I’ve had some good ballstriking days. This day (Sunday) was quite poor. But, when I did make some good swings I saw quite a surge in power. On the 3rd hole at Rio Pinar (the old 12th hole), I hit a drive that went 325 yards on a day where there was no wind. And on the 18th hole (the old 9th hole), I hit a PW about 150 yards (I had 135 to the pin and flew the green).
But other than that I hit the ball lousy.
I was experimenting with a few things with my setup and I was getting more laid off at the top than usual. In this swing, I tried to feel like I was getting the shaft more vertical to prevent getting laid off:
And I was still a little laid off. Although I find that to be a perfectly acceptable position. It’s just an example of how I really had to rotate my arms counterclockwise at p2 just to get into an acceptable position.
Despite this swing video being taken on Sunday, I’ve already made some pretty big swing changes that I think are helping me do what I want to do in the swing. Essentially, I’m looking for the following:
1. A little shallower with the shaft plane at p5
2. Getting rid of the early Right Pelvic Tilt in the downswing
3. Avoid the right femur/right hip internally rotating too early in the downswing
4. Avoiding that linear push-off from the right foot and creating more of a ‘rotational pulling action’ with the left side of the lower body
5. Get rid of that downward neck tilt in the downswing.
But, I do feel the changes I’ve made are onto something as when I take a ‘good swing’ my results are better than my ‘old good swings’ as I’m hitting the ball further with a better launch direction.
My next Swing Journal post will show the changes I've made in just a short period of time, why I made those changes and how I made them so quickly.
I decided to take another lesson from Denny Lucas & Jeff Haas (www.kelvinmiyahiragolf.com) on Saturday, June 10th. Unfortunately, I could not get a video of my swing prior to the lesson. Those who live in Florida know that this past week we were bombarded with rain almost every day. Here's video of my swing that I took over 3 weeks ago.
What I want to go into in this particular post is the question of 'When should I get another lesson?'
Based on my experience of taking lessons, I find it best to give your latest lesson an honest try, first. That's why I think it's a bad idea to get a lesson once a week. You have to fight thru the difficulties and also allow the teacher to better determine why you are unable to execute the motion that you are trying to make.
From there, the big question is 'Are you progressing?'
Now, I would advise that if you're playing well...keep on playing. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. But once you start plateauing in your scores AND your technique, then it's time to get a new lesson. But again, it's important to reward yourself if you are playing better by not taking a new lesson.
For me, I figured it would take me roughly six weeks for a new lesson. I thought it would take me about 2-3 weeks to get the backswing pieces down pat and then 3-4 weeks to make some progress with the downswing pieces.
I did shoot 68 (-4) the last time I played, but I could see the scores plateauing and I was executing the downswing pieces less often.
***
Prior to my lesson I got on Trackman and only had time to hit 6-irons because the shop was going to close down for the night. Here's some key numbers I was getting with the 6-iron.
Here is a view of the PGA Tour averages on Trackman:
(Click to Enlarge)
So while the club speed and ball speed numbers are good, the launch angle indicates the bigger issue of my swing. Furthermore, the spin rate is slightly lower than the PGA Tour average (6,000 rpm vs. 6,200 rpm), but that is still too much spin for that type of high launch angle.
This would also explain one of my issues with mid to short irons...distance control. The launch angle is too high and when the spin rate gets close to 6,000 rpm that cause more of a ballooning, soft ball flight. And when I get the spin rate closer to 5,000 rpm, then I may miss long due to creating a high launch, low spin rate conditions with the ball flight.
***
With that, Denny, Jeff and myself worked on the following parts:
BACKSWING
- Standing Taller at address
- Not going 'up' so much
- Getting more left lateral bend at the top of the swing.
In the last swing journal post I had discussed how by 'going up' in the backswing it allowed me to get more leverage and keep the swing shorter. The issue was that I over-did it a bit and that would make it difficult to get the left hip into flexion in the downswing which will help in rotating the pelvis and getting the torso more tilted towards the target instead of the torso tilting back and away from the target. That will create more forward shaft lean at impact and lower the launch conditions.
Below is a diagram showing more of what we are trying to achieve thru impact. The yellow line represents the middle of the torso to where the head should be.
The red line represents the left arm and shaft in a 'drive-hold release.'
By being more crouched over at address and having to go upward so much it makes it difficult to get the left hip into flexion and instead the pelvis slides instead of rotates and we get that excessive torso tilt.
Like I always say We only make a change if it is for a good and detailed reason.
Standing taller at address also helps give some 'leverage' so I don't over-swing the arms in the backswing.
DOWNSWING
- Continue to work on the left hip flexion, creating the 'K' look on the downswing
- Create the left hip flexion by flexion and lowering the left hip instead of raising right hip
- We want the left hip and leg to flex independent of right leg movement.
- Proper left hip flexion will cause the lower spine to tilt towards the target.
- Scapula 'lift' to help shallow out the shaft plane
The first 4 bullet points are basically the same motion, it's just more detail in hopes to better understand the motion. But, the 'K' look is an important concept.
When we have the left hip flexion and the pelvis is rotating, we see a semblance to a 'K' from the left side of Sadlowski's torso down his left leg. This is common with drive-hold release swings because the golfer is getting the necessary left hip flexion in order to rotate the pelvis and make for it easier to execute the drive-hold release.
In my swing, I didn't get enough left hip flexion and didn't get the lower spine tilted towards the ball and the target and I could not create that 'K' look:
We discussed some things further about this and we worked on what we call the 'scapula lift' where the left scapula lifts upward in the downswing in order to help flatten the shaft plane. As I've discussed many times on this blog, if you struggle with rotating the pelvis often times the shaft plane being too steep is the cause. However, I will get into the scapula lift in later swing journal entries.
For now, I plan on working on the following at once:
- Standing taller at address
- Left lateral bend at the top of the swing
- Left hip flexion in downswing to create the 'K' Look
- Scapula Lift
So far, the one that is difficult to implement is the left hip flexion. The other three pieces I caught on to quickly and do not seem difficult for me to learn. However, since the left lateral bend and scapula lift go hand-in-hand, I will work on them at the same time.
Here’s the swing video almost 3 weeks ago (2 weeks from the lesson)
My swing has progressed since then as up until that point in time I was only working on the backswing.
I prefer to work on my swing in order (address first, takeaway second, backswing third, etc.)
If that doesn’t work, I will work on the pieces that I feel I can start ingraining the soonest.
The good news for me is that not only were the backswing moves to be worked on before the downswing moves, but I felt that the backswing moves were easier for me to start ingraining quickly.
As we can see, my backswing is noticeably shorter.
Normally, I wouldn’t bother posting this video because it’s 3 weeks old. But, I wanted to go over the transformation in the backswing to a shorter backswing. But first…
There is no evidence that lengthening the backswing, in itself, will make hit the ball more crooked or be more inconsistent. Conversely, there is no evidence that shortening the backswing (in itself) will make you hit the ball straighter or be more precise.
I see a lot of golfers that want to shorten their backswing and struggle to do so. Usually one of two things will happen:
1) They focus on shortening the backswing and at the very last bit of their backswing their swing lengthens out and they still have a long backswing.
2) They shorten the backswing by restricting the body rotation, but struggle to hit the ball better.
It’s not so much about shortening or lengthening the swing as it is about the transition phase of the golf swing. The move a golfer makes in transition largely dictates their handicap.
And I think the length of a golf swing is mainly about the golfer’s brain telling them ‘you’ve got enough leverage to power your downswing to your liking.’
Here are a few ways that I believe golfers create leverage in their backswing:
A) Arm Swing
B) Wrist Hinging
C) ‘Going Upward’ (body going from flexion to extension)
D) ‘Going around’ (body rotation)
E) Shifting the ‘weight’ to the rear foot
I think most golfers looking to shorten their golf swing are in the same boat as I am…they are actually trying to shorten their arm swing.
However, this takes away one of the key ways to create ‘leverage.’ So for golfers that solely focus on shortening the swing and make no other changes…their brain tells them to ‘create more leverage!’ and they unconsciously continue to swing the arms back and cannot shorten the swing.
Personally, I’m not big into restricting rotation in the backswing for many reasons. It can cause a severe lack of power, throw off your downswing sequencing and cause injury.
What I did was I used ‘C’ and ‘E’ and created more leverage with them in order to make up for the loss of leverage by shortening the arm swing. By not flexing the left knee and getting some much forward tilt of the torso at the top of the swing that allowed me to ‘go upward’ more and ‘shift the weight’ more. I still had to focus on not abducting the right humerus bone, but it was easier to do so when I created more leverage by ‘going upward’ more and ‘shifting the weight’ more.
So if you’re looking to shorten your swing, make sure you’re doing so for a good reason other than the fallacy it will automatically make you more consistent and straighter. And note that because you’re losing leverage by swinging the arms less, you’ll want to make up for that leverage somewhere else.
This past Saturday I took a lesson from Denny Lucas and Jeff Haas (www.kelvinmiyahiragolf.com). For the past month I had been struggling with my ballstriking, only getting a few rounds in the 60's and mostly hovering in the 70 to 76 scoring range.
I started to see some improvement with some changes the week before the lesson, but the mechanics looked too off to me and even if I were to get back to my March-May 2016 swing, there were still some mechanics I wasn't quite 'hittin' the lick.'
I suppose I will get asked this question 'when should I take a lesson?'
I think that's a question that depends on the golfer, their situation and what their goal is. However, I would say that you should not take a lesson when your playing well. If anything, allow yourself to stop and smell the good ballstriking for a while. This game is difficult and frustrating enough as it is, so you're better off allowing yourself to fully enjoy playing well.
I think constantly getting lessons, regardless of how well you're playing can start to get you into unnecessary changes and starts to get into the mindset of 'playing golf swing instead of playing golf.'
When the progressstops, it's best to try and give yourself a little time to figure out a way to start progressing again. If after some time you can't make that progress...then go for a lesson.
***
There were a few things I didn't like about my swing going into the lesson. I was struggling with getting into Right Pelvic Tilt too early, but that's more about what is causing that to be a struggle. Instead, most amateurs tend to see a fault and try to correct that exact fault instead of looking what came prior to that 'fault.'
I really didn't like how my torso was more bent over and my left arm was very upright at the top of the swing.
Obviously, these moves go hand in hand, so I needed to figure out a different way to stop this 'bent over trunk/upright left arm' move.
The issue I had with this move is that it requires a large move to flatten out the shaft plane and can cause early extension.
Another issue I had was with my left leg position at impact. Here's a swing I made from 2016 when I was swinging well.
In the bottom picture the left leg is straight and the left hip is pulled back. The issue is that I want to see more of that type of leg position and movement at impact. Instead, I wait too late for that leg position and get look at almost the finish position.
***
One of the first things we worked on was the backswing. As you can see below, it's much shorter.
Most people will focus on the length of the swing, but as we talked...and something I have believed for years:
The length of the swing doesn't matter anywhere near as much as how the golfer is achieving the backswing and the compatibility of their transition move.
The bigger change here is the right arm/shoulder. In the before picture, the right arm is abducted and the humerus is almost parallel to the ground. We wanted to get out of this so the move to get the shaft to flatten out in transition wasn't so big and it would be easier to rotate the pelvis instead of getting early extension in order to 'fit' the steep shaft plane into the ball at impact.
The other change in the backswing was to not get so much left knee flexion at the top of the swing and close that 'gap' between the left and right leg from the Down the Line view. The left leg needs to be straighter in order to do this. This allows the trunk to not be so bent over and helps flatten the left arm so much.
***
The other move that I had the correct idea on was the left leg straightening and the left hip pulling back at impact. There's moves before that which will allow the golfer to more easily get that position such as getting the left hip into flexion in transition. JB Holmesis a great example of this:
***
Here's a couple of golden rules I live by when it comes to practice after a lesson:
1. Generally, I try to work on things in order...from the address position to the takeaway to the backswing to transition to the downswing to the follow thru.
2. If that doesn't work, I generally try to work on the pieces I think I can start executing the soonest.
For now, I've been working on the backswing pieces (arm motion & left knee flexion). Not only are they the backswing moves, but I feel those are a little simpler for me to execute since they are not as foreign of a move as the downswing pieces we discussed.
I did play the day after and just focused on the backswing pieces and played okay (74). However, I never take a round after a golf lesson with more than a grain of salt...changes take time and reps.
In this post I’ll go over some of my basic core practicing beliefs. Then, I will go to the 1 Swing Journal post per week, next week. I'll get back into the What to Look For posts and the other goodies.
In the previous posts I described the Drive Hold Release and the upper and lower body movements that I work on in order to, one day, execute the Drive Hold Release.
In this Swing Journal, I will usually try and focus my efforts on one or the other…either the Upper Body Movements or just the Lower Body Movements.
I find that it generally works best just to concentrate on either the upper body or the lower body, not both at the same time. Sometimes I can do both at the same time, but too much mix-matching between lower body and upper body mechanics tends to mean a larger learning curve.
One of the keen coaching methods I observed was from Bill Parcells. Parcells is arguably the greatest developer of Quarterbacks in the history of the NFL as he not only went to 3 Super Bowls with 3 different QB’s, but each QB regressed after he left and he made lesser talented QB’s like Ray Lucas and Quincy Carter became respectable starters and Vinny Testaverde became a Pro Bowler under Parcells’ watch.
Parcells had a thing with each of the QB’s in where he would remind the QB of ‘when you get into trouble.’ For example, with Tony Romo Parcells would say ‘when you get into trouble, your footwork is the issue.’ With Testaverde he would say ‘you get into trouble when you start audibling too much.’
With that, I’ve got a few of ‘when I get into trouble’ mantras:
1. When I get into Right Pelvic Tilt too early in the downswing (this is a real killer, almost can’t hit the ball out of my shadow).
2. When I don’t get Right Shoulder external rotation in transition.
3. When I don’t get enough knee flex at address (weight gets too much on my toes at address and it’s an impending disaster).
4. When I get ‘lazy’ with my backwing (lack of backswing pivot)
I find this ‘when I get into trouble’ to be more productive than taking notes after each range session. Somedays you’re just not going to have your A Game. You may not quite have the hand-eye coordination you usually do or you may just struggle with concentrating that day. Thus, taking notes after each range session is ‘chasing mechanics’ and often certain mechanics will be incorrectly blames for struggling (while other mechanics will be incorrectly credited for that one day you happen to hit it well).
Find 3 or 4 ‘when I get into trouble’ mechanics and stick with it.
***
As far as my practice goes, here are some tenets that I believe in that have worked for me over the years that I’ve either gained from experience and/or discussing with motor skill learning and neuroscience experts.
You’re trying to ingrain your golf swing, you’re not going to the chiropractor.
If you go to the chiropractor they will try and set you up for appointments 3 times a week. Eventually about a year down the road they’ll cut it back to 2 times a week. And eventually that will lead to 1 time a week.
Why?
Because chiropractors are adjusting your spinal column and at first they need to keep adjusting the vertebrae constantly so the vertebrae will stop moving out of place.
Golfers tend to think that way with their golf swing. They think if they can constantly observe their swing, it won’t get out-of-whack. Instead, they are actually putting themselves on track to never ingrain your swing. You’re better off having issues where you do not execute the mechanics you want in order to eventually have the lightbulb go on that will determine what you have to do in order to properly execute the mechanics you desire.
I use slow motion practice
I’ve found that full-swing, slow motion practice works the best in terms of ingraining new moves. The best way to do it, IMO, is to do it with a ball, in front of a mirror and try to execute the moves *exactly* how you want them. This actually beats over-exaggerating a move. The issue is that I don’t have a full length mirror that I can bring out to the range.
When I use slow motion practice the best, it’s amazing how I can take it to the course and have an out-of-body experience. Not only can I visualize the shot I want to hit in my pre-shot routine, but when I’m really going good I can visualize watching myself hit the shot in my pre-shot routine..
I also like to use Ikkos’ CopyMe Golf system which provides visuals to copy and bring in your swing. The video I’m using now on Ikkos is this one below:
As you watch Sadlowski’s belt you can see how he rotates the pelvis by focusing on his tailbone as well as he doesn’t get into Right Pelvic Tilt too early.
I randomize my practice
Some excellent thoughts from Mike Hebron on the subject.
Casual Rounds are a great way to become Unconscious Competent with your swing.
Dr. Fran Pirozzolo discusses 'massing' versus 'interleaving' practice. Massing is much like going to the range and hitting shot after shot usually to the same target. Interleaving is more like randomizing the practice, but also getting out to the course and bringing what you have been working on to the golf course.
The issue I've found is that the score and 'embarrassment' gets in the way. A golfer starts playing poorly and it's easy to get away from what you've been working on. The brain almost goes into survival mode and reverts back to old mechanics rather than new mechanics. And the different environment of the course where the lies are uneven, there's greater consequences to a bad shot, the wind plays a larger factor, etc. all serve to sabotage the golfer.
By taking score out of the way and putting more focus on getting the mechanics 'right', the golfer can start to use this to ingrain the new mechanics more quickly AND take these mechanics from the range to the course.
n the last post I described how my goal with the swing is to develop a low rate of closure and low overtaking rate release referred to as the ‘Drive Hold Release.’ While it may sound like we are just trying to put my hands in a position of the Drive Hold Release, what we are actually working on are the mechanics prior to the release phase of the golf swing. Those mechanics will make it easier and more likely to execute the Drive Hold Release. Without those mechanics…it’s unlikely I will obtain a Drive
Hold Release.
Before we go on, it’s important to note a couple of my beliefs thru my experience as a consumer of golf instruction.
‘I don’t buy into swing models.’
‘I don’t buy into ‘swinging your swing.’ The swing is learned and not innate.’
The problem with swing models is that very rarely you see one person do everything an instructor desire. Let’s say an instructor has 6 key pieces to their swing. Usually you will see a great player have 4 or 5 of those pieces. Or they execute those pieces sorta similar to what the instructor teaches…but they exaggerate it enough that it doesn’t look the same…but, it’s essentially doing the same thing.
Thus, expecting me or any golf student to execute the model is likely an exercise in futility and could be very detrimental.
I would rather figure out what I do well and what I do poorly. Figure out what hurts my ballstriking and what does not hurt my ballstriking and then attack those weaknesses and try to come up with mechanics that have some resemblance to what the golf instructor wants to the point where it is no longer a detriment to my game.
***
I break down Kelvin’s work into Upper Body Mechanics vs. Lower Body Mechanics. I’ve found that this helps me understand the swing better and better break down things so I can practice them more effectively.
I prefer to work on either just Upper Body or just Lower Body mechanics if I can. Working on both at the same time can be problematic.
LOWER BODY MECHANICS
Strong Pelvic Rotation on the downswing
Avoid Right Pelvic Tilt too early in the downswing
Femurs will Abduct in transition and then adduct into impact (Sam Snead Squat)
We are trying to get pelvic rotation in the downswing because we don’t want the pelvis to stall otherwise it will be near impossible to obtain a Drive-Hold Release. IMO, the players that continue to swing the arms with a stalled pelvis will develop a Roll Release (high rate of closure). Those players that stall their arms with a stalled pelvis will develop a Flip Release (high overtaking rate).
The diagram above is showing the back view of a human and getting into right pelvic tilt. The reason we want to avoid Right Pelvic Tilt too early in the downswing is that the pelvis rotation will stall. Right Pelvic Tilt is more of a ‘sliding’ motion of the hips than a rotational motion.
Here’s a pic of Dustin Johnson in the downswing. He is in LEFT Pelvic Tilt which aids in him being able to continue to rotate. You will also see that both of his femurs are in abduction, aka the Sam Snead Squat. Eventually his femurs will adduct and help keep the pelvis rotating thru and past impact.
As far as ‘weight’ (aka Center of Pressure) transfer goes, it should look something like this:
You will see that in the backswing Victor gets his weight all on his right foot.
He then transfers his ‘weight’ to over 80% on his left foot in the downswing.
However, before impact his hips are still rotating and that causes his ‘weight’ to be nearly 50/50 at impact (actually 52% on his right foot/48% on his left foot)
This is described as a ‘fishhook’ trace because of how the CoP trace forms a pattern that looks like a fishhook. This is common with the drive hold release in the golf swing.
UPPER BODY MECHANICS
Lumbar Lordosis in Backswing
Lateral Bending of the Spine in Downswing
Rear Shoulder External Rotation
Getting Center of Mass of Club below the Net Force of the Hands
Kelvin describes lumbar lordosis in the golf swing on his blog. That’s usually not a big issue for me other than I occasionally get ‘lazy’ in the backswing and don’t get into lumbar lordosis and have to be reminded to do so.
Since Kelvin’s methodology focus on rotating the pelvis with little lateral movement (rotational = biased towards a slice), we counter that slice action by moving the torso more ‘underneath.’ Meaning that the rear shoulder moves downward, sorta creating an ‘oblique crunch’ in the downswing while the pelvis is rotating. As Kelvin once told me ‘It may feel like you’re making an over-the-top move with your pelvis and making a swing to hit a hook with your shoulders and torso.’
The movements of the upper body (linear movements) and lower body (rotational movements) not only counter each other to produce a more square path, but there is a ‘coupling action’ in the body where the pelvis will rotate *more* when the spine tilts into to the hips. This is described in this video by Dr. Bob Olivieri.
Dr. Olivieri is discussing this with regards to the backswing, but it applies to the downswing as well.
So…we are trying to rotate the pelvis to create a drive-hold release which will help control the face and dynamic loft. But, with this rotation of the pelvis it will also help with club speed. And that’s where many of Kelvin’s players and Lucas Wald’s players hit the ball very long…the rotation of the pelvis helping create more club speed (all the while a drive-hold release helping control the face and dynamic loft).
So in essence, we are trying to get a lot of pelvic rotation with lateral bend (i.e. the oblique crunch).
However, all of this is for not if the player gets into Right Pelvic Tilt too early. The coupling action disappears when the golfer gets into Right Pelvic Tilt.
***
Lastly, the motion of the arms and shoulder joints is important. I would certainly consider this motion an Upper Body Movement.
The big key is the external rotation of the rear shoulder in the downswing:
The external rotation of the rear shoulder helps get the Center of Mass below the Net Force of the hands (aka getting 'on plane' instead of being 'over the top').
The shoulder joint is also the fastest moving joint in the body so if it is externally rotated in the downswing it will eventually internally rotate with great force. And all of this leads back to the 'Drive Hold Release.'
Here's a good video from Grant Hooper, who never actually took a lesson from Kelvin, but simply read his articles and the progress he made. Not only was the progress amazing, but Grant describes so many of the key pieces such as the lateral bend of the spine, not going into right pelvic tilt (feeling like your rear shoulder and rear hip are going to 'kiss' in the downswing). As well as the external rotation of the rear shoulder.
Tomorrow, I will go into some of my practice beliefs. That post should be much shorter.
I’m going to try and not fill up the blog with Swing Journal entries. I will try to keep the Swing Journal entries to no more than once per week as the blog is really about looking at a smorgasbord of things involved with golf that the reader can find interesting and useful to improve their own game. However, this week I would like to get a few entries in as I want to go into my current swing philosophies.
Again, these Swing Journal posts will be tagged as ‘Swing Journal’ for readers to easily go back and view if needed.
Anyway, here’s a swing video I took of myself a month ago:
And here’s one that I took of myself about a year ago, right before I started striking the ball extremely well.
We can see some differences as my backswing is more upright and my downswing is steeper, both of which I have been trying to avoid.
Currently, I still work on a Kelvin Miyahira (www.kelvinmiyahiragolf.com) swing discipline. I have worked on this swing with both Kelvin and Lucas Wald.
This goes into one of my key beliefs in golf swing improvement:
“It’s alright to work with one particular coach on a consistent basis for about a year. Afterward, you should seek out a new coach that teaches the same swing philosophy for a different set of eyes and perspective on your swing (provided you are happy with the first coach).”
It’s very easy to get into a rut with any coach, but when you feel you’re onto something good it’s hard to make that change. Instead, change over to a new coach but keep the philosophy the same. Eventually, you can go back to that original coach.
***
You can read about Kelvin Miyahira’s swing philosophies and research on his blog on his Web site at www.kelvinmiyahiragolf.com.
I think the most popular misconception about Kelvin’s work is that it is based on hitting it long or that it’s based on the Jamie Sadlowski golf swing. In essence, my perspective on Kelvin’s philosophy is that he feels that the ‘Drive-Hold Release’ is the superior release style in golf. So, it’s not actually about swinging like a long driver as many of the Re-MAX long drive competitors do not have a Drive-Hold Release.
Kelvin has discussed the Drive-Hold release extensively on his blog, but my best way to explain the Drive-Hold release is:
1. It’s a release pattern with a slow Rate of Closure.
2. It’s a release patther with a slow ‘overtaking’ rate.
One can discuss the supination of the wrists, pronation of the lead forearm, etc…but if you understand Rate of Closure and Overtaking Rate…that’s what the Drive-Hold is about. And consistently, the best statistically proven ballstrikers on Tour tend to have a Drive-Hold release, like Dustin Johnson:
The rate of closure will affect the golfer’s ability to control the face.
Are there great golferst that have a high rate of closure? Sure. Phil Mickelson and Martin Kaymer are great examples. However, their ballstriking tends to run hot-and-cold with Mickelson being, at times, a dreadful driver of the ball (historically a great iron player). Kaymer has been as good as the #1 ranked player in the world and a US Open winner to a guy that seemingly falls off the face of the earth. When they are running on all cylinders they are very long off the tee and tough to beat. But their level of consistency with their ballstriking is a different story.
Players with a high rate of closure release styles will be referred to as a ‘roll release.’ They are rolling the forearms, wrists and hands and they swing thru the ball.
Overtaking rates tend to cause more dynamic loft issues. Thus, players with high overtaking rates tend to hit the ball shorter and can have some distance control issues. If the dynamic loft should be at 25 degrees with a particular iron, theirs may be at 31 degrees and thus they are hitting the ball higher and shorter. These types of releases are referred to as a ‘flip release.’
Many people confuse the ‘flip release’ with the high handicapper ‘flipping at impact.’ The difference in the ‘flip release’ by a Tour player is that they are typically ‘flipping’ thru and after impact whereas the high handicap ‘flipping at impact’ starts to flip prior to impact. The good news about the flip release is that a player can be very accurate with a flip release if they are are not ‘rolling’ the release. The face angle is stable and that means shots are starting more on-line and are curving less. Also, more of the flip release players on Tour tend to be good from 75-150 yards. Unfortunately for them, those shots don’t count as much as shots from 150-225 yards and drives off the tee.
The dreaded release is the ‘flip-roll’ release where the golfer has a high rate of closure and a high overtaking rate which means difficulty in controlling the face angle and the dynamic loft.
Since I did the ‘re-boot’ of my blog one of the things I wanted to get back into is a swing journal. This time I wanted to make this more detailed and perhaps a little more interactive. I don’t proclaim to be a ‘swing expert’, but I do believe I’m an expert at consuming golf instruction.
‘It’s a wonderful tat to have.’ – Andy Dufresne
I believe that my experience in golf instruction and continuing to learn how to ingrain new movement patterns along with understanding the pitfalls of trying to improve and when I’m on the right track and when to fold a bad hand can be helpful to other golfers of all different handicaps.
But first, I wanted to give a background on my swing and swing instruction that I’ve received.
As a junior golfer I virtually received almost no golf instruction. I took a lesson when I started at the age of 11 years old and then took a lesson from David Orr (yes, that David Orr www.flatstickacademy.com). It was 1 lesson and we worked on the ole ‘towel under the left armpit connection drill.’ As a junior golfer my learning of the golf swing came from reading the occasional Golf Digest tip and playing…A LOT.
You could only hit the ball about 160 yards in our driving range where I grew up playing or you would strike the houses. So a lot of my ‘practice’ was just going out and playing. Or occasionally dropping some balls when nobody was around and hitting them from the fairway or tee box. It was routine for me to walk and play 45 holes a day. The most holes I ever played in one day (and walked all of them) was 90 holes.
When I started college I had a major issue…not only was I struggling with my swing…but the old Golf Digest tips didn’t work. Even worse is I had virtually NO knowledge of the golf swing. I actually used to think that you took your divot behind the golf ball. With some more knowledge these days I better understand how that lack of knowledge helped me in some senses play so well, but by this point I was struggling so bad that I needed knowledge in order to fix issues.
And the big issue with the lack of knowledge is that I had no idea what teachers knew what they were talking about and which ones didn’t. That goes to one of my main rules about golf instruction:
‘At the end of the day, an instructor is judged by how well they improve their students.’
This is why I find it critical that when seeking a golf instructor that a golfer look at their students and how well they improve.
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During my college days, I then became obsessed with golf instruction and trying to ‘crack the code’ to the swing. In that time I purchased and read just about every book I could find, took out every golf magazine swing sequence…put it into a plastic sheet and kept it in a loose leaf binder. And I sought out instruction from numerous instructors including:
Butch Harmon
Jimmy Ballard
David Leadbetter
Mike Bender
Rick Smith
Eventually I got into Homer Kelley’s The Golfing Machine with the help of Chuck Wike (www.chuckwike.com) and that seemed to help the most. However, I was still a better ballstriker as a junior golfer than a college golfer.
After I graduated college I played golf for one more year and then quit the game for 8 years, re-starting in 2009. Here’s what my swing looked like when I first got back into the game after the lay-off:
Soon after I started up with Ted Fort (www.fortifiedgolf.com) and started employing the ‘Hitting’ procedure from The Golfing Machine (in college I was using the ‘swinging procedure’).
I had some good success with that and dropped my handicap to a +1 in about 10 months after the 8 year lay-off. I then started to work with John Erickson (www.advancedballstriking.com) which was a much flatter swing ‘plane’ methodology.
I actually hit the ball well for a good period of time using this methodology, but my club speed was down to the 102 mph mark. I did find on Trackman that I was virtually ‘zeroing out’ all of my numbers with the attack angle, face angle, path and swing direction all at 0 degrees. It would explain why I started hitting the driver extremely accurately.
Eventually, I moved to Florida and started working on M.O.R.A.D. with George Hunt (www.georgehuntgolfacademy.com). Some of the same principles from TGM and John Erickson applied, but the ballstriking and club speed (up to 110 mph) more importantly improved:
Eventually I decided to start working with Kelvin Miyahira in October of 2014. I remember the first lesson I had with him I shot 68 at the Legends Course at Orange Lake Resorts. Of course, it wasn’t always 68’s and striping the ball from there. I took a while to understand it which I spent the better part of 2015 doing. I also started working on my swing with Lucas Wald which goes back to one of my big theories about being a golf student:
‘It’s okay to work with a golf instructor repeatedly for about 1 year. If you like what the instructor is teaching, you may want to find another instructor that teaches a very similar swing philosophy in order to prevent getting in a rut with a single instructor and getting a fresh pair of eyes to attack issues in your swing.'
In 2016 I was committed to playing in golf tournaments and got my handicap up to a +4. These swings were in March of 2016, about 2 months before I started playing arguably my best golf ever (May 2016). I won an amateur event, finished 2nd in another and me and a friend won a 2-ball event. I also shot 65 on 6 different occasions (lowest round ever is a 64 – twice).
As luck would have it, a lot in my life changed in that time as I moved to the Boca Raton area, then moved back to the Space Coast area and had a lot of time that I didn’t get to play golf. I did in 2016 get my club speed as high as 117 mph with the driver on Trackman (and as high as 105 mph with a 3-iron). I checked it a couple of months ago and it was at 113.2 mph.
Right now, I'm at a +2 handicap. I had some 'struggles' and started to regain my golf swing during vacation in December. I started to experiment with some new things and they were working well until I had to take a few weeks off due to a bronchial infection.
The past 2 weeks I've struggled with my golf swing, but have managed to keep my scores from being awful with a 74 (+2 over) at Juliette Falls and a 72 (Even Par) at Orange County National - Panther Lake course.
In my next journal entry, I will give a video of my current swing and some of my beliefs on the golf swing.
