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Offseason work with TrueMotionGolf

Finally got to begin the takeaway repetitions this morning. Doing them as 4 sets/day, 75 reps/set, with short breaks between sets of 25.

I had two problems getting takeaway videos to True Motion that were acceptable: My head was swaying slightly to the left on takeaway and I was having trouble breaking the habit of bending my trailing arm during the takeaway. A bit of work in front of the mirrors got those flaws down to an acceptable point.

I'm doing the takeaway reps with my Tour Striker PlaneMate. (I'd sent them videos both with and without.) It's really helping with that early bending of the right arm problem. Another thing that helped was finally getting the "palm down" move. I feel the PM helped me "get" that, too.
 
Duffer Seamus said:
Finally got to begin the takeaway repetitions this morning. Doing them as 4 sets/day, 75 reps/set, with short breaks between sets of 25.

I had two problems getting takeaway videos to True Motion that were acceptable: My head was swaying slightly to the left on takeaway and I was having trouble breaking the habit of bending my trailing arm during the takeaway. A bit of work in front of the mirrors got those flaws down to an acceptable point.

I'm doing the takeaway reps with my Tour Striker PlaneMate. (I'd sent them videos both with and without.) It's really helping with that early bending of the right arm problem. Another thing that helped was finally getting the "palm down" move. I feel the PM helped me "get" that, too.
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Have you been playing at all or just doing the work? I started working with them a few weeks ago and I am only on the Pivot training. I have been hitting balls and playing once a week through it and I am hitting the ball well although my ball striking was decent when I started.

I don't have space to swing a club inside so if I get to needing that it will be an issue.
 
Chef23 said:
Have you been playing at all or just doing the work?
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Just doing the work. My thinking has been that if I took to hitting balls it would just keep my old, bad habits alive. That means I'm having to let some really nice weather for hitting some balls pass me by, but, if my swing ends up much better, if the results get me down under a 20 HC, it'll be well worth it :)

Chef23 said:
I don't have space to swing a club inside so if I get to needing that it will be an issue.
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Neither do I--not full swings, anyway. I figure that by the time they have me doing more than half swings it'll be nice enough outside. Then I can either set up the net I fabricated last year or hit limited-flight balls.
 
Sometimes the drills seem repetitious, but I have to say I'm enjoying myself with this training program. I can see and feel the stuff they're teaching take hold and become second nature.

One thing I do, to make sure prior drills/lessons stick, is the first set of drills I do each day, beforehand I run through a few reps of all the lessons/drills from prior segments.
 
Duffer Seamus said:
Just doing the work. My thinking has been that if I took to hitting balls it would just keep my old, bad habits alive.
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I’m right there with you on this. My injury in the fall forced me to take a break until recently, and I’m hoping my work with True Motion will pay off more since I haven’t been practicingmy old swing.
 
So, 2-1/2 days into my takeaway drills I finally get around to double-checking myself with a video. (I have mirrors, but they're narrow, and I've limited placement options.) *sigh*... I was back to Getting It Wrong :(

My wife, who's studied body mechanics extensively in the past, recommended a drill that cannot fail to engage the obliques, and obliques only. @TrueMotionMatt came up with another one that works, as well. So I'll do those a few dozen times/day before going back and starting the takeaway drills all over from Day 1.

Going forward I'll video myself as a check each flippin' day. This is the second time I took a wrong turn and had to restart a segment. (One would think I'd have learned my lesson the first time, eh?
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)

It's frustrating, because now the weather's turning and I'd like to eventually play golf this season. But I'm also bound and determined to get this right, come hell or high water.
 
Duffer Seamus said:
So, 2-1/2 days into my takeaway drills I finally get around to double-checking myself with a video. (I have mirrors, but they're narrow, and I've limited placement options.) *sigh*... I was back to Getting It Wrong :(

My wife, who's studied body mechanics extensively in the past, recommended a drill that cannot fail to engage the obliques, and obliques only. @TrueMotionMatt came up with another one that works, as well. So I'll do those a few dozen times/day before going back and starting the takeaway drills all over from Day 1.

Going forward I'll video myself as a check each flippin' day. This is the second time I took a wrong turn and had to restart a segment. (One would think I'd have learned my lesson the first time, eh?
shake.gif
)

It's frustrating, because now the weather's turning and I'd like to eventually play golf this season. But I'm also bound and determined to get this right, come hell or high water.
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Too bad you don't have room for a mirror or access to reflections from windows because while I like videos, the loss of real-time assessments of movement(s) slows the learning process, at least for me.
 
Duffer Seamus said:
So, 2-1/2 days into my takeaway drills I finally get around to double-checking myself with a video. (I have mirrors, but they're narrow, and I've limited placement options.) *sigh*... I was back to Getting It Wrong :(

My wife, who's studied body mechanics extensively in the past, recommended a drill that cannot fail to engage the obliques, and obliques only. @TrueMotionMatt came up with another one that works, as well. So I'll do those a few dozen times/day before going back and starting the takeaway drills all over from Day 1.

Going forward I'll video myself as a check each flippin' day. This is the second time I took a wrong turn and had to restart a segment. (One would think I'd have learned my lesson the first time, eh?
shake.gif
)

It's frustrating, because now the weather's turning and I'd like to eventually play golf this season. But I'm also bound and determined to get this right, come hell or high water.
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This is the biggest thing for sure. If you do not constantly check what is going on you will be doing things you think are right when they are wrong. I have been pretty pleased so far with progress. After all this my short game has gone to pot.

When things are all working together I have really hit some great shots. I have gotten out and played a couple times and have had success on the course. Nothing perfect or consistent yet thought. Last time I played I shot a 36 going out, but a 45 coming in. Everything just kind of fell apart on the back side and I couldn't figure out the groove again. I think it has more to do with old habits and sliding vs rotating. Dang hard to not let it creep in.
 
@TrueMotionMat said they were coming out with some wedge videos soon, so that should help.
 
GolfLivesMatter said:
Too bad you don't have room for a mirror or access to reflections from windows...
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I have mirrors. Two of them. But they're narrow. It was either these mirrors at $7/ea. or $70 mirrors.

Plus, training in the living room, as opposed to a purpose-built golf studio, I've limited options for where I can reasonably place the mirrors.

GolfLivesMatter said:
... because while I like videos, the loss of real-time assessments of movement(s) slows the learning process, at least for me.
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That is exactly the problem with videoing. It's better than nothing, but it's far from optimal.

I suspect that, even with bigger mirrors, placed more optimally, I might not catch this, though. What I see in the videos is an ever-so-slight head movement at the beginning of my backswing. @TrueMotionMatt suggests that's because I'm getting my arms, shoulders, what-have-you into my takeaway, rather than using purely my right side obliques.

I can see, in the front view mirror, gross head movement (sway, dip), but not all that the camera catches.

What might be ideal would be screen mirroring from my iPhone to my iPad. Then I could place my iPad in front of me and see the down-line view in real time. Odd that Apple doesn't integrate that capability--especially since remote camera control from the watch essentially does that.
 
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Ordered the George Gankas shallower box to help with working the pivot down and shallow moves.
 
MarMill said:
Ordered the George Gankas shallower box to help with working the pivot down and shallow moves.
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I will be interested to see how that works. I am still working on the pivot back and haven’t gotten to shallowing the downswing.

I am playing golf now as well though so I need to work on things then go play and try to forget about it.
 
Finally got through takeaway. *whew* Between me having to stamp out some bad habits, not being able to feel my obliques working, and time off due to a knee injury--which cascaded to a sore, very sore, lower back, that took about two weeks longer than it should have.

Now beginning to work on building the back-swing. Unfortunately my ambition level today is about...

Nearly_Empty.jpeg


:(

On the bright side: One of the motions Tim demonstrates in the current segment, "reach to the sky," is nearly identical to something I'd already been doing to get my right-side obliques fired up :)
 
Just got the G Box shallower in. I think it is going to help out with feeling rotation in the swing! Excited to get it working.
 
MarMill said:
Just got the G Box shallower in. I think it is going to help out with feeling rotation in the swing! Excited to get it working.
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I’ve really thought about getting the G Box but I’m going to wait to see what specific part of the swing I have trouble with when I get there. I’m still on the takeaway drills right now.
 
mjkladis said:
I’ve really thought about getting the G Box but I’m going to wait to see what specific part of the swing I have trouble with when I get there. I’m still on the takeaway drills right now.
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So far the shallower has been pretty helpful to have for reference. You can tell where your arms are and if you are doing drills correctly. I do like that you don’t have to squeeze it to keep it in place like a ball. One thing I have found is I don’t think I get enough internal rotation of the lead shoulder to start the downswing. I’m going to try and work on this with lead wrist flexion to rotate more through impact.
 
So, good news and bad news. The bad news is I've now three times had my right knee go out on me in the last six weeks or so. First time about six weeks ago. It had gotten mostly all better, then went out a week ago yesterday. Made an appointment with a sports orthopedic doc for this-coming Tuesday. Yesterday, while doing an upper-body workout I was demonstrating to a fellow gym member the innocent move I'd made that caused my knee to go out last Friday and it did it again!
banghead.gif
At least now I know exactly what movement makes it happen.

(In answer to "Why did you do that, then?": It really is an innocent movement: Simply straightening my leg from a bent position, such as after tying a shoelace or stepping over something while walking. It happens before there's even any load on the leg. Something in there goes *pop* and there it goes again.)

The good news is I think I'm doing the back-swing thing, back to the target while remaining centered and balanced, pretty well. Need to get my video in for analysis. (Hint: Have your significant other or a friend watch the instructional videos, then evaluate your moves. Much better than camera or mirrors, IMO.)

The cool thing about what TMG's taught me so far is it feels right. It doesn't feel awkward or forced. And, when I bring the club back down from the top of my back-swing, it just naturally seems to end up where it was at address, without me even looking at where the ball would be.
 
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MarMill said:
So far the shallower has been pretty helpful to have for reference. You can tell where your arms are and if you are doing drills correctly. I do like that you don’t have to squeeze it to keep it in place like a ball. One thing I have found is I don’t think I get enough internal rotation of the lead shoulder to start the downswing. I’m going to try and work on this with lead wrist flexion to rotate more through impact.
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That internal lead shoulder feel is the pressure I feel in my lead shoulder. Aides in just turning through.
 
Chef23 said:
I will be interested to see how that works. I am still working on the pivot back and haven’t gotten to shallowing the downswing.

I am playing golf now as well though so I need to work on things then go play and try to forget about it.
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It will help you get Shallow when we get to that point Mark...it's also good with backswing help (helps keeps club in front of you, which you already do well).

I wish we were getting paid a referral fee for the Shallower, but Gankas doesn't have an Affiliate Program. 😂😂😂
 
I have really been able to get a pretty good feel on rotation recently. I have been working on the 120 no throw drills with the shallower. Went and hit balls on the range and things seem to be trending in the right direction. A feel, for me, is once I get my hip depth in the back swing I feel like my hips don't cross that line in the downswing. In reality they do but it gets me to start rotating more through the swing than slide and tilt. Definitely promotes lead hip low and around. I now have to try and fix my release patterns. Sometimes I will get in trouble now and release my hands and get some nasty duck hooks.
 
MarMill said:
I have really been able to get a pretty good feel on rotation recently. I have been working on the 120 no throw drills with the shallower. Went and hit balls on the range and things seem to be trending in the right direction. A feel, for me, is once I get my hip depth in the back swing I feel like my hips don't cross that line in the downswing. In reality they do but it gets me to start rotating more through the swing than slide and tilt. Definitely promotes lead hip low and around. I now have to try and fix my release patterns. Sometimes I will get in trouble now and release my hands and get some nasty duck hooks.
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Switch the hand release feel to a shoulder pulling feel to see if that feel keeps your hands and arms more passive. Also, when you use your legs properly, your hands won't want to release, so make sure you're staying centered in your pivot down. 💪👍All things you knew already...😉but sometimes it's nice to hear them again for reassurance.
 
In a word: *ouch*

:ROFLMAO:

About two weeks ago I was cleared by my PT and my surgeon to resume life as normal, as best I could. (Right leg is still a bit weak.) But I was having problems getting motivated to resume my TMG training. I'd already gotten to A Certain Point and now I was going to have to back up a bit and work back up to it.

Then, day-before-yesterday, saw the neighbor who'd gotten me into golf out in his yard and asked "Beer thirty today?" Sure. After a couple beers each he asked "Want to hit some balls?" "Sure, why not?"

As I would have expected I was pretty lousy and all over the place. But here comes the good news: I remembered what I learned and started putting it into practice as best I could, considering I was out-of-shape and had had a couple high-octane beers. Damned if it didn't work! In fact, eventually my neighbor commented "That was a nice back-swing." :)

I started hitting them, not a long distance, but getting decent height and either pretty straight or with a bit of a draw. (I regard draw as good, being as fade/slice used to be my problem.) The other really cool thing is I got out the brand new Mavrik Max 4H I bought last winter, and had never hit before, and was hitting it well!

Encouraged, yesterday I resumed my TMG training about two lessons back from where I left off.

I'm stretching things that haven't been stretched like that in a while, and using muscles in ways they, likewise, haven't been used in a while. Thus the "*ouch*" But it's a good *ouch* :)
 
Where I left off, before my knee issues, was just starting full back-swing drills. My form was pretty good at that point. (Verified by video and my wife observing.) I was just >< about to send an eval video. In working back up to that, starting last week, I double-checked I still had the setup stance nailed, and resumed at the pivot-back drills. Did 25 reps of each of the three drills, 3 x day, for three days.

Today I begin the take-away drills. I just videoed myself. Much to my surprise I'm looking pretty good. Club's coming straight back. I'm staying centered. Head is moving just a >< bit or not at all. I'll do three days of take-away drills, 25 reps 3 x day, videoing myself each day to check my progress, then I'll be back to where I was three months ago.

The really good news is the training and drills I had already seem to have stuck pretty well--even after a three month hiatus.
 
Back to where I was about three months ago: Working on full back-swing. I'm starting to see somewhat repeatable/consistent form. Might be ready to send a video in as early as tomorrow.

Couldn't figure out why the upper part of my trailing arm was pointing so low. Watched a video of Tim, several videos back from where Matt demonstrated what we're supposed to do. Slightly different camera angle revealed my mistake: I was pushing my arms behind me--thus forcing my trailing arm to collapse in. Matt cautioned against that, but it didn't "take" until I re-watched Tim's video.
 
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