The 2013 Swing

[thepete]

I played my last tournament about 7 weeks ago and after that I took 4-5 weeks off and did no golf whatsoever. Only thing I've been doing is the start of my winter program in the gym. Strength, agility, balance, explosiveness etc in a 22 week program. Currently in week 5 of it, doing hypertrophia...which is like killing yourself in every exercise every time. It's brutal.

About two weeks ago I got back to swing practice and did a video session with my coach(es). I've had the same coach for about 3 years now but we're also getting a second opinion from Henrik Lundqvist (coaches national teams, done some work with Dustin Johnson's wedge game and AFAIK also met with Phil Mickelson recently). They've made their analysis and I got my first drill today. It's...weird.

You stand on one leg, foot angled at about thirty degrees outwards, lift the other leg and bend your knee. Then you turn it to the side whilst keeping posture (slightly bent back, like at address) and balance. I've been told to be able to do this 20 times on each leg in a row before we move on. I think it has to do getting the glutes and groin muscles more involved and more flexible. I think. Not sure.

I know what the end result will be...kind of. I'm missing some "power spots" in my swing and we're trying to get to those so I can hit it a bit further, which we agree that I need to.

Note: some might say it's weird that I don't know what we're gonna do going forward, but it has some distinct advantages: I can focus on one drill at a time. Usually when you do an analysis you point out a few things and I have tendency to work on too many things at the same time.

Here's my swing as of last week, pre-tinkering.


#300yardcarry2012

 

[Kmac]

Im going to have to see this drill because it sounds like Id fall over. But Im curious now.

 

[TC]

Sounds good pete. I'd like to see some video of the drill your doing if you don't mind.

 

[#Cookie]

Interesting stuff, I would like to see the drill as well.

On another note - I would also love to have your swing. So darn smooth.

 

[thepete]

Will be 30 or so mins until it has processed.

 

[thepete]

Did the drill some more in the gym. Rotating isn't so hard, but keeping balance definitely is.

 

[interlooper]

Did the drill some more in the gym. Rotating isn't so hard, but keeping balance definitely is.

Looks like that may help improve balance and possibly improve flex in the hip flexors, among other things.

 

[Nate]

Very cool....I hope this does improve your distance because then everyone on the site will be doing this on the range!

 

[interlooper]

Very cool....I hope this does improve your distance because then everyone on the site will be doing this on the range!

I already do the "miguel jiminez stretches" on the range. Pete's streteches will fit right in.

 

[Dr. Teeth]

Thanks for posting that Pete! I love watching your swing, it is just so good. I am going to start working on this drill as well as if it can help me improve my balance as well as help add some power.

 

[Dubon25]

Very cool....I hope this does improve your distance because then everyone on the site will be doing this on the range!

That is what ive heard/read the this type of exercise does, increase your club head speed. Maybe somebody else has a different opinion.

 

[pjcedog]

Thanks for posting that Pete! I love watching your swing, it is just so good. I am going to start working on this drill as well as if it can help me improve my balance as well as help add some power.

His grip and setup are what everyone should copy even if you can't manage the same swing back and through, very good.

 

[Super Tuna]

FWIW Pete I use to do the same exercise all the time for footie. Since I played goal and was quite short for the position, a lot of my extra training was for jumping farther and faster. This was something I did to get more explosiveness out of my hip flexor's. I can see how it would help the power move and how you shift your weight in a swing though.

 

[Dr. Teeth]

ST I k we I liked you! I used to play keeper as well and we did a similar drill. I never thought about that drill being useful for golf until today.

 

[thepete]

Looks like that may help improve balance and possibly improve flex in the hip flexors, among other things.

Yeah, but if your groin or glutes lack fleixbility you'd probably feel it there first.

FWIW Pete I use to do the same exercise all the time for footie. Since I played goal and was quite short for the position, a lot of my extra training was for jumping farther and faster. This was something I did to get more explosiveness out of my hip flexor's. I can see how it would help the power move and how you shift your weight in a swing though.

That's interesting. But when you think about it ground pressure is a huge part of generating speed with your lower body. So being able to really push down and sideways is very important. You can't hit big drives if your lowerbody acts like nothing is happening, you gotta drive and push with it.

Very cool....I hope this does improve your distance because then everyone on the site will be doing this on the range​

That'd be awesome! I figured I'd do a bit more detailed "diary" of how we're working on my swing this year.​

That is what ive heard/read the this type of exercise does, increase your club head speed. Maybe somebody else has a different opinion.

That's the idea. I need to add about 25 yards with the driver and about a club and a half with my irons.

Wondering what the next step will be.

 

[thepete]

Back from a new swing session with my coach. With my irons, we want me to stay completely centered in the back swing. No swaying sideways. As you can see in my previous clips, I sway a few inches right and that makes it impossible for me to generate any resistance in my left leg. We also don't want much weight shift - 50/50 throughout the back swing.

Basically, keeping my upper body more centered makes it possible for me to get more speed since I generate more groundpressure using my quads. I try to really push down and away with my left leg in the downswing.

Gonna be working on this tomorrow as well and then next week it's time for a new thing to work on. Fun-fun!

 

[runpuddrun]

Good luck, your swing looks awesome!

 

[thepete]

Clips from ye ole aforementioned practice. Working on posture and body position.

 

[runpuddrun]

looks great! Keep up the great work.

 

[Dallashack]

Looks good. Good luck.

 

[the_paulo]

Interesting stuff Pete. Looking forward to following this along, since you have some quite specific goals on the go. Good luck!

 

[thepete]

Thanks guys, next session is probably thursday or friday.

 

[thepete]

Some more detail to the changes...

We're trying to keep me more centered and more stable in the swing. My big flaw was that I moved sideways in the swing and that created some problems in the downswing. Tendency to cut across, hard to get back in a good impact position etc.

Current set-up. Wider stance. Left foot angled (to ease rotation in downswing) and ball more forward. Players generally play the ball more forward than earlier, because they want to drive into the ball.

We draw a line next to my upper leg/hip area. It's supposed to feel like I'm raising my right hip to counter the lateral movement I used to do. Actually I'm just keeping my hip at the same height, but it feels like I'm raising it.

As my body turns I create space from said line. That's how we want it. This keeps me more stable and centered. Earlier my entire body had shifted well past that line and my head was barely in the square you see.

Just as my backswing starts.

Impact. Earlier I had great difficult keeping my right foot anchored and rolling it. I was always up on the toe and that made proper hip rotation impossible in the downswing. Many a slice was seen.

Foot rolls through impact, hips clear, shaft exits low and left.

A lot of watching and analyzing. I probably hit less than a ball per minute.

Putting. We only make sure that I roll it straight. Don't care about technique at all, but what I try to do is what Stan Utley talks about. I let my right elbow tuck in in the backswing and then let it extend in the forward motion. I make a much bigger, more round arc than before. Notice that black/white ball...it's great for making sure that you roll it straight.

Edit: I was also told what the one-legged rotational drill was for (besides telling you where you need to do stretching...). Getting used to being centered and rotating more around my center, rather than swaying right and left.

 

[MarcH]

Nice impact! I'm trying to get that right foot rolling/palm down feeling through impact as well. Takes a lot of work. GL with swing this year.

 

[afwcardinal]

Really enjoyed watching your swing. Looks like your are really getting through the ball strong. Will be following your progress.