3Jack Swing Progress Journal

[Richie3Jack]

A few days of practice has helped as I video taped a few swings and made some progress. For the most part I'm swinging at about 80% as my brain tries to process the new movements. I did take a video of a 100% swing and you could see the difference....reverting back to my old mechanics. However, even that was still an improvement.

The positives are that I'm getting a better feel for what is going on when I hit a poor shot. I can feel that I either didn't drop the right shoulder straight downward enough or I started to pull the hands down too soon or I stood up the shaft or that I lost my lateral bend. To me, that's one of the first steps to real improvement...being able to actually feel what is wrong when you make a poor swing. As a golfer improves their technique, the important step involves being able to feel when soemthing is off when you hit a shot that goes pretty decent.

I did take a caddy view shot of my swing and I noticed a little better forward shaft lean at impact. The release is still way off due to the changes, but I think I can work on the lower body action later on since I had that lower body action pretty darn good last year. I have noticed on some well struck shots there is some lower spin. High spin rates with the irons has been a problem for me over the years.

Saturday we're playing Ocala National. This will be only the 2nd time I've played in 2 months. And Ocala National isn't easy, it's about 7,500 yards long and it has some very difficult holes like #2, #7, #9, #10, #13, #14, #16 and #18.

Hopefully I will get some practice in today as it's pouring rain right now. I'd like to get some driver practice in because if I hit my driver well there and make some putts I can shoot a respectable score. The bad swings are usually resulting in fat shots and over-draws. I'll then try to video my swing on Sunday.

[Richie3Jack]

Yesterday was difficult on the range as the wind was blowing a legit 30 mph and into our face which made breathing difficult. It also didn't help that I ate too much dinner before I went to the range.

The range session started off poorly, but progressed nicely thru session. The problem was that the wind was blowing so hard that it was difficult to gauge performance. A good swing could look like a bad shot and a bad swing could look like a good shot. However, I am starting to get a better gauge of determining when I was off on my swing when I hit a good shot.

I'm starting to get better at incorporating the oblique crunch move first without pulling the hands down so quickly in the downswing.

Part of what helped me was envisioning Peter Senior at P5.  As the picture shows below, his shoulders are very closed while his pelvis is square to the target (or very slightly open to the target).



I think Senior's shaft plane is even steeper than mine, but the 'X Factor' created here is much greater and that allows him to rip thru the ball.

For now, I'm really working on the oblique crunch and doing that first and trying to prevent my shoulders from opening.  Let the pelvic movements rotate the torso and shoulders to impact.

[Richie3Jack]

We played Ocala National and I shot 74 (+2) but only hit 7 GIR. Ocala National plays about 7,400 yards and is a tough course because it has 2 difficult par-5's (#2 and #4) and many holes that you're basically looking at par-bogey instead of birdie-par (#6, #7, #8, #9, #13, #14, #16 and #18).

Despite not hitting many GIR, I was pleased with my ballstriking. I wore down after the 13th hole, but that was only the 2nd time I had played golf in 2 months, so I thought it was expected. Still, I hit the driver pretty well and made good contact throughout the round. I flushed an iron shot on #5 and missed the GIR due to not having enough club. The same on the par-4 7th hole. Then on #8, I had 211 yards into the hold and I hit my 3-hybrid perfect...but too perfect...and it went 242 yards and well over the green. I wanted to hit driver since I'm working on my swing and hit driver on #10 when I should have never done so. I also took the wrong club off the tee (2-hybrid) on #17.

I putted very well and figured out that my pulling of putts was due to my left hand grip being too strong and then I started putting quite well (27 putts).

I plan on doing a blog of my round that shows some Google Earth snapshots and my 15/5 score along with my putting score (avg. 2-putt length + avg. birdie putt made length = 3Jack Putting Score).

Sunday I practice and videotaped. I try to videotape now twice a week, usually on Wednesday and Sunday. Wednesday is usually just meant to get a couple of videos recorded and just make sure I'm not getting off track. Sunday is more serious study along with experimentation.

Typically I believe you'll either find:

A. Some progress in some areas and other pieces stay the same.

or

B. Getting off track from what you have been working on.

I was in the A category on Sunday. I saw some progress as my shoulders were getting a little more closed and I was not so steep. But, my left arm was jutted out too much at p5 and the hand path and right shoulder path was not as vertical as I would like.

I did experiment with and discover a couple of pieces that helped.

1. 'Tucking' in the hips at p1 to create better posture

My thinking was that with my shoulders rolled over too much and too much weight getting towards my toes at address, that 'tucking the hips in' a little at address and shifting the weight more towards the middle of my feet at address would help with flattening the shaft in transition.

While this didn't cure the problem, it did show some improvements.


2. Getting the left wrist into flexion in the downswing.

John Rahm does this so well:



Joe Mayo really preaches this concept. After watching his video with Sasho MacKenzie Understanding Torques and Forces in the Golf Swing, I only worked on 'torqueing' the left wrist.

I was using the beta force to try and flatten the shaft.


(credit Brian Manzella at www.brianmanzellagolf.com for the pic)

I wasn't really getting the left wrist into flexion like Rahm and DJ do.

So I finally gave that a try and the shaft angle started to look more like I want it to look.

***

I know Brandel takes a lot of flak for every time Rahm hits the ball because he's so good and has so much power despite having a short backswing and not lifting the left heel in the backswing.

I pretty much agree with Brandel on truncated swings and lifting the left heel. 

Truncated swings tend to lead to less power and there's no evidence that they lead to more accuracy or consistency.  And if you want to make your swing longer without putting as much pressure on your back, lifting the left heel is the best way to do so.

That's why I think we see so many back injuries on Tour, most guys have the left foot on the ground and then try to find ways to hit it long with crazy workout routines that add too much mass or finding a way to swing longer and put tremendous pressure on the back.

Rahm, however, I believe is the exception.  His swing is so short that it won't put any torque on his back.  The same happened for Allen Doyle and Doug Sanders, but neither were long hitters and Doyle wasn't even a very good ballstriker (he was a tremendous putter).

In order to hit it as long as Rahm does with such a short swing, IMO, you better have a tremendous amount of left wrist flexion.  Which is what Rahm does.  Otherwise, you're going to struggle to hit the ball far.  And it's very difficult to get that much left wrist flexion and it takes left wrist flexibility and great strength with the correct type of grip that allows you to get that much left wrist flexion. 

I love Rahm's swing, but there needs to be more in-depth analysis of how he's able to get that much left wrist flexion instead of just assuming that 'you too can hit it long and straight with a short backswing.'

***

Anyway, the shaft angle improved much more when I started to get some left wrist flexion in transition.  I think the left wrist flexion not only flattens the shaft angle, but it also brings the shaft 'inward' just a little bit as well.

I did hit some face pulls which is something that Joe Mayo warns about in the video if you have a strong grip like I do (mine is extremely strong).  But, I started to figure it out and was getting better and better with and my driver shots were excellent.

So, I'm looking forward to this week and especially getting a quick look at myself on video on Wednesday.

I'm probably going to purchase a Directed Force Putter, soon.  I'll keep The Brick from Edel, but I want to give the Directed Force putter a shot as well.

[Richie3Jack]

I try to videotape my swing on Wednesdays and Sundays. Wednesday is just to give it a quick look-over and make sure I'm not going too far in the wrong direction. Sundays is more focused in trying to figure out what I need to do to improve the mechanics I'm working on. There's a lot of experimentation and sometimes I don't even hit the ball as I'm just checking to see if a certain idea I'm working on will get me on the right path. Then I get 2 days of practice and check on Wednesday again.

The end goal is to hopefully get into only video taping my swing once a week, just to make sure I'm not headed in the wrong direction.


I'm glad I've adopted this approach as last night I was 'coloring outside the lines.'

I started focusing on getting my left wrist into flexion in transition and my setup had issues, I started to get lazy with my backswing pivot and lazy with my lateral bend.

The good news is that it shows me what I'm tempted to do incorrectly and I can just focus on these 3 things for now:

1. Started rolling my shoulders too much at address. I find that this not only helps with the external rotation of the right shoulder in transition, but also prevents me from getting too pressure on my toes in my swing.


2. Lazy backswing pivot where I did not have any lumbar lordosis. This helps with the transition move. My swing would get too long and I couldn't make the giant move needed to flatten out the shaft enough.


3. Get the 'oblique crunch' in transition and sustain it. That's probably the most difficult part for me. I tend to forget the oblique crunch or if I do get that in transition I get out of the lateral bend too quickly.


I put in my video for my remote fitting of a Directed Force Putter. From the sounds of it, they tend to make the putter a little longer and a little flatter than the putter you game.


I'll be playing Victoria Hills on Saturday with my dad and a couple of friends. This should be a good test although I'm generally hitting the ball better than I expected at this point, particularly with my driver.

[Richie3Jack]

I had a good couple days of practice since Wednesday as I paid more attention to my posture, my backswing pivot and the lateral bend in the swing. I struggled a little on Friday with the driver, but I started to turn that around as well.

On Saturday we played Victoria Hills where I, once again, shot 74. They had the course setup for the Orlando Amateur Golf Tour and the pin locations were quite difficult in some areas. I hit 12 GIR, but didn't putt or chip that well.

The face contact at Victoria Hills was fantastic. I don't recall missing off the toe, heel, thin or fat all day. I was hitting a lot of pulls on the front nine and that hurt me. However, everything was well struck.

Usually when the contact is that good and you're pulling it, it's either.

1. Face is very closed at impact, path is very close to square.

or

2. Path is going left and face is going left, but they are almost identical.

I think it was more #2. I took a while before I could get the lateral bend I wanted and the left wrist flexion in transition I wanted.

It's partly me immediately yanking the club down with my hands instead of letting the lateral bend bring my hands down and just get the left wrist flexion (and right wrist extension) to allow the right elbow move to happen.

Even though he teaches a different philosophy than Kelvin, I've found a lot of Dana Dahlquist's videos of students he works with to be very helpful. Dana appears to be a big believer in the left wrist flexion and you'll see his students do some slow motion drills where they pause at p4, get the left wrist into flexion and just slowly rotate while keeping the left wrist flexion.

The big thing that has helped me is to do to the ole Homer Kelly 'look, Look, LOOK' when I'm doing the left wrist flexion. It helped me recognize that it's a good idea to focus on the right wrist going into extension to help aid the movement of the left wrist flexion.


Anyway, the second nine at Victoria Hills was very good. I only pulled one tee shot (#12), but it was only a slight pull and it ended up where I wanted it. I hit a bad block-cut on #15, but that tee shot always messes me up.

My final 3 drives were:

- Smoked a driver on #16 and played it left to carry the bunker, but it started drawing and ended up in the left woods. I usually favor a fade, but this was a well struck tee shot.

- Smoked a driver right down the middle on 17.

- Killed a driver on the par-5 18th hole. When I swing well, I can really feel my right shoulder and forearm in external rotation and my pelvis really rotating and the ball is well struck and launched right down the middle with a small draw. This is the visual of what it *feels* like:



On 18, that's what that swing was like.

[Richie3Jack]

I had to take 5 days off to tend to some personal business which sucked because I liked how my swing was developing and the routine I had of working on my swing and videotaping on Wednesday and Sunday.

I got to hit balls on Friday and my swing was wayyyy off. I had struggles with my CoP shifting to my left side on the downswing and that was producing an inconsistent low point and lots of slices. On Saturday I managed to get it together for a while and shot 76 (+4) at Juliette Falls. Once again we got out behind a local amateur tournament and the greens had some difficult positions. I putted like crap anyway.

Ballstriking wise I started out pretty good, but it took us over 5 hours to play because we were behind the tournament. And my playing partners were really struggling and it's hard to get a good ebb and flow to your round. Plus, I hate playing in foursomes anyway. It's kind of weird in that I generally like playing in threesomes and will even play in a fivesome or sixsome (if the course allows) if there is a big money match going on. But foursomes are like pulling teeth to me.

Like my previous round at Victoria Hills, I liked how I finished the last hole at Juliette Falls, ripping a 320 yard drive right down the middle and having a 9-iron in. Pretty nice on a 465 yard par-4.

My short game around the green was pretty solid. It had slipped in the past couple of months as I started to work on some things with my technique. I also need a new shaft in my 52* Vokey and my 60* Edel is just worn out. The face contact at Juliette Falls with my full swings was nowhere near as good as it was at Victoria Hills.

Sunday I got out to the range, again. I didn't videotape since I had taken time off and just wanted to get some reps in.

My backswing felt off, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was and then I realized that I was getting 'lazy' with my backswing.

When this happens I start to not get enough rotation. Not enough internal rotation of the hips and not enough torso rotation.

That causes me to lack getting proper lumbar lordosis and it causes my backswing to be too upright and the arms more or less fold and the swing becomes long instead of getting the hands high. That makes it very difficult for me to shaft out the shaft in transition because I now have to make an even larger move to properly get the Center of Mass below the Net Force.

Unfortunately, I discovered this at about the very end of my range bucket and the Masters was on. So, I'll be working on the backswing for hopefully only a few days this week.

[Richie3Jack]

Weird thing happened to me on Monday. The first half of my range session went pretty well and then...

Disaster struck. I looked like a 15 handicap and my swing felt very off. The backswing was particularly rough feeling. I ran out of range balls in my bucket and picked up a few spare ones on the range and started to see some of the problem, I was out of sequence in the downswing, sort of shifting the 'weight' too early.

Yesterday, I decided to bring my Casio EX-FH20 out and get taping. I saw a few things:

1. In an attempt to improve my posture, my chin was too far up. This usually inhibits your turn. And while my backswing didn't look too awful, it did look a little off as my hands weren't as high and my left arm at P4 was a little more upright than normal.

2. I was not getting the left knee to kick behind the ball in the backswing.

3. I was getting some right pelvic tilt in transition which worked for Mike Austin, but is a complete disaster for me.

My guess is that with the chin being too far up it inhibited my torso rotation in the backswing. That may have also inhibited my ability to internally rotate the left hip in the backswing.

When that happens, I get out of sequence and start dipping the right hip and getting into Right Pelvic Tilt. And it was probably further compounded by me trying to incorporate the 'oblique crunch' in transition.

So I started working on not having my chin so high up at P1 and getting that left knee to kick in behind the ball in the backswing.

***

One of the things I've noticed is that Tour players tend to do two different things when it comes to the hands in the downswing.

A. The initial movement of the hand path (from the DTL view) is more vertical. After the initial straight down movement of the hands occurs, then they move more diagonally downward.

B. They tend to flatten out the shaft angle more as well.

I think even good amateurs tend to struggle to get both. They may get 1 of those two, but not both.

I think A is due to their ability to initially get into lateral bend in transition. They simply lower the rear shoulder and don't yank down the club. When you yank the club, the hand path will move diagonally downward immediately. I think they lower the right shoulder and that moves the hands vertically downward to start transition. From there, eventually they have to yank the club and then the hands move more diagonally downward.

So, if you have a steep shaft plane, you probably need to find a way to first get the hands moving more vertically. Then you can worry about flattening the shaft even more.

So that's what I've been working on in transition...allowing the lowering of the right shoulder to bring the hands downward initially. But with a sense of awareness that I want those hands moving vertically downward initially instead of more diagonally downward.

[jmorrow]

On the topic of left wrist flexion, do you believe there is a benefit to waiting until transition to get the left wrist into flexion vs. doing it in the backswing? Backswing seems so much easier to control, but it seems more common for pros to get the wrist into flexion in transition.