2024 Early Season Notes

The 2024 golf season started early than usual, with a couple of rounds in February and a couple of rounds in March.

Driver swing is still the same as before - loose grip, full arm extension, early hinge at 3/4 L-shape, then shoulder/chest turn (now need to remember to keep arms fully extended at this point), initiate down swing with hip clearing out of way.

Hybrid: swing smooth straight to top (front side of head)

Irons: stand tall (to avoid toe hit), swing back with full-arm extension, initiate down swing with left foot pressing down to ground. Or to use the same swing as driver for mid and long irons (8I and above).

Solid driver and iron shots during a round at Hickory Woods (6I, 7I, 8I, 9I, PW), with hybrid shots to improve.

2023 Golf Season

No blog update in entire 2022, which means it was ok, not too bad, but not great either...

Started 2023 season with some great rounds of solid ball striking:

April 2, Sharon Woods, 52~55 Deg F - Almost all drives solid (a couple of shots into woods); all hybrid found sweet spot (2 GIRs); all irons solid (5, 8, 9, P); 7 GIRs, 10 Fairways.

Swing thoughts:

Driver swing the same as before (described in a blog on Oct 25, 2021) - loose grip, full arm extension, early hinge at 3/4 L-shape, then shoulder/chest turn, initiate down swing with hip clearing out of way.

Hybrid swing smooth straight to top (front side of head)

Irons: stand tall (to avoid toe hit), swing back with full-arm extension, initiate down swing with left foot pressing down to ground.

Solid ball striking continued from April to June and early July (no golf for 20 days in May due to a business trip) - GIRs typically from 6 to 8, a couple of rounds up to 10 (scores broke 80).

July 1, Glenview South/West: 8 fairways, 10 GIRs: South holes: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6; West: 2, 3, 4, 7, 8

July 3, Indian Ridge: 10 GIRs, 1 birdie, 14 pars.

Best round on July 8, Winton Woods (thunder storm interruption for 1.5 hours in between): 10 fairways, 10 GIRs, 31 putts (5 1-putt), 2 birdies, 11 pars (3 up & downs), 5 bogie

Later, found hybrid/irons would go longer if using the same swing as driver - early hinge at 3/4 swing.

Then driver started to perform not as well as before - sometimes it goes very high, sometimes to left, sometimes slice (hitting club face heel).

Went to driving ranges a couple of times, tried several fixes: tee it lower to avoid sky-high drives, stand lower to avoid hitting club face heel, no early hinge at 3/4 swing - just smooth full-length swing back to top. These seemed to help, to some extent; however, the struggle with driver continued on golf courses...

Recently realized two things: 

1. Early hinge at 3/4 back-swing sometimes could lead to extra tension for left-arm, and this would rob driver distance. Even worse, it could also cause too much hand actions, leading to a slice.

2. Set-up alignment tends to aim too much to right, this should normally set up for a draw. But if a slice happens, this would only make the ball go even further to the right.

Will need to pay attention to set-up alignment, and also keep arm tension free, even with an early hinge at 3/4 backswing...

 The golf journey has plenty of ups and downs, and swing changes or adjustments are always needed on the way...

So the latest adjustment of back swing is this: smoothly swing to 3/4 position (left hand parallel to ground, club upright and wrist hinged, to form L shape), from there, just turn/rotate upper body (shoulders) to finish back swing (stop when back is facing target) with straight extended arms/hinged hands passively following to the top. From there, initiate down swing with lower body - get the hip out of way first.

With this adjustment, driver performance was recovered: mostly straight or draw. This adjustment was initially for driver, and then later applied to other clubs. Hybrids and irons (except for PW)  feel great, with added length. But 5 woods would push to right and PW inconsistent (left and right), so need more practice at the range for these clubs...

Played a couple of great rounds in 70s using this swing adjustment: Majestic Springs (Oct. 20) green tee: 11 fairways, 12 GIR, 2 birdies. California white tee (Oct. 23): 10 fairways (12 on target line), 6 GIR (a couple bounced off green), 2 birdies (1 chip-in).

Same Swing for All Clubs

I have been struggling with the driver for a while, basically since the season start around April~May. Sometimes it was alright: only a couple of bad drives in a round, and sometimes very bad: only a couple of good drives in a round. So I finally decided to go to driving range and get back to my normal. 

The bad drives were still the same as a couple of years ago (see a post in 2017): mostly low to the left, and sometimes even toppings. Even though I remembered how to address this problem, which is to aim to the right or trying to hit to the right (and this tip so far mostly worked in my rounds this year), I could not get back to my normal for a couple of sessions at the Eagle Tee driving range (Aug 4 and 5). What I got when I tried to hit to the right ended up with toppings, and sometimes driving into grounds before hitting the ball, and even missed the ball...

I read the Swing Machine Golf book again, and figured that the problem is still using too much hand, or initiating downswing with hands. So I went to the range again on Aug 6 after work, and tried to initiate downswing with hip turn. This worked to some extent, but not leading to very solid drives.

Somehow I decided to try upright swing with my driver after a couple of iron shots. In the past, I tried it before, but didn't get to similar distance as my usual drives. However, on Aug 6 afternoon, the upright swing started to work out. I think I hit quite many solid drives using this new swing with my Callaway driver (but push to the right with an old Tylormade drive, even though both are Neutral setting). 

So I will test the upright swing for my driver in upcoming rounds, and see if I would lose distance. Hopefully not, and I will have the same swing for all my clubs, which will be good and easy to maintain...

Shank - Deal with it...

On June 16 (Saturday), I had a great range session at Southwest Golf Ranch, making solid contacts with all irons from PW to 5 Iron, hybrids, and driver too, with

• Relaxed neutral stance
• Smooth backswing to top with fully extended arms
• Downswing initiated with body turn (belly button)

Then with big expectation, I went to play at Majestic Spring the next day (Sunday afternoon), but returned with huge disappointment -- sometimes just too nervous to play a good shot...

Looking back at videotaped swing again, I finally realized that I was trying to hit the ball, instead of swinging. Meanwhile I decided to totally relax myself on the golf course. Think about it, you would not hit a good shot unless you are relaxed... Being nervous can only lead to tension ...

With that in mind, I had a good round at Sharon Woods on June 23.

Another thought about shanks: I noticed that I only had this problem in summer, usually started it on a very hot day. This made me think that the cause must be related to mental issue, maybe subconciously. While standing under the sun to play a shot, I must have become impatient, and then try to hit the ball instead of playing a more relaxed swing...

Need to remind myself when it is becoming hot again next year.

For now, I just go back to my normal swing:

• Relaxed stance (slightly more weight on left foot for iron shots)
• Smooth backswing to top with fully extended arms
• A little pause (to avoid trying to hit at the ball)
• Downswing initiated with body turn (Go belly button)

Iron shots seem to lose some distance with fade trajectory for now, but I think it will come back as time goes by...

--------------------------
For my own references, ere are some additional drills to fix shanks:
swing grips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yykU3qvRLs

hand swing path stays close to body (trying to hit thighs):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjXE5ugjQG8

-------------------------

Shank survival guide:
https://practical-golf.com/shanks/

http://positivementalimagery.com/blog/?p=2253
Do not rush
Check basics: body alignment and posture
Release tension
Practice the feel, regain confidence
Check slow-motion video to correct swing

http://www.golfswingsecretsrevealed.com/blog/2011/07/08/how-to-cure-the-golf-shank/
Major reasons for shanks:
Shifting weight forward
Standing too close to ball
Swing outside to inside
Excessive body turn
Hands in front of ball
Cure: Stay ballanced, make room, relax, trying to hit off the toe of clubs

Shank in summer again

Played two rounds on May 25, and shank came again, first at 9th hole, and then became more severe during 2nd 9 of the first round. Since this is not new to me, I quickly checked my previous blog notes and reminded myself to fully extend my arms at the top of back swing. I tried this during the 2nd round, with mixed results: short irons (9 and PW) seem to be working, but mid and long irons still shanked quite often.

Practiced at home, and then went to Glenview for a practice round on Memorial Day afternoon. Again, with similar mixed results -- tend to shank mid and long irons. PW was ok, hit a couple of good 7 iron shots, but all 6 iron shots were shanks. Moreover, I found that I started to hit everyshot off heel parts, including driver, fairway wood, and hybrid.

Read previous blog posts (http://fuzzify.blogspot.com/2013/06/), found this instruction video of Effortless Golf Swing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwpdkuC3H_k
and decided to go back to basic easy swing. Tried at Southwest Golf range with nice and easy swings, not much distance. Once started to swing harder for more distance, shank and heel shots came back again for mid and long irons...

Then I searched on-line for how to fix hitting off heels, and found this thread:
https://thesandtrap.com/forums/topic/21152-hitting-most-shots-off-the-heel/
One guy mentioned about head moving towards ball during down swing, and I thought this might be my problem too.

Finally decided to videotape my own swing for some analysis, and then I think I have found the root cause: head lowered or dipped during down swing, or body turn not enough, or even both. Also backswing seems to become flat again.

So checked my previous blog notes again, and make some swing changes:
make sure entire body is relaxed
go back to neutral stance (instead of 55% weight on left foot / deloft clubs)
more upright swing, (3/4 check point), fully extend arms at top of back swing
initiate down swing with lower body (with "go belly button" in mind)

Tried these at Eagle Tee range, and made solid contacts with 9 and 8 irons. 7 iron some good, some not so good. But 6 and 5 irons not very solid... This is similar to what I experienced before:
http://fuzzify.blogspot.com/2013/08/swing-change.html

Maybe just need some time to get back to normal. Meanwhile may need to bring out 7 woods and 4 hybrid...

What's in My Bag

As of July 2017:

Driver: Callaway GBB Epic 10.5 (neutral setting, $370, mint condition from eBay in June 2017)
Taylor Made R9 460 9.5 loft (yeah, 2 drivers like Phil Mickelson)

Hybrid 3+: King Cobra AM Cell

Irons: 3 ~ PW: Mizuno MX-23 ($204 +$20 shipping for 3~PW, used from eBay in April 2010)

Wedges: Cleveland CG15? Gap Wedge 52, Cleveland SW TourAction 56

Putter: Cleveland Classic

Balls: Titleist Pro-V1/X, Srixon, Callaway, Taylormade