Big Question?
How do you judge your practice performance?
Feels
My feeling this week is one of excitement.
After another positive week and a change of direction, I feel excited and motivated to improve. My change of direction is with my coach. I may be being hasty. I may be jumping the gun. But for the foreseeable future, I will work with Ryan Mouque on technical swing changes and lessons, available here at @ryanmouquegolf on Twitter. I am using the Skillest app to record swings, and communicate with Ryan. In turn, he carries out his analysis and posts videos of drills and positions for me to work on between lessons. I’m not sure where it’ll take me but I’m confident that this choice is right for me, at this time.
Practice
The first of two sessions this week was based around getting some stock swings recorded for Ryan, from down the line and face-on. I had a short warm-up and worked through the bag from pitching wedge to 6 iron. I hit 6 shots with each club, working on trying to hit a draw then a fade, alternating each shot. I find it much easier to hit a draw spin than a fade. I had success with the draws, getting every shot to curve left (some more hook than draw). The fade was around 50% successful and included one stone cold shank and a full top in the mix.
Once I finished with my 6 6 iron shots. I used 10 balls to record some swings and send them over to Ryan. 40 balls total. Around 60 minutes in total.
He carried out an analysis and sent a video, explaining the analysis and what he observed. A basic overview of the feedback was;
an open face is causing some issues (more flexion of the wrist as a solution)
not enough rotation in the lower body (better turn into trail hip as a solution)
a little too flat at the top
Lessons will be starting this week so Weeks 15 to Week 20 will have all details of the sessions and what I am working on, so consider subscribing to have it delivered to your inbox, every Tuesday.
Session two was based on my speed training. I managed to snag a PRGR device for a couple of weeks, which enables me to collect some baseline data on my club head speed. I wish I had it 5 weeks again before I started the Winter Strength program, never mind.
I started with a thorough warm-up, hit a couple of wedge shots, a couple of 9 irons and worked up to full speed with my 7 iron after around 20 shots total. This was my setup;
I hit several 7 irons at ‘play’ speed and worked up to hit some with a quick tempo and with close to max speed and max intent. With the 7i I hovered in between 80-86mph with my fastest being 86mph.
I went to the driver next. I started off hitting some smooth ones at ‘play’ speed and worked up to max speed and max intent. I sprayed the face too as I felt it was important to collect as much information from the session as possible.
As you can see my quicker ones were around 104-108mph for club head speed. I will attempt to use this data to go with my p-average on shot scope, moving forward for speed gains. I am not sure about the accuracy of the smash factor (which is basically how efficient I am delivering the club, with 1.50 being ‘ideal’/’optimal’) My number is low and I can easily add distance by improving strike even if the club head speed remained the same.
Two things I noticed when swinging all out and recording the swings using the device;
My strike was very heely (image below)
my focus drifted to the device and I had to make sure I was mindful and present when hitting shots
The purpose of the session was to hit some max intent swings and record the club head speed and strike. It was not to move strike and practice the skill of hitting accurate shots. In my mind, I was very clear about this. Build up speed and capacity to swing it at max speed then I can work on getting some control down the line.
Playing
I had an enjoyable and challenging round on Sunday this week. It was cold and wet but clear. I set out to avoid double bogeys but quickly realised how absurd that target was. I duffed a 140y approach into the green on the first and then hit a thin one over the back. A chip and 2 putts secured an untidy double on the first hole. I rallied well but hit a tee shot into the water right on the 6th and then hit a poor second ball down the left, giving me no chance of saving the bogey. Despite this, I am beginning to grow in confidence when hitting into greens. This is my best-ever SG for approaches since I’ve had my Shotscope device. I hit all Par 3’s for the first time too. Very positive and pleasing.
My final double bogey came on a short par 4, hooking a 4 iron (lost ball and then hitting the second one in almost the same place). I found it but had no shot for the green, bumped it out and scrambled for a double. The back 9 was full of casual rhythm and low expectations, which pleased me.
I persisted with picking an intermediate target, which has been a real eye-opener for me. I have stuck with it during practice now for the last 3 weeks and I am beginning to see some improvement on the course. 12 GIR is my best-ever return but I am aware that that could all end any day now!
Training and Nutrition
Short update this week on training and nutrition.
Training has been going well, I have missed one session so far in 5 weeks, through no fault of my own. Progress is continuing in terms of progressive overload on pretty much all lifts. I am less sore after workouts. Anecdotally, I feel much better in my mood and my sleep has improved too.
My weight is still on its way down too now at 90.2kg (0.2kg short of the initial target). I will update my targets after week 6 of training, which is the halfway point of the 12-week Winter Strength program.
To support my weight loss, I have been tracking my intake and consuming 2400 calories daily. The breakdown of my macronutrients is;
40% carbohydrate (240g)
30% protein (180g)
30% fat (80g)
Although I have set some targets, I play it a little loose when it comes to fats and carbohydrates and focus primarily on calories and protein. If I get those two in and around my targets, the rest is of less importance and not worth stressing over.
If you are considering tracking your caloric intake and/or macronutrients and don’t know where to start, I have a MyFitnessPal guide on my Gumroad (currently 50% off with the code MFP50) - MyFitnessPal Guide
Equally, if you would like to increase your awareness of calories, your caloric intake and how you would go about manipulating both the quality and quantity of them to fit with your own goals, here is a free guide for you to download - FREE Calorie Guide
Feel free to share this with friends, golf buddies and family!
Reflective questions
What is your focus on before swinging the golf club?
What is your ‘low-hanging fruit’ to improve your game?
Hi, I just started reading your blogs and your Twitter feeds, and I am excited with your progress to scratch. One question following this week’s blog: how did you select your coach Ryan Mouque? He is a coach in Australia and you are in the UK. Have you worked before with Skillest? Thank you and all the best.