Fifth Avenue Forum

Also, COVID tests willing, we're headed to Destin next weekend for my wife's 40th. Any course reviews for the area?

The indoor golf place in Wexford is close to (re)opening soon, too.

Is that Golf X or something like that?

X-Golf, yeah.

Really need to get my ass to the range today

Yesss

Rahm might not be wrong but he knew what he was getting into when he signed up for that tournament

When you guys hit a fairway wood off the tee do you use an up-striking driver swing or hit down on it like a hybrid/long iron? I'm reworking my driver swing and wonder if I should also incorporate my 4w into some of those reps.

Down. Driver is really the only club I ever hit with an up strike swing.

Same. Yeah, with my driver, I have really been trying to force myself to lean back a little bit to get that upward swing.

That's one of the two big changes I'm working on integrating. The slight lean back in posture, and also having neutral shaft lean instead of the forward lean that is so important in my hybrid/iron swing.

The lean back is really tough for me because I already have trouble transferring weight to my forward foot and the lean back makes it even more difficult.

I did half an hour of driver work today integrating those changes. Holy hell did it ruin my ability to drive. I'm spraying stuff everywhere while I get used to this. But I do believe it's going to pay off in the long run so I'm going to keep working on it until the season starts.
One thing that is kind of shocking is I'm now reaching 113mph club head speed. I've never swung faster than 103mph before. I can reach 107mph with the 'Rahm' half backswing.
All the pieces are there I just need to grove this swing and make it usable. Right now I'm either pulling it bigly or slicing it. Tough to work with that on course.

MiMH, how is your Open planning going?

I was listening to Bryson on the Rick Shiels podcast yesterday. Rick and Guy say the atmosphere around the Open is already 'special' this year. It's the event I'm most looking forward to but it's fun to know that there is more local excitement than usual as well. If Woods shows up (I don't think he will) it'll put it over the top.

annoyingly. Tried contacting someone through The Open website (there was a form where I left an email) and nothing. Tried tweeting at the Open official account and nothing

at this point I’m waiting until they open their re-sale platform (which they say is going to happen) but there’s no indication of when that is or what it’ll look like

My Trackman league at Schenley starts next week. They have a very user friendly way of booking, so I played for an hour this morning. Those that have done these a bunch, you know on the bottom left where it tells you the club to hit, if you ignore that, does it matter? Like, if it says 56 degree, but you hit the 50 degree, does that matter?

that's basically you telling it what club you're hitting to help it track better. Wedges won't matter in your example but if it thinks you're laying up with a 9 iron and you hit a 3 wood it may be a little off. I think

Was finally able to take some, albeit poor, front facing swing videos. I'm really, really happy with where this driver swing is going:



That swing was about 110mph and carried out to 230 into the fairway. For that kind of speed I think my tempo and form are pretty darn good compared to how I was doing at the end of the season. Hips are starting the turn at the right time. The only thing that is kind of weird is my follow-thru, where I pick my head up, looks super jerky and erratic but it doesn't seem to be harming anything.

that's basically you telling it what club you're hitting to help it track better. Wedges won't matter in your example but if it thinks you're laying up with a 9 iron and you hit a 3 wood it may be a little off. I think

That makes sense, it was definitely on the lay ups that seemed off. I think it was really just one instance where it seemed off. I was about 230 out on a par five, it had 3-wood listed, but I hit a 5 iron. It was flush but only went 150. The other variable is that I was hitting out of some rubbish, so I wasn't sure what caused what.

Wait where does Schenley have a Trackman?

And dodint, that swing looks good. A lot quieter in the lower body.

Wait where does Schenley have a Trackman?

And dodint, that swing looks good. A lot quieter in the lower body.

Schenley is now more of a training academy thing than a golf course, just constantly running clinics with kids. And they finally finished the clubhouse building, where they have two trackman simulators and a big putting artificial putting surface.

dodint I'm absolutely not a golf instructor so take my suggestions with a grain of salt but the two things that stand out on your swing is your front heel lifting on the backswing (I don't think it's that big of an issue but I know it's not really recommended) and it looks like a lot of weight is on your backfoot as you make contact. I think you'd want to try to transfer as much to your front foot as possible to generate the power

looks good otherwise

Thanks. Solving the weight transfer issue is a very high concern for me right now. Particularly in the irons. The reason it looks so exaggerated there is that the trunk lean to the rear is something new I'm working on (just for the driver swing) and it's very uncomfortable. But my launch angles have been in the 17-20 degree window so it's working. I need to get my mass onto my front foot, like you said, without having my body drift forward of the ball.

I don't know why I lift the heel. Probably as a physio-tick to engage my hips. I started last year with an all arms swing to try to be consistent so any lower body movement is still relatively new for me.

I'm can't overstate how excited I am that this is coming along.