Major Changes!

[demon]

I met a new friend at a local Golftec (teaching facility inside Golfsmith) and he and I were talking about swing planes so he said that if I come in later on toward closing time that he would let me use the facilities free of charge. I warmed up the other day and then we started to analyze my swing, since he is the PGA Pro he immediately found that at the top of my backswing I went vertical big time causing me to go into the ball at a very steep angle. Plus I was starting to hook the ball really badly so I decided to change my swing plane along with my grip.

At the driving range I hit 330 balls and later on that day I had some muscle pain on the inside of my right thigh so I know i was getting more resistance in my coil due to my plane change. Ball flight was nice and high, really high but distance has decreased due to my now much weaker grip. I am very inconsistent right now showering balls all over the flag but in a 30 yard dispersion pattern. I can tell when I hit a great shot by how it feels when it jumps off the clubface and then it usually nails the target within 5' dispersion of my intended target, yes I said within 5'. I hope I can get used to the new distance since my new weak grip is changing the lofts on my irons and creating high ball flights. Here are my new yardages as per my laser rangefinder and my own estimates.

2 Iron 235
3 Iron 220
4 Iron 210
5 Iron 200
6 Iron 185
7 Iron 175
8 Iron 165
9 Iron 155
PW 145
54* 130
60* 115

Looks like I am going to have to start bending some lofts between the 6 iron and 5 irons. I even played a round yesterday shooting a whopping 74 on a slope 139 so I know it is effecting my game. I hit the range today and no better than the previous outing at the range. Tomorrow I am going to hit the range and hit about 440 balls then play and see if I can do any better. One of my goals is to drop down into the +3 before the end of 2007 but I am hoping for a +4.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Originally Posted by demon

I met a new friend at a local Golftec (teaching facility inside Golfsmith) and he and I were talking about swing planes so he said that if I come in later on toward closing time that he would let me use the facilities free of charge. I warmed up the other day and then we started to analyze my swing, since he is the PGA Pro he immediately found that at the top of my backswing I went vertical big time causing me to go into the ball at a very steep angle. Plus I was starting to hook the ball really badly so I decided to change my swing plane along with my grip.

At the driving range I hit 330 balls and later on that day I had some muscle pain on the inside of my right thigh so I know i was getting more resistance in my coil due to my plane change. Ball flight was nice and high, really high but distance has decreased due to my now much weaker grip. I am very inconsistent right now showering balls all over the flag but in a 30 yard dispersion pattern. I can tell when I hit a great shot by how it feels when it jumps off the clubface and then it usually nails the target within 5' dispersion of my intended target, yes I said within 5'. I hope I can get used to the new distance since my new weak grip is changing the lofts on my irons and creating high ball flights. Here are my new yardages as per my laser rangefinder and my own estimates.

2 Iron 235
3 Iron 220
4 Iron 210
5 Iron 200
6 Iron 185
7 Iron 175
8 Iron 165
9 Iron 155
PW 145
54* 130
60* 115

Looks like I am going to have to start bending some lofts between the 6 iron and 5 irons. I even played a round yesterday shooting a whopping 74 on a slope 139 so I know it is effecting my game. I hit the range today and no better than the previous outing at the range. Tomorrow I am going to hit the range and hit about 440 balls then play and see if I can do any better. One of my goals is to drop down into the +3 before the end of 2007 but I am hoping for a +4.

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss of distance. 8 iron from 165 is a shame!.

Keep working at it, things will fall into place soon enough and you'll be glad you made the changes.

[Dannykos]

ahhh - it's a hard life eh demon! Keep working at it and practise lots and it'll come...

...sorry - trying to feel bad for you struggling to get to +4!!

[chemboy2]

okay, I'll feel your pain.

I'm also working on a pretty significant overhaul right now. I started hitting the qty of balls that you did and I ended up straining an entire side of my rib cage; had to take a break of over 6 wks.

It is not lost on me that you going from a +2.x to +4 will be a lot more difficult than me going from a 17 to a 10/9. Keep with it, Demon, and those changes will become your new swing.

[ezra76]

Those were about my distances over the summer hitting a slight draw. I was very short today in the cold. I was taking 7 irons from just over 150 and still coming up short a few times. Is it common to lose distance at first while making changes? I bombed my driver 3 times though when I caught it. Those would have easily been approaching 290 in the summer and no more than a yard offline. When you have to take relief from the 100yd. button, that's splitting it.

[fore142]

keep in mind how cold it is, as well as the quality of range balls you are hitting, as these could have a major impact on distance. I have a hard time believing hitting that many balls could do you any good. I would think that if you could learn to make more 20 footers(since you prety good already) than working on hitting them to 15 feet, you would get to +4 faster. Just the thoughts of a crappy 1.