Golf Smart Academy Forum — Setup Realization

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Setup Realization ¶

By: Nick W on May 4, 2020, 8:46 p.m.

Hello All,
Thought I would share an interesting (at least interesting to me) story with you all. I was able to play two rounds this weekend and shot 86 both times. A couple years ago before coming to GSA, I'd have been thrilled to have cracked 90 twice in a weekend. However, I have the capability to break 80 now and I was pretty frustrated with those 86s. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time playing, but it's more fun to shoot lower scores!

I felt like when I was practicing I could hit driver well and hit my irons well and I started that way in my rounds. I was even par through five holes on my second round. But, then it felt like I could not get a rhythm together on either type of swing.

I came home and hit some balls into my net. After playing those rounds, my typical smooth swing felt totally out of rhythm. After committing to hitting sets five hybrids in a row, followed by five nine irons for a few hours, I finally had my breakthrough. I had been leaving my shoulders much too open at address with the hybrid/driver and too closed with the nine iron. I'm not sure how this habit developed on the course, but after staying closed at address with the driver, I started to recall the feeling I had during my best driver day ever. Ironically, I think getting too open with the driver for me occurs because I start out well and then think, "Ok, just hit this one out there, no need to do too much" and getting open at address feels like it is easier to hit straight, but that always leads to my driving game deteriorating as the round goes on.

Somehow, one day I kept my front shoulder closed the entire time and it led to a Driving handicap per Arccos of +1.2. For comparison, my Driving handicap this weekend was 30+ and 28.2. Now, many times I've felt like I found the "answer" at home practicing and hitting into my net, so I'll have to test it out in a real round soon. At the very least, getting a better feel for how to switch from a driver swing to short iron, which should shave improve my scores at least a couple strokes. I'm going to keep up my five and five drill and hopefully watch the strokes fall off!

Nick

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Re: Setup Realization ¶

By: Tyler F on May 10, 2020, 3:29 p.m.

+Nick W As you get better and approach breaking 80 more consistently, I see routines becoming more and more important. A routine is part of the glue that helps things breed consistency.

When you are practicing at home, make sure you are practicing walking into set up...not just staying planted with your feet in the same position and hiting ball after ball. Part of walking in to the shot is consistently dialing in alignment, then having the mental shift to trust/forget your alignment and make a good swing

PS - I think you find an answer when it solves the same problem at least three times in a row. That's a good barometer to prevent you from thinking you've found it from one session.

Keep it up!

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Re: Setup Realization ¶

By: Nick W on June 20, 2020, 9:39 a.m.

+Tyler F

A quick update on my work in this area and a question for you.

Update
I've been practicing my routine, my setup and the feel of switching between clubs. For me, it is a lot less fun than hitting ball after ball because actually hitting the ball is the fun part of golf, but I really want to improve, so I'm going through the laborious effort of working on these seemingly simple skills.

I've made good progress throughout my bag with this approach. However, I never really had very good consistency with the driver and this type of practice has really highlighted that weakness in my game. An example of what I might practice would be to pick a target, then move through a hybrid, long iron, short iron and driver, attempting to hit a fade, draw or straight with each. I can do a passable job with the all clubs, but the driver.

My Question
I think this process has helped me "discover" the some of the root causes of my driving problems. Can you let me know if this sounds like I'm on the right track?
1) Different Angle of Attack: Just like I am feeling a different angle of attack with hybrids and irons, I need to feel an even more dramatic one with the driver. I was trying to have the driver swing feel familiar, but that left me with angle of attack that was negative (too often dramatically so, leading to wormburners). I need to get comfortable with the feel of swinging up with the driver. This is just a more dramatic example of the same type of practice I've been doing when working on feeling how different clubs require different setups and swings.
2) Swing Path: My main swing path error with the driver is coming too far from the inside. I think this has two root causes. The first is that I get too tense on the tee box and almost feel like I want to get the swing over with.
Quick aside on mental game... I'm working through a number of mental game resources right now, from Dr. Greg Cartin, Nick O'Hearn and Dr. Bob Winters, as well as going back through my Mental ABC's of Pitching by Harvey Dorfman from my baseball days to see what I could apply from that. This feeling of just wanting to get the shot over with shows up on every shot I take at some point, but with the driver, it has the most impact on my swing.
This leads to a takeaway that is too far inside, which leads to a downswing that is too far from the inside. With a path as far in to out as I typically have, it is nearly impossible to hit the ball accurately.
This is compounded by the fact that swinging the driver up naturally takes the path even more in-to-out. So, I think the "solve" here is twofold:
i) Continue to work on removing the feeling of wanting to get the swing over with, which adds tension and swing flaws through mental and physical practice
ii) Understand the different feel of the driver; to swing with a neutral path with the driver will feel more out-to-in that it will with a 9 iron.

I know it is a long winded post, but I appreciate your support! Thank you for the help.

Nick