Tyler Talk

I’m obsessed with “finding” the perfect swing – for me…not anyone else. When I first started playing golf I knew I wanted the ball to do a few things. Mainly, go far, go straight, and go high. Have you seen how high and how far good players hit the ball?

Over the last 2+ years I feel that my swing has changed 20 times. One day a particular swing thought seems to work, the next, it all falls apart. So, I’ll pick up a magazine and try another swing thought.

Eventually I got into a habit of starting with my hands way ahead of the ball (to hit down on the ball) and with 90% of my weight on my rear foot (to stay behind the ball). I was hitting the ball pretty well, at least I thought, so I didn’t even pay attention to set up and swing plane.

I soon realized that I wasn’t getting better. Since then, I have taken one set of lessons (~3 hours) and my instructor covered some fundamentals that I let slip. I was too worried about hitting my 7 iron dead straight 150-160 yards every time. We focused on my alignment, set up, and grip.

I have always fought a nasty push-slice with my driver and fat shots with my irons. Push slices come from an inside-to-out swing path, which is good, but my club face is open. And fat shots come from my weight being to far behind the ball and my swing plane being to flat (I have to re-route the club on the way down).

This page will cover my journey towards a golf swing that will hopefully get me to scratch or at least a single-digit handicap. Check back for updates as I work on my swing.

**********************Summer 2006*************************

Here are some videos of my swing from May of 2006. I will post some newer videos as soon as I can.

7 Iron Down the line:


7 Iron Face On:


Driver Down the line:


Driver Face On:

**********************January 2007*************************

Santa was good to me this year. I received a set of birdie balls and a softee mat to use in my backyard. I’m not a member at a country club and there aren’t too many practice areas near my house, so I spend a lot of time in my backyard hitting birdie balls or chipping golf balls. A good retriever helps out here.

Being able to hit balls in my backyard has helped me work on my mechanics. Sure, it’s not the same as hitting off the grass, but it builds confidence in my ball striking. And since I am working on a few things in my swing right now – it’s better than nothing.

*I am working on the following mechanics/swing thoughts:
*Comfortable stance
*Keep my right knee flexed
*Pull right elbow up and behind me
*Begin downswing with lower body
*Keep right elbow behind me in downswing
*Work on keeping club “outside” of hands and square
*Allow left knee to point towards ball.
*Ball a bit further up in a stance

I have only been able to use this set of thoughts at the range one time with irons…with pretty good results. In the backyard with birdie balls, I get pretty good consistent results. Ball flight was higher but not too high and the distance was pretty good. I felt comfortable over the ball and had better balance.

I’ll keep you informed of my progress as the weather gets better and I can get out to the range.

**********************February 6th 2007*************************

Well, I didn’t go to the range today, but I did spend some time in the short game area. The Links @ Whitehaven here in Memphis has a great short game area and I can go during my lunch break.

I started off chipping to the green from about 20 yards with my 60* wedge…it didn’t go so well. Actually, most of my session didn’t go well until the very end. After many fat shots (yes…fat shots on a 1/4-1/2 swing with my wedge) I knew I needed to do something different. Towards the end I really tried to keep my club face square and on plane. It seemed to work because I was hitting the ball much higher and much straighter. I also focused on keeping my spine still…trying not to sway off the ball.

Another thing that seemed to help me was a light grip pressure. I find myself squeezing the club so tight that I am forced to compensate by moving my body or throwing my hands. This is nothing new to seasoned players, but my brain likes to take over and say “Hold on tighter and it’ll work!“. Mental blocks are hard to break.

**********************February 26th 2007*************************
While watching the Accenture match play on TV Saturday afternoon I had noticed that Chad Campbell would just push his left arm back during his takeaway. His right elbow seemed to stay very soft and would just fold up as he took the club back. This seemed to get his club up & down plane very well.

Well I went outside and grabbed my pitching wedge, a birdie ball, and my trusty lab.

I thought about just pushing my left arm back and fold my right elbow and I was hitting some great shots. The birdie ball went high and straight over and over again. The swing did feel very upright, but I think that’s because my back swing has always been so flat. One thing I did notice about “pushing” the left arm back is that it forces you to make a good shoulder turn and seemed to keep me in sync.

Fast forward to today during lunch…reality set in. Hitting off a mat is completely different than the real thing.

Things started off pretty well. I was about 20 yards from the green and the chip shots were reasonable. I felt pretty good and went on to the next area. I moved to about 50 yards out and things got ugly. I did hit some descent shots, about ½, but the other shots were either too short or I hit them VERY fat! I don’t know what I’m doing wrong!

Well, it’s still a new swing thought and I’ll have to give it some and see what happens.

**********************March 20th 2007*************************

So I went to hit real golf balls yesterday for the first time since January and it was U-G-L-Y!

It was so bad that I just kicked the last 5-6 balls instead of trying to hit them. I hate making excuses so lets just call them “learning experiences”. One – don’t hit of cheap mats in dress shoes (I was sliding ALL over the place) and Two – don’t hit off cheap mats.

I’ve hit off mats in the past and although they are not great because they don’t allow you to take a divot, this thing was horrible. It was some kind of astro-turf carpet that was so thin weeds were growing through.

As a result of such a crappy day @ the range I had to go home and hit some birdie balls off my SofTee Mat and get a bit of confidence back into my swing. If you’ve never tried the SofTee mat your missing out on a great golf product.

I caught my self swing more with my arms and just hitting the ball…and you know what? It seemed to work. But it always does in my backyard…But I’ll try this next time I’m @ the range hitting off grass!