Sorry for posting this here, but I couldn't post it under the thread with Mike's swing.
Mike,
You are a much better player than me and I think your swing is fantastic, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I am in the medical profession and I think I can offer you a reason why you can tend to get "laid off" at the top and "drop below plane" on the way down.
To speak in anatomical terms, your right arm is a bit too much externally rotated at the top. To put it in a more layman's terms, your elbows are a bit too much squeezed together. I know that Hogan and others advocate squeezing the elbows together and keeping it that way, but it can have its downside as well.
Try this. At address, relax the right arm and let the right elbow move away from the left elbow a fraction, so that there is slighlty more distance between the two elbows. The observers won't notice, but you should be able to feel the difference straight away. You'll feel some of the pressure in your right armpit go away.
As you swing to the top, let the right elbow "float" and get behind you more. Your right arm is externally rotated at the shoulder joint at the top, and the right elbow is very much in front of you (with the two elbows close together). Because the right elbow is in front, the forces in the swing can send the clubhead back, giving you the "laid off" look. If you let the right elbow float to a position more behind you, the right forearm is more parallel to the spine angle at the top (whereas your right forearm is more vertical than your spine angle) and in a better position to support the club down the target line.
I hope this made sense. I will try to show some photos to illustrate what I mean next time.
Jono.
*Late addition*
Let me add a little bit here that may illustrate what I mean by too much "external rotation" at the right shoulder joint. Please try this. Stand up straight and hold out your arms in front of you as if you are holding up a large box in front of you, around chest height. Your elbows will be approx shoulder width apart and your hands should be vertical (ie. thumbs on top, little finger on bottom). Now, whilst KEEPING the hands where they are, sqeeze the right elbow towards the left elbow. KEEP the right hand where it is. Can you see what is happening? The right hand, which was vertical, begins to look UP. The action of moving the right elbow towards the left elbow (i.e. squeezing the two elbows together) introduces external rotation at the right shoulder joint which affects the alignment of the right hand. Please note that this exercise is supposed to illustrate the concept of external rotation at the shoulder joint and is not intended to represent the golf swing.
Mike,
You are a much better player than me and I think your swing is fantastic, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I am in the medical profession and I think I can offer you a reason why you can tend to get "laid off" at the top and "drop below plane" on the way down.
To speak in anatomical terms, your right arm is a bit too much externally rotated at the top. To put it in a more layman's terms, your elbows are a bit too much squeezed together. I know that Hogan and others advocate squeezing the elbows together and keeping it that way, but it can have its downside as well.
Try this. At address, relax the right arm and let the right elbow move away from the left elbow a fraction, so that there is slighlty more distance between the two elbows. The observers won't notice, but you should be able to feel the difference straight away. You'll feel some of the pressure in your right armpit go away.
As you swing to the top, let the right elbow "float" and get behind you more. Your right arm is externally rotated at the shoulder joint at the top, and the right elbow is very much in front of you (with the two elbows close together). Because the right elbow is in front, the forces in the swing can send the clubhead back, giving you the "laid off" look. If you let the right elbow float to a position more behind you, the right forearm is more parallel to the spine angle at the top (whereas your right forearm is more vertical than your spine angle) and in a better position to support the club down the target line.
I hope this made sense. I will try to show some photos to illustrate what I mean next time.
Jono.
*Late addition*
Let me add a little bit here that may illustrate what I mean by too much "external rotation" at the right shoulder joint. Please try this. Stand up straight and hold out your arms in front of you as if you are holding up a large box in front of you, around chest height. Your elbows will be approx shoulder width apart and your hands should be vertical (ie. thumbs on top, little finger on bottom). Now, whilst KEEPING the hands where they are, sqeeze the right elbow towards the left elbow. KEEP the right hand where it is. Can you see what is happening? The right hand, which was vertical, begins to look UP. The action of moving the right elbow towards the left elbow (i.e. squeezing the two elbows together) introduces external rotation at the right shoulder joint which affects the alignment of the right hand. Please note that this exercise is supposed to illustrate the concept of external rotation at the shoulder joint and is not intended to represent the golf swing.