel for a week and half until the next lesson.
Mondays lesson was the first time in a while I struggled to get a concept. Going to take a while to drill the feeling, but also will take a while to work on getting more flexible and strong with internal scapular rotation. I'll show you what I mean...
Here is a before backswing. Notice all the space between the trail arm and the body
Now the after swing with a headcover drill
Much more connected and in line with what you see the best doing.
The changes are not to mimic what the best do arbitrarily; there's a big reason. The reason is variance. When the arm is that far out there is much more margin for error and it leads to more hand flipping, worse low point control, worse face control, all of it. So how do we fix it?
First, in the set up
Going to work on weakening the grip so that my trail hand is more beneath/under the club which allows the trail elbow to be in a better position. You'll notice my elbow is pointed more outside my body and the model on the right's is pointed directly into the body. This will also allow my elbow to bend in the backswing keeping it closer to my body like you see here
The difference in our positions is drastic! Look at all the space between my arm and body (hint: this leads to a flip with the hands to try and square it) vs his position
The practice will be swinging with something under the trail armpit or doing the towel drill with it going across both armpits. This keeps the elbow tighter to the body and just getting used to that feeling of compactness. It honestly feels very alien and like I am swinging with T-Rex arms, but trust the process. How can you not trust the process when you see the side by side above?
Tonight's practice will consist of:
Setting up properly with the weaker grip and get used to that
Swinging with a headcover or towels under the armpit to keep everything connected (and try to make decent strikes)
Swinging with a staggered stance (trail foot behind) to help with early extension and also drilling proper arm and hand path
Having targeted things to practice has been a game changer too. Previously I was definitely a ball pounder just hitting stuff trying to feel out consistency. This is a rare time I relish getting homework as it shows a clear path to improvement.
Here is a before backswing. Notice all the space between the trail arm and the body
Now the after swing with a headcover drill
Much more connected and in line with what you see the best doing.
The changes are not to mimic what the best do arbitrarily; there's a big reason. The reason is variance. When the arm is that far out there is much more margin for error and it leads to more hand flipping, worse low point control, worse face control, all of it. So how do we fix it?
First, in the set up
Going to work on weakening the grip so that my trail hand is more beneath/under the club which allows the trail elbow to be in a better position. You'll notice my elbow is pointed more outside my body and the model on the right's is pointed directly into the body. This will also allow my elbow to bend in the backswing keeping it closer to my body like you see here
The difference in our positions is drastic! Look at all the space between my arm and body (hint: this leads to a flip with the hands to try and square it) vs his position
The practice will be swinging with something under the trail armpit or doing the towel drill with it going across both armpits. This keeps the elbow tighter to the body and just getting used to that feeling of compactness. It honestly feels very alien and like I am swinging with T-Rex arms, but trust the process. How can you not trust the process when you see the side by side above?
Tonight's practice will consist of:
Setting up properly with the weaker grip and get used to that
Swinging with a headcover or towels under the armpit to keep everything connected (and try to make decent strikes)
Swinging with a staggered stance (trail foot behind) to help with early extension and also drilling proper arm and hand path
Having targeted things to practice has been a game changer too. Previously I was definitely a ball pounder just hitting stuff trying to feel out consistency. This is a rare time I relish getting homework as it shows a clear path to improvement.
Practice went well today but I'm still having a hard time knowing if I'm in the right position. The head cover stays in the armpit, but it still looks like there's some flare. Not nearly as much, but definitely not looking like it should exactly.
Could be over rotating....hmmm.
Definitely lost speed but that's to be expected with a change and not knowing how to move my body in the new position. Considering upping to weekly lessons again. It's just money, right?
Could be over rotating....hmmm.
Definitely lost speed but that's to be expected with a change and not knowing how to move my body in the new position. Considering upping to weekly lessons again. It's just money, right?
On the positive side, launch and decent angle are way up! From 15-16 launch and 43-45 decent to 18+ launch (maybe too much) 48+ descent.
The bad news is low spin is even lower. Going to go back to an X ball which isn't what I want for my driver but what I'll likely need for my irons.
The bad news is low spin is even lower. Going to go back to an X ball which isn't what I want for my driver but what I'll likely need for my irons.
- Admin
- #1,919
Had an outdoor lesson yesterday. Short game and bunker. Honestly the last thing I wanted to do after last week but I pushed myself to go and I'm glad I did. At my current skill level there really isn't a ton we are working on swing wise other than some cleanup stuff here and there, instead we are working on things which I consider quite fun. Things like hitting/learning different shots as well as learning the why and how things happen.
Yesterday we worked on greenside tight lie chips, shortsided rough shots and bunker shots.
First up, relatively tight lie chip shots and short sided rough, you can't see the pin here but it was bout 8 feet from me and 4 feet from the rough. We worked on setup, opening the blade up, ball position and something I was extremely uncomfortable with...taking a longer backswing and almost no power through the downswing, just letting the club head do the work. I have always been taught to accelerate through the ball and initially a very weird feeling. This is going to take lots and lots of reps to get right but this is a shot I do not have in the arsenal and I have to admit its quite fun when executed successfully.
Next was bunker practice. I'm generally able to get out of bunkers but I wouldn't say I'm a fantastic bunker player by any stretch of the imagination. As you can see here my setup changed quite drastically from when I started on the left side. Just more proof that what you think is what you are doing is not the case on camera haha. We also practiced low point drills here and more of the same motion as described above. Again, lots of reps and practice required but when you do it right, you hear that thump from the sand they always talk about on tv and it's oh so good.
Yesterday we worked on greenside tight lie chips, shortsided rough shots and bunker shots.
First up, relatively tight lie chip shots and short sided rough, you can't see the pin here but it was bout 8 feet from me and 4 feet from the rough. We worked on setup, opening the blade up, ball position and something I was extremely uncomfortable with...taking a longer backswing and almost no power through the downswing, just letting the club head do the work. I have always been taught to accelerate through the ball and initially a very weird feeling. This is going to take lots and lots of reps to get right but this is a shot I do not have in the arsenal and I have to admit its quite fun when executed successfully.
Next was bunker practice. I'm generally able to get out of bunkers but I wouldn't say I'm a fantastic bunker player by any stretch of the imagination. As you can see here my setup changed quite drastically from when I started on the left side. Just more proof that what you think is what you are doing is not the case on camera haha. We also practiced low point drills here and more of the same motion as described above. Again, lots of reps and practice required but when you do it right, you hear that thump from the sand they always talk about on tv and it's oh so good.
For the stupid among us (me) the set up in the bunker on the right is the way to go?
- Admin
- #1,921
Yeah, wider stance, most of weight on the left foot for setup and a little lower stance than a normal shot. All bunker dependent too though.
That’s a huge difference on the setup in the bunker! Seeing the real on camera really does change your perspective
- Admin
- #1,923
Its wild what you think you are doing vs what you are actually doing. Its one of the reasons I'm enjoying GolfTec so much
Feel vs real is so huge and being able to actually SEE the difference is a game changer for golfers
4th lesson today went well. I'm doing a lot of the right things but my arms/hands are still the issue. Now I'm trying to drop them too early in the swing rather than letting my body turn take control. It is almost cause and effect with the lessons because we fix one thing, and another thing falls out of place because of it. We're close though, he's getting excited and already talking about scheduling a playing lesson indoors next month. So if everything goes right this month, next month will be the ramp up to December.