Thanks to all who have commented. It shows the great level of swing knowledge on this forum that the comments and advice have been pretty much in line with my own train of thought in recent times, and also in line with advice I've received from coaches.
Wulsy, I like your action. It's okay to consciously swing more left to modify the bottom of the D-plane. Also, that early lateral move might have something to do with you inconsistency. Do you do that all the time and exactly that much?
martin, do I have to turn more to swing more left. Or just move the arms/hands more left consciously?
The strange lateral move is something that crept in when I was working many years ago on changing my naturally wide arc takeaway move to a more "early set, on a flatter plane" concept a la LeadyB. This kind of messed me up big time, and I've never really had a nice smooth takeaway since. The more "nervous" I get the more I do it. Interestingly enough though, I'm still only moving about half a head to the right during the whole backswing, which is no more than many top players. I just do it all in one go.
Nice swing wulsy. Agree with Martin. What happens when you try to fade it consistantly?
savy, I've played some of my best golf trying to fade everything! I never hook it when I try to fade it, and it doesn't go right very often either. I once shot 10 under in a one-day 36-hole tournament after blowing a good round in my previous tournament by hooking my last two teeshots. I just decided to fade everything next time out!
Sometimes its difficult for a swing that narrow and inside to go enough left thru the ball.
I agree Kevin (I assume you mean the downswing). What specifically do you think I need to change to be able to get more left thru impact?
It's wide to too narrow down. I'd suggest wider down with more turn thru. Same reason Mickelson hits it left sometimes. So you're in good company!
DC, when i try to get wider on the downswing I sometimes hit it pretty good, but its kinda against my natural instincts. I've always hit very late, even as a skinny little kid trying to keep up with the big boys.
When I try to turn more through I tend to spin out and hit pulls and toe hits, but OTOH I do need to swing more left thru impact. Hence my dilema. Maybe I need more "Manzella carry" in the first stages of the downswing?
Narrow is another term for lots of accumulator lag.Wider would be more of a sweep release.
There is nothing wrong with either unless it is causing issues with consistency.Sergio and CH III are very narrow coming down and they hit it fine.They are both wider in the follow through than Wulsi though.Wide backwing,narrow downswing,wide follow through has been often used to describe swings like Garcia's and Howell's.
ej, would you associate wider in the follow through with a change to my arm movement or with more turn?
Martin and kevin hit it perfect.
I think you have a great swing and one of the best i have seen on this forum. I think you have a very athletic action and could just deal with it becuase it is a great action..
However you asked for help and desire for a more consitent action.
IMOP: Your first move causes all your problems. You start the backswing with a lateral bump... It almost appears as though you move your body away from the target and toward your heels to fast. Try to keep from swaying off the ball.. Brace yor right knee inward to help from swaying. When you make this sway off the ball you rock back toward your heel resulting in sucking the hands and clubs behind you. This then requires you to lift the hands and arms getting them on a steeper plane and dissconected from your body. You do have a great transtion with you arms wich saves most of your shots. In the downswing because of your lateral backswing shift you have to make a large lateral shift to the target. This large of a shift could cause at times for you to get in front of the ball and being a good player you will compensate by dropping it under the plane. The arms get slightly stuck behind the body. You can see this result from dtl view you can see an aggressive closing of the face on the throughswing. When the clubhead is left off your body you can see the face point toward the ground at almost a 90 degree angle. Let me rephrase that you have a great swing and I wish my swing was this good. You are so close to having a great swing. You should notice when you stop that lateral shift that the club will stay outside your hands longer in the backswing. The arms will be more connected and synched with the body. There will be less lifting of the arms. This will free you from fear of the he block or hook. The new move will allow you to release more left and unwind as aggresvie as you want.
proguy, I've been fighting this bizarre takeaway for some time now (see my above comments to martin about how it all started). For sure, your observation about getting too inside is accurate. I think this bump/shift also causes my shoulder turn to be a bit flat too, contributing eventually to the too inside approach into impact. I'd love to get rid of it because its just so ugly and uncool, but I just hit it worse when I don't do it! Strange but true.
Again thanks for taking the time to reply. Any further comments gratefully received!
