I mean until the firenado hits the course…
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Late season push for me too, with the weather definitely turning in Upstate NY although we’re guaranteed another heat wave in about 3 weeks.
On Course: Need to weaponize my off the tee game again. I used to love hitting driver, now I’m super hesitant about it. Plan on getting a lesson to discuss if it’s worth getting fit for driver, want to make sure I’m not fighting my equipment because the swing doesn’t feel THAT far off. My goal is to reach single digit handicap, and the biggest thing holding me back is distance off the tee. Obviously everyone always wants more distance, but it’s truly the biggest anchor on my otherwise solid game.
Off Course: I need to rededicate myself to getting more workouts in. I don’t often have time to hit the gym for long workouts, but I have 15-20 minutes to be active and break sweat almost every day. I got away from it the past 2 months or so just being busy, so refocusing on fitness a bit I think will just help my game overall.
Off Season: Foot surgery end of October, follow doctor’s orders to try and get past that as quickly as I can and hopefully by January/February start ramping up fitness and golf activity ahead of the 2022 season.
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Or Oregon. I feel sorry with people who get snow; that’s the only thing that keeps me off the course.
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So to follow up here, had the session with my pro to talk is it more me or the driver. As most of the wagering public would have guessed, it’s definitely me. Some bad habits particularly in the takeaway have been creeping back in, and are reaching the point where it’s really adversely affecting my game. I tried a bunch of heads and shafts, but in the end no driver is going to fix me rolling the face open and consistently making heel contact.
So pivoting in that on course goal, I’m going to get back to drilling takeaway and path a little more to end the year and really dedicate myself to it in the winter. Once I can clean that up again, I may consider getting a good fitting in. But right now it’s operator error, so time to work on the operator!
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I honestly just found a ton of succes shortening my swing… I get long really easily, and whenever I rein it back in, I hit the ball well.
This is more a reminder to me than advice to you.
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This is very true for me too. I think in my effort to keep it a little shorter and tighter, I got away from turning my shoulders and got a very arms-based swing. Just a few minutes of drilling already feeling a little better, just need to really beat it into my stupid brain
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Same here. I figured that in my 50’s my swing would shorten up naturally, but it hasn’t. Even if I just do drills and hit some balls into my net I swing so much better, but I always need to start struggling before I get back into it. It’s like waiting until you get a cavity to start brushing and flossing 
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Too true. If only I could find a way to remind myself mid round when the driver goes bad
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So to keep following up on this thread, I had a lesson yesterday that blew my mind. My club has had a playing pro with us for the summer who’s hoping to make a run at getting back on a tour circuit in the winter/spring. While working on his game he’s also giving lessons and I’ve worked with him once before.
He took a video of my swing and holy cow had it gotten rough. During lockdown COVID I spent a lot of time grinding in the garage hitting into a net and recording so this year I tried avoiding getting too technical and obsessive so I deleted all swing videos from my phone. So to start yesterday, my takeaway would immediately go underplane and I’d try to get my hands up to the top by lifting and over-rotating.
We drilled for nearly 90 minutes to try and find a feel for the proper takeaway, and I think we found it. It feels like I’m bringing the club back way outside but that’s only because of how far I pulled it in before. Now I’m just taking a stance with my feet together and drilling that feeling. Big change but I think it’s the one I needed. I had definitely reached a plateau with my current swing, and feel like getting this down will actually lead to compression of the golf ball rather than a scrape.
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Bang! you got it! I was in your same boat, probably rowing upstream without a paddle…LOL…I was horrible takeaway inside, hands opening up, wrist supinating,…grip putrid, expending all energy by 4pm on the dial! Lessons, vids, spine tilt, maintain the angle, Feet together, 9-3 (belt buckle drill)…I don’t have to swing like an animal to generate speed anymore, big muscles doing all the work. Keep it up big guy! That’s awesome…BTW yes it felt all wrong only because I was doing it all wrong and developed bad habits in the first/second place!
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You just described my swing perfectly haha. It makes so much sense for why I haven’t been able to hit the ball anywhere this year. I got a few where I actually took a divot and got that sweet impact sound and oooooooh baby we like that! Now like you said it’s feet together 9 to 3 to drill it over and over again
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I’m telling you something…New equipment, did nothing, new shoes did nothing, new balls got lost. New clothes just made me look good at being pisspoor. Diving into swing mechanics, that was everything. I did everything in increments from March and in late July, boy those 245-255-260 yd drives were looking tasty. To be real…for me it was minutia…I became more deliberate and slow bringing the club back, I became more deliberate in starting the downswing by starting to post up on my left leg and letting everything follow, the hardest part for me was my left arm and left wrist were really breaking down, I made sure when I struck the ball on the upswing both arms were extended. I looked like 
for months…then something clicks and the ball striking is THAT much better, distance is amazing, accuracy is better…enough repetition executing the correct moves, maintaining spine angle (so critical), finally understanding how important footwork is…back to the basics BUT with a much better understanding of what the hell I’m doing, why I’m doing it, and now I honestly am not thinking about IT anymore.
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To keep up here, had another lesson to follow up after the progress made last time. We had another breakthrough in my bad habits, turns out I’ve never really taken the club back properly to begin with.
In my attempts to go back “low and slow” like I learned somewhere along the way, my trail arm was getting disconnected which would lead to my overrotation and club getting behind me, a position from which you can only reach the ball by going over the top and casting.
We spent most of the lesson focusing on one armed swings, drills with a glove under the trail arm, and I think I actually started to get it. It’s gonna take a million reps because every time he went “There it is!” my immediate thought was about how awful it felt physically! I put in some more reps at home, definitely seeing the benefits. Club face more square through swing, more compact and repeatable, better release and impact. Just need to keep putting in the reps and get through the bumps that are definitely coming when I try to play again
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No big list of end of season goals to enumerate here other than I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing - which includes making incremental gains in all areas of my game.
The last few rounds … while not really scoring any better (yet??) … I’ve hit a few more “good” shots vs the prior round along with a few less stinkers. Yes, still hit some “bad” shots but trying to evaluate them in terms of ‘what can I do better next time?’
One area that I’ve struggled with and seem to be doing way better with recently is my bunker shots (so hopefully that will continue in its positive trend!).
Short game, of course, always needs more work; along with gaining more confidence in hitting off the tee.
Gonna continue with the lessons I’ve been doing this year, and with the drills the instructor provides, but especially going to be spending time on the Slow Motion Drill (see topic “My New Favorite Drill”).
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I actually aim for bunkers when I’m in a bind. I know I can get up and down usually within 3 shots very easily, sometimes 2 and on the rare occasion jar it…I’m most comfortable in a bunker as compared to trying to fluff one over one…
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I didn’t mean to, on the tough finishing hole last round, but that’s where I ended up … greenside left, pin high, ball slightly below the feet but nice smooth sand and a fairly low lip.
Pulled off a nice little touch shot to pop the ball out and rolling towards the pin … walked up and nailed the putt straight in for my first ever sand-save par!
So as it turned out in this case, I was better off in that bunker vs…
…the ball running out long (tough up and down), or
…further left on the fescue covered mound (baaaaad) or
…rolling across the green, catching the slope and running downhill into the water hazard…!
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Real bummed, fall league got cancelled tonight (course took on 2.5" of rain last night) and it was gonna be my best chance to bring the “new” swing to the course before a weekend golf trip with some college buddies. We compete for a broken driver head and I’ve never lost! This year I’m ripe for the picking as I start to work on this new move, so I was hoping to give it a test run.
Hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze in at least one range session. For any Northeast people, we’re playing Crumpin-Fox in Mass and Brattleboro CC in VT, super excited for it.
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Haven’t been there in years, but I remember Crumpin-Fox being really nice. Enjoy!
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Our itinerary got changed a bit, but my and a friend are playing Mount Snow’s course on the way out tomorrow, then playing Hooper Golf Course in NH on Sunday morning. I’m really excited because I just had my surgery pre-op appt so the end of golf season just came into very clear focus.
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Hope you are getting ready for CS outing next month!
Curious to see if you got the STACK system? Im really borderline considering it, more cost prohibative than anything, but wanted to see if anyone else had some success.
I think Irish Mike was going to be doing some testing, but havent seen anything posted yet.