Well, I got out to play and have regressed. My ball striking was not nearly as good as it was in January. I could barley break 200 yards with my driver and found myself finishing with the weight on the trail leg. I think it is a trust issue I'm having. Although I had a few decent drives just over 200 yards, its a far cry from the 240 250 I saw on my last round in January.
I don't believe I was able to recreate the type of contact I was getting hitting into the net.
I also pulled something in my back a few weeks ago swinging like a lunatic and I'm still not fully recovered from that and I irritated that yesterday.
I think I'm going to take a break from swinging again until next weekend. If I can get out again. I'll try a warmup and just to to go golfing.
It wasn't all bad though. I had a few really nice shots with my all of me woods. It's funny, I'm more comfortable with my woods than with my irons. I'm really suffering from a lack of confidence and I'm playing "golf swing" not golf...
Danny
Oh yeah - you're close, @danny - really close...
I'm glad the V1 Analysis helped. It's along the lines of "an ounce of prevention" vs. "a pound of cure". Schedule a tune-up quarterly for maintenance and you'll be golden!
Tom
Ok, So, I got my swing analysis and watch a few times and worked the drills a bit. Turns out my back issue is really my shoulder. All the muscles have gone into a bit of spasm and locked up and got really tight and sore. I've been rolling them out daily and I'm seeing improvement. So much so that I decided to stretch out really good and play 9 holes on Saturday.
Stepped up the first tee box and took a nice easy 80ish percent (or so it felt) weight forward swing with my driver. Boom, 220 yard right down the middle and it felt ok. In fact, it felt like a 1/2 swing and getting 220 yards was a big, pleasant surprise! 2nd shot 155 yard approach, grabbed a 6 iron for nice easy 80 percent forward swing and dropped it a bit short. Chipped, 2 putt bogie nice!
2nd hole was similar but teed off with a 7 wood, pushed it straight right but for 180 yards behind some trees so, easy 8 iron punch out to fairway, gave me 135 to back of green, used the 8 iron again for another easy 80 percent forward swing and dropped it 6 feet from the hole for a one putt and a par!
After the next hole I was starting to tighten up again but, my driver was working and 220 yard drives with an ever so slight draw, was the order the day.
By the 7th hole I was done though. Had to pack it in. Everything tightened back up and it was sore to swing.
All I can say is, the swing analysis was what I needed and I should not have put it off. Tom picked up that I was too far forward at setup and had the ball too far forward at setup. I was not just pushing my hip forward, but, my shoulders too. In fact my hips were forward on my knees and my shoulders and head forward of my hips. Exaggerating the hips toward the target while leaving my head over my knees got me hitting the ball crispy again. I think moving everything forward was also what got me moving the ball forward. I think the swing analysis should be more an element of time period rather than my perceived progress. Had I done it few weeks earlier, I think I would have avoided a lot of frustration, doubt and pain, as I think I might have avoided what caused these stupid spasms which was weird over compensating for a less than perfect setup...
Thanks for such a quick turn around on the analysis Tom! I feel like you got me back on track to breaking 90 sometime soon!!!
Danny
Gotta do the back muscles stretch! I find that if I don't stretch before a round my muscles let me know afterwards. If I stretch, life is good!
Playing golf swing is tough, Danny. It leaves your mind to think too much about HOW to execute instead of thinking WHAT am I trying to accomplish here.
Here's what I mean:
HOW to execute (and associated thoughts) might sound like a litany of golf swing positions: "hands in" "make sure you get the left arm across the chest" "make sure the left arm is straight" "don't break the wrists" "straighten the back leg"
All of a sudden you have 8 swing thoughts happening in 3 seconds of the golf swing and your brain is cluttered on HOW to hit the golf ball.
WHAT am I trying to accomplish here? Changes the mind to think in simpler terms.
What am I trying to accomplish? I want to hit the ball first and take a divot in front of it. How do I do that? I have one swing thought that blends what I am trying to do in the golf swing (for example, "keep the arms straight and tilt")
Then, I accept the result. Keep the same swing thought and move on to my next shot.
Next time your out there, don't think about all the HOWS of your golf swing. Think about the goal - "WHAT am I trying to do here?"
Your brain will do the hard work and you'll feel much more relaxed.
Tom
let that back heel. I tweaked my ankle really bad once and still hit at the range, and because i had to compensate for my injury I developed a slice when I got to swinging full again. THE WORST.
When I tweaked my back lifting something I shouldn't have, I was not able to make the turn and then the accelerated downswing and follow through needed and I lost distance, and after I was done weeping openly, I decided to let it heal and things got right.
Also, for the love of God, stretch for 10 min before you start swinging- we stretched when we were younger playing all those other sports, but I never see anyone stretch on the range.. just go out there and wack away at a bucket cold turkey.
Also "Relief Factor" is very helpful to guys I know with back issues/strains