First day of the season!!

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curtisj76

curtisj76

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Played almost 27 holes today. I'm actually happy with how I played since it was the first day in a LONG time. My short story:

I started out thinking I'm gonna give SD another try since I hooked it like crazy last summer and I finally figured out how to not swing so far right. My first drive I hooked my 3W off the planet. Man it flew far and high, but left. Kept using SD with decent results but my hooks were bigger and higher than last summer. So I said I have to switch to NHA.

For starters, I've never tried NHA on the course; just in my living room and backyard (plastic balls). My first swing on a par 3 = middle of the green. 2nd attept was a drive that landed middle of the fairway. Hey, not bad I was thinking.

I like NHA but I definitely give up some distance. NHA did give me probably my nicest 5 iron shot ever. Didn't try 3 or 4, but I'm thinking those will be a lot better as well with NHA.

I desperately want to play SD but I have to get those damn hooks taken care of. A high draw is so gosh darn purdy and goes so much further.

Conclusion: many pars, hit the flag twice, 1 chip in and several others very close. still trying to figure out my swing but excited for this season.

(i'll start another thread regarding my hooks from today)
 
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pecky987

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at a guess the SD backswing may be making you too flat in the backswing. your not getting the "UP" in your backswing, just the "IN".

make sure you get those hands high enough so you can swing down and stay on top of the plane a little more and have less risk of getting below it
 
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fronesis

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pecky987 said:
at a guess the SD backswing may be making you too flat in the backswing. your not getting the "UP" in your backswing, just the "IN".

make sure you get those hands high enough so you can swing down and stay on top of the plane a little more and have less risk of getting below it
Click to expand...

Exactly!
 
birdie_man

birdie_man

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Are they low hooks Curt?

Check your tilt, toss, and that your face opens enough in the BS.

Glad to hear someone is able to enjoy breaking free from the grizzled Old Man Winter.

And if you play an extra 9 that's always a good sign. (that the first 18 went well)
 
curtisj76

curtisj76

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Here's what I noticed. I was setting up for SD and swinging SD but I noticed my divots were pointing left. Weird huh. I think I was so worried about not swinging too far right over the winter that I'm finally swinging left. Result = big high hooks opposed to my low hooks last year. Hell I don't know!

PS I also hit several push fades that haunted me last summer as well. I even hit a push fade when I was "attempting" a NHA swing. How the hell does that happen?? :(
 
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pecky987

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Jim Kobylinski said:
Um...how you think soft draw = flat backswing is beyond me.
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if you dont get the "UP" in the backswing after the initial "IN" move in the takeaway, you'll never get higher enough. i have found this trouble when trying to incoporate a SD takeaway. you move your hands inward quickly and then never counter it with enough up
 
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johnpritch

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Hi Curtis

I've had trouble with hooks too. I think it's because I've swung too much from the inside. Sometimes I've flipped to stop it going straight right (to steer it toward the target) and the face is then sometimes pointing left of the target line. I think this causes pull hooks (which is really counter-intuitive!). I don't know if I've got this D-plane stuff sorted yet but I think the face decides most of the starting direction and the face relative to the path decides the curl. It seems to me that the D-plane would be more tilted with a less lofted club (so the curl is worse).

I think that an out-to-in path with a face pointing right of the target line at separation can lead to a push fade.

A couple of days ago I read some comments by Kevin and Jim in another thread (that you or dannyc started) where they seemed to suggest swinging left. I've been experimenting with the NHA pattern and I found that I could hit really straight shots with an 8 iron when I felt like I was coming way over the top and swinging way left. Just made me gasp in disbelief really. I've a sneaky feeling that a video would show that it's not over the top but I don't know.

I've just started to try feeling that I'm hitting the ball with my right shoulder (to take the handsiness out of my swing) and I find that I really have to commit to the leftness otherwise I hit cuts which sometimes start a little right and go further right. One of either Jim or Kevin mentioned that it's surprising how left the face has to be in conjunction with the swinging left feeling.

I wonder if a stiff old guy like me could even do the NHA pattern or if, in trying to do it, I'm actually just doing something more orthodox than I did before. Just enjoying playing around with all these patterns at the moment.

I hope one of the instructors checks this out because it could be a load of baloney!

Cheers

John
 
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burners

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curtisj76 said:
Here's what I noticed. I was setting up for SD and swinging SD but I noticed my divots were pointing left. Weird huh. I think I was so worried about not swinging too far right over the winter that I'm finally swinging left. Result = big high hooks opposed to my low hooks last year. Hell I don't know!

PS I also hit several push fades that haunted me last summer as well. I even hit a push fade when I was "attempting" a NHA swing. How the hell does that happen?? :(
Click to expand...

Curtis,

Here's my take on 1.: Your swing path (and resulting divot) goes left after the low point, even when you're hitting a draw.

On 2.: Open clubface. Fun, huh?

Cheers
 
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Jim Kobylinski

Super Moderator
pecky987 said:
if you dont get the "UP" in the backswing after the initial "IN" move in the takeaway, you'll never get higher enough. i have found this trouble when trying to incoporate a SD takeaway. you move your hands inward quickly and then never counter it with enough up
Click to expand...

I understand that but if you do the backswing properly you won't. That's like saying NHA creates flat backswings if you don't go up the wall enough.
 
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fronesis

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pecky987 said:
i know. if you try to do the SD backswing, and dont do it properly, it can get you flat
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This is what I was agreeing with earlier.

I agree that the SD pattern, if done properly, does not give you a flat backswing at all. But folks who are used to swinging "up the plane," i.e. with popout," can sometimes find that the inside takeaway puts in them in a position to get flat - this happens precisely because they aren't used to needing to get the club up and slightly across the line.
 
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Jared Willerson

Super Moderator
Agree with fronesis, if you are used to popping out and try the SD backswing a lot of times you will just perform a popout move more inside which will get you MORE laid off and flat

The important thing to remember for a lot of people is to keep the right arm higher than the left on the backswing....and don't be afraid to let that right elbow fly just a little.
 
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