Breaking Perpetual 18 hadicap

I have been 18 handicapper for past 5 to 6 years and before than I was 25 handicapper ( highest possible handicap) since 1986. There was nothing I can brag about my game but few blind squrell moments.

Since my swing change about 1 month ago, I am really enjoying the game with confidence. My driver is longer than my buddies ( 100 to 50 yrd) and my iron shots are more dialed in and even the chip shots been much closer. I still misses dumm putts but it has improvement since I made some changes on how I use my eyes when I putt.

Major changes : Corrected swing plane to conform One Plane Swing.  Try to match swing plane from start to finish of back swing and shaft direction at the top.

Minor changes: 1) restrict or try to restrict hip rotation
                          2) finger grips
                          3) move hands further away from body at address.


Swing plane change addressed most of my ills such as flat swing, low finish, spin out, some early extentions and lack of power.

Fixing my golf swing

I started golf since 1986. I probably played more golf than Tiger W. or Rory M. For all those years, I started rounds with excitement but ended them with disappointments. As a genuine male golfer who never takes lesson but has head full of ideas about golf swing and never need to see swing coach or pro because I got all in my head.

Last winter I watched all or nearly all golf swing related YouTube clips and tried to implement ones sounded promising. I felt some improvement in my game but my friends told me otherwise. I draw line on the sand beginning of this year that if I do not make measureable improvement, I will admit that I was wrong  and take lessons. I gave in and I signed up for golf lessons.

The pro who I met, pretty much said things that I knew already from YouTube clips or magazines. One thing that really opened my eye was that my swing that was completely different than what I think in my head. It was painful to watch my swing clips every time I met my pro. By keep looking at the weird looking golf swing of mine, I do not need to be told what to do to fix it.  I already know what to fix and how to fix.
 
 1) Hands are too close to body at address
 2) I was pretty much palm grip with no hand cocking at the back swing top
 3) Arms were rigid as in post mortem contraction.
 4) hands are detaching from body resulting stiff shoulder turn and club head travels higher than established shaft line at address.
  5) Bowed wrist and shaft line pointing left side of target line at the top of back swing ( shaft parallel to ground)- this is result of club being pushed to out side too much on start of back swing.
 6) flat back swing - again result of pushed arms and club too much to out side at 1 piece take way.
 7) Spun out ( both feet) - caused by low back swing and wrong shaft line at the top.
 8) low follow through exit. - low back swing and wrong shaft  line pointing too much to left at the top of back swing.


Here are the fixes that I implemented and working;
  1) Finger grips, I changed all my club grips to standard size.
  2) extend to reach as far as I can with my left arm.
  3) pull my right elbow to right side of chest at the start of back swing with early right arm fold and active wrist cocking.
  4) push my both hand much higher at the top of back swing ( I push high as much as I can possibly go).
  
I am consistently 50 ++ yards long in my driving (250yr avg)  and I have to use 1 to 2 clubs shorter than I used to use. ( ie. 8 iron for 150 yrd!!)

Take home message: I could have used my camera for more swing plane analysis to find out my faults sooner. Due to male stubbornness and laziness, I never used more than few time on my still almost new Canon slow motion camera.  As I fixed swing plane, all ills of my swings are thing of past and I became a big threat to my buddies.