Look Out Tiger.....birdie man is coming!

[birdie_man]

Divot drill yarrr!! Otherwise known as the "Make My Dad Want To Murder My Ass Drill."

Ya I forgot to turn the foot in....I'll try to video some 2nite in the backyard.

And ya I twitch my hands before I take it back.....twitch em stronger. It's weird. Maybe my hands want to be stronger? Dunno.

 

[birdie_man]

I was lookin at these clips....and one thing that catches my eye...

....the first face-on clip I posted (the first post in this thread).....my pivot looks more dynamic there.

Everything was the same.....7 iron........everything the same mostly.........except like I said I lowered my hands and turned my shoulders steeper in this latest one. (just testing don't y'all worry yet) [EDIT] I was prolly going at it harder before too....I don't think that's the only difference tho.

I figured so long as I didn't reverse pivot it could make me lift the club UP faster to make a more "normal looking" backswing......it didn't all that much (unless I was not actually hitting a ball)......

I was hitting it pretty good this time around but I still need to test this more.....it was tough to gauge distance relative to my normal BTW- headwind. (not to mention messed shoulders and 1st time out)

Anyhoo just writing observations will keep posting new vids as I get out.

 

[swingeasttowest]

Left foot

Birdie, if you turn your left foot in more you will have a better feel in the downswing when you turn your left hip/weight towards left heel.

 

[birdie_man]

Iknow Iknow man....hehe old man pivot. I forgot to do it this time around. Will post new video soon.

 

[tourdeep]

Birdie Paul,

Great extension with the right side! Gettin Hoganish (Woods)!


Check out the down the line shot of Hogan, in particular, frames 7 and 8. How does this compare to your swing? It's very difficult to freeze and compare on this end. It appears that you have more "up" and "right" than Hogan. Hogan is gettin "left".

Frame 8 dtl position is very consistent with great players of the game, almost as if the club is extending in line with the shoulders, head position, center point maintenance, eye, etc...

 

[birdie_man]

Hmm interesting observation....

Honestly don't know what to say to that man.

My only question as of now is if the ball knows.....maybe it does. (i.e. with something that preceeds and relates to the picture below)

Here's a shot:



BTW while we're at it...anyone know of a good hosting site where you can scroll video?.....and/or just download the file so you can play it in whatever you want??? Might as well make it easier on everyone.

 

[birdie_man]

Thinking about it more....

Looking at the video more....

I think I'm swinging plenty left.......butt end of the clubshaft appears to be pointing inside the Target Line in the beginning of the downswing (unless I am in the middle of a transition to pointing right at it- bad frame rate).......

...when it "switches ends" (i.e. head end of shaft pointing to ground) the head seems to be pointing outside the Target Line......

.....and I do say "seems"....because the framerate ain't that good and parallax does weird things....not sure how off the camera is at that point in the swing....I think it's OK.

Also- in the picture above the butt of the shaft points to the Target Line.

Anyway.....if all that is in place the way I think it is the Plane Line I Trace, while straight, would be rotated left. (pointing left of target)

BTW everyone feel free to set me straight if I'm off with this.

....

If the shaft was too "laid off" and pointing outside of the Target Line at that point on the way down (I think...) it'd be rotated right. (unless you do something real funny)

Also.....Hogan swung on Elbow Plane..........does this make you "come out flatter on the other end"? (relate that to the picture above)

I hope I have that all straight.....

BTW anyone have any ideas why the left side of my neck and my left shoulder is funky? (fr. looking at the video) Neck isn't parallel to ground at Impact I know that much.....

 

[birdie_man]

Hitting it so good today....best ever prolly.

-normal height hands.....mid body hands with mid-longer clubs......same backswing as last clip.....drop and pivot....(left shoulder up).....

= strong consistent fade with no worry of hitting left at all.......

-more weight forward and/or full roll for a draw.

...

No swinging right (like the face-on backyard clip)....at this point I have a feeling that's not the way to go for me.

Shoulders are good.

Ready to take over the town.

 

[birdie_man]

Hit it pretty well with the last pattern.....not as well as that range session I was excited about last post though.

Still up in the air about that swing. (lots still up in the air) Hard to turn it over that's for sure.....which is good and also bad when I DO want to turn it over. + other issues.

Went back to a flatter shoulder turn tonight though.....and did a few other things differently. Most notably....focused on using my left shoulder to really turn my right shoulder back as far as I could...if you get how that works.

Longer pivot than my usual old man one....I want to see what it looks like on video....will get that soon hopefully and will post.

Didn't have much time to experiment and it's still early......but the shots I hit went very very very well and I did hit a 250 yard 3 iron as well. Prolly carried about 235.

Very good sign....very exciting. Accuracy and consistency #1 but I was pround and it's good to know I can rip one like that if I want to. I don't think I could pull that off with the steeper shoulder turn BTW but it's too early to tell.

Anyway that's my little update....I supposed this has turned into somewhat of a "log." (hahaha I said log)

 

[Matt 4-L]

Looks like you are rolling your hands open at the start of the the takeaway, also at address you look like your weight is on your heels giving you that squatty look.

 

[birdie_man]

I know I know (what it looks like).....right now I hit it best like this. Everything still up in the air tho. Need to come down to LOUisiana or KY sometime for some lessons.

 

[KnighT]

BirdieMan,

I think you have a really nice motion. I love that 'mash it' pitch shot. Your alignments are great, and imperatives are sure what I am striving for in my swing.

One little thing I do see though: on the pitch shot you get a little 'Annika' popping that head up. Here is a quote from Mike Hebron in 'Inside moves the Outside':

"The head comes forward only after the ball is on its way. In one of Alex Morrison's old books, he made a suggestion that I use for myself and have used in teaching for years. "Keep the chin pointed behind the ball until the ball is on its way.""

But that is probably a little 'nit-picking'....great swing, Birdieman

 

[birdie_man]

Meh it's not bad.....I ain't there yet that's for sure. Still in pieces.....not much of a "package" yet. (in the golf sense anyway....HA)

The "mash it" pitch as you call it was good for me to see mostly cause I guess it shows me I can do it.....at least right now tho that swing isn't too functional for anything other than a wedge. Don't know why really. I experiment lots and just gravitate to what works.

Thanks for the comments KNIGHT.

 

[birdie_man]

Hit it sooooooo (x359 more o's) good tonight. A new level.

...

...

Before today, I could hit it 300 a very good amount of the time. Tonight carrying it 300 doesn't seem out of the question. We shall see.

It all started with me finally bending over the ball.......and this time- ACTUALLY hitting it better than before. I know the reason now and I think it's twoFOLD.

I got back that "driver feels like it's gonna break" feeling.........and Brian.......it was no mirage!!!!!!!gahhhhhh!!!!

(REFERENCE THREAD: http://www.brianmanzella.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7295&highlight=birdie_man)

Not this time baby!!! Fingers are crossed.......but more importantly........I am now smart enough to know what the hell I was doing.

(with the first step having been- actually stopping to figure out and take note of what the hell I was doing....instead of just bashing balls like a manic dou.........BAG)

Definitely headed in the right direction....which at this point feels very good and is a very welcome change. A good amount of tweaking and narrowing down surely is left tho. (for more precision and versatility)

New video coming soon.