Looking Better Already

Last week I was able to start working on the lessons Dan gave me. The driving range was finally dry enough to open, so I played Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It's a little hard to practice on the course but since the range was closed I had no choice. I played...eh.                               So man it was nice to finally hit the range and start working on my swing. I was hitting a small draw about every 10-15 balls. Everything else was straight or a little fade. Contact was so so. I'm hoping tomorrow will be better. 

I sent the videos to Dan to look at and make sure everything looks good.

                                                                               His response: 

Minor change but will help ball flight big time.  In the backswing want a touch more hip turn. From there it will feel like there is a slight shift left with the lower body (might feel like hips stay closed just a touch long than normal). This should yield some solid small draws. Already looks much better!

Lesson One

Here's the video of my swing that I sent Dan Carraher.

  

His response to the video was this (with some editing):


There are some good things going on but we definitely need to clean some things up. The first thing we're going to change is your setup, your upper body is too far forward. Make sure your head doesn't get forward of the middle of your stance. I want your shoulder over your ankles and your head in the middle of your stance. This should make you feel more behind the ball. From the new setup I want you to hit half shots 7 irons maybe 100-110 yards feeling both arms are straight the entire time. It will feel very wide, and somewhat robotic. Think Steve Stricker. You should be able to hit low draws if doing this correctly, hands will feel very passive and ball flight should be low. This will get your arms and pivot in sync and get your arms straight in follow through, getting rid of the chicken wing. To add to this drill you can do it with a small ball (softball sized) between your forearms just above your grip. Do this right and the ball shouldn't fall out.


Now the rain just needs to stop so I can go to the range and practice.

*Breaking News*

As of yesterday I have a golf instructor from Florida helping me with my swing. His name is Dan Carraher, and I found him on one of the golf forums I visit daily (www.golfwrx.com). He's charging me $20 per online lesson - what a deal! Here's the link to his website: http://dancarrahergolf.com/.  I'm not sure which direction my swing is going now. I did tell him what I've been working on, so we'll see if it's the right swing for me or if he'll have me go a different way. Granville could be in store for a sleeve of golf balls from me since he took the bet about the swing change. I've sent Dan some video of my swing from yesterday and he has already looked at it and given me feedback and drills to work on. 

I will post the video that I sent him and his views of my swings and recommendations soon.   

Its Been Awhile

Well, let's see what's new. Oh yeah... it's been raining all week. The rain did stop for a day though, so I got to hit my new toy. I love it! =) Now if I could just get my swing together the world would be a better place. So far I've let Doug, Ron, and Bud hit my driver. Bud and Ron really liked it. I think Ron said he was going to eBay for one when he got home. 

Awhile back I bought a 3 wood shaft off eBay, but the guy lost it during his move. Instead he let me choose a different shaft. Since the driver has a high ball flight, I went ahead and got a driver shaft instead of a 3 wood shaft.  I really like Graphite Design shafts, so I emailed them and told them my number from the Golf Galaxy launch monitor. They recommended the Graphite Design Aura Red stiff flex, so I webr with that. The shaft should be ready tomorrow afternoon, but I doubt I'll be able to hit it till Monday. The weather man says there's more rain coming this weekend.     

Oh SNAP!

The courses just got a little shorter!

My new baby!

R9 SuperTri Info











I got back from Golf Galaxy with my new Taylormade R9 SuperTri! I traded in some clubs the other day and got some store credit. I still have my 2007 Burner driver, I'm going to sell it on Ebay since Golf Galaxy wouldn't give me much for it. In the simulator the R9 was flying about 15-20 past my driver. This driver has many possible configurations with the movable weights and open and closed face at address, with the option to also change the loft a few degrees.

I got the 9.5* with the Fujikura Motore 60 shaft in Stiff. I can't wait to hit it on the course - too bad it's been raining like cats and dogs since Friday, and it's supposed to keep raining throughout the week. In the meantime it won't be leaving my side.

Better than Yesterday

You'd think after yesterdays great performance I wouldn't be too anxious to get back out there, but I had even more of an itch to play and prove that I can actually swing a golf club. I played with Doug again at Sunset Whitney and shot 87, 45 on the front and 42 on the back with a birdie. I only lost one golf ball compared to the nine yesterday. I did however only hit the driver once today, and it was a big slice. I haven't been able to hit the driver for some reason, I need to get to a driving range where I can play around with it. I was pretty happy otherwise with my round. The putter was on fire, I had 26 putts on aerified greens. This was my best scrambling round of the year so far. The only bad part was when Doug made his 7 foot putt on 18 to win 1-up. At least I gave him a scare. I'm not sure when I'll be playing again because the weather man is saying a chance of rain everyday next week.    




Stats for the round:
Score-87
Fairways -36%
GIR -11%
Putts -26
Scrambling -37.5%
Sand Saves -0%

A Little Wager

I know I've been switching my swing theory around a LOT lately, each time saying that this is the one. But this time, the swing is here to stay. And just to show how serious I am about this swing, I'm willing to bet on it.  For anyone that wants to, I'm betting a sleeve of golf balls. 

So here's how the bet would work: 

Leave me a comment on the blog saying you want in on the bet. The bet is that until the end of September, I keep this same swing, and if I still have the same swing then you have to buy me a sleeve of golf balls (my choice). But if I revert to my old ways of switching between swings and I don't still have it, I will buy you a sleeve of golf balls (your choice). You have to place the bet by next Saturday 3/19 if you want in.  

Odds of winning:

you 0%

me 100%

Rome Wasn't Built in a Day

Yesterday's round was a disaster... I think I shot 110+ with the new swing. It was either really ugly or really good, there was no in-between. I lost a total of 9 golf balls. The driver killed me, I didn't hit a single drive straight with the driver. Man, when I did hit a good one, it felt like I was the best player in the world. I did have a birdie on the 9th hole, I hit it to about 6 feet of the pin and made the putt. Other than that it was the most frustrating round I've ever played.

I played with Doug, Granville and some of Doug's buddies. I felt really bad that they had to see me play like that. It was embarrassing. I also lost another round to Doug and now I owe him Subway. Towards the end of the round I was more comfortable with the swing and started hitting it decent again.

 I'm still not giving up on this swing though, it is here to stay for a long time.

New vs. Old

New Swing

Old Swing

Okay, so here's a look at my new swing vs. my old swing.

A couple of things I changed going into the new swing: 

1. I changed my grip from neutral (one knuckle) to strong (2 1/2 knuckles) 2. I'm swinging more left on the downswing. 3. I'm trying to have my shoulders more open at impact. 4. Trying to load my weight into my right side instead of onto my right side during the backswing. 5. My setup is now more of a reverse K.

 My footwork is much better in the new swing. Also, if you look at the finishes, the new swing is more around my body and the old swing is high and trying to help the ball up into the air. My new swing is giving me a much more penetrating ball flight and a draw. The old swing gave me a high ballon ball flight. 

I'm looking forward to redeeming myself against Doug tomorrow at Sunset Whitney C.C.

Finally Some Progress

(5 Iron) 3-8-11

My Golf Swing Bible

I'll give more info this weekend about the swing...

Like a Broken Record

Well I blew it again! I played with Doug on Saturday morning, which also happened to be his birthday.  The first four holes were okay. I went bogey, double bogey, birdie, par, and then it was all downhill from there. I shot a 42 on the front. I couldn't set myself up for anything good on the front, and to top it off the putter didn't help much either. Somehow I was up 6 shots on Doug. Then came the 10th hole, a triple bogey. I had a double bogey on 13, a triple bogey 14 from the middle of the fairway and another triple bogey on 17. Needless to say I failed again. I had a 52 on the back giving me a 94 for the round. Doug I hope you enjoyed your birthday gift from me.

Stats for the round:
Fairways - 36%
GIR -17%
Putts - 35
Scrambling - 13.3%
Sand Saves - 0%

Heading in the Right Direction

I played with Granville and Doug today after work. No matches, just practicing with Granville, and Doug was working on his game. I started off shaky for the first 2 and then I settled down. Going bogey, par, par, triple, birdie, birdie and double. Back to back birdies... I haven't done that in four years! My first birdie looked as if it was going to be a hole in one too! My tee shot landed about 9 feet past the hole and I made the putt. Then on hole 8 I hit a 9 iron into the green and stuck it within 4 feet of the hole! I must say it was a very good miss hit 9 iron. =) Then I blew my chance of three straight birdies with my next tee on 9. My shot landed short of the green and rolled back down the hill into an unplayable lie. Oh well, I guess next time I won't leave it short. Doug was done playing after 9, he'd already played 18 earlier.

Granville and I decided to play the first three holes again. After the first hole I asked Granville to grade my swing today and he said it was a B. I also asked him to grade my swing from before I made the change and he said C-. I would have given myself a D before the swing change, and now probably a B-. I still have a tendency to get a little wild off the tee but I think we may have solved that problem on 2. Granville notice that my shoulders were open at address. I'll be working on that now along with the takeaway. I almost had another birdie on 3 but could make the 15 foot putt. I hit a beautiful 5 iron to the center of the green pin high. That was a good swing to end on. After dropping Granville off at his car and going to put my clubs into my car, Granville yelled across the parking lot, "B plus!" Sweet!    

Hit and Miss

Yesterday I played 9 holes with Doug after work. No match this time, we both were working on our game,  but next time it's on like Donkey Kong! =)  My round was up and down. I'd hit a good shot and then turn right around and hit a bad shot (mostly fat shots). I think I had a little sway in the backswing and thats what was causing me to hit the ball fat. On my good shots I could tell I was staying center. I did however hit my best ever 60 degree wedge shot on number 6. I was about 50 yards out and had a tree right in my way. The tree must have been 30 feet high and I only had about 10 feet in front of me to clear it. I cleared the tree by inches and landed a couple of inches past the bunker and rolled on the green. I think I had the wedge completely open just to make sure I got over the tree. Other than that shot I had a lot of bogeys but finished with a par on the last hole.

I did play 4 holes today in a little bit of rain after work just so I could get some more reps in with the new takeaway. Once again it was hit and miss with the swing. I talked with Granville and he said he be playing in the afternoon tomorrow so hopefully he'll spot something in connection with the fat shots.