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Thread: Driver question

  1. #1
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    Default Driver question

    Having been working on my swing for the driver over the last few months, and seem to have worked to a consistent swing hitting fairly straight and seem to hit the balls mostly in the middle of the club face.
    I am now back to my M1 10.5 with the AD TP 6S shaft with a SS of around 95-100; Ball flight is still launching it high, but not as high as before, with minimal roll.

    Went down to Golf box yesterday with the M1 to compare with different drivers; Have hit a Rogue SZ, the G400 Max and the 917D2 all with stock stiff shafts and 10.5; TBH, the results were all pretty much similar to each other with the G400Max being the most consistent straight, then the M1, 917 and Rogue SZ.

    The thing that I took away from the trail was:
    - My smash factor is pretty low (seem to be less than or around 1.4) even when I am hitting the center of the face.
    - my Spin numbers seems to be around 2600rpm with the highest around 3000 with the G400.
    - My carry distance is about 200M and roll to around 215M (longest was 225M with the G400 but with a slight draw)
    - my Lateral angle is around 18* (Guy at GB said it looks like my AoA was still hitting down at the ball)
    - I seem to hit 10.5 much better, and when I try a 9.5 it just seem to become less consistent.

    so the question i have is;
    - Can the smash factor be improved? why would it be low even though I have center strike on the club face?
    - if I were to have a positive angle of attack, would that not increase the lateral launch angle even higher?

  2. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by okitoki View Post
    Went to WA golf club and saw Michael
    He’s a good guy.




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    Left work early yesterday because I needed to get some vaccination done before I fly out to Zambia next week for work... so had some time to kill so went to the range again to practice the new swing.

    it was a struggle trying to get the ball to fly straight, while trying to work on "club head control", so I get this low left pulled hook shot or a floppy high slice;
    Out of frustration, I widen my stance slightly, but less than how I wide used to stand, plant the feet down with an emphasis on weight distributed on the inner heel pushing outward... it seems to have kept my left sway under contol.

    So, ensuring my left hip turns with my right foot lifts up on finish to complete the turn, also going back to the old drill of reaching out on the back swing and throwing club outward on the down swing seem to have kept the hook monster away at the end.

    Will see if this repeat in the next practice.

  4. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by okitoki View Post
    Left work early yesterday because I needed to get some vaccination done before I fly out to Zambia next week for work... so had some time to kill so went to the range again to practice the new swing.

    it was a struggle trying to get the ball to fly straight, while trying to work on "club head control", so I get this low left pulled hook shot or a floppy high slice;
    Out of frustration, I widen my stance slightly, but less than how I wide used to stand, plant the feet down with an emphasis on weight distributed on the inner heel pushing outward... it seems to have kept my left sway under contol.

    So, ensuring my left hip turns with my right foot lifts up on finish to complete the turn, also going back to the old drill of reaching out on the back swing and throwing club outward on the down swing seem to have kept the hook monster away at the end.

    Will see if this repeat in the next practice.
    The big pull or slice can often stem from losing spine angle during the swing and collapsing. Maintain spine angle and rotate around it.




  5. #29
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    Goat humping is a term used for it . Think it has crept into my driving

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    Quote Originally Posted by Johnny Canuck View Post
    The big pull or slice can often stem from losing spine angle during the swing and collapsing. Maintain spine angle and rotate around it.
    Yeah, will try that... I think locking in my feet helps me maintain the spinal posture instead of swaying too much with the narrow stance

    Played Saturday after the lesson, was hitting the drives pretty well with a slight fade.... Well under control and seem to carry pretty well.
    However, on Sunday morning, played Hartfield starting on the 2nd 9... First few holes were pretty good same as Saturday; However, on the 16th hole with the dog leg left, decided to hit the high bomb to carry the tree... worked well; But then on the 17th, the dreaded left pull hook came knocking on the door, and I could not hit any straight drives after that hole.
    Managed to get one straight slight draw drive on the 8th tee by trying to go back to my old wide stance.... but other than that... was a dismal day

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    Quote Originally Posted by Johnny Canuck View Post
    The big pull or slice can often stem from losing spine angle during the swing and collapsing. Maintain spine angle and rotate around it.
    OK; during the week, I have been practicing a bit before the weekend Pennant game... lowered my driver loft, got a lower ball flight and seemed to be more consistent with the direction. Only missed 3 fairway (two were just off in slight rough and one was just lost concentration and hit a high right shot in to the driving range)
    concentrated by planting feet down a little firmer and try to maintain my spine angle.
    Also was using the drill of "punching the ground" which improved my iron strikes alot, and also seem to help with the rotation of my back swing and avoided those big pulled hooks I was struggling with.

    Another drill I was using from a clinic I went to was to swing back at 9 oclock and finish at 3 oclock with the driver to stop me from flipping my wrist left... surprised how straight and far I could hit with that... so got my mind off "beat the crap out of the ball" down swing...

    Did experiment with releasing with a right wrist flick just before impact... was awesome when i got it right when I release it like I was giving a finger (imagine wrist flicking bottom up), but when I get the face slap movement (wrist going right left) I get the big hook..... seems inconsistent so abandoned this before I get it into habit.
    Last edited by okitoki; 9th July 2018 at 11:03 AM.

  8. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by Grumpy8 View Post
    Goat humping is a term used for it . Think it has crept into my driving
    I see this swing type a lot, it is hard to watch! They sway rather than rotate, and their body tries to save it by rising up to give them room to get to the ball. They blame it on lifting their head, but that is just a symptom of the problem.

    The fundamental building block of a consistent swing, and its power, is that rather innocuous and relatively small rotation of the hips around the bottom of the spine. From 15 past to about 25 mins to, and then reverse to about 25mins past **, or thereabout depending on age and flexibility. Get that right and the rest will fall into place with practice and good drills. Get it wrong and you will want to have great hand/eye co-ordination and a great scrambling game!

    ** for Right Handers it is the opposite rotation i.e start at around 15 past and turn to about 25 past, then reverse and swing through to about 25 to. The ball is at about 12 o'clock, depending on your set up.
    Last edited by Daves; 13th July 2018 at 09:35 AM.

  9. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by Daves View Post
    I see this swing type a lot, it is hard to watch! They sway rather than rotate, and their body tries to save it by rising up to give them room to get to the ball. They blame it on lifting their head, but that is just a symptom of the problem.The fundamental building block of a consistent swing, and its power, is that rather innocuous and relatively small rotation of the hips around the bottom of the spine. From 15 past to about 25 mins to, and then reverse to about 25mins past **, or thereabout depending on age and flexibility. Get that right and the rest will fall into place with practice and good drills. Get it wrong and you will want to have great hand/eye co-ordination and a great scrambling game!** for Right Handers it is the opposite rotation i.e start at around 15 past and turn to about 25 past, then reverse and swing through to about 25 to. The ball is at about 12 o'clock, depending on your set up.
    Rotating my hips is a problem , a have some lower back problems, but when pain free and rotating not spinning my hips , keeping spine angle and not goat jumping it’s surprising how far you can hit driver with a slow and easy swing .

  10. #34
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    Well, time for an update
    had 2 lessons so far, and have to report an improvement to my strike number.... well, not with proper trackman, but using toptracer at Whaleback range, so numbers are not 100% but I am comparing numbers from previous range session.

    the first lesson I had was to adjust my grips from a strong right hand grip to a more neutral grip. This is a big deal for me as it felt very unnatural for me. But after practicing the grip over a few nights while watching TV Ive managed to get over that.

    The next lesson was a change in my swing pattern from an outside in to more inside to inside. Still working on the wrist rotation at release to stop the "blocked" open shots. The biggest change I've learned during the lesson was on how to address my shots.
    My previous routine was to stand with ball and club between my legs, move left foot a club head length and right to shoulder width; with this I had a tendency to rotate my right shoulder towards the ball instead of tilting my spine right; which would cause an ugly pulled hook as my bad shots (pretty common for awhile); this also resulted in me being confused with how to align the club head to my target

    Now the address set up has been changed a little. I start off with the club head resting square towards target; with the ball infront of my left foot. so the club is actually addressed a few inches behind the ball. move left foot by alittle so ball is by heel. Open right foot to shoulder length, lean slightly right to move club behind the ball.

    With this slight change, I have noticed I have reduced the right shoulder lean issue from before, and I can actually hit the ball more solid and higher too. the number of left pulled shots have reduced from obvious bad swings. (previously it wasnt obvious)
    with the higher launch, I noted my carry distance (using toptracer) has increased from 210m to 230m; average ball speed from mid 140s to mid 150s and a tighter dispersion.
    I still have a occasional blocked right shot, but that seems to be from my issue with not rotation my hand on release (the cricket block swing) so thats still a WIP.

    Will need to go for a trackman session again to see the proper numbers.

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    Quote Originally Posted by okitoki View Post
    (the cricket block swing)
    I think a lot of people can very quickly pick out a cricketer who has taken up golf later in life. As a prime example, look at the swing of 'Richo' from Australian Golf Course Reviewer on Youtube. The troubles that Brendon Julian has is another one.

    There is just something about ingrained batting techniques that do not lend themselves to learning a golf swing. I won't say that it can't be done, but ex-cricketers seem to really struggle to adapt their muscle-memory patterns built around vertical and horizontal shots to what a golf swing requires. If you learned to play golf as a teenager, its not too bad. But trying to take golf up after a career of cricket is tough ...

  12. #36
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    You maybe right. Pontingwas a very good golfer as a junior.
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    I think it was Virge who said it in a discussion I had with him about cricket vs golf, leg glance equals good, straight drive equals bad.

    Your hands/wrists in cricket push through the line which doesn’t help you in golf.

    Hockey on the other hand...

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    There's any amount of fine golfers among cricketers that did take up golf earlier. Sobers was still driving the ball 300 at 60 odd and he was scratch or scratch not long prior i believe. Dan Marsh +4 without a lesson. Greg Blewett +1, James Hopes 1, Jon Holland 1, Dean Jones 1, Henriques 1, Opie 1, Dunk 4, Warne 6, Maxwell 8, Starc/Finch/Warner 10, Bob Simpson got to scratch i think and played off singles for over 50 years. I think i recall reading Bradman got to scratch and late in life he was shooting under his age. Border started at 17 and i think in one of his books he mentioned being off 4 but i'd have to find it again. That's just (excepting Sobes) Australians.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sydney Hacker View Post

    Hockey on the other hand...
    Most Hockey players I have known are good golfers too. Many years ago played with an ex hockeyroo. Had bad back from 8 hour training days hunched over a hockey ball so took up golf.
    Once you go yellow, you will never go back

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    Quote Originally Posted by wazamac View Post
    Most Hockey players I have known are good golfers too. Many years ago played with an ex hockeyroo. Had bad back from 8 hour training days hunched over a hockey ball so took up golf.
    As a former hockey player myself I would have to say that I have had to do a lot of work to stop flipping the club at the ball. You don't compress the hockey ball when you hit it. This is still my miss when I lose my tempo.It is however very good at learning how to hit the ball hard

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    Hockey players are easy to pick... inside, short, shut backswings At highschool sport they wouldnt let me play hockey, cos it looked like I was going to take someones head off with my golf swing.

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    Quote Originally Posted by NewyMitch View Post
    As a former hockey player myself I would have to say that I have had to do a lot of work to stop flipping the club at the ball. You don't compress the hockey ball when you hit it. This is still my miss when I lose my tempo.It is however very good at learning how to hit the ball hard
    I have a mate who was a State Hockey Player and he is exactly as you describe. He hits the ball very long for his age, but I struggle to get him to slow down and hold the angles. When he does he is capable of playing to half his handicap.

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    Quote Originally Posted by TheNuclearOne View Post
    There's any amount of fine golfers among cricketers that did take up golf earlier. Sobers was still driving the ball 300 at 60 odd and he was scratch or scratch not long prior i believe. Dan Marsh +4 without a lesson. Greg Blewett +1, James Hopes 1, Jon Holland 1, Dean Jones 1, Henriques 1, Opie 1, Dunk 4, Warne 6, Maxwell 8, Starc/Finch/Warner 10, Bob Simpson got to scratch i think and played off singles for over 50 years. I think i recall reading Bradman got to scratch and late in life he was shooting under his age. Border started at 17 and i think in one of his books he mentioned being off 4 but i'd have to find it again. That's just (excepting Sobes) Australians.
    Agreed - lots of good golfing cricketers. However, I was referring to those taking it up after finishing with cricket and trying to learn the golf swing. All of those were playing golf while they were still active cricketers. In fact, both Sobers and Bradman (amongst others) were criticised in the media at various points for playing too much golf rather than cricket.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stuart View Post
    Agreed - lots of good golfing cricketers. However, I was referring to those taking it up after finishing with cricket and trying to learn the golf swing. All of those were playing golf while they were still active cricketers. In fact, both Sobers and Bradman (amongst others) were criticised in the media at various points for playing too much golf rather than cricket.
    For sure mate was adding some input. Taking up golf around the age most finish cricket would be difficult for anyone. Hard sport to take up in your 30's. Be an interesting topic what various famous people are off including sport and film stars.
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    I had a couple of games of cricket after a few years of just playing golf, I found it very hard to play anything through the off side as the arms were instinctively rolling over and pulling everything straighter or through the leg side. Great for anything on the pads though!

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    I will ask Greg Chappell next time I see him.

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    When Greg Chappell famously partnered with Gerry Hogan to promote the AD21 shafts at aroind $600 a pop, just after he retired from cricket, i am very sure he was playing off 10. ( back then a 10 was relatively a better player than a 10 now)

    Whats he play off now?
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    5 at RQ or 3 at Nudgee

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    Handy player. Can you hit your 3w further than his driver or is it only me you do that too
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    A bit wobbly in his putting stroke
    Decent short game
    Good longer irons
    Straight but not long with the driver.
    Wears the same gear every round basically looks like a cricket umpire with two black golf gloves on.


 

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