Axis tilt, Weight Shift, Downswing pivot

[spktho]

I hear you on the mental aspect. It's just been somewhat of a struggle for me to change my hacker swing to a less hacker swing. That's why when I got the "feeling" for that 5 iron, I kept it in my hands for as long as I could.

The good news is at the range today, I could hit every iron alot better than I had before. I still need to get the hands a little farther forward while still maintaining axis tilt and not moving forward. I only hit a few drivers and they were ok, better than before, but still more work to do to get the hands more forward and work some more on club face control.

 

[greenfree]

I hear you on the mental aspect. It's just been somewhat of a struggle for me to change my hacker swing to a less hacker swing. That's why when I got the "feeling" for that 5 iron, I kept it in my hands for as long as I could.

The good news is at the range today, I could hit every iron alot better than I had before. I still need to get the hands a little farther forward while still maintaining axis tilt and not moving forward. I only hit a few drivers and they were ok, better than before, but still more work to do to get the hands more forward and work some more on club face control.

Good stuff.

 

[Kevin Shields]

I agree, good stuff. Sounds like you're working hard.

 

[spktho]

New Swing

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5 iron-straight ball flight, about 15 feet right of the flag 190-200yds.





Was getting a little dark:

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Felt a little out of sync as you can tell with the balance in the follow through. Was a push draw. I think I need to move the ball position a little forward.

Been working on keeping the head more still along with the forward leaning shaft. I can't seem to stop moving the head forward beginning the downswing and can't even "feel" it happening.

I can repeat this swing with a fairly consistent ball flight. I'm almost ready to take this swing to the course. Just need to work some more on club face and path.

Any suggestions for fine tuning?

 

[vjsinger]

Amateur advice at best....

If you are trying to keep your head more steady, I'd give you a feel of making the left shoulder down down MUCH earlier in the backswing. Think DOWN with the left shoulder immediately away from the ball. It will help with the pivot, making it more "compact" and it will help your head position. All the best.

 

[Bigwill]

I think that your head is moving forward in the downswing because it's moving back in the backswing. It looks to be in a good position at impact.

I agree with VJ. If you're interested in limiting the forward move, limit the backward move; you're just moving your head back to where it was at address. But if it's just an aesthetic thing, and not something that's adversely affecting your swing, I'd consider leaving it alone.

 

[greenfree]

Looks good, maybe a touch more axis tilt would help limit the head moving foward, tail bone ahead of neckbone. Fine tuning, without destroying what you have achieved so far. Kevin can get you there. Nice job.

 

[spktho]

If you are trying to keep your head more steady, I'd give you a feel of making the left shoulder down down MUCH earlier in the backswing. Think DOWN with the left shoulder immediately away from the ball. It will help with the pivot, making it more "compact" and it will help your head position. All the best.

Worked some with this today at the range. It almost feels too compact. I started thinking about this and tended to neglect a complete pivot and struggled making solid contact.

I think that your head is moving forward in the downswing because it's moving back in the backswing. It looks to be in a good position at impact.

I agree with VJ. If you're interested in limiting the forward move, limit the backward move; you're just moving your head back to where it was at address. But if it's just an aesthetic thing, and not something that's adversely affecting your swing, I'd consider leaving it alone.

My old swing had a bunch of movement away from the ball and then even more forward on the downswing. I think the forward movement was a compensation for a high ball flight and the flip that had resurfaced. Thank you for the reassurance that it's not imperative to have a still head. I will stay with the little motion I have now and see what happens.

Looks good, maybe a touch more axis tilt would help limit the head moving foward, tail bone ahead of neckbone. Fine tuning, without destroying what you have achieved so far. Kevin can get you there. Nice job.

I'm with you on the axis tilt. It is so easy to do in practice swings without a ball. But, once there is a ball there, I can feel the old swing tendencies before I even start the backswing. I have noticed that I really need to get the hands going forward to get any axis tilt at all.

It's too bad I'm on the left coast and far away from the Manzella "crew", I bet these changes would take less time if I could spend some time with any of them.

I agree, good stuff. Sounds like you're working hard.

Better than hardly working. Spending a lot of money on range balls for sure.

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice.

Struggled today at the range some. Was hitting pull draws or push fades and nothing "down the middle" at my target. If I concentrated on holding the twistaway I'd hit the pull hook. If I relaxed the twistaway I'd hit the push fade.

I have an idea, but not too sure about the clubface and path conditions causing this. Are they related--meaning same path but differing clubface orientation or some other combination?

 

[greenfree]

This might help. Especially the 4.03 to the 5 min. mark of the video.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TTx9UeD1m0[/media]

 

[spktho]

Thanks for the reminder about that video. It addresses both my questions today. I spent a while doing the ball throwing drill today really feeling the right shoulder going down and the right hand going to a point out in front. I think this may help with my D-plane question too. On both shots--pull draw and push fade--my path is a little too right. Need to swing across the left hip more. Then, hopefully the open clubface causing the push fade will now be a straight ball?

 

[greenfree]

Thanks for the reminder about that video. It addresses both my questions today. I spent a while doing the ball throwing drill today really feeling the right shoulder going down and the right hand going to a point out in front. I think this may help with my D-plane question too. On both shots--pull draw and push fade--my path is a little too right. Need to swing across the left hip more. Then, hopefully the open clubface causing the push fade will now be a straight ball?

Your welcome, good luck.

Snap the chain, dynamic move. My favorite Manzella video.

 

[spktho]

Taday I was able to get a consistent ball flight to start at the target, but would then draw about 10-15 yards with the 8 through 3 irons. Driver was dead nuts on target with maybe a 5 yard draw. So, I think I may have the path somewhat zeroed and a zeroed club face(driver maybe a little open to the line). As I'm typing this, I may want to play with ball position with the irons as all were put about 2 inches inside the left heel, but my buddy got us a tee time tomorrow, so I'll have to try out what I got.