Hit Down and Through

[Dentman]

Brian, I'm still struggling with fat iron shots, even after working hard with the swivel. I either pick the ball clean or hit it fat (divots are *never* after the ball)

Looking at a video of my swing, is appears my swing is travelling in an upward direction through the ball, not down.

I seem to have axis tilt, which makes my left shoulder rise, but my swing goes with it - UP!! Hence the fat shots.

What confuses me is how does the swing go DOWN plane when the left shoulder is moving UP?

Any good drills?

 

[Burner]

quote:Originally posted by Dentman

Brian, I'm still struggling with fat iron shots, even after working hard with the swivel. I either pick the ball clean or hit it fat (divots are *never* after the ball)

Looking at a video of my swing, is appears my swing is travelling in an upward direction through the ball, not down.

I seem to have axis tilt, which makes my left shoulder rise, but my swing goes with it - UP!! Hence the fat shots.

What confuses me is how does the swing go DOWN plane when the left shoulder is moving UP?

Any good drills?

First a little understanding of the downplane requirements.

Take a 2p coin and stand it on its edge on a flat surface in front of you and parallel to your line of sight - that is a perpendicular plane. Now tilt the coin towards you and you are looking down on its inclined plane.

Follow the edge of the coin with your eyes from the top all the way down the right side. This is the path your clubhead follows on the downswing. The ball MUST be hit before the clubhead gets to the part of the coin that rests on the surface in front of you - i.e before the clubhead stops going down out and forward and starts coming up and in.

Your problem seems to be in your hands, in that they are behind the clubhead at impact whereas they should be ahead of the clubhead, and ball, at impact.

The best drill I can offer you to gain experience of this concept is to address the ball with the club in your right hand only. Push the clubshaft towards the target until your hand is clearly in front of the ball: this will cause your right wrist to bend back on itself.

Now practise hitting the ball with little chip shots whilst keeping your right wrist bent at the angle it was at address. Keep on until you can hit these single handed shots satisfactorily; only then should you begin putting your left hand on the club also.

 

[Vaako]

What he (Burner) said.

Plus, make sure your axis tilt isn't putting your head over your right foot. This would move the low point of your swing inside your left foot and make it hard to hit down w/ irons without moving the ball way back left. [This is pretty much what Burner is saying w/ 2p coin.]

If you have video - how about posting it?


Vaako

 

[Dentman]

Burner - Many thanks for the help. The image of the coin on its edge is a good one.

Your guess about my hands being the problem looks spot on. Looking at my video again, I see my hands are level with the ball at impact and not in front as they should be. Also, just past impact, my left elbow breaks slightly but the back of my left hands breaks down big time!

I think I am having trouble with the concept of the release. When I get to half way down (with the shaft parallel with the ground) if I let the club release freely, the bend in the right hand automatically straightens, hence the fat shots. If I am supposed to physically hold the bend in the right hand, then what releases? Also, wouldn’t this cause a blocked shot?

Vaako - I have an 7.5 MB video clip, taken by my pro, but I don’t know how to post it.

 

[Erik_K]

I'll add some thoughts to Burner's reply (it was quite good) and at the risk of Brian yelling at me for not giving good advice, I'll do it anyway.

Clearly your hands are flipping through impact. What is causing this could be a myriad of things and I would first check your stance and ball position. If your ball position is too far back, you'll have no choice but to release early as you are swinging down and forward to the ball. The ball should never be back, behind, the middle of your stance.

Another problem could be weight transfer. Where is your weight at impact? It should not be on your right side (the so-called reverse pivot). This is a big one and if you have a smooth, easy tempo to your swing, this is perhaps the root of your problem. Brian has an article about creating lag and his analogy of the pivot providing transportation for the clubhead is an accurate one. If you take away the transportation, then you're going to have to flip the wrists to make any contact.

Burner's idea of one handed, slow-speed swings is a good idea. Practice with your wedges and short-irons first and gradually add power as you progress to the longer clubs.

 

[Vaako]

quote:Originally posted by Dentman

Burner - Many thanks for the help. The image of the coin on its edge is a good one.

Your guess about my hands being the problem looks spot on. Looking at my video again, I see my hands are level with the ball at impact and not in front as they should be. Also, just past impact, my left elbow breaks slightly but the back of my left hands breaks down big time!

I think I am having trouble with the concept of the release. When I get to half way down (with the shaft parallel with the ground) if I let the club release freely, the bend in the right hand automatically straightens, hence the fat shots. If I am supposed to physically hold the bend in the right hand, then what releases? Also, wouldn’t this cause a blocked shot?

Vaako - I have an 7.5 MB video clip, taken by my pro, but I don’t know how to post it.

Dentman,

If you ask, I'm sure that Brian can put up your vid to this site for some time. You definately need to compress it though.

As to your swing - I think I ought to bow out from discussion due to lack of knowledge.

But, I think Yoda has written something about "false release feel" - or something like that - which is about straightening right wrist bend instead of rotating/swiveling your flat left wrist. I think this might be the shoe that fits.

Also be somewhat conservative before you decide which is the root cause of you doing the Goosen.


Vaako