keep your eye on the ball...

[tongzilla]

Hi tongzilla,
Thanks for your help...I was wondering if you could further explain, "don't try to look at the ball for the whole swing"? What are the parts of the swing I should look at it and what parts shouldn't I look at it?

Thanks,
p

Just look at the ball or a spot on the ball and swing. If you try to stare at it all the way to the finish then you might hurt your neck at worse and feel unnatural at best. Technique and flexibility means that your head angle will be different at impact compared to others. Picking a spot on the back of the ball and then trying to contact that spot will usually give you just the right amount of "down time" that's right for you.

 

[johnpritch]

looking back (to the right) in the backswing

I've been working on a lot of stuff for the last couple of months, often twice a day. Last night my son got a couple of my 8 irons on camera - nightmare - so disappointing to see the same old pop-out, big loop to the inside and stand up (loss of spine angle). I know that I can do a practice backswing with no pop-out becasue I've seen it on camera. As soon as there's a ball there and I try to hit it, the pop-out rears its ugly head.
Tonight I tried bending over more and just before taking it back I looked backwards down the target line extension so to speak (to my right) to make sure I kept the butt the same distance from me going back. I'm coming up to 60 years old and am not too flexible (never was!) so it helped me make a fuller turn. Somewhere near the top I looked back at the ball and turned through the shot. It produced a better, lower ball flight and a little more carry (about 150 yds). It also felt a bit more reactive, more like a "normal" ball sport - less ballbound. Mind you, I can make a lot of things work with an 8iron but with the longer clubs ..........

 

[pm4610]

johnpritch,
Sounds great...a 150 yard 8-iron is awesome!!

 

[Kevin Shields]

John, keep your mind on your hands and off the clubhead. Always focus on the grip end and what its doing.

 

[johnpritch]

Thanks Kevin

Thanks Kevin!!

You can be sure that I'll be giving that a go! I only recently came across TGM and, through that, this website. It's only in trying to understand some things in that most unreadable of books that I looked around and found Brian's youtube videos and this brilliant forum. I remember Homer saying something about monitoring the hands, swinging the hands or something. I've worked hard on the stuff in COFF to the point where I can now confidently place the ball much more forward in the stance - had to get rid of the flip. But seeing that pop-out on the camera just about drove me crazy! Got to get rid of that too!! I'm still playing about with the different patterns in Brian's videos - just sent for the DVD upgrades so I can watch bits of them more easily - and enjoying the experimentation tremendously.

Thanks again

John

 

[johnpritch]

Not so great pm4610!

Hi pm4610

I've been playing 10 years and got down to 6 but am back up to 8 now and it feels like 38 some days. I've never had a problem with air mailing it but putting the correct address on it is another thing! I've hooked high flippy 8 irons into the next post code left on occasions. A lot of the distance has come from a handsy flip which has meant that 3 or so holes a round just kill my score - even though we have a very short, wide open course here. My son hits it miles past me but he seems to get a much more penetrating ball flight which is the stuff of my dreams at the moment. Every time I see my swing on camera it's such a back down to earth moment. Can't wait to get back up there and work on Kevin's advice now. I just thought that some of the difference between the practice swing and the real thing might have been getting too ball bound with my focus. This forum is just amazing, isn't it!

Take care

John

 

[pm4610]

John, keep your mind on your hands and off the clubhead. Always focus on the grip end and what its doing.

Hi Kevin,
Would you explain more about focusing on the grip end and what it is doing? This sounds like a concept that I could and understand and then execute.

Thanks,
p

 

[pm4610]

Hi pm4610

This forum is just amazing, isn't it!

Yes, this forum is incredible. If you have a question you'll get plnety of answers and most if not all will be great. At some point you'll have a list of things to try out. I try to concentrate on pivot and clubface control, but there are so many tempting concepts, drills, methods, to try

Enjoy!
p

 

[Shot Limit]

pm4610

That user name sounds like an emplyee clock # where I work, not to be offensive. Our clock numbers start with pm and I'm just making an off topic observation.

But to the subject matter, I believe the hand and grip are much easier to observe and control due to the fact that they are moving at a much slower speed than the club head. After all, isn't the club head controlled by the hands? Just my 2 cents.

This is probably the best golf forum on the planet!

 

[pm4610]

Yes, everyone says the clubface is controlled by the hands and I can't disagree. I'm not sure it's because they move at a slower speed, but it's as good a reason as any.

 

[Shot Limit]

fousing on keeping the grip on plane seems to feel nice just swinging the club in my living room, keeping the hands close and releasing. uhhh... not sure what happens outside when that little white pain in the ass is down there though.

Anyone else focus on the hands and grip when it counts?

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

The d-plane is the boss; when you are in the "general area" of the required d-plane for the shot you want to hit good things will likely happen no matter how bad a pass you make.

As you get away from the sweet spot you either consciously or subconsciously try to start adjusting to get back to the sweetspot and all kinds of bad things can happen.

With DECENT clubface control and a pretty close d-plane for the shot you are trying to hit results should be acceptable.

 

[jtf8751]

I think alot of people mean by keeping your eye on the ball is probably through impact. I know I was so involved in my swing at one time I would make a great backswing but then right before impact I would look up real quick and never see the club making contact with the ball. That caused me to raise up and do all kinds of things especially coming out of my spine angle. I think you should meet the ball with the club then after that, its all the finish, come right out of it and look away then.