Golf FraserView 20070406 Easter Friday

Losing it again. Today keep hitting the ball thin. Nothing is working ... driver, hybrid, 3 wood, irons. Not having solid contact, ball stays on the ground or low ball flight. Irons missing to the left and driver missing to the right. Only last few holes the driver seems to come back. Swing thought was like tennis hitting forehand from the side, and keep the tempo, concentrating the hand leading the clubhead and stay low. Do not wasted the swing by hitting too early in the downswing but swing within yourself. However iron etc still cannot get back the feeling. Practice after the round at home the club head cannot hit the ground. Left arm just cannot keep straight at impact. Why?

IMPORTANT

Think I finally got it? The key for consistency and more distance is during downswing, the hand must take the lead and stay ahead of the clubhead and shoulder turn, and must stay low, the feeling is pressing the hand downward and keep delaying the unhinge and let club lag way behind. After impact let both elbows to fold. It only make sense that during impact the hand is pressing way down and leads the motion while upper and lower body is not turning yet. The hand will turn first and the rest of the body follows. This is more naturally and keeps the whole swing in sync. This will also keep the left hand straight at impact and the impact position and shaft angle and swing plane at impact more consistent.

Only problem is timing as the delay or lagging of clubhead may produce slice if club head is still open at impact which may be more prominent for 3 wood or driver.

Figured out at McCleery driving range had good distance and ball going straight for irons. Can't wait to test more on this theory tomorrow. Needs to figure if really got increased in distance for various clubs and recalibrate my distance chart.

Also write to Ping today asking which model can still provide the ping sound.

Was thinking to try golf instructors at Mayfair lake (Lee Lim) or University Golf Club (Scott Minni - one who wrote a book on golf swing) but probably put on hold for now.

Golf 20070403

Bought a Cleveland 588 series 54 SW at Golf Town yesterday for $89. There are 2 other Cleve choices, both 54 degree loft, one was Pearl line with 2 dot - normal bounce and the other gun material which will become rusty but not sure the bounce. The GolfTown people said the SW was easier to hit so choose that one. We shall wee.

As for practice today, putting must remember the shaft is linked to the putter head from the side. So when putting need to understand the feel to control the shaft with relation to the putter head which is not directly under the end of the shaft but to the right of it.

For the swing lots of mishits again at the toe. Seems upper body, spine angle, hip and lower body not constant which may cause the problem. Need to be more stable and keep knee flex but lower body stable first. Especially for wedges weight on left and lower body must be still. Also not getting the wrist angle feeling and extend left arm at impact feeling plus the correct backswing path. Must find back the feeling to hit again from the side. How to incorporate with shoulder turn?

Golf 20070402

Played yesterday sunset at FraserView for $21. McCleery was so crowded when the weather was sunny. Managed to finish 18 holes. Scores were not great, +35 or 107 but iron play especially with par 3 were quite good. The hybrid was good only a few mishit which always hit on the toe and went way right. Need to find out reason for this. 3 wood although still not consistent but had one very great shot which went over 175 yards and negotiate through bunker on both left and right. Another plus point was able to choke down on PW and other clubs to negotiate a short distance.
But distance on SW still around or less than 50 yds. Need to do something on it.

Problem was tee off with driver still very inconsistent and usually that problem not common when practise in driving range. Also shots still tendency to go more left. Think more to do with club face alignment at setup.

Practise today. Was so cold and windy initially. Irons were ok especially when remember to straigthen left arm at impact. But start of downswing still need to get that pulling down to slot with left fingers. Driver still inconsistent. Something is missing in the driver swing. Is the the swing plane not flat enough or head still not behind the ball? Or need more release or rolling over of right hand? Distance also a concern.

Golf Practice 20070329 Thur

Still sometimes ball flight hooked left. Need to work on shoulder turn and head behind the ball during impact. Also cannot consciously control the start of the downswing by dropping or pulling down the club. Cannot get back the feeling of keeping the hand low around the impact area.

Putting still need consistently good impact.

But overall hope moving in the right direction.

Golf practice Wed 20070328 Part 2

Putting - to have good impact and no wrist action, during and after impact must maintain the same shaft angle.

The Swing: Pay attention during setup the shaft angle in relationship to body and to ground. Especially Driver and 3 wood. Only the correct angle especially in relationship to ground will produce correct plane. Same for 7 iron. Incorrect angle will lies to offset take over and close club face. Should not adjust by changing the grip but adjust the angle to get the correct club face and shaft alignment.

Try to start the power within the impact zone and keep the hand low.

Golf Practice 20070328 Part 1

Lunch practice chipping. Problem club always hit ground first before the ball especially chip putt style. If early hinge result better but that will be high ball flight. If want low ball flight should be chip putt. Maybe lower body too active or hand not keep low enough? Or the attack anlge is too steep? Or depends or lie and slope cannot do chip putt? Or head not behind ball or no club head acceleration? Or hand and chest not moving as a unit? Or left arm not strict not traingle broken?

Putting also has problem. Seems still using the wrist and not consistently getting good impact. Half of the time is hitting right outside of the putter face.

Practice 20070327

Today practice backswing was ok. Seems if feel like hitting from the side, like putting also should feel the same, without the shoulder and body turning too much left already during impact. That also means head had to stay behind the ball consciously. Another thing noticed today need to consciously keep left arm straight at impact. The ball flight was much better but too much like hitting with a backhand using left hand and ball will have tendency to fade rather than draw. Needs to find out how to be more powerful with draw. Also ball still have tendency to hook. Try to stay a bit longer to the right or straight after impact and also not turning shoulders too fast to left.
Another point noticed is better rhythm if consciously make sure left shoulder turned thru the head.

Follow up

Is it possible that the backswing without turning shoulders together with the hand as a triangle unit, ie hands start backswing independently causing the problem? Still not sure whether should pay attention when to hinge the wrist? Should hinge early and with the hinged L finish the backswing or forget consciously to do the hinge and keep left arm straight back and let the pace and momentum to do the hinge?
Also must stress pay attention to keep wrist and hand always in position, especially back of left wrist should always be square to club face. Club should feel light. Left wrist should hinge up and down while right hand should hinge back and forth.

Golf practice Monday 20070326

Today's practice wasn't good at all. First started with pitching wedge but hitting the ball thin or fat. The hand was already ahead of the clubhead at startup position with weight more on left.
Probably need to keep hand more within the body and low. And during impact needs to accelerate through with turn of upper body but hand keep low in follow through and hold the finish. Hand must still be ahead of club head at finish. Drill: imagine the end of shaft has another club or stick extending upward and the whole swing especially after impact the projected shaft should not hit the body.
Then initially some success with the 7 iron. Focus on the grip and maintain the grip position and in particular with relationship to the wrist. Did not think about the downswing like dropping first from the top or the wrong way hitting from the top. Then changed to driver with a lower tee no sky hook today. But seems the swing speed needs to pick up and turning the right wrist otherwise the ball will slice? Need to find out more on problems and fixes with the driver.
Then go back and work on 5 and 6 iron. Here the problem came in. Somehow the grip did not feel right at all. Starting noticing the left hand grip there was plenty of space at the bottom of the palm and the initial grip always does not feel right and when the club was laid on the mat somehow the fingers and the hand would reposition the grip. Tried taking off the glove for better feel. Try Sam Snead book suggestion focus on left hand on initial downswing and only just before impact add the right hand power to it but cannot consistently remember to do that and result not consistent.
Major problem tho was suddenly too consicous of the backswing and just cannot get a correct feel how to reach the top position. Early on reaching the top position was unconscious and atuomatic. Only some feeling that the plane is more like vertical without too much around. But not sure if shoulder or upper body has turned or turned enough. Only sometime consciously get head stayed back behind ball during impact. Or try also rotating the right hand over the left hand after impact. But after impact the finish position was still unsatisfactory. Cannot finish in a wrap around or finishh high. Could it be if the backswing becomes too slow it confused the rythm to get to the top position? The wrist and hand position also seems tired and cannot hold in place but became unstable. That caused the downswing out of plane and the resulting ball flight was hooked weirdly with medium height.

Need to figure out how to have a consistent backswing and get a acceptable ball flight(height and direction) and with acceptable distance. Probably still need to start with shorter swing first and concentrate on getting the correct ball flight and keep the rythm.