In fact, make this new alignment the subject of your next post. Revel in it. Shoot a still down-the-line photo and prove to us that you really want to change.
Photographic illustrations will follow. But this is the Revelation post you asked for Yoda.
As long as the player is able to keep the ball in play, I guess all flaws comes in pairs or threesomes or foursomes. Inbetween all the miserable ball striking with the right forearm on plane I read the entire book for the n-th time, looking for a complementary issue - something that I could change to make the TGM wedges work for me. Because it clearly didn't work when I tried to power the shot. But Homer doesn't make it easy. The puzzle pieces are spread throughout the book. And vital info is presented as digressions.
7-2-2: The right forearm on plane
6-B-3-1: Much of the same, plus: "Then, ideally, the Left Wrist is always Flat and the Right Wrist is always Level".
With my (until now) grip, I had to uncock the Right Wrist at fix to get the right forearm on plane. Not so strange then that I had the throw-away feeling before starting the back-stroke.
I didn't think of this as a grip issue, but treated it strictly as a forearm issue. But the grip is (as usual) very important. Where the V's are pointing aren't really that exact indicator of the grip. Neither is the location of pp # 3. But there aren't many ways to grip the club with the right forearm on plane and a level right wrist. I can only think of one.
Grip the club with a level right wrist. Then, rotate the grip until the forearm is on plane.
That was me, talking to myself.
Of course I had to try this on the range yesterday. It felt much more right than everything I've tried for the last weeks as soon as I addressed the ball. The first 15 balls or so were all good misses. Then I started to nail it. I could hear the ball turbulence - the swish - for the first 30-40 yards or so while stiking a 7 iron without going all in. Several times in a row. That was a "first" for me. I tried the old swing for comparison and the swish was gone. The trajectory was clearly more piercing with all clubs than I have ever produced on a driving range before. Many of the balls were so good I couldn't believe what I saw and what I felt. I was laughing.
After the first bucket I had fullfilled all my aspirations for the day and then some. Since I had bought two buckets I went through the bag from 60* to the 5 iron, shooting for the 70 yards flag. There's a lot of work to do before have this change properly integrated, but direction control was much better than I'm used to.
Finally I took out the driver and hit quite a few that were at least on par with my very best drives on my very best driving days.
I feel like a reborn golfer.
PS: Percy Boomer was a great read, Yoda. I particularly enjoyed the anecdotes and his investigations in H2 translate sound mechanics to feel. Is this one of Homer's hidden references?
I made a film a few days ago. However, I wasn't satisfied with how it felt and how it looked. So I'll shoot a new one later.
I am still doing basic motion, but I'm also doing full motion into a net in the back-yard. Now I think it's time to replace the two range balls I've been using
It is pretty easy by now to have level wrists and an on-plane right forearm at address and hit decent strokes with it. But
I am still searching for a fix and a start of back swing that is repeatable and provides the alignments that enables me to strike the ball as hard as I wish.
My address fix and startup has been very left side oriented for years. So right now I am trying to obtain a fix position where my right hip and my right forearm is as close to geometrically correct as it gets. And frome there produce a back stroke geometry that enables the down stroke physics that I'm currently capable of.
Does this make sense or should I rather use another approach?
I have to remind myself that I have hit a few exceptionally good shots (by my standard) with level wrists at address. Quite often it feels inferior to starting from low hands. I am not able to do it from level wrists with a consistent and full power delivery.
Today I've spent quite some time investigating why I produced better impact physics from low hands than from level wrist.
Eventually I found out that level wrists put me too far away from the ball. Not with the lob wedge which I use for basic motion and "turf dragging". Only with the hybrid - which I use to hit the ball into a net.
Low hands at address brings me closer to the ball and swing speed and ball contact gets much better. Why? The obvious answer is that I was more turned at impact than at impact fix. The left sholder was further back and the right shoulder was lower. But in reality, a compensation happened.
Just for fun, I tried to address the ball with level wrists and a shank alignment that would send the ball 45% to the right if I returned the club head to the same spot. From there I really smacked it. Of course I had to try the opposite too. Low hands and club inside the ball. Then I hit it really thin.
This triggered a minor geometric investigation. Hands lower - clubhed gets closer to the feet. Level wrist and clubhed gets further away. No surprise there. Then I switched between the hybrid and the lob wedge. The lob wedge works from level wrists. The hybrid too, if I grip down on the shaft. But not when used at full length. How come? After some more fiddling, I found that by adjusting my spine angle, and possibly my posture to - a sense of reaching out instead of leaning forward. Then low hands and level wrists produced the same club face location. (Mind you these low hands aren't as low as on the swings I showed earlier) I tried a few shots and smacked it pretty good. And the back stroke didn't feel to manufactured either.
I could check my posture by moving hands low and to level wrists. When I had adjusted my posture the two hands' locations produced approx. the same distance to the ball. And perhaps even better - all power accumulators seemed to be pretty well aligned. I got a clear GO signal.
I monitor the club path through the ball through the hands. It has become second nature. I have been able to feel when I have a decent address position for quite a few years now. I'd say the feel is about 80% reliable. But I don't posess the keys I need to fix the address when I don't see the shot I've decided to produce. Not for a full stroke anyway.
Percy Boomer wrote about building controls into the golf stroke. I need reliable keys at address & fix. It will be interesting to check if posture adjustment works tomorrow too. Or if it is just a WOOD method (Works Only One Day). If this is repeatable I will have at least two new and reliable keys for a proper address & fix: The wrist conditions and same ball distance with low hands and level wrists.
I am not convinced that level wrists at address are needed for a compensation free stroke. But the level wrists are so repeatable. And repeatability is a quality I need. When my address is good I play regulation golf. Not by a miraculous short game. But through a bunch of fairways and greens and two putts or short chips + 1 putt. But it rarely lasts for more than 6-12 holes. And then I find myself standing over the ball, unable to visualize proper impact alignments. I think I have had address drifting problems for years.
Yesterday I concluded that I had to have my hands lower than right forearm on plane at address & fix, basically because the ball was getting to far away from my stance line. I hit it thin, fat and a few very ugly high hooks that felt soo good until I saw the shape of the ball flight.
And today - when I eased on the level wrist conditions - I completely lost the sense of being aligned for a proper shot.
This hasn't been a huge concern since I started working on the level forearms at addres. So naturally I had to go back to the level forearm. And then the sense of being aligned came back.
Only this time I didn't level the forearm. I simply forward-pressed the hands on the inclined plane as far as they would go. And then the right forearm was on the inclined plane. Go figure
Then I really felt ready for the the stroke. I will not run out of left arm either. And more forward and less outward will hopefully turn the hook into a straight ball. Time will show.
The net in the back yard is about to give in. The first ball flew through today, so I had to go easy on the domestic ball striking today. Need to take this to the driving range and the course to see if I'm about to crack the code.
Now at the bottom. Unfortunately I am using two different clubs. 8 iron one month ago and a hybrid now.
At least the address position looks better. I actually thought everything would look more different.
Video from the garden:
It's almost embarrassing to compare this with the photo montage of Yoda and Hogan that I posted in another thread. It doesn't require a PhD in golf to see that there's room for improvement.
The swing key I am using here is throwing the club at impact with my Right Wrist. I read about it on another site, tested it in the garden and increased the swing speed immediately. The whole stroke feels different from address to impact. The thought is not very compatible with "sustain the lag" thinking, but impact feels solid.
I don't mind a long back swing, but this looks like overswinging produced by too much tilt. The footwork looks more loose than efficient. There's no reason stopping here. Question is what I should focus on next?
Since I run a web shop, I regularly read visitor statistics. Wnehever I post something here I can see that it is read by quite a few people. So why isn't anyone responding? Have I been to pretentious? If that's the case I hope you will exept my sincere apologies. Fire at will!!!
This is a thread in the advanced section. I think the start of the thread belongs here, but the part that revolves around my game probably belongs in the "unadvanced / lost cause section". But then again I didn't choose my name when I was born either.
Anyways - let's make the best out of it. Share experiences. Give advices. Ask questions. Whatever.
Progress today was that I thought: "Now that I have the hands out from the body - why not try a flatter swing?" And to me turning shoulder plane almost feels like dragging the club along the turf until it's behind my Right hip (actually the left, but it's still Right per TGM)
Well - the flattening plan wasn't my own. S bucket broken in a dozen pieces did the seeding work.
To tell the truth I was quite happy with my fundamentals when I started this thread. I was only looking for a way to stabilize my pattern.
<Now folks; Let us just a pause here so the teaching pro's can complete their LOL's. This is probably something they experience all the time from mediocre old timers like me. It feels good but it aint so . On second thought they are probably to buzy earning a living to read this thread and that is a priority that I understand and respect 100%.
There were some progress today. I am actually starting to get intimate with level wrists at addres. Yesterday I had my first mental "go" signal with level wrists at addres. But it didn't feel as well behaved and controlled as I'd like it to feel. Throwing something into the ground is a bit more dancint than I prefere.
Today I played with lowering the plane, like: How low can I get it? Not very low, but extremely low by my standards. I made it almost down to Ben Hogan low. And the interesting part about that rehersal was that these high, stretched out, over the top, powerless, level wrists, suddenly started to feel right. I was eventually able to aim through the ball.
I was lucky enough to get my wife out on 9 holes today. If I recall correct I hit 6 out of 7 fairways and quite a few greens. And those fairway hits were pretty goodl. Two memorable green hits: One was a pure stroke with a 5 iron from some 175 yards into the wind. High, straight and with soft landing. No turf which is a progress for me, since I'm a natural born digger. The second was a 225 yard par 3 with a lot wind in the face. "How about a pitching wedge-ish drive?" 3/4 stroke with the driver. I almost hit the flag and saved a par on a really tough par 3.
The "flat" swing today felt right and worked pretty good to. And it merged perfectly with my putting because suddenly the head location and angle was the same. I think it would have merged well with my chippings as well, but I don't recall any ordinary chipping strokes today. I guess I hit too many greens
Head and eyes location and angle is btw something fundamental to me and not only to me. My wife rarely plays golf. Her nice draw from some 15 year back has degenerated into a slice during the years when we got kids and "all that shit". So on the dreaded long par three with the wind against she first sliced the ball onto a roof on a quite expencive hose. That was pretty cool by the way. On her provisional I told her to look at a point about 2 feet behind the ball (the Jack Nicklaus focus point I guess). And then she hit a draw. Unfortunately it didn't carry the water but she liked the stroke anyway. I think the eyes' location and focus is an undervalued fundamental in the game of golf. It influences everything. If you don't agree, assume the perfect stance and when you're ready to go - turn and tilt your head and see what happens. I still haven't found where I need to look with a flatter stroke: I think I looked too much away from the ball at times ( a hook look). But the flatter swing plane still produced many OK strokes out there today and at least a couple that was exceptionally good by my standards. Well, I guess the plane was flat only by my standard. It was pretty close to the turned shoulder plane.
Next time I post a video I know I will feel like I'm on a really flat plane. Hopefully it will appear to be flatter than the last videos. And less hip tilt and leg work from the 70's. Hopefully a motion that feels and looks pure. But I will probably basically look almost the same as before. Same old body.
The first person that has a suggestion of next step: I'll try it and report back. As long as it is doable into a net and there is no health risk involved to me or anyone in the neighbourhood.
I started out with two really good birdies today But from there on it was very variable. Each time I am close to doing the right thing the ball goes straighter than its done for years. It will require a lot of work before it becomes second nature, but it is only a matter of time.
Taking the club back to a turned shoulder plane really works for me. But I haven't found the address position where everything clicks in yeat. Not on a repeatable basis anyway.
. On second thought they are probably to buzy earning a living to read this thread and that is a priority that I understand and respect 100%.
. So on the dreaded long par three with the wind against she first sliced the ball onto a roof on a quite expencive hose. That was pretty cool by the way. On her provisional I told her to look at a point about 2 feet behind the ball (the Jack Nicklaus focus point I guess). And then she hit a draw. Unfortunately it didn't carry the water but she liked the stroke anyway. I think the eyes' location and focus is an undervalued fundamental in the game of golf. It influences everything. If you don't agree, assume the perfect stance and when you're ready to go - turn and tilt your head and see what happens. I still haven't found where I need to look with a flatter stroke: I think I looked too much away from the ball at times ( a hook look). But the flatter swing plane still produced many OK strokes out there today and at least a couple that was exceptionally good by my standards. Well, I guess the plane was flat only by my standard. It was pretty close to the turned shoulder plane.
But from there on it was very variable. Each time I am close to doing the right thing the ball goes straighter than its done for years. It will require a lot of work before it becomes second nature, but it is only a matter of time.
Hybrid Mode
