This might help with some mishits

[cypressperch]

Recently, I have been approached by two golfers with the same problem. They were hitting both skulled, thinned shots with their wedges that rocketed over the green and real fat shots that, well, you know what they did. Both were confused and thought that somehow they were swinging entirely different in order to have two entirely different results. Remember, Golf defies logic almost all the time. One swing problem was producing these results.

Both of these golfers were far too active with the legs on these short shots. The weight shift was almost the same as with the driver. One allowed the weight to get to the outside of the right foot; the other allowed the flex in the right leg to come out and the right leg became totally straightened.

In both cases, the relationship between the ball and club and hands at address (which approximates that at impact) had been changed. The weight, having shifted excessively to the right (for right-handed), was not going to be able to return to where it was at the beginning of the swing. The bottom of the swing had effectively been moved to the right. Two bad things can now happen, fat shots or skulled, thinned shots.

With the bottom of the swing now to the right, if a person continues the swing as started, the club will make contact with the ground (big ball earth) before making contact with the ball. The farther the weight had been allowed to move right, the fatter the shot.

I talk a lot about the subconscious. Consciously, we cannot think of too much that is going on during the down-swing. But the subconscious, especially after a number of fat shots, knows something is wrong and will allow the wrists to release early so that the clubhead misses the ground and can hit the ball. In doing so, however, the clubhead gets too far ahead of the hands. The leading edge makes contact with the ball, not the clubface. The results can be terrifying, especially if the ball is contacted near the equator of the ball. This is not the type of 190 yard wedge shot you want to brag about!

In between these two extremes will be shots that can actually look OK, but because the weight is still too far to the right at impact, and because the hands may not have gotten to where they belong, the shots do not have near the distance that we would want.

These folks had this problem with their wedge shots, but it can certainly happen with any shot as well. In fact, it probably is more likely to occur with shots that do require a full swing.

With shorter shots, there is no need for more power to be generated than that you produce with your arm swing. You can keep the lower body still, and just turn your shoulders and have all the power you need. Some will benefit by thinking of keeping the weight on the left foot. Some weight will move right going back but not enough to cause a problem getting the weight to the left coming back to the ball.

On full swing shots, keep some flex, firmness, and/or bend in the right leg.
Let the weight make it to the inside, heel area of the right foot (back foot), but DO NOT allow it to go any farther. Now you can "push off" the back foot to get the weight going back to the left.

My favorite drill is hitting five-iron shots with the feet touching. This drill can help with almost every swing problem. It is especially good with the problem of keeping the weight from getting to the outside of the feet during the swing. With the feet together, you cannot maintain your balance if the weight gets outside your feet. With the feet in the usual position, we seem to be able to make our swing, but in fact, our swings may be very far from where they should be. Good ball striking comes with properly timed shifting of the weight, and the weight is always somewhere between the feet allowing for very good balance. The word "balance" should appear more often than it does when the subject is the golf swing.

The best of luck to everyone with your games. Sincerely, Cypressperch

[Eracer]

Super post. I suffer from this from time to time, and find it to be the most frustrating on-course problem. Excessive (or poor) weight transfer = inconsistent bottom of swing arc = fat or thin shot. I have learned to tell myself three things when I start having this type of mishit:

1. Simplify.
2. Balance and Posture.
3. Swing through, not at.

It's a funny thing, this game. We're told:

"Get your left shoulder under your chin, but don't let your weight go to the outside of your right foot".

"Keep your head still, but pivot around your right leg on the backswing, and left leg on the through swing."

"Hit down on the ball with your irons, but swing up to a high finish."

"Swing hard, but don't swing fast."

All the different thoughts, theories, and lessons that we get from pros, friends, magazines, The Golf Channel, this forum; all are valuable tools in our search for a better game. Using good drills on the range (like the feet-together drill, the step-through drill, the machine-gun drill, etc.) are the first step. Trusting yourself on the course is the second, and most difficult step. There is no doubt in my mind that the worst thing one can do on the course is tell themself, "I'm hitting it fat today, so I need to (insert swing fix here...) But we've got to do something, right?

The question is - what is the best thing? For me it's the three things above, along with just trying to relax and move on, believing in my ability to hit good shots.

[cypressperch]

I very much agree with the importance of simplification. I remember something Brad Faxon wrote in which he said if you could not write down two or three ideas on a 3 x 5 note card concerning your "thoughts" for a given round, you were over-complicating things.

This thing gets almost philosophical. Everyone needs to "know thy self" and "unto thy self be true", for "the truth shall set you free." Some of us have been playing a long, long time. It may be time to sort of finalize the golfer we are and plan accordingly. Figure out a short list of things that work, and then just go out an "do it" without all the second guessing and uncertainty. I just played with a friend who shot a 109 and the other day he had an 85! I never saw someone beat up on themselves like he did. He said that the day before he had gone to the driving range to work on some "new ideas." After playing thirty years and after shooting a round that he was very happy with, I am not sure that the answer is some questionable tinkering. Stick with what works, and work on that stuff becoming more and more repeatable. That would be, to me, a better path to satisfying golf. After that 109, I am not sure he wants to play the game any more. Incidentally, he tried to go back to his "old way," and the "old way" did not kick in until the last three holes where he had two pars and a boggie. Maybe that will get him back out there.

I also agree with your "swing through the ball, not at it" idea. That may very well be the number one concept or idea in this game. And posture is certainly right there with grip, alinement, smooth tempo, etc, as the important fundamentals.

Was it old Coach McGuire that said, "Keep it simple, stupid!"?

Enjoyed reading your post. Sincerely, Cypressperch

[mont86]

So the swing arc pretty much relies on your balance and how I move to the right or don't move to the right. I'm a right handed golfer.

[cypressperch]

If you try to move too far to the right without turning, you will lose your balance. Its something of an exaggeration, but some teachers say to imagine you are inside a huge barrel trying to swing. The idea being to coil the shoulders, to turn. We have over-done the idea of keeping the head from moving (Jack Nicklaus talked of a shaft being driven through his body--now come on Jack!!), but the head should be fairly steady. If we keep the arms "connected" to the body so that head-covers do not fall out during the swing (Vjay has made this old drill popular again.), the arc will be determined by the coiling shoulders.

Keeping in mind, that the arm-swing still goes back and up, and then down and through the ball. And of course the hips turn as well. Thus we get two turns (hips, shoulders) and one swish (arm swing) to use the terms of John Jacobs. Get the two turns and swish properly timed, and we have a good golf swing. (something of an over-simplification, but certainly true generally speaking).

Sincerely, Cypressperch

[Eracer]

Cypressperch,

I have found lately that if I don't make what I consider to be an excessive move to my left side, that I have problems with poor contact. This swing video shows a couple of swings that produced good results. I would like your opinion on whether you think that I am too upright and forward (which I feel I am) on my follow-through. Notice how I almost fall forward.

I notice a lot of tour players have a tilt in their spine as they hold their finish, which tells me that they are swinging around their spine angle a lot longer than I am. Paula Creamer is a prime example of this. Her right side fires down and towards the ball, her left shoulder making an aggressive move up and out of the way.

FYI - my usual miss is a pull. I know that I need to focus on more of a left-side pulling motion. The slo-mo shots show that I'm not maintaining my wrist angle. I really have problems, though, when I concentrate on keeping my left arm straight and connected through the swing. I'm much more comfotable with a free arm swing and a handsy approach to the ball, which unfortunately produces a tendency to get "flippy" and upright.

Your thoughts are appreciated. I've posted this before in the "Picture" section, and gotten good feedback from others. Anyone else is free to chime in as well.

[mont86]

Originally Posted by cypressperch

If you try to move too far to the right without turning, you will lose your balance. Its something of an exaggeration, but some teachers say to imagine you are inside a huge barrel trying to swing. The idea being to coil the shoulders, to turn.

Sincerely, Cypressperch

But it doesn't take much movement to the right ,too change the arc of the swing, right?

[cypressperch]

Please remember what I just said which is that you have a pretty good swing right now. You have ever reason to be confident with what you have accomplished thus far in developing your swing. There are a few things that might help.

On your back-swing, you are taking the club back nice and smooth, but you might allow the clubhead to come inside the target a little sooner. This will prevent what I think is too much straightening of the back leg. You could also just try maintaining some flex or tension in the leg to prevent it from straightening out. If the back leg straightens out, it becomes somewhat more difficult to get the weight moving back to the left on the through swing. You are recovering more than most people can but with a little loss of balance which is part of why you move foward after impact.

You do keep your left arm pretty straight going back, and the right elbo bends nicely allowing you to stay connected. After impact, it will be the right arm that is straight and the left elbo must fold or bend so that the clubhead can come inside the target line. Remember, there is a such thing as trying to keep the clubhead square an excessively long time after impact. We do this thinking wrongly that it will produce a straighter shot, but in actuality, the ball is long gone by that time. So keep the arms connected after impact and your shoulder turn will bring the clubhead correctly inside the target line automatically. And while I am at it, do make certain to keep the shoulders turning which will also help you maintain your balance.

I tend to talk more about the shoulder turn than the hip turn which comes first on the down swing, the shoulder turn having come first on the back-swing. Some people advise a slight bump of the the left hip to the left to start the down-swing. I have no problem with this, but often I find the bumb becomes a slide from which it becomes very hard to recover. Too much slide and not enough turn of the hips can harm our balance.

Balance is key to good ball striking. During the swing, the weight is always kept somewhere between the feet as it makes its shifting movements. If we coil back, we have a very good chance to keep the weight within acceptable limits between the feet. Also, we might consider shifting less weight from the left side to the right going back when we use a wedge than we would when swinging the driver.

You do lose a little of your wrist angle at the very beginning of the down-swing. Thinking of bringing the butt end of the club down toward the ground would probably prevent that minor problem.

You said that you tend to get a little wristy or something to that effect. As you can tell perhaps, I believe in the shoulders determining the swing's arc by keeping the arms connected to the body. By connection I mean having the arms close to the body so that if you had handkerchiefs or head-covers under your arm pits, they would not fall out during the swing. A problem with this method is that sometimes people get overly stiff. You simply cannot swing if you have too much tension. Holding the club a little more loosely allows the arms to loosen up and then the shoulders can loosen up, and so forth. All it takes to stay connected is just a tad of firmness at the arm-pits. So, to me, it sounds like you are sort of doing that, and I would suggest continuing it. If we lose control, it far more likely to be from swinging to fast or hard, than from holding the club a little on the loose side, which is the proper way to hold the club.

One last thing about grip pressure. I talk a lot about the subconscious being the executer of the swing. It, not the conscious, possesses the speed to do all the things going on in a swing. Too tight a grip pressure prevents the subconscious from having the freedom it needs to execute. Your grip can be a little off if you do not have a death grip on it. If the grip is real tight then the grip must be perfect to produce a good shot.

The best of luck to you with your swing. Sincerely, Cypressperch

[Eracer]

Thanks Cypress, I appreciated the feedback immensely!

The main points I take from you here are:

1. More knee flex to lower my center of gravity and help maintain balance. Maintain knee flex.

2. Work on striking the back of the ball and staying down and through, instead of through and up.

3. Don't worry about keeping the clubhead inside-square-inside (which I do!) Instead, focus on shoulder rotation. Swing in a barrel. Let the swing happen around the body. More carousel, less ferris wheel.

4. Let the arms swing. Don't become too stiff by worrying about connection (which I do.)

You mention that the left arm folds up after impact. I see in photos of tour players that their left elbow is in pretty close to their side just after impact, and even more telling is that their right wrist and hand have completely crossed over the left, with the palm of the left hand pointed straight up. Is this a conscious move? Do good players focus on turning their hands over that much? Or is what I see a reaction to the way the left elbow "tucks" into the side in the early part of the follow-through? I know my hands are nowhere near that position after impact. I also know that I suffer from the "chicken-wing", where my left elbow flys out. Any drills that might help me with this? Should I hit a bunch of 7-irons, exaggerating the tucked-elbow, left-palm-up motion? Hogan's hip-to-hip drill, perhaps?


Thanks again.

[cypressperch]

Your drill ideas (Hogan) should work. When I say, "Keep it natural" I do believe that the clubhead will come inside after impact as a result of the shoulders turning. If your shoulders do not continue turning after impact, you probably have not truly hit "through the ball."

I would not dare stop thinking about connection until it becomes your natural tendency. But if we get overly rigid in trying to stay connected, we will have too much tension to swing with rhythm. I find loosening the grip while maintaining connection works out just fine.

I am not a believer in the one-plane stuff that came out recently (I believe in a book written by Hardy and pushed by Jacobson.). The shoulders turn more level (merry-go-round); the arm-swing is more up and down or vertical.

When people have trouble with a slice, I like the use of the "swinging inside a barrel" idea. When someone has trouble with a hook, I like to use the railroad tracks idea. Slicers need some rounding out, and those who hook have too much round already.

The best of luck to you with your game. Sincerely, Cypressperch