5 month beginner starting over with Building blocks - my god.

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lmd168

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Hey guys,

I started playing golf around February this year, pretty much self taught and I have tried all sorts of swing methods/watching videos online - I am pretty much a max handicapper with a over the top swing + casting thru impact.

I recently bought NSA2/Building blocks/SD and CoFF, after watching the videos it really gave me a better understanding on how the golf swing works. I decided to go with the building block pattern and build my swing from the ground up (Chipping).

Things got VERY interested today as I changed my grip to Brian's recommended neutral grip with the CORRECT right hand placements (which I have been failing to do). For the first time I can actually feel the pressure point #3 and direct it through the ball past impact and get that crisp solid shot sound majority of the time. I got very excited and move on to pitching, however once I add wrist cock the ball flight was ballooning for some reason -what could be the cause of this? I feel that the ball could still go quite long distance if it wasn't for the crappy flight.

Any suggestions? I will get some videos up next time.

Thanks for reading :) (and thank you Brian for your wonderful videos)
 
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Kevin Shields

Super Moderator
Once you add wrist cock and shift higher, you may feel the sweetspot is rotated so you hurry it back to the ball and lose forward lean and get scoopy. You have to practice turning the sweetspot to the ball so all those scoops now go hard left. Then you have a better chance of reproducing the compressive chip feel with longer shots.
 
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lmd168

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Kevin Shields said:
You have to practice turning the sweetspot to the ball so all those scoops now go hard left.
Click to expand...

Thanks Kevin, can you explain what you mean by "all those scoops now go hard left?"

also could this be caused my not rotating my left forearm properly thru impact? (which I think I am not doing it actively enough)
 
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noobie

New
Take this with a grain of salt and experiment for yourself.

Regarding your stance, I think you get away with playing the ball forward because of your closed stance. The ball starts ok but seems to hook consistently. If you want to experiment playing the ball further back, play with a slightly open stance. I think you'll find that the ball should roll straighter or even slice.
 
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softconsult

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Very good for a beginner. Comments.
Your stance is not closed. Your feet are too wide, try about 6 inches apart for little chips. If you narrow your stance then ball position becomes easier to do. The advice to play the ball further back can make you have to swing steeper. You are steep because you are programming it by flexing your wrists and picking up the clubhead. Clubhead should swing more around and not so much up. That big forward press can't help.
Search for the term "Pop Out" on this site, should help.
 
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noobie

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Softconsult is right. Your stance is not closed (I meant to say your stance doesn't look to be open). I personally play the ball slightly further back (or what might look to be slightly back as compared to a wide stance) with open body (per D-plane).
 
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lmd168

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Thanks guys, the forward press is in building blocks too(maybe I'm over doing it) I'll try swing more around without the pop out and narrow my stance, will report back! :)
 
Olof Karlson

Olof Karlson

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lmd168 said:
Thanks guys, the forward press is in building blocks too(maybe I'm over doing it) I'll try swing more around without the pop out and narrow my stance, will report back! :)
Click to expand...
Even though I haven't seen Building Blocks, I think that forward press is overdone. Try to have a little less forward press, enough for it to be a good 'trigger' for your swing, but not so big that it throws of your stance, it looks like it's doing that now.
 
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lmd168

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cheers Olof, I also noticed another problem from my video, it seems that I forget to set my right forearm more on plane with the clubshaft, will adjust that with the pop out - I think it should flatten my takeaway plane to normal

edit: I just reviewed the building blocks video again, it appears I have been doing the forward press incorrectly - I have been ROTATING my hips to the left instead of just bumping/pressing it to the left
 
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niblick1

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One thing to keep in mind, Brian has posts about items he would change now if he did the video again. One of those items is the sequenced release on downswing, I believe. I wouldn't mess with that part.
 
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lmd168

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niblick1 said:
One thing to keep in mind, Brian has posts about items he would change now if he did the video again. One of those items is the sequenced release on downswing, I believe. I wouldn't mess with that part.
Click to expand...

Could you kindly link me to that post? when I put "building blocks" in the search function too many threads come up :(
 
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lmd168

New
I just noticed one more thing in my swing video, am I reverse pivoting during the backswing? (could be caused by the incorrect over-forward press?)

*edit* actually it might be due filming the video on an uphill lie, i'll redo video with the new swing later today
 
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Lindsey Newman

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Kevin Shields said:
Once you add wrist cock and shift higher, you may feel the sweetspot is rotated so you hurry it back to the ball and lose forward lean and get scoopy. You have to practice turning the sweetspot to the ball so all those scoops now go hard left. Then you have a better chance of reproducing the compressive chip feel with longer shots.
Click to expand...

If you really understand what Kevin wrote it will change your game foorrrreeeeevvveeeeeerrr.

Great reply Kevin!
 
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lmd168

New
Hey guys I am back, been working on the swing pretty hard. Switched to hitting recently, but the major breakthrough for me was finally educating my hand to feel the pp#3 and direct it thru the ball from chipping.

I can finally understand why lag pressure is the “secret” of golf, this is coming from a guy who tops the ball/slice/hitting it thin or fat 8 out of 10 from every shot (from chipping to full swing), now I can pretty hit it crisp as long as I focus on that pressure.

Now the biggest problem for me is the startdown from the top, I know what I am SUPPOSE to do (hip bump to the left, let my right shoulder drop down plane + try to achieve pitch elbow BEFORE driving my arms all the way down to china), but in reality my arms just could not resist from driving too early from the top. I am not flipping anymore because I have the feeling on pp#1 and pp#3 throughout the swing +SLIGHT forward leaning shaft @ impact but the lag I have is minimum (losing the right elbow angle wayyyyyy too early).

I tried the downswing waggle drills, but I am having problems connecting the 2 actions (hip bump lateral left move arm/club drop down plane THEN extending both arms straight), put the ball in front of me and my head just would not stop driving it from the top.

Here are some videos and screenshots:
pitching (i find it slowing down my swing helps good contact a lot)

1. pitching with minimum pressure (or at least feel like i am pitching, is this the "END" position for hitter? or can I still go higher than this?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qMNCsV58ck

2. chipping front view
‪iseekgolf chipping FO.wmv‬‏ - YouTube

3. normal shot with more pressure
‪iseekgolf PW.wmv‬‏ - YouTube

4. my shoulder plane just before impact vs a TGM hitter swing on youtube, also the location of our elbows.
http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/7670/iseekgolfimpact.png


I am also having trouble with longer irons too (anything below 6), probably has to do with my angle of attack and maybe releasing my accumulators too early.

please help! :)
 
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