Is there any hope?

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puttmad

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For jv and aa……(jv you have PM BTW)…

In order to explain in more detail, it would probably be best if I simply (!) detail what I do in my swing….

This is not meant in any way to contradict or argue against anything stated on this forum, this is simply my way of doing it, based on what I have experimented with and learned during the course of my golfing life..

That said, feel free to use any, part, all, or none of it at all, and in fact, you may wish to use it as T/paper…:D….if anyone has any suggestions for improvement, please feel free…

My main objective is efficiency..

My golf swing of 20 odd years ago was quite powerful, but required masses of energy to make it work. I always felt maxed out, even back then….so as I have got older, I have been seeking alternative methods to improve my efficiency, simply to keep up…

Efficiency only means one thing to me…max clubhead speed for whatever energy is put into it (the swing).

The following is what I term my “early season ingrain procedure” (I am not a winter player) which, although not being the final product, still allows a reasonable standard on the golf course, for the first few weeks…

The reason I start with this procedure, is because I want to build/ingrain a stable platform, upon which I can then add/tune additional features, all with the express purpose of efficiency…

To amplify my previous post, after set-up, I always make a dummy backswing, bringing the hands to just below waist height..
The purpose of this dummy backswing is
1) to cock my right hand back, thereby flattening the left “wrist”
2) to extend my right leg (walk onto my right foot (heel))
3) to get the feeling from activating the QL muscle in my lower left back (about where the kidneys are)

Number 1) above helps me ensure I keep a FLW throughout the swing
Number 2) & 3) above allow the hips to tilt, the right hip being slightly higher than the left, at the same time I don’t want my hips to become too tilted, so I lighten the left heel and feel a little weight transfer onto the ball of the left foot…if the heel raises, no problem, it is simply extending the length of the left leg, to prevent my swing center from dipping.

I do this a couple of time before each swing (and believe it helps…;))

Continued next post......
 
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puttmad

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Continued....

For the actual backswing…I don’t forward press physically, but do do it mentally re the grasscutter drill, as I want a “proper” speed backswing, with no stuttering.

Then I repeat the process above, and continue it by posting the right leg once it is extended, and allowing the left hip to turn around the right post..

I find that when I activate the QL muscle (and then the spinea muscles, which I don’t need to think about) I am half way back before I know it and from then the rest is pretty straightforward….all I needed to do about half way back is cock the left wrist fully and carry the whole unit to the top. To me, this is the most energy efficient backswing I can achieve, everything is in the right place with a minimum of fuss.

Basically, once the right leg is extended and the club is moving back, my objective is to get the cub as far, or “up as possible…I am only 5’10” and need every bit of swing arc I can get. So while turning back I am helping my upper left arm slide up across my chest towards my throat, as far up as it will go, and this was helped at address by keeping a very soft contact between left upper arm and chest.

Now many people will disagree with this, preferring to do a left arm “pec grab” at address, which helps keep the left arm parallel to the shoulder line at the top. That’s fine and many players now use it, but over the years I have found extra yardage from doing what I do, e.g. it gives me an extra 15 yards with my 8-iron.

Once I feel my arms are “up” as much as they will go (this will be just before reaching the top) a do a hard pec grab to anchor the upper left arm to the high left chest position. I don’t really want that relationship to change very much at all until well into the downswing, and then only as a reaction to the right arm straightening…I never pull my left arm back across my chest as an individual movement, as I feel that that is a potential power leakage point. I have found this pec grabbing and holding to be one of the main keys to really good ballstriking..

My swing thoughts for this whole process are simply: “squeeze” (the QL muscle to start the backswing), “turn” and “lift and lock” the left upper arm…

One final note…
ALL of the above, as an efficient working unit, is dependent on one other important factor…keeping my swing center stable. My address position is a measurement of my swing-center from the ball, and I want to try and maintain that measurement until after impact, so it is very important that my swing center neither dips or lifts during the backswing.

That’s basically it…I will do this for about two to three weeks at the beginning of the season. It takes about 2000 repetitions before a conscious move becomes automatic, so it depends on how many balls I can hit and how frequently (bloody British weather…:mad:)

If you want me to continue with my downswing please let me know…
 
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puttmad

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aa034321 said:
Not sure I understand completely....by compressing my left side, wouldn't that cause my upper body to tilt more toward the target on the backswing? I understand how compressing the right side on the downswing could give more axis tilt and extend the left side, not sure I understand reducing axis tilt on the backswing.

Or maybe I'm not following you....:)
Click to expand...

That's correct aa... The lower spine will tilt to the right and the left shoulder will drop slightly...which for me is perfect...it helps stop my previously flat shoulder turn..
 
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puttmad

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vj, yes, mostly, with a few personal additons...

savydan, answer to your request...

Keep in mind this is early in the season, cold (musclewise), if you like....I may not have hit a ball for six months...

O.K. so I am now "at the top"...

My initial agenda for the downswing is basically twofold..

1) I want to make sure my weightshift and pivot are working effectively
2) I want to make sure my right elbow is doing (or undoing..:)) its job..

To control weight shift I simply try to lift my right heel while the weight is on it at the top, at the same time walking gently onto my left foot...this (if you keep you swing center stable) makes the hips slide left in a slight semi-circle and the right hip starts to open.

Note I never slam down on my left heel (but DO extend the left leg), as I tried that a few years ago and ended up with a damaged ligament in my left knee (whether related or not, who knows, but I decided not to do it again, as every time I tried it I got pain)...plus which I found I was hitting off the toe a lot, plus the PULLS!!!....

Basically any weight on my left side at the top is on the ball of the big toe of my left foot, so on the downswing, most of the weight is initially transferred through that ball...the heel only comes into play later.

At impact my left leg is basically posted and the right hip is traversing around the left.

The feeling I like to have at impact is of hitting off the right front quarter of my right thigh.



To achieve the pivot part of 1) above I basically practice the "walkthrough drill," but in conjunction with shortening my right side.

By shortening the right side I am talking about compression between hip and shoulder, not between hip and ground...

I do this by activating the right hand QL muscle (followed by spinea) which has the effect of pushing the right lower ribcage down towards the top of the right hip bone..
While doing this the right hip naturally tries to drop (and the left hip is raising in response to the left leg extending) and the right shoulder drops down quite a bit, plus the left shoulder raises in sympathy...

In order that the shortening process doesn't make my swing center drop (or raise), while the right heel is lifting (thereby trying to raise the right hip), I bend the right knee, which equals everything out.

The above two actions (raising the right heel and compressing the right side) are done simultaneously, but have to be practiced sequentially, so I first practice the compression, and then the heel lifting...

During the above I am not doing any kind of "pulling" from the top...my hands/arms naturally drop as a reaction to the right heel raising and the right side compression, the only thing I actively do with my arms is extend the right elbow...

Once I have practiced the two above, the next addition is to conciously undo the right elbow....I want to make sure it is actively extending (not extended!..:)) through impact, otherwise Iam losing the energy stored in the folded right elbow at the top


The end thought process for the above is pretty simple...
I choose one or the other ("compress" (right side) or ""lift" (right heel), (whichever I feel is weakest) and then "straighten" (right elbow)

The object, as always, is to make a full finish, clubshaft behind the head, parallel to the shoulderline (a la Luke)...if the clubshaft ends up down my back, i know i am too in-to-out, which is most likely to be my pivot being slow, so i speed up the "kick" with the right heel...

At first I am not interested in draws or fades, I just try to hit straight shots. I don't need the complication of mixed variables...

After the first couple of weeks, once I feel the above are working more or less correctly, I will add more clubhead speed by increasing the rate the C/H travels around its swing arc...but that's another story...:D
 
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savydan

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Thanks for posting this. Been doing something like this for 3 months. I find it's anti-hook. Ball flight a slight fade. Miss is a wipe. Need to lead with the hips and lag the shoulders in the downswing. To me, the shoulders are doing the Pullback, Run-up and Jump.
 
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