Craig's First Session in Phase 2
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As I start back on my C4 journey watch me take on trail hand letting go and both hands on the grip swings. See where I struggled and had success now that we are allowing the club to release.
hello everyone and welcome back to craig versus c4 today i will be starting my phase two journey and i want to tell you folks that i loved all the great comments from my first series and i'm very happy to continue to work through my rebuild using c4 and i know i've been absent for a little bit i've had some body issues to deal with and hopefully that's all passed me by now it's great to be back i'm glad to be back here on film working with y 'all and today what i'm going to do is i'm not going to film the entire session because this is my first four-way back and i need to take it a little bit easy but i want to make sure that i'm getting off on the right foot so to speak so what i'm going to do today is i'm going to do a series of let goes or a series of letting my trail hand come off the club to get my release going to kind of get my feels back and then i'm going to do a set of leaving my trail hand on and then i'm going to go take a look at it i need to make sure especially right now that i'm firing on all cylinders we're starting to add the release you know the distance is going to start to pick up the speed is going to start to pick up and i want to make sure i have everything buttoned up not only just from a physical standpoint but now that things are starting to move just a little bit faster and i'm starting to allow for newton to help us square up that club face i want to make sure i have all my ducks in a row and as you well know at home i need the feedback so we're going to do a couple sets here i'm going to do a couple releasing my trail hand i'm going to do a couple leaving my trail hand on and then i'm going to go take a look at my notes see what it looks like look at it on video observe see where i need to improve and i'm going to share that with you and what i think of my first overall session back so i want to thank you all for watching the first phase welcome to phase two it's great to be back i know my settings a little bit different right now it's going to probably continue to change for a little bit but i think i've got all my camera angles in order so that i can fit all that good info in so without further ado i'm going to start my phase two journey and i hope everybody's doing well i hope phase one went by pretty easily for everybody as you know with this next phase none of the checkpoints change okay everything that you did in phase one needs to be there the only thing that you're adding or allowing to happen is the release of the club now for me i think this is a little bit easier because when you start honing in that impact and you start holding that yes you need that to understand what it feels like to have a flat lead wrist bowed squared clubface hit that kind of lower trajectory shot but now it just kind of feels like it's just more of an evolution allowing this clubface to rotate allowing it to do what it wants to do and don't let anybody tell you the clubface is designed to rotate and is always rotating don't let anybody tell you to the contrary but now it kind of feels a little bit more natural you know that's it's kind of the crescendo it's going to happen on its own as long as i get out of the way so let's get some work in and i'm glad to be back i had some physical ailments to deal with and hopefully they're all past me by now and that's also the reason that as i work through this phase today i've got to take it a little bit easy um i can't plow through 200 250 balls and see how it goes i'm going to kind of ease my way back in the journey in this journey and it may be the same thing you're doing at home you may have gone through phase one and been like hey you know what that was that was pretty easy i did that but as you started to add release you're like hey you know some older ailments are kind of sneaking up so you may have had to slow down a little bit just the boat that i was in so my goal is to get back my phase one or we're just kind of working on this little nine o'clock swing and i'm going to focus on making sure that i let go with my trail hand and when i start to look at my checkpoints i've posted up i've cleared my hips my right foot chest square head down everything's still the same but that this club is at least toe up or a little bit toe down and i'm going to look to make sure that my wrist is flat or bowed if you have a overly strong grip you may still see you know a few degrees of cupping in it but i'm really looking to make sure that this club face rotates over which you'll probably see actually better down the line so let's get going here nice beautiful warm day all right that was pretty solid had a little bit of a push on it though that was pretty solid though foot's doing good hips doing well it looks like maybe slightly out ahead but i did release the club that's the one thing that i'm really going to pay attention to today am i starting to give up a little bit to the golf gods they're going to be much better at squaring this club up than i ever will so for me i can't really count that one the strike was solid and it had just a tiny touch of a draw to it but the dispersion was off you know as we're looking on this one and we're kind of looking for that five yard right or left dispersion that's just a little bit too much to the right there we go that's the one that i'm looking for there we go nice and released a lot of good stuff here okay so i got one hit i at least know i can leave the range today i got one rep right it's funny because my first session you know my my big fear was you know i'd swung a club in a long time and obviously a different human than i was last year but now that i'm getting back into this and adding release into it i'm thinking about what i've just been through in the last four weeks oh it never ends as i mentioned before don't get old there we go that was nice and solid i like the release on that one better to me it felt like much more of a passive release and what i mean about passive that doesn't mean that i was just completely dead on it like i got down here and i just completely just let go of it there's still some muscle engagement there's still some tension some awareness tension is going to gradually increase throughout the swing literally nothing i can do about that but that one to me had a little bit more of this pendulum feel effect to it i cleared my hips and this club had enough tension in my last three lead fingers at the club just kind of had no choice said hey you know what it's time for me to square up and i'm going to go ahead and do it for you it's kind of what i'm looking for a little takeaway in here nothing changes still not striving for that perfect takeaway yet i'm going to start to pay a little bit more attention to it still trying to hone in that impact just stacking one component all right not too shabby not too shabby i think we're going to put that one in the books i like that one one little i'll show you one little trick that always helps me especially when i start working on these kind of release components or even students in general it's kind of how i look at the shot and how you know i follow it after the strike because i'm trying to make the impact i'm trying to allow for the release and know where it goes but i want to look at it in a certain way that i don't start ingraining any bad habits like any eye chasing or chasing with the spine angle or trail shoulder now i want you to look at this position right here i can take that one i want you to look at this position right here i've got my hips open might be slightly out ahead didn't look like it might be though so i'll have to look at that on film later the club's released my foot's rolled in heads down but i want you to also take notice how i look at my shots because after i do this i don't go here and i'm like hey you know wave at it see what's going on i stay in my position right here and then i just kind of rotate my head down the line i don't kind of pick it up and kink my neck or change a whole bunch of positions because at the end of the day what's going to end up happening when i start leaving my trail hand on the club and i start releasing it my shoulders are going to have to start to open a little bit more because my trail hand's on the club and i want to make sure i'm not driving or chasing hard on my trail side or doing what i call peekaboo eyes and looking down the fairway and seeing what's going on i want to follow it kind of like i would in a normal golf shot where i'm in position right here i'm like okay right there maintaining still a nice and balanced position and since the chest is pretty much square right now i don't have to worry about being in you know too much of a crazy side bin position so just a little rotation of the head's kind of all i need to take a look at it let it go and go from there i know what i did there you could hear that i got a little bit quick with it i didn't i didn't let the swing develop i got there in the transition i started pushing just a little bit with my trail side but i got a little bit rushed so kind of steep in the angle that leading edge dug a little bit early i tried to save it just didn't quite work out not too bad though so on this one really make sure good legs not too much trail side involvement and allow that face to rotate it's going to inherently shallow out that plane and path for me that was just a little bit off the bottom of the club boy that felt pretty good too a little bit thin a little bit off the bottom i got down here had a little bit of trying to help it out with the lead arm and shoulder trying to help out that release a little bit more than i want let's get back down to brass tacks get a couple good practice swings in it's a nice little rehearsal right here very warm day today breaking a little bit more of a sweat it's okay for a georgia boy there we go there we go that one i really liked you can hear the difference in the sound of it everything to it exactly what i'm looking for that's what i want to bottle up and some players me including when i warm up a lot i'll typically hit a lot of left arm only just to get my release going kind of get some tension out but this kind of intermediate step some players struggle with they're like craig i can i can do lead arm only like this and i can do both hands on the club but this kind of fingertip inversion this kind of letting go is really tough i agree i actually think it's the tougher of the three so to speak but it really helps you start to turn off that too much trail side engagement but it really helps you with that lead arm trust that you don't have to force and drive and work so hard with your trail side to get the ball out there i think i took it off before i even transitioned and i noticed that all right get a little spread fire on this now let's get it back on track that leads me to my point with that i think people get so consumed with trying to let it go at the right time or making sure they don't grasp with it or that the timing of letting it go that they kind of miss the force of the trees on it if it lets go just a tiny bit later let's go a tiny bit early who cares it's the fact that it's letting go and not overly controlling things still move your body still have your lead arm doing what it needs to do forget about it let the club release much better much better you can see right here my club face it's a little bit towed down right there no problem with that zero issue with having it a little bit towed down right there i want you to error on that side the last thing i want is you getting here and hitting big old slices you know where you can hold that glass of wine out here on the end of your club face for me it'd probably be a scotch but i think you get the picture see that right there so i think i had a little bit more slide in there see that there we go you get that hip back i as i mentioned you know i had a little bit of a layoff and things are still a little bit tight so i'm still having to work through some things but that one right there that one to me created that little bit of slide and when you start to slide and you start to kind of drag that club face and this hip starts to get outside neutral it can start to change your axis tilt and you can start to get a lot of the secondary tilt where you start to get this shoulder high and you kind of get this draggy lift feeling versus when you work through here and you just get that hip back and the hips moving up and back to get this club to go down and out it's much easier to keep this chest over the ball and let this arm swing like a pendulum it doesn't change that fulcrum position so much you heard me a lot on phase one talk about my fulcrum position that's all that happened there so we're gonna get here there we go there we go got good leg work let's see what we got hopefully this is on camera move that back a little bit all right on my line a little bit of a draw looks like my hip was better sounded a touch thin contact was pretty good though I think that was a little bit more the mat all right let's see not too bad not too bad I got some big notes to take on that because when I go through these videos I'll kind of go through almost every single swing it'll take a little bit of time you don't have to be that precise with it but since I don't have my feedback here since I don't have a mirror or you know another camera running you know with me sitting here talking to myself and you can kind of use this at home when I'm taking notes I'm literally taking notes right here so I can go back and look at a swing and be like hey how was that strike on that one did I say like oh that was a good strike did I say it was a bad strike what did I think happened on it that I think that I made a good move and it felt good and I look at it on video and it's like no that actually wasn't really a good move so even just if you go out and just film your sessions like I do like this or leave your commentary you'll sometimes pick up you'll be like I thought that was a bad one but I actually looked at my mechanics and it was pretty good or vice versa all right still running over here so let's see let's do a set of leaving the trail hand on and then we'll throw in it down the line and we'll go home and we'll talk about it a little bit so I kind of feel a little bit it's going to be interesting when I go to the tape probably could fix it right now but I think we're going to see that my arms are lagging a little bit behind my turn that's why I think I feel I have the need to catch up on it I think they are we'll see what happens though so we got a couple let goes we're going to challenge getting that right hand on well shot was okay yardage was good hip was good club was released I felt a little quick with my hands I think I cheated on that one a little bit the shot was good the flight felt a little quick with my hands though I don't know if that's just because I left the trail hand on there for the first time or if they're a little bit quick I think I got a little handsy on that to get down here and force this to square I'm trying to allow it to square up if I sequence correctly if I get my weight quiet chest I don't put a death grip on it or try to steer the club face it's going to do it for me I'm going to wait in rotation let that club release I'm going to use this as a testing ground we'll go back and perfect it let's just start getting it going that flight was good trail foot looks okay club was released a little thin though just a little thin I think that's quick hands I think that's only quick hands don't quite trust it and that's you know a second ago I mentioned how I thought that my arms were lagging a little bit behind my turn and now I'm really starting to come to that conclusion my hands are feeling really quick like trying to manipulate and make the club face square and I think a lot of that's because they're a little bit behind my turn I'm pretty sure that's what's going so if I go to here in my takeaway start to come down that should be nice and passive don't lose those other good checkpoints that went pretty straight I think we can go with that one I'm okay with that one I want to smooth it out though I want to smooth it out getting good distance I want to tone it down just a tiny bit just a little slower like that that was better that was better much more compression on that and oddly enough it went the exact same yards as the one prior to it did with for me feeling half as much effort me just rushing a little bit gives me a little a little smile or a little giggle one of Chuck's swings he's swinging up in I think it's like 120 or 122 and one of the comments mentions how he looks like he's putting kind of like LPGA effort into it and how that's a compliment and it is because they make it look so silky smooth and hit it so far it's a compliment to have not a whole lot of effort and to hit it really far I've got to keep that in there keep it effortless I'm not worried about speed yet that distance will be there if you hit your checkpoints oh that was good I'll bottle that one up doesn't mean I'm not going to have things to work on that had a good release to it I was very pleased with that one had that nice sound had that nice trajectory on it might do a practice swing or two letting just to make sure not driving with that right arm right side tell you what it could have been too shabby either that almost didn't make a sound that was like one of those you know when you're shooting free throws and kind of get that swish and you're like I know the ball just went in but I didn't hear the net I'll take that one get a little groove going right here finish up a couple more and we'll get down the line and see what we got from over there and go home and look at the disaster maybe buy a pair of shorts would have worn shorts sheen off my legs would have probably blinded the camera if there was a hole that would have been in it I'll take that one I just got a gut feeling though with what I'm feeling I got a gut feeling that my hands are going to be a little bit faster than I think they are and I'm just getting just a little bit ahead of it and playing catch up versus getting here we'll see we got to look at that feedback a little thin that was on my lawn I've got all sorts of stuff going on let's get one more in from here and we'll get some down the line in can't do too much today I can already I can already feel some tightening ease my way back into this that one had to be good the lower half felt a little bit more in sync on that I was thinking just take my time a little bit more keep them a little bit soft and that transition right there take my time I know I'm trying to get that hip open but don't rush to it don't rush to it give yourself a second you're going to get there an argument I have with my students all the time about coming down from the top gravity is going to win this argument whether you force it or not that club is going to come down at some point you don't have to make that thing come down as much as you think you do it's going to get down there whether you like it or not let's get a little down the line set in here got a lot of golf balls in that bucket right there I don't think I'm making it to that today I don't think I'm going to have a lot more practice swings than ball hits don't mind me I'm going to change up gloves here that's one thing too for those of you out there that might sweat a lot or start to get a big death grip if I am sweating a lot yeah I'll change you know my golf club often because you won't know it but you'll start actually gripping it tighter not realizing you're gripping it tighter because your brain's sensing the fact that you might lose the golf club and a proper release you're typically going to feel like you lose the golf club so when you combine those two your brain's going to start to kind of tense up your hands a little bit to make sure that thing doesn't go flying down the fairway take away see what we can do from here don't really care about it yet but it's in my brain got a little quick so you can probably tell by the flight of the ball on that camera barely had any turn on it still relatively went right down the line but you could probably hear that was a little bit thin helped it out just a little bit just a little bit just got a little quick with it a little quick with it let the sequence work for me there we go that's what I'm looking for nice and solid that's what I'm looking for no need to rush I don't need to hit these 180 yards not saying I can't just saying I don't need to and as a side note the only thing going 180 yards these days is me in a golf cart not any of my swings felt a little quick with the hands flight was right had a little one to two yard cut on it I think just get a little quick with that still I got one where I was really quick one where I stayed in motion nice solid one a little quick with that one that's what I'm looking for straight fell a little bit to the left had the compression that's what we're looking for and you'll probably notice when you look at my follow through on these you know you'll see kind of where my arm and club is that it's this toe up or a little bit toe down I don't want to see this all right that's of what we're looking for I think that went down my line pretty well a little quick though that was good my checkpoints looked good shop felt good it had a little steam on it I'm going to dial this back down a little nice and relaxed I think it looks like you're doing nothing at all right now what do you know I dial it down probably the best one of the day for me isn't it crazy how in life just over complicate things I know I do every single day of the week I've done it in this session right now but on that one I thought to myself it's this journey it's not this race take your time you're just getting back into it today not trying to be John Daly yet just hone in on your fundamentals this is where I really try and have nice clean checkpoints from belt high to belt high because at the end of the day that's what's really going to take me home and see that was okay probably on camera it looked like a tiny bit of a push that's within my window though that was a nice release looked like it started about two yards offline but just kind of hung there right there it's okay for that distance this type of shot okay with that that's still on the green it's still putting I'm going to blame body on that one that's going to be an X on the card little twinge in the hip on that one there we go there we go I'll take that one checkpoints are good just a little thin though look like a little bit of push a little bit off my target that'd be a good miss in real life but I think we're going to have to have to throw that one out so close though so close with that being said what I'm going to do I'm definitely not going to hit the rest of those I'm probably going to do about one or two more sets and I'm really going to hone in on some of the feelings that I have right I don't want to overblow myself or I don't want to blow myself out today getting just now getting back in the saddle and I want to make sure that these mechanics are correct so I'm going to do about one or two more sets at most and I'm going to get home I'm going to take some look at some video see what was good what was bad we'll talk about it and what I need to go from or where I need to go from here to improve today's motion so thanks for tuning in appreciate you sticking with me hanging around for the month waiting for some more content should be rolling out here soon and I will see you on the range next time
Jonathan
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Arthur
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Arthur
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Terry
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
M. (Certified RST Instructor)
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Jim
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
PATRICK
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Chuck
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Tom
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Tom
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Richard
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Thomas
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
jeffrey
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)