Friday evening I grabbed my video camera and setup shop in the living room to figure out why I've been feeling somewhat disconnected in my swing. It's hard to describe the feeling, but every once in a while I start feeling weak with my swing, particularly with the driver. I feel off-balance and like my arms are sort of flying all over the place.
This would be in contrast to a very powerful rotation and in balance follow through when I feel connected.
I'm able to take full swings in the living room when I do this, but I also do a lot of slow motion "live" with the camera hooked up to the TV so I can see the motion as I feel it. It's a setup that's worked out pretty well for diagnosing swing issues.
Anyway, I focused again on the takeaway as I was a few weeks ago. I have always had a habit of pulling the clubhead inside my hands during the takeaway, and it's what I caught myself doing on video. The result of doing this is a sort of loop around between my backswing and downswing, where I bring the clubhead too far inside during the backswing, get really steep with my arms near the top, and loop it back down to bring it on plane on the downswing. I've realized this causes all sorts of fun issues with my balance, maintaining angles, and ultimately consistency.
So the key now is to maintain arm, wrist, and hand angles until about the 8 o'clock position. I also let my hands get closer to my right thigh as they move in an arc from the shoulder turn while maintaining the clubhead outside of the arc my hands create. From this point it gets a little more complicated for me. Provided I've done that well, my right elbow should be in a position close to my side and ready to fold up. If I let my right elbow fly out a behind me at this stage I can almost guarantee a hook or big draw.
But if my right elbow is in a good position then I'll feel the connection and know that I'm in a good position and can "turn and burn" for a great shot.
One key though that I need to remember is to make sure I'm balanced in my setup. I'm finding myself too much on my toes at address, and when I'm like that I tend to fall closer to the ball during the downswing. I need to remember to get in a solid, neutral balance position prior to initiating the takeaway, and I need to remember to do that moreso with the driver where the longer club can more easily pull my entire upper body out of alignment.
Basically I spent all weekend working on these things. I worked on it at the range and on the practice course and mixed in different types of drills, shot shapes, and targets throughout the repetitions. It'll take some time to fully absorb the motion I want to have, but the mental-physical connections are starting to solidify already. With more quality practice over the next few weeks I shouldn't have to think about the takeaway too much.
I also spent a lot of time working on chipping this weekend. I specifically focused on hitting my targets around the green in terms of identifying and hitting landing spots for the chip. For lies, I focused on lies in thick rough and mostly short-sided to the pin since I've been having trouble with that lately and my aggressive play to pins has led to many instances of being short-sided.
At this time of year I'm trying to get in as much work as I can throughout the week. Originally the plan was to take it easy and start getting ready for Nationals in August, but after thinking about it I decided I ought to take advantage of the weather and the longer daylight hours of the summer. So, that's what I'm doing. It'll probably be like this for me until October.
