3Jack Swing Progress Journal

[Richie3Jack]

It’s been really up-and-down with my golf swing lately. I’ll go out and shoot 69 one day and then be lucky to break 80 the next. I tried to play Saturday, but had to quit after 12 holes due to golfer’s elbow flaring up. Fortunately, some exercises at home cleared that up. But, I decided to take a few days off and got back onto the range last night and had one of my best ballstriking sessions in a long time and there was no elbow pain.

I have been using the Ikkos and I must say, it never ceases to amaze me how good of a tool the product is. It almost serves as your own personal teacher that comes up with brilliant ideas and concepts that make perfect sense to you. One of the things I noticed last night on Ikkos was how Sadlowski has a little bit of left pelvic tilt at P4 (which is common with all swings) and then does not even lose even a little bit of LPT in transition. He immediately gets more LPT in transition.

I started to fool around with that concept and I noticed something…

When you hike that right hip up in order to get more LPT from P4 to P5, that move automatically rotates the sacrum backwards. All I did was go into P4 and then hike my right hip up and the tailbone rotates backwards. You simply cannot prevent that tailbone rotating backward if you have a backswing with dual internal rotation of the hips and femurs.

Once I started doing that, I was hitting the ball with a lot of pop and never really had any periods where I struggled with my swing last night.

The other thing I’ve been working on is trying to raise the handle a bit thru impact to get more parametric acceleration. That’s simply a case of getting more shoulder tilt at impact while not going into RPT in transition. I tend to have difficulty executing both of those pieces. I started to develop a weird visual of me shoving a log of wood thru a log cutter, but doing it with my left shoulder internally rotated and my right shoulder externally rotated.

So, I’ve been pleased with that and hopefully I can get some good golf in this weekend. I like the M1, but that Tour Spec shaft might be a little too stiff for me. I might get with Fujikura for a better fitting shaft and perhaps one for the 3-wood as well. I’d like to get a Hogan VKTR hybrid, soon and maybe a new Vokey 52* wedge as well.

This is kind of the ‘offseason’ for me as I have to write up Pro Golf Synopsis and I have various Tour players, caddies and coaches coming to me for analysis.

[Richie3Jack]

A couple of years ago I was bored and I was watching a behind the scenes look at NCIS.

How bored was I?

Well, I’ve never seen an episode of NCIS. So, watching a behind the scenes look at the show didn’t make much sense.

One of the things that caught my attention was the character Abby Sciuto as played by Pauley Perette. She is the Forensics Specialist for the NCIS team and they started to interview real Forensics experts about the character. Every expert said the same thing…

The Sciuto character was unrealistic because she is a 1-man forensics crew that is the expert in all of the scientific disciplines. There is NOBODY in the world that does that. Instead, they work as a team because it’s impossible for anybody to be an expert in all of the forensic science disciplines. You need a ballistics expert, a blood expert, a fingerprint expert, a DNA expert, etc.

Over the past year or two, I have started to see a similarity between the forensics and the golf swing. I have come to the belief that the golf swing consists of numerous scientific disciplines. Anatomical science, biomechanics, neurobiology, physics are just to name a few. I’m sure there are some scientific disciplines that I have never considered or perhaps never even heard of.

What I think we are seeing with golf instruction now is a large movement towards science and finding scientific researchers to come up with what they believe is the best way to swing the club. Dr. Young-Hoo Kwon, along with my friend Chris Como are biomechanically focused in their golf instruction. Mac and M.O.R.A.D. is neurobiology oriented in his research with scientists on the swing. Kelvin Miyahira’s focus is on anatomical science.

Essentially, in the examples provided the goal for those instructional philosophies is to study their specific scientific discipline to come up with what that discipline tells them is ‘the best way to swing a golf club.’ Sure, there’s more detail to it than that, but that’s the general gist of what they are doing.

The issue is that I see that arises is what is ‘optimal’ in one discipline may not be optimal in another discipline. For instance, Kelvin’s backswing mechanics which are based on optimizing anatomical movements may not be ideal according to M.O.R.A.D.’s study on neurobiology of the golfer.

Teachers and scientists use 1 particularly means (their preferred scientific discipline) to get to the ends (improved golfer performance).

And that’s where I see so much of the debate between golf swings have happened. And if you look at swing instruction forums (including this one), they died a very quick death. Eventually they thought that Facebook forums would revive swing discussion on the internet because people could not hide behind a screenname, but that has died a quick and sudden death as well.

What’s en vogue in advanced golf instruction is biomechanics as prescribed by Dr. Young-Hoo Kwon. He’s a well respected and credentialed researcher in the field of biomechanics and speaks from a factual standpoint when it comes to biomechanics and the golf swing.

That gives confidence to his followers that he is ‘speaking the truth’ about the ENTIRE golf swing. Just like Mac’s study with researchers from UCLA, USC and UC-Irvine have led his followers in believing he is speaking the truth about the entire golf swing.

In reality they are only speaking the truth in their scientific discipline, but have some fallacies and mistruths when it comes to the entire swing. The rub is that trying to understand all of the disciplines is an impossible task for anybody and you may be better off developing expertise in 1 scientific discipline than attempting to master them all.

A few years ago when the idea of the Open Forum for golf swing instruction was being discussed, I thought an interesting way to do a discussion on the science in the golf swing was thru a methodology used by a company that was featured on 60 Minutes.

This company was built to design products, including the iPhone. How they approached the design of a product was that they had experts from different departments that would do their research on the product. Then when their research was finished, they would get each group together and give their thoughts on the design.

For instance, if they were to design a chair, they would get the ergonomic experts to show what they designed. They would get input from engineers on the quality of the design. Input from say neuroscience experts on how to design the best chair from a neuroscience perspective. The legal experts would get involved to give their perspective on things like a possible lawsuit if the chair breaks. Sourcing experts would give their input on the cost of materials, marketing experts would give their input on the marketability of the product. Eventually they would come up with a product that considered all of those perspectives in order to create the best product possible.

It would be interesting to see something like this where the anatomical experts could give their thoughts on optimizing the swing from an anatomical motion perspective and then the biomechanics people give their input in what they feel is being compromised and the neurobiology people do the same.

That’s where I think golf instruction really needs to go to rejuvenate the discussion of golf instruction.

[Richie3Jack]

I haven't posted here in a bit due to being busy. And then last week, an awful tragedy occurred as my mother passed away unexpectedly.

One of the things I noticed right away from my mother's passing is how much of what I did in life was done in part to please her. My mom was never pushy, overbearing or passive aggressive about that either. In fact, she would constantly plead with me to do things for myself that would make myself happy. I just loved to make her laugh and to make her proud.

She always had a way about her that whenever I achieved anything, she was more delighted than I was. If I did something that she could trace to her own talents (and she was a very talented person), she was proud that she passed those genes to her son. If I accomplished something that was something she had never remotely done, she was bewildered that her son could pull something off like that.

My mom tried playing golf when she was younger, but hated it. However, she would drive me and my friends to tournaments and would be happy for my friends even when I played poorly and they played well. I do remember one time I played a course that was a complete goat ranch and one of my friends asked me after the event what I thought of the course and I said 'It fucking sucks' and she lit into me pretty good about acting that way on the course that held a tournament for us.

People are often surprised when I say this, but growing up I usually *walked* at least 45 holes in a day. The most holes I ever played in a day was 90. So during the summertime it wasn't unusual for me to be on the golf course when it was very dark out. In fact, I remember when I tied the course record for 9-holes (29) and did it on an approach shot that none of us saw the ball anywhere and we just guessed it was on the green and we found it about 6-inches from the cup which would have given me a 28 had it gone in. And my mother never had a problem with picking up at all hours.

My mom was very passionate about hobbies. She used to bake cakes and turned that into a small business of making wedding cakes. She made one of Appomattox Court House that took 3 days to make. She had some of the greatest hand-eye coordination and dexterity that I had ever encountered. Anything that required the most precise touch, she was so good at that anybody else looked like a clumsy caveman with an inner ear fluid disorder trying to do it. She was an incredible cook and outrageously great baker. She loved to throw a Xmas party and make cookies and then I would take the leftover cookies to work and co-workers would come in droves to tell me how incredible her cookies were. She had recipes dating back 60 years that she learned from old Italian ladies in the neighborhood. She was also an excellent knitter.

She hated math. She was always surprised when I told her that I get my statistical analytics skills from her because she hated math so much. But, as I've always said about statistical data analyst, it's really about being able to determine how things work and it's a lot of creative problem solving. As Steven Leavitt likes to say 'Life doesn't give you causation.' Statistics is not as simple as getting observational data and trying to construct the correlation of different variables (even as difficult as that sounds, it's not even that simple). Mom was an expert at figuring out how things work and then creatively coming up with ways to make things work more efficiently and troubleshoot issues. I really think between that and her incredible dexterity and her love for science, she probably could have been a master surgeon if she wanted to be.

But the big thing about mom was she was so considerate of others and had a tremendous amount of love in her heart. A while ago I had read a great quote that said 'We judge others by our actions and we judge ourselves by our intentions.' That really struck a chord with me because it's so true. The exception to the rule was mom, who always tried to determine what others were thinking and their perspective when dealing with them.

I remember a time when I was a child we were at a Burger King near Amish country and for whatever reason there was an Amish man standing in line and between us was another man. The other man started to mock the Amish man and my mother had enough and really gave that man an earful. As we were walking away my mom taught me that the Amish man did nothing to that man and didn't deserve to be ridiculed while he was minding his own business. She had a way of sticking up for people that she felt were wronged and wouldn't stick up for themselves.

Anyway, I will be moving back to the Space Coast area, soon. I wanted to get back there since it was closer to both of my parents. I never even suspected that she would pass away from this ordeal, but with her passing it's now more important than ever to get back closer to where my dad lives and help us get thru this tough time.

I plan on getting the blog going again. And I will finish 2016 Pro Golf Synopsis. I expect 2016 PGS will come out late and if I can't finish it before February, I will still complete it and probably give out that edition for free.

While my mom was only interested in golf when I was involved, she did tell me how happy she was that she got me into the game this past Spring after my dad and I went to Bay Hill and so many people came up to me to say hello and talk. And my dad remarked at how polite and friendly people were to both of us. She told me how glad she was that she drove me to all of those different golf courses to get her son involved with a sport that develops such fine people and friends.

So, I know she would be very upset with me if I were to give any of it up. And maybe the game will help with the healing process.







Richie

[mchepp]

Very sorry for your loss Richie. It is cool that you wrote this to share how you felt about your Mom. It is a very fitting tribute.

[Richie3Jack]

This was a post I was meaning to make a while ago, but a busy schedule and then my mother's sudden passing delayed everything.

I will be moving back up to the Space Coast on Saturday. I am in the process of packing and getting everything situated. I haven't touched a club since Saturday, the 3rd.

That was the first time I had touched a club or played since my mom's passing. It has been difficult to get excited about golf since mom's death because I'm always thinking of her. It's also hard as things seem to really hit me around 3pm for whatever reason.

We did have the funeral on Saturday the 10th. My dad did the eulogy and did a brilliant job even though it was extremely tough for him. There were a lot of things I didn't know about. The other speakers did a fantastic job as well. I wanted to keep my speech short and sweet as I tend to be long winded. I did just that, but I was worried that some of the insights into my mother would be lost. Thankfully, the other speakers all touched on different things about my mom that I wanted to say.

Anybody who got to know my mother were blown away by mom's ability to envision something and then do it. Her fine attention to detail. She loved to decorate and her decorations were so immaculate that they were beyond the pale. And the big thing, she was self taught. I had forgotten that mom made my sister's wedding dress AND her wedding cake. Furthermore, the wedding cake was 6 FEET TALL.

Another thing some of the speakers mentioned is how great of a sense of humor mom had. I always enjoyed that about mom because she could laugh her ass off at the most lewd standup comic (she loved early Andrew Dice Clay), goofy comedy like the kitten mittens bit on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' or high brow humor like Seinfeld. She would often see something funny and would rush to tell me what happened. Not many women do that.

But, going back to her skillsets, she always liked to help people and teach her friends how to do the things she did. My blog was never really about *me* teaching people, but more about my experiences as a consumer of golf instruction, equipment, fitting, etc. and what I've learned and that being represented by various experts in their field. And with that it would prompt more discussion and get other experts...sometimes lesser known experts...involved. And eventually we keep learning more and more about the game.

Over the years my blog has spent time focusing on certain areas of the game. Obviously, I've focused on swing mechanics and putting mechanics, but I've spent time focusing on the mental game, better ways to practice, club fitting and design and yes...using big data with regards to the game.

When I come back in 2017, my big focus will start to shift towards, health and nutrition involved with the game. I've been discussing about getting into this for a while, but have been too lazy to do so. And now is a good point as any with my mom's passing and I think many parts of the game I wouldn't say I'm an expert at, but I'm pretty darn knowledgeable and I've used that knowledge to make myself a better golfer.

Some of the keys I will focus on with health and nutrition are geared towards making it 'easy' for anybody to do. That's why people don't stay in shape...it's really hard and time consuming (sounds like golf). I don't think there are shortcuts involved with health and nutrition in golf, but I don't think the same old ways of time consuming exercise routines, being sore, eating food you hate, etc. are needed.

If anything, the blog has been about not 'doing things this way because we've ALWAYS done it this way.' And that can apply with health and nutrition.

First up, I want to examine what I call 'alignment.'

This is getting your body aligned so you can promote good posture and walk with all of your major body parts (feet, knees, hips, spine, etc) in proper alignment.

I think the issue that people have, including myself, is that over time their alignment becomes so poor that they get tired when they come home and they are either in too much pain to exercise or they get hurt doing the simplest exercise. And then recovery times are too long.

About 6 weeks ago I had this problem with a pinched nerve in my trapezius muscle. Typically this pain would last a few days at the most. But this pain in particularly was bothering me for 1 month straight.

I could not get this pain to go away. Eventually I heard about Inversion Tables



Everywhere I read, people raved about them. The only bad ratings were if the table was shipped broken or if the ankle 'locks' were painful.

Normally, inversion tables are meant to help people with bad lower backs, but I had read about people using them to help improve the shoulder and neck region as well as to help with posture and even for exercise.

The assembly process was actually pretty easy for mine. I bought a Teeter Hang-Up since they received the best reviews. The only issue was the assembly instructions weren't the clearest and it would have been nice to have a YouTube video on how to assemble them. But, I would estimate that if I had to do it now, it would take about 15 minutes to assemble.

After I assembled the Teeter Hang Up, I wanted to try it out to make sure that I assembled it correctly. I went down, not even into full inversion (when you're hanging solely from your ankles) for roughly 20 seconds and went back up again. When I came back up, that was the first time my trapezius pain went away.

Just 20 seconds of going down, not even in full inversion.

The pain came back about 2 hours later.

The next day I played golf with a so-so shoulder and then watched football. I would go on the inversion table for about 1 minute (it takes time to get used to it) during commercials. I did that about 10 times.

The next day, the pain in my trapezius muscle...which had been bothering me for a month straight...went away. And it hasn't come back since.

My neck started to slightly tighten up when I was with my dad while my mom was in the hospital. I had to go back home to get some clothes and I took a minute on the inversion table and the neck loosened up nicely.

In fact, Teeter Hang Ups has done a case study on using the inversion table for better golf:



So, I will continue to talk about golf swing mechanics and all of the other good stuff, but I will be more focused on health and nutrition and will share what I have learned and experienced.

[Richie3Jack]

I watched Understanding Forces and Torques in the Golf Swing with Joe Mayo and Dr. Sasho MacKenzie ($24.95) a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. So much so that I believe it should be mandatory viewing as part of the PGA Apprentice program and any PGM program.

I won't give it away for free, but Joe and Sasho clearly explain the key terminology and get into the discussion of getting the Center of Mass below the Net Force, how the forces in each hand work and the corresponding hand path thru the ball into the follow thru.

After watching this video, I came up with a few changed thoughts on the swing:

1. I think there are 2 key parts to the swing, the transition move and the release.

2. The transition move is very dependent upon (but not completely dependent upon) the grip and the backswing motion.

3. The release is more about the ballstriking characteristics of competent golfers and is very dependent upon the pivot action.

I also started to see that almost all golf instruction really talks about the pivot and the arm swing. Whether it be biomechanically based golf instruction, anatomically based, neurobiologically based, etc. So what's great about this video is that it really deals with the transition move. Joe Mayo even mentioned to the effect that if you start improving your ballstriking thru something innocuous like pushing off your right foot in transition, the physics discussed in the video still apply. So it's not saying that instruction is right or wrong, it's about understanding the physics that goes into the shallowing of the shaft. And it also explains how players like Miller Barber could hit the ball so well despite looking like they are 'over the top.'



I think the transition gives the player a competency to hit the ball and the release is more about the competent ballstrikers and their ballstriking characteristics.

For instance, the transition of Gary Woodland and Brian Gay are not all that different.





But, the release styles are very different.





And both hit the ball very differently, but both are more than competent ballstrikers.

I started to notice this a week ago when my dad and I were paired up with a younger husband-wife couple and the wife had an excellent transition move. Her backswing was that of a 15 handicap and her release was that of a 5 handicap, but her transition looked like an LPGA Tour level talent. Overall, she was competent and had won her club championship.

I really like the move that Sam Snead would make:




The video also showed some various ways that players get the shaft to flatten in transition which I thought was interesting as well.

Perhaps one of the things the video reinforced to me, without saying it, is why I'm not a fan of the short, truncated backswings.  We know from physics, all things being equal the longer swing for a golfer will produce more club speed.  However, the video shows how a shorter backswing really doesn't provide mechanics to help hit the ball straighter or more consistently.  Personally, I prefer the longer backswing to help the golfer get more time to lay off the shaft.  Combine that with increasing the likelihood of generating more club speed, one can now hit the ball longer, just as straight and perhaps more consistently with the longer backswing.

All in all, I like the effects it has had on my ballstriking.  Of course, I'm still struggling with the awful swings, but that happens when you're making a transition.  But the good swings are producing better shots and I'm adding about 1-club on my irons.  

[Richie3Jack]

Swing has been coming along and I noticed a few things that I tend to fall into and eventually cause lesser ballstriking:

1. Standing too far away from the ball and getting my weight too far up on my toes at address (they go hand-in-hand).

2. Not getting enough knee flexion at address (often goes with #1)

3. Getting the left hand grip more in the life line of my hand instead of in the fingers.

#1 and #2 not only throw off how far I am from the ball, but the CoP gets more towards my toes and that can throw off a variety of things.

What I've noticed with #3 is that I can still hit the ball well, but my best ballstriking and I get a little more pop on my shots when I get that left handed grip in the fingers.

I also noticed that for me, the grip in the fingers of the left hand allows me to torque the wrists in transition and shallow out the shaft (see Understanding Torques and Forces in the Golf Swing by Mayo and MacKenzie).

I was curious to see what players with strong grips that got a lot of left wrist flexion in transition had to say about how to grip the club. I really couldn't find much other than Trevino claimed that you should see knuckles in both hands of your grip.



Anyway, I'm hitting the ball quite well, but still have some bad swings that show up. The good news is that my 'good swings' are producing better results than before. I'm also able to hit shots that I normally wouldn't hit. For instance, a tough shot for me would be a driver where the wind is blowing left-to-right and you can't miss right and you can't miss too far left. Normally, that would spell a miss to the right or a snap hook. Now I can hit that shot much more comfortably.

As far as the bad swings showing up, that's just a matter of getting more reps in to work out those kinks.

I played Victoria Hills on Monday and here were my good shots:

Approach on #1 (flushed 6-iron to 12 feet)
Drive on #5
Drive on #6 (usually end up in the left rough, but split the fairway with a beautiful fade)
Drive on #8 (bombed it down the middle)
Drive on #10 (furthest I've ever hit a drive on this hole)
Drive on #13 (recorded 338 yards long -- hole slopes downhill)
Drive on #17 (bombed down the middle -- tight landing area)
Drive on #18 (carried 285 yards)


Here's a look at my bad shots

Drive on #1 (low pull that I hit low on the face)
Drive on #2 (snap hook into the woods)
Iron shot on #7 (flare to the right)
Drive on #9 (hook that ended up in the trees)
Iron Shot on #11 (flare to the right)
Drive on #15 (big miss right)

Saturday we will play Arlington Ridge which should be a good test since I haven't played there in a long time and some of the shots have not fitted my eye in the past. The course isn't very long, so it's very scoreable as well.

If I like how I'm playing, I may try and get on to Rio Pinar on Sunday since I'm much more familiar with the course and can measure how I'm hitting it compared to previous experiences there.

[Richie3Jack]

Since I've got a new job, I couldn't make it to the PGA Merchandise Show. Not sure I would have wanted to go to the Demo Day as it has been cold and windy here lately.

We played Arlington Ridge. I have had either a touch of bronchitis (I tend to get bronchial this time of year) or some sort of chest cold and...well...I wasn't the most enthusiastic golfer. However, I shot 70 (-1), hit 13 GIR and didn't make a substantial putt all day. However, I did make an incredible chip-in on the par-3 12th hole.

I thought I was decent with my irons. I struggled with the driver until the back nine. I did hit a drive on the par-4 14th hole roughly 340 yards. It was with a tail-wind, but it wasn't THAT heavy of a tail-wind and it was just me generating a good amount of speed and the stars aligning.

A bunch of people have been talking about how much lag I have in my swing which I haven't heard before. I'd like to take a video of my swing, soon...but I've decided that I only like to take video when I am either struggling badly or hitting the ball well. It's likely to get cold here the next few days, so I probably won't get much practice time in and I may have to wait a few weeks.

[Richie3Jack]

I got to hit balls Wednesday thru Friday, played Saturday and then hit balls and then played on Sunday.

After Saturday's round, I knew I needed to get more rounds of golf in and really needed a day of time on the range, then get out on the course. So, Sunday where I hit balls and played afterwards was much needed.

Saturday, I shot 74 (+2) after starting +5 on the first 3 holes. I actually only made 1 terrible swing, albeit from a difficult lie and 1 mediocre swing that didn't really hurt me on those first 3 holes. I then played the last 15 holes at -3 under.

I shot another 74 at Duran which is a more difficult course and the wind was blowing pretty hard and the course is still playing soft. I played with a friend of mine who has played in the US Open and the PGA Championship. The good news is that we were about equal distance with our drivers and irons. I out-drove him a few times by a few yards on drives I really nutted. I haven't checked my club speed in a while, but I know he's at 113 mph club speed, so that's a pretty good sign.

Other than that, I was just too sloppy out there. I would hit a good drive down the middle and then take a bad swing and still be okay, but 25 yards shorter than normal. I could make 4 good swings in a row, then make 3 mediocre swings.

I have been trying to add some lower body pieces on the downswing. I've been working on getting the 'Snead Squat' move that I used to be able to do so well



The issue I have found with me doing the squat is that I sometimes struggle to shallow out the shaft properly. I have found that if I really focus on getting that shaft very flat, it works out. Much like Snead did.



I'm starting to think that the squat makes it a little more difficult to shallow out the shaft no matter who you are. And that's why Snead's left arm was jutted out more, so he didn't 'get stuck.' He then torqued the left wrist to allow the CoM to get below the net force of the hands.

I think with a golfer like Adam Scott, who does not abduct both femurs, it's a little easier for him to keep the left arm in and and he has to do less torquing of the left wrist to get the CoM below the net force:



I also flirted around with short game shots a bit.  I had some difficulty with hitting lobs and flops.  I used to be one of the better lob and flop shot golfers that I had ever been around because I practiced them all of the time as a junior golfer.  The bermuda grass and wind in the FLA makes them less appealing to hit.  

Over the past year I have really changed my technique with the short game to more of a Brett Rumford approach.



For the longest time I've been a very good Short Game performer.  However, I felt that this was a better technique than what I was doing, especially from those muddy lies with dead grass which you often get in the FLA.

My old technique did not have a lot of wrist-cock in the backstroke.  Then I would slide quite a bit on the downswing and unhinge the right wrist at impact.  This would cause a steeper attack angle and hitting the ball more with the lead edge.  However, I could do it very well.

Now, I get wrist-cock immediately in the takeaway and try to 'flip it' from the beginning of the downswing, but keep the hands moving.  I don't want to stop the hands because then I will flip it too much.  All the while I rotate the lower body while keeping the knees flexed.

This works really well and produces a lot more spin.  It's easier to hit it closer to the hole, but lower and just let the spin keep the ball in check.  When I start hitting the ball higher with less spin, it's a little more difficult to control the distance.  It's also much better from bad lies.

The problem is that when I need to hit a flop or a lob, it's a different concept. And what I found is that for me to effectively hit those lobs and flops, I need to get the wrist-cock in the backstroke moving faster.  You see this out of so many Tour players where their backstroke moves more quickly than their downswing on flop shots:





The only time they don't sort decelerate on a flop seems to be on vicious lies where they need to keep accelerating to get the head moving thru the thicker grass.

[Richie3Jack]

So far this week I've been swinging well on the range, but struggled a bit on Thursday night. I've been working on a few things.

1. Torquing the left wrist in downswing so the right shoulder goes into full external rotation.

2. Maintaining the left wrist flexion and right shoulder ER thru impact

3. Working on some CoP tracing stuff.

I call #1 and #2 'catch and keep.'

I call it 'catch' because I'm pretending like I'm trying to catch something heavy and large, like a big roll of carpet. I would have my right arm in a similar position to the way I have it when I go into external rotation of the right shoulder.

The 'keep' is basically sustaining what I 'caught' (left wrist flexion and right shoulder ER).

As far as the CoP goes, I've long been looking at how I don't shift the CoP enough to the left side in the downswing. The 'goal' is to create more of a fish hook CoP trace where the weight gets almost all to your back foot, then shifts pretty quickly to your lead foot and eventually goes back towards the middle of your stance as you continue to rotate the pelvis and generate all that power.

Victor Rodriquez is a good example. His trace could be a little 'cleaner', but it's still excellent.



From watching videos on CoP trace, I think my issue is not getting enough of the CoP towards my right foot in the backswing. This still was taken a year ago, but I would think I'm still having the same issue.



I appear to have more pelvic rotation than Victor and about the same as Lucas who is hitting a driver.

However, the way I've rotated the pelvis is at the expense of getting the CoP back more towards my right foot.

I started working on the CoP a bit and also started to see some differences in how Victor shifts the Center of Mass of our pelvis in the downswing.



What I see with Victor's movement is the Center of Mass of the pelvis moves more forward and downward from P4 to about P6. Then the CoM of the pelvis starts moving more upward and backward.  At p7.5, the CoM of the pelvis appears to be close to where the CoM was at P5.5.  From P5.5 to P7.5, the CoM went forward and downward and then went up and back due to rotation.  However, you can't get that rotation if you don't get the CoP more towards the lead foot because you need that lead foot to push off from and allow your pelvis to rotate.

I hope to take some video of my swing on Sunday and see where things stand and make adjustments accordingly.  I'll be playing Stoneybrook East on Saturday which is a short course (6,800) with lots of trouble and difficult greens.

[Richie3Jack]

We played Stoneybrook East on Saturday and I shot even par, although I had to shoot -4 under on the last 11 holes to do so. You have to drive it well to have a chance at Stoneybrook and I struggled with the driver on the first 7 holes and paid the price. The last 11 holes I drove it well and played those holes under par despite taking a bogey on the stupid 16th hole where I hit a good drive and was punished severely despite that.

Sunday I wanted to video tape my swing which I haven’t done in nearly a year. I was expecting a major shallowing in the shaft and was questioning if I may be shallowing it too much.

Nope…still very steep. I can see where I get the CoM barely below the Hand Path, but it’s not by much and it would explain the struggles. My swing is also a bit too long, even for my tastes (I don’t like short backswings). The trouble I saw was that my swing was too long and my torso was bent over too much at the top of the swing which requires a dramatic move to really get the CoM under the hand path. I can’t make that dramatic of a move and it causes issues. My swing isn’t as long as John Daly’s, but it has a similar look and Daly was a player that struggled with getting the CoM under the hand path over the years.



What I see out of my swing is that the CoM being too high at times causes me to really time the wrist action and it causes me to not be able to rotate the pelvis as much. This can also cause a flip release or a roll release or the dreaded flip-roll release.

And that’s what I see out of Daly when I look at old tournaments…he usually had a flip release or a roll release. When he was at his best (1991 PGA) he was flipping it so he could hit it straight, but may have some trajectory and spin issues. At the British Open in 1995, he was more or less rolling it and timing it. And when he flip-rolled he was having his awful rounds. That would probably explain my inconsistency as of late where I get off to awful starts and then turn things around.

***

I started working on a bunch of things and started to make the swing look a little more respectable on video. I worked on the following:

1. Address. Too hunched over, standing more upright, letting the arms hang naturally. Done to get the torso from being too bent over at P4.

2. Shifting more of the CoP towards my right foot in the backswing. Done to hopefully short the backswing a tad and to allow me to more smooth transfer the CoP to my left side. I believe I transfer the CoP too early. Here’s an Andrew Rice video explaining the shift too early.



3. Rotating the shoulders and torso more over the right leg in the backswing. Done to help get that CoP more towards the right foot in the backswing in order to create more power and to not shift the CoP too early in the downswing.

4. Getting hand path more vertical in downswing. Allows me to make a smaller move to get the CoM below the hand path

I started to strike some more powerful shots and the CoP shifting too early made sense to me in particular to what shots I struggle with. I also have had an issue with my head hanging back and dipping on the downswing like Andrew Rice points out.

I plan on working on these things throughout the week and seeing what my progress looks like next Sunday.

[Richie3Jack]

Unfortunately, I've touched a club once since February 13th. And that was back on Sunday. I've had this bout with bronchitis that I couldn't get over. It actually started in late January and then it went away and came back...only to go away and come back again. Finally I went to the doctor and he prescribed me Amoxcillin which didn't do much and when I looked it up on the internet it said that...Amoxicillin is practically worthless in treating bronchitis!

Ugh.

I decided to see a pulmonologist and he prescribed me a stronger antibiotic and that did the trick. The problem now is not only the lay-off and getting my swing back to form, but after not doing much for the past 3+ weeks, it's easy to get winded from the inactivity.

Anyway, thinking about the swing during that time I have decided to make it a goal to flatten out the shaft in the downswing as the #1 priority in my swing. I was doing that last year, but was too inconsistent and started to lose that. When I flattened the shaft out, that's when I swung it the best like I was doing around the month of May.

[Richie3Jack]

I got to play on Saturday and it was brutal. Shot 82 at Rio Pinar which is one of my worst rounds ever at Rio Pinar. It also sucked that the round took 5 hours long which at Rio Pinar is really inexcusable because the course design is fit for fast golf.

I actually hit the driver well, but was just pushing it a little offline and that was hurting me. My iron play was atrocious.

One of the big things I was working on was driving the right elbow and keeping the elbows close together in the downswing.





This is one of the many things I think DJ does so well. He's almost exaggerating it, but by driving the right elbow forward and keeping the elbows so close together, he can almost set the club in a perfect position time and time again and force himself to pivot enough to get the club head to the ball.

One on of the things I learned from M.O.R.A.D. was that is you narrow the gap of the elbows, it will shallow out the shaft. Widen the gap and it will get the shaft more vertical.

The problem I had was due to my backswing where the elbows were so far apart,it was difficult to make that DJ Move consistently.

Today, I went to the range and wanted to see if I had the right idea on some of the things I wanted to work on.

1. Get the backswing pivot more over on my right side (shifting the CoP more to my right side)

2. Narrowing the gap between my elbows at P4

3. Getting enough shoulder at P4 to avoid getting 'laid off'

4. Doing the DJ Move

I found that I was on the right track when I looked on camera.

I was concerned that narrowing the gap of the elbows in the backswing would be me laid off at p4, but by rotating my shoulders enough to where my right shoulder is closer to the target than the left shoulder at p4 did the trick

And when I got the elbows closer together at P4, it was easier to make the DJ Move.

I also noticed another problem I have in that my right shoulder stays too high in transition. When it stays high, it's much more difficult to make the DJ Move. Kelvin has discussed the right shoulder being too high in transition with me many times.

So, today was a small success and I look forward to getting more practice in. I'm thinking I will look at video of my swing twice a week to try and make sure I don't deviate too much. I'm less concerned about my lower body pivot action for now because I believe if I can get the shaft to flatten out, I basically understand the lower body action and can work on that later to combine the upper body movements with the lower body movements.

[Richie3Jack]

Here's a recent version of my swing:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVW3xKanNa0



With this being the 'year to flatten the shaft', here's basically what I'm working on:



P1: I want to stand taller at address. I think with my shoulders so hunched over, it makes it more difficult for the right shoulder to work downward in transition along with getting right shoulder external rotation in transition.

Essentially, the rolled shoulders are more in an internal rotation position and now it requires a larger move to get into ER.

The other thing I want to work on is getting my feet more square (I'm hitting a 7-iron here). I've had a closed stance since my college golf days. I think I discovered the issue...my shoulders are too open at address and it gives me the illusion of me being aimed left. To counter that, I close my stance. So, I'm working on getting my shoulders less open and squaring my feet.  

I drew a line where my stance is pointed.  There is also a club down by my feet to show you how closed my stance is.  Furthermore, if you look at the video you can see the ball flight takes off well left of where the stance line is pointed.

I feel that my inconsistencies are often tied into the stance position.  I think part of what I'm doing is closing my stance to help 'come from the inside' more because my shaft plane gets steep.  And when I wake up some mornings and I'm closing my stance even more, I think it enables me to come down steeper in transition.






P4:  This is a crappy camera angle and I only have this view.  As I've talked about in previous posts, I want to work on getting more of the CoP back towards my right foot at P4.  Probably somewhere close to 85%+.  That will help with power and better sequencing.  Not shifting the CoP too early or leaving too much CoP on my right foot.

My hands are very high from the caddy view.  Not only do I have an upright backswing, but I have long arms for a golfer of my height (6'4" tall and my inseam is only 29").  I want my hands to be high...I have long arms and I should use them to my advantage.  The problem is that I'm a bit too upright here so it requires a more pronounced movement to flatten out the shaft more.  I've been working on taking the same type of backswing, but keeping my elbows closer together.  The potential issue is if I don't rotate enough, I can get an even more upright backswing with the elbows closer together.  But, if I rotate like I do here, getting the elbows closer together flattens out the swing plane.

I found some swing videos from back in May when I was playing my best golf.  Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted them.  Perhaps the biggest difference was the P4 position where I wasn't as upright as I am here.  



P5: While I have been discussing 'flattening the shaft', the shaft angle is not bad here.  In fact, when I went on V1 software, the shaft angle was flatter than my hand path (I know, it's on 2D video).  I started looking at some Tour golfers like Dustin Johnson and I saw a similar pattern, their CoM (club head area) gets most below the hand path at P4.5.  Then that angle of difference becomes more acute as they go into p5 and then p5.5.

The bigger issue here is that my left arm is jutted out from my torso and shoulders rotating too much. 

I drew a red line that's on the same angle as my shaft is, but it's further inside where my shaft (and hands) should be at this position.  

I would like to have the shaft at a slightly flatter angle, but not opening up the shoulders so much and keeping the hands inside is a larger priority.  

From looking at swings of players like DJ, I see the big difference in how my right shoulder moves in transition.  My right shoulder moves more diagonally (like the red line shows).  The best ballstrikers have their right shoulder move more downward and then out, like a fishhook and some move it in a fashion where the path looks like the letter 'C'.

Going back to Kelvin's notes, he discusses the doing the 'oblique crunch' in transition to activate the spine engine, getting the right shoulder to move downward and help make the scapula dig move.

Grant Hooper talks more about the move in this video and how you want to visualize the right shoulder and right hip almost 'kissing' each other.




What I started to see on the driving range this weekend is that the scapula dig is really the oblique crunch with the right elbow move combined together. 

When I worked on the scapula dig before, I was too busy thinking about the about actually digging the scapula.  If I do the oblique crunch which lowers the right shoulder and prevents me from opening the shoulders too soon, the subsequent right elbow move will automate the 'digging' of the scapula.  




P9: One thing I noticed between the best ballstrikers on Tour and me is at this position their shoulders are tilted at a more upright angle than mine.

So not only do I need to get the right shoulder moving more downward in transition, but I also need to keep it moving low thru the swing.  If the right shoulder is too high like mine is, you have little choice but to have a more upright shaft plane and lose that right shoulder external rotation.




P10: The red lines show my actual spine, my left humerus (bicep) and the shaft.

This shows how I've lost my lateral bend due to the right shoulder being too high in the downswing.

This leads to the left humerus (bicep) pointing downward and the shaft being more parallel to the ground.

The blue lines show the approximate type of side bend I would like to get.  How that makes the left humerus more parallel to the ground and how that makes the shaft more vertical.

These are more or less checkpoints to look for when it comes to examining the progress I have made.


In Summation

• Stand more upright at P1
• Shoulders less open, feet less closed at P1
• Similar type of pivot pattern in backswing, just keep elbows closer together
• Similar type of pivot pattern, just transfer more weight to right foot at P4
• Need to get right shoulder moving more downward in transition and not opening the shoulders too soon.  Use oblique crunch move to accomplish.
• Oblique crunch + right elbow move = scapula dig
• Keep right shoulder working more underneath through the swing.  Should have more side bend at P10.

[Richie3Jack]

Yesterday was a good range session. While I worked on my address position by not closing my stance and standing more upright as well as working a little on my backswing pivot...most of my focus centered around the oblique crunch and keeping the lateral bend throughout the ball.

Dustin Johnson does this so well.



It's an odd move for me, although this is something that M.O.R.A.D. preaches as well and one of the many pieces that I found appealing to Kelvin's work.

The other thing about keeping the lateral bend is you generate good speed without a lot of effort. That's how the more proficient M.O.R.A.D. guys can generate good speed and make it look like they are barely trying. However, the goal with my swing is to try and generate as much speed as I can and use things like lateral bend to assist with that speed.

One of the odd parts of trying to get into and sustain the lateral bend is the visual perspective. I'm just not used to my head being in that position.

I also found that keeping the side bend is much easier on shorter clubs. I got it down pretty quickly with the 9-iron and then there was a learning curve going to the 3-iron and then a larger learning curve going to the driver.

With that, I'm swinging at a slower pace in order to do the movement correctly and speed up the ingraining process. I did take a swing where I kept the lateral bend and swung pretty hard and belted a driver with a tiny draw.

The big thing I learned was:

Let the oblique crunch happen first before you start pulling your hands downward

The hands will come down naturally as you make the oblique crunch. The right shoulder is dropping with the oblique crunch, so the hands will drop with it.

Once I started to get the oblique crunch move going first, that's when I started hitting some really nice shots, one after another.