I feel your pain. The wheels have completely come off for me. It happened almost instantaneously.
McLovin's Journey to Improve
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- #803
it's not the full swing, it's still the bleeping short game. yes i started out rough, but i hit some very good shots and got a bunch of bad breaks. but with a decent short game, it wouldn't have mattered. i just have nothing, and i'm not energized at all to put more work in to try to find something. there's been so much work done, and it seems like nothing gained. i'm supposed to play in a charity event in a few days, and all i can think about is how i can get out of it.
Those short game feels go quick for me. I know it’s been busy season for you at work. So it’s understandable that short game is MIA. But I’ve seen it in action and know what your capable of.
Being without the desire to work on it is the tough part bc reps is the only way to get it back.
Are you watching the Dan Grieve stuff? If not, do!
dhartmann34
Well-known member
I feel ya sir! I don't know how I can feel so close, yet so far.... At the same time.... A million times a day.
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- #807
yep. great stuff, but hasn't translated for me. like @That post said i'm coming off busy season without any real practice. i hit a couple really good short game shots yesterday, but i hit a lot of horrible shots that should be routine.
Well, without real practice, I generally make my expectations MUCH lower. Like "Oh, I got it on the green - I succeeded."
That said, I notice sometimes I'm just not putting enough thought into the shot. I walk up to a shot and think, "Yeah, I want to hit a 56 soft shot" and I step up and hit it - poorly. As I reflect, I realize I did not put any time into assessing the lie. I picked my club ahead of time and did not allow the lie to dictate which shot I could play, and therefore which club I should use. I did not take my time to fully assess where the optimum landing spot would be - or perhaps whether I was in a situation where I needed to play away from the pin and 10 feet was as good as I could do.
Then as I setup to the shot I didn't take my time to make sure my pressure distribution was correct. I didn't make sure I had the appropriate amount of shaft lean, hand height, and shoulder tilt. I didn't take a practice swing practicing the proper release and make sure I wasn't driving the handle. I just had a shot in my mind stepped up and tried to hit it, and only after, I realized multiple things were fighting against me pulling off that shot.
On the other hand, when I do those things and apply the Dan Grieve lessons, I've pulled off some spectacular short-game shots. All this to say, I feel your pain but stick with it. It works, but it requires a lot of thoughtful diligence to start to translate.
Just my input - hope it helps, but no worries if not.
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- #809
well, i'd take that at the moment...
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- #810
ty and i are getting together today. practice has been a mixed bag. sometimes i have it, and i love what i'm seeing. then a switch flips, and it's GONE. usually i can't get it back, either.
my on-course short game has been as bad as it's ever been. i played a charity scramble monday. full swing was pretty freaking good considering how little i've practiced or played. but when we missed greens, i contributed nothing. the juxtaposition of my full swing results against short game is really something to behold.
i expect today to start rough, then get really good, then my practice to be a little better, but golf course to be dogsh1t.
my on-course short game has been as bad as it's ever been. i played a charity scramble monday. full swing was pretty freaking good considering how little i've practiced or played. but when we missed greens, i contributed nothing. the juxtaposition of my full swing results against short game is really something to behold.
i expect today to start rough, then get really good, then my practice to be a little better, but golf course to be dogsh1t.
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- #811
i’ll post whatever he sends, but it was mostly what i expected. we spent 90 minutes hitting the same shot. over. and over. and over. he probably would have gotten bored, but i kept him entertained by giving quite a wide range of shots.
he put an alignment stick in front of the ball, stuck in the ground, at a very acute angle pointing at the target. this was to incentivize the club to move up through impact because my move is to drag the club very low and left.
he also put an upside down range bucket just adjacent to my trail foot. this was to incentivize me to keep the club moving down the line in the backswing because my move is to pull the club low and inside.
it was pretty challenging. but even though i eventually got to where i wasn’t hitting any of the obstacles, the results were still bad. thin contact, bladed over the green.
we worked on getting the clubhead swinging out and up, and syncing the club movement with standing up. part of my move is to lean down and spin open to pull the club low and left, so the standup feel was to not left my head dip or go left.
it’s pretty crazy that in 90 minutes the results were so mixed. as ty said, i have two voices in my head. the bad pattern and the good pattern. my brain gets mixed up. i can get it back as quickly as i can lose it.
so it’s just a work in process to get the bad pattern guy to exit stage left. and the good pattern guy to set up shop.
will just keep grinding
he put an alignment stick in front of the ball, stuck in the ground, at a very acute angle pointing at the target. this was to incentivize the club to move up through impact because my move is to drag the club very low and left.
he also put an upside down range bucket just adjacent to my trail foot. this was to incentivize me to keep the club moving down the line in the backswing because my move is to pull the club low and inside.
it was pretty challenging. but even though i eventually got to where i wasn’t hitting any of the obstacles, the results were still bad. thin contact, bladed over the green.
we worked on getting the clubhead swinging out and up, and syncing the club movement with standing up. part of my move is to lean down and spin open to pull the club low and left, so the standup feel was to not left my head dip or go left.
it’s pretty crazy that in 90 minutes the results were so mixed. as ty said, i have two voices in my head. the bad pattern and the good pattern. my brain gets mixed up. i can get it back as quickly as i can lose it.
so it’s just a work in process to get the bad pattern guy to exit stage left. and the good pattern guy to set up shop.
will just keep grinding
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- Thread starter
- #812
this is the feel/picture we’re working on. the big takeaways are 1) that his club head finishes on the right side of the target line, and 2) it finishes about waist high. my move is the opposite: club finishes very low and very left.
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- #813
fo, this was one better. i didn’t squat down as much, i kept my spacing better and there’s a little more freedom in the swing
View attachment RPReplay_Final1715086751.mov
dtl, this one was just ok
View attachment RPReplay_Final1715086751.mov
dtl, this one was just ok
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- #814
i’ve practiced a handful of times since the lesson, and it was been very encouraging.
the first part of practice is putting a tee in the ground and just making the move, trying to hear “that sound” when the bounce hits the ground and tee, also feeling the freedom in the swing. then i’ll hit chips off the tee. i’ll alternate between just tee, and ball on tee. then i’ll finish the practice session just hitting chips off the ground.
fingers crossed knock on wood pray to [insert deity here] that this continues to sink in
the first part of practice is putting a tee in the ground and just making the move, trying to hear “that sound” when the bounce hits the ground and tee, also feeling the freedom in the swing. then i’ll hit chips off the tee. i’ll alternate between just tee, and ball on tee. then i’ll finish the practice session just hitting chips off the ground.
fingers crossed knock on wood pray to [insert deity here] that this continues to sink in
These look real good. Smooth motion thru the ball. Good looking finish. DTL still looks a hair inside and low left but result looked to work. Looks like your starting back on the right track in the short game.
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- #816
for sure, the dtl wasn't quite as good. you can even see the club get a little stuck in the ground which means 1) takeaway was too inside and 2) i didn't stand up through impact early enough. but my practice has been very good lately, so i'm encouraged.
Found it interesting that he lines up ball slightly towards toe (maybe to take off energy), clubhead is still in front of shaft (hands in, head out, but he does follow left hip around with the clubhead staying to the right while shaft moves left.
Hmmm, I need to give myself more space between ball and body - thanks.
dhartmann34
Well-known member
Do you think it's a mental thing? The reverting?
That's what I find with my game and changes... It's really in my head. Sonive has to pull all the steps out and use one or two unrelated ques.
Hit a 323 yard drive on Friday... Things are getting better. And I realize when I get technical in my brain... Things go haywire.
That's what I find with my game and changes... It's really in my head. Sonive has to pull all the steps out and use one or two unrelated ques.
Hit a 323 yard drive on Friday... Things are getting better. And I realize when I get technical in my brain... Things go haywire.
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- #819
oh for sure it's mental. i think the fact that this is the 820th post of this thread proves how mental i can be.
dhartmann34
Well-known member
Thoughts on mental training?
I'm considering it.
Although I definitely had a break through with have a swing que that doesn't think about positions, angles or anything like that. But I think the mental training might be very helpful for myself.
I think both of the ones above are the way ... and getting close.
Reminds me of Pete Cowen's setup and spinning the right arm... Have faith. You are about there.
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- #822
the saga continues. i lost the feels from the last lesson, even chipping from a small tee wasn't yielding very good results. so ty and i got back together today.
he set up a station with an alignment rod on the ground just outside the ball parallel to the target line, and another rod stuck in the ground a couple feet in the front of the ball at a very acute angle pointing down the target line. the stick ON the ground is supposed to be a check for the backswing to feel like the club is working straight back, rather than too far inside. the stick IN the ground is to encourage the club to work up and to the right of the stick. if i revert to my bad pattern of dragging the club low and left through impact, i'll crash into the stick. let it work from the inside and up through impact, and i'll miss the stick on the proper side.
ty had a phone on a stand in the ground that was working with trackman to record the swing. for every swing, the display would show a split screen with the swing on one half and the lm numbers on the other half. so it was helpful to see what i actually did that would give good or bad results, and use the visuals to inform the intentions. we're using the alignment rod station to give visual queues and tactile feedback; we're using video to provide mental pictures to either enforce or avoid; and we have numbers to help confirm how well we're executing.
the encouraging thing was how close i actually am, vs how far off i felt. the understanding is there; but there are pieces that are not being executed correctly. and there are patterns that still jump up. and there are some elements that i didn't even know were working against me.
one of the first things he wanted to address was just how much i'm flexing my trail wrist in the backswing. it's basically at my max range of motion for a shot of less than 15y. that's just plain stupid of me. so we had to feel more jason day/steve stricker, while making sure the club was moving straight back instead of too far inside. it was crazy to try zero wrist hinge, but see on camera how much i was still hinging.
we spent the majority of the lesson just trying to feel the club moving up and to the right of the IN ground stick through impact. the shot he picked was extremely challenging, but i hit a ton of very good shots. after about 45 minutes, we walked around and picked a few random spots to hit one shot, kind of simulating a real round of golf. i executed every one of those shots very well on the first attempt. then we finished back at the main drill station, and while it wasn't perfect at the end, i was able to feel/diagnose what went wrong and made adjustments that yielded immediate improvement.
he wants to get together again next week. keep at it with regularity.
he set up a station with an alignment rod on the ground just outside the ball parallel to the target line, and another rod stuck in the ground a couple feet in the front of the ball at a very acute angle pointing down the target line. the stick ON the ground is supposed to be a check for the backswing to feel like the club is working straight back, rather than too far inside. the stick IN the ground is to encourage the club to work up and to the right of the stick. if i revert to my bad pattern of dragging the club low and left through impact, i'll crash into the stick. let it work from the inside and up through impact, and i'll miss the stick on the proper side.
ty had a phone on a stand in the ground that was working with trackman to record the swing. for every swing, the display would show a split screen with the swing on one half and the lm numbers on the other half. so it was helpful to see what i actually did that would give good or bad results, and use the visuals to inform the intentions. we're using the alignment rod station to give visual queues and tactile feedback; we're using video to provide mental pictures to either enforce or avoid; and we have numbers to help confirm how well we're executing.
the encouraging thing was how close i actually am, vs how far off i felt. the understanding is there; but there are pieces that are not being executed correctly. and there are patterns that still jump up. and there are some elements that i didn't even know were working against me.
one of the first things he wanted to address was just how much i'm flexing my trail wrist in the backswing. it's basically at my max range of motion for a shot of less than 15y. that's just plain stupid of me. so we had to feel more jason day/steve stricker, while making sure the club was moving straight back instead of too far inside. it was crazy to try zero wrist hinge, but see on camera how much i was still hinging.
we spent the majority of the lesson just trying to feel the club moving up and to the right of the IN ground stick through impact. the shot he picked was extremely challenging, but i hit a ton of very good shots. after about 45 minutes, we walked around and picked a few random spots to hit one shot, kind of simulating a real round of golf. i executed every one of those shots very well on the first attempt. then we finished back at the main drill station, and while it wasn't perfect at the end, i was able to feel/diagnose what went wrong and made adjustments that yielded immediate improvement.
he wants to get together again next week. keep at it with regularity.
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- #823
an image from yesterday. the club is a little too left, but start line is perfect and the amount of height on the ball is something i never see.
and a dtl video. the club is still working too far inside and the right wrist is flexing too much. that’s a work in process. but the calmness through the strike and overall club delivery is very good progress
View attachment RPReplay_Final1716465817.mov
and a dtl video. the club is still working too far inside and the right wrist is flexing too much. that’s a work in process. but the calmness through the strike and overall club delivery is very good progress
View attachment RPReplay_Final1716465817.mov