Oh, good grief. Help?

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Crunchie1982

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Hello All,

I've been struggling badly this season thus far. I'm not really compressing the ball at the moment. I did suffer with a ruptured L5 disc this winter, but consider myself back to about 90% in terms of my flexibility.

The things that i've always struggled with, and have been working on are:

- Flat backswing, over-rotating my arms on the backswing and getting the club 'behind me' / pointing outside of the ball
- Right foot flies off the ground on the downswing, i'm onto my toe very quickly, and i think this blocks out the room my arms should be occupying on the downswing.

I have posted two links to my swing below - down the line and front on, with a 5 iron.

YouTube - ‪DL.MOV‬‏

YouTube - ‪FO‬‏

Down the line - the most glaring thing to me, is how much i seem to be coming over the top on the downswing, after (what looks to me) a decent backswing / plane

Front on - i almost look like a stack and tilter, until i saw this i thought i was a 'swayer'! i don't seem to get any axis tilt / keep my head back on the way down.

Both videos, i seem to be casting and losing all my lag - i'm not feeling a 'late hit' anymore.

I know the videos aren't the best quality (iphone), but i was hoping that i might get some input that you guys have. I would really appreciate any comments, thank you in advance!

Crunch
 
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ekennedy

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The video is not great, but it looks like you have a clubface problem. The face is pretty open during the swing and you spend most of your energy throwing the clubhead at the ball and backing up your hips to try to square the face up at the last minute.

My opinion? NSA...twistaway. You'll get your lag back in no time.
 
counterfall

counterfall

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In addition to the clubface, it appears from the FO clip that you may be overdoing the idea of staying centered and/or keeping your weight on the insides of both feet. Overdoing either could lead to a robotic or less dynamic pivot, or even the stack and tilt appearance you noted.
 
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JKGolf

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What clubface?

What clubface issue are you guys looking at? It's square going back and it's 45 degrees and parallel with the forearm at the top of the bs. Seems like a twistaway would shut his clubface. Didn't read were he said he was struggling with ballflight.
 
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ekennedy

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Anyone who backs up their hips, has clubhead throwaway and swings their arms through impact that fast has clubface issues.

I don't need to see great video quality to know that.

BTW, if you're not struggling with ball flight, why the hell would you ask someone's opinion about your golf swing?
 
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Crunchie1982

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JKGolf said:
What clubface issue are you guys looking at? It's square going back and it's 45 degrees and parallel with the forearm at the top of the bs. Seems like a twistaway would shut his clubface. Didn't read were he said he was struggling with ballflight.
Click to expand...

Thanks to everyone for their comments so far! :)

I can understand the logic of recommending 'twistaway' - i.e i'm coming over the top / backing up / club-head throwaway, because my clubface is assumed to be open relative to the arc of the swing, therefore the aforementioned 'faults' are my unconscious attempt to somehow square the clubface at impact.

My ballflight at the moment seems to be a shot that starts online and just drifts a bit right. There are a few holes on my course where i need to hit a draw off the tee, and for the life of me, i just cannot get the thing to draw - all i end up with is a block. I'm really not getting the compression and trajectory that i used to be able to, and i'm really missing the pure joy of a mashed, compressed iron shot

I worked hard on doing 'twistaway' this evening at the range and on the course, i tried to visualise myself as an exaggerated Dustin Johnson. It worked well on the shorter irons, albeit it felt a bit awkward at first. I also narrowed my stance as recommended, and this immediately felt more comfortable. However, i could still feel myself coming over the top a bit, and throwing my arms at the ball.

I guess my questions would be:

- Is an open clubface always the cause of my aforementioned ailments? Could it be that i'm doing it, because i'm still subconsciosly 'protecting' my lower back?
- How do i know that my clubface is open at various stages of the swing? As JK mentioned, and others have told me, my clubface looks square, and everyone seems to think that i'm in a 'good position at the top', so why do things go so horribly wrong on the downswing?

My swing seems to be an eternal mystery - most people i play with say i have a 'great looking swing' and are mystified by my relative inconsistency. However, when i look at my downswing frame-by-frame, it's not really all that great at all!
 
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ekennedy

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Crunchie,

I'm glad to see you had some success with twistaway on your practice this evening. Stick with it.

First, don't be deceived by the face that your club appears to be "square" at the top. If it were as simple as getting the club in a good position at the top and the rest was auto-pilot, there would be 12,000 Tiger Woods in the world. Maintaining a square clubface on the DS and arriving at impact with forward shaft lean is far more important. It takes practice.

I would take my (and Matt's) advice along with getting used to playing the ball more forward in your stance. It will force you to get your hands leading in the DS and give you more time to square up the clubface. Also, with back or neck injuries, dial your swing speed down a bit and get used to hitting the ball correctly and ultimately more solid.

Keep up the good work.
 
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JKGolf

New
ekennedy,

Do you think that a DS that is too steep could cause someone to back out of it in order to shallow the club out? Would moving the ball further forward tend to increase or decrease VSP?
 
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spktho

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Not a glaring open face from the real time speed swing, but he does show the signs of trying to square the club face up without the hands--mostly the right shoulder and upper body twisting through impact and into the follow through. I'd also suggest twistaway, but maybe more at the start of the downswing.
 
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ekennedy

New
Without Crunchie even saying say, its obvious his misses would be to the right with that motion (unless he flips it left.) It's not a glaring open face, but its open enough that his body is desperately trying to close it. That, coulpled with a rear ball position is a recipe for flipping the clubface closed.
 
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