Here is my swing – filmed yesterday at Lakeside Country Club in Burbank. Time to judge and laugh! Keep in mind this is my driver, which I haven’t worked on at all yet with my new swing in practice. I’m kind of glad because I didn’t have any “before” footage of my swing and now I do. Chicken wing still prominent. By the way, judge all you want but remember… I have a coach. Thanks. (c:
This was supposed to be a half swing, as were all my shots yesterday. However, somewhere between the waggle and the swing, that idea vanished. Could have been as I was giggling internally as Peacha was filming and commenting as though she thought I couldn’t hear her there. My response to her after the shot is a half-truth. I said “that felt good.” Well, the result and the impact felt decent but I knew I had executed poorly. However, we were only on the 10th hole and I wasn’t going to go vocalizing something negative. Not how ninjas roll. Plus, I just wanted to respond and get off camera as quickly as possible. The shot went up over the top of the hill about 220 yards. Not much roll as the ground was soft and damp.
I’m not sure how many of my drives I thought were half swings weren’t, but I hit 14 out of 16 fairways with them. Once I start working on that club I suspect that stat may go down like my GIRs yesterday. I made some really good iron shots and lots and lots of poor ones (which I rather expected) so I only had 3 GIR. The course only had nine holes open (which explains why there were potential 16 fwys… we played the same 9 twice which only had one par 3). The rest are under construction for irrigation but the holes that we played were beautiful. I can’t wait to go back when it’s all finished.
Huge thanks to Peacha for hosting me at Lakeside yesterday. What a sweetheart. Â I also really enjoyed playing with a caddy. Ours was Jimmy Youngs, a fun guy and a great caddy. He knew when to stir me up and when to ease my mind. I loved hitting a drive up the middle and walking down the fairway with my driver or nothing at all. Strutting almost. One of the three greens I hit was a great shot from the rough on a par 5. Jimmy said “it’s 115 but play a soft 125 just left of the pin.” I did just that and told him I wanted to take him everywhere with me. He handed me my putter and said “see you on the green with the gallery.” It was a great day.
Side note: Jimmy is also a 3 handicap golfer. He used to be an actor (this is Lala land, after all). You may have seen him in the original Footloose as Chuck Cranston, slapping around Ariel (the Lori Singer character), and getting his ass kicked by Kevin Bacon. For me, isn’t that one degree of separation? I did it. If you know me, you’re now at 2 degrees.
June 22, 2011 at 5:07 am
Looking good to me! might be sliiiiiggghhhtttyyy beyond parallel, but thats ok 😉
June 22, 2011 at 6:25 am
Begin working on your swing in the order that it happens. Your grip is on the strong side. Review grip in the book. Your backswing should begin with a shoulder turn rather than an arm movement. Your right knee should remain as close to set up position as possible. This will allow you to create resistance between upper body and lower body restricting your shoulder turn restricting your club position at the top and creating a consistent top of the swing position. Downswing begins with a lateral movement from right heel to left heel (can’t do it properly with a straight right leg). The shift and turn happen simultaneously after the initial shift. With the resistance set at the top of the swing, your upper body will have no choice but follow the lower body on the downswing. Maintain this “resistance” or “connection” all the way until after impact. More later
You’re doing a great job sticking to the program! Keep it up and I will see you soon!
June 22, 2011 at 6:45 am
Haha lefty Jay – you just like the female Daly aspect (c:
June 22, 2011 at 6:50 am
Coach! Great feedback. Thanks so much. Will practice driver tomorrow with those tips in mind. Then I gotta get back to the chipping. Haven’t got me a lob wedge yet but I can get re-started with my trusty SW.
BTW, my friend Bob Friend (check him on twitter at @BobFriend_Golf) said the same thing about an old photo of me about my right leg. Just didn’t give him the chance to expand on the reasoning because it was an old pic and because I wanted to hear from you. (c:
You rock. Thanks for speaking my language and getting mine.
June 22, 2011 at 10:51 am
me likey long time
June 26, 2011 at 10:39 am
14 out of 16 fairways….I’d take that every day of the week. Great work!
March 12, 2012 at 5:13 am
Nice swing. Feel and real are always two different things when making swing changes. If you wanted a more compact golf swing you would have to swing so it feels like you’re swinging about knee height. Seriously…that’s what it would feel like. But if you got the swing on video I bet you’d be close to parallel at the top. And the only way to groove a shorter backswing would be to swing over and over again like you’re swinging only to knee height.
For Consistent Golf,
Jeff Richmond