Saturday, July 31, 2010

3Jack Swing Update 7.30.10

Here's a couple of recent swings:



I've been struggling with my game recently. More inconsistency than anything and both my rounds of golf and range practice usually starts off well, then fizzles badly down the stretch. I'm sure part of it is due to being out of shape and the humid and hot Florida weather which makes your grips all sweaty.

But, it has been a good learning experience.

I figure the following:

If I have 1 major flaw/alignment issue = can still strike the ball very well for the most part and occasionally hit a bad shot due to that 1 flaw/alignment isue.

2 flaws = decent golf with the occasional great round.

3 flaws = Bad struggles and even worse, correcting them takes longer

From an ABS perspective, I've learned that if you want to execute module 3 correctly, which is mostly about the torso pivoting thru the impact interval and the extension of the arms in the follow thru, you MUST have the execution in Module 1 and Module 2 down pat. So this means getting into pitch elbow and on the "4:30 line" (aka elbow plane) on the downswing and having the proper footwork. Also, you need to have the grip in place that allows you to execute Module 1 the best. If you don't have these down really really good, you'll almost definitely hit slices because the path will move left and the clubface will get open. So if you're struggling with Module 3, you may want to go back to Modules 1 and 2 and get the execution of those corrected.

I also believe that I now understand why I usually swung the club better with a flatter backswing plane than a more standard or even upright backswing plane. I could get laid off at the top of the swing with a flat backswing and still execute a nice looking downswing. But with a standard or upright backswing, getting laid off at the top throws the shaft and the sweetspot completely out of whack for me. I still like this more 'standard' backswing plane in the video above, but I have to be very conscious about not getting laid off at the top.






3JACK

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great great blog, keep up the good work. One thing, you talk about pitch elbow from time to time. Can you describe it as accurately as you can for me please, not sure what you mean.

Regards

Dave.

Rich H. said...

It's where the rear elbow is in the downswing. With pitch elbow, the elbow gets out in front of the rear hip bone. Punch elbow has the rear elbow behind the rear hip bone. Push is a bit different, hard for me to explain. But an example of pitch elbow = Hogan. Punch elbow = Rory McIlroy. Push elbow = Furyk

Anonymous said...

Your blog is certaintly among the more interesting golf blogs on the net.You have some amazing articles.I do not like your posture .If you can show me one top golfer with your posture ,I would be surprised.Obviously though, you must be doing a number of things right since you look good at impact a majority of the time.I think that you are suffering from two problems.First,your extensive knowledge of the golf swing is introducing too many complications into your swing.Second and more important you need to have a second set of eyes ,such as Mr Forte look at your swing.Mr Erickson's concepts may be very good,but even slight errors in your interpretations can lead to much larger errors in your swing.
I know exactly what you mean about the weather in Fla .I use to live in Ft Lauderdale and it was a steam cabinet from May,15-Oct,1.
Good Luck.

Anonymous said...

Another set of eyes....A man with two watches never really knows what time it is.

IMO, you are looking good. Only Superman can make swing changes and not struggle when he plays.

Great blog. Keep it up.

Rich H. said...

Thanks fellas.

I was working on my swing again today and started to make some significant improvement and the ballstriking was getting back to its old consistency and accuracy, but with a lot more power. I honestly think posture is probably over-emphasized. I think the pivot is one of the fundamentals of golf, but I think one can pivot very dynamically without having great that textbook posture.

Plus, the flat back textbook posture I find to be problematic because it can inhibit your pivot and reek havoc with how you use your feet.

Hubert Green, Fuzzy Zoeller, etc. Not the greatest postures in the world, all very good with ballstriking.

Even Ernie Els has similar posture than I do, but he hangs his arms a bit more and has more upright lie angles. I want to keep my downswing flat and my lie angles flat so I can keep my misses going 1 way instead of 2 ways.

I think textbook posture can make a swing look pretty, but sometimes it may be prettier than it is effective.




3JACK