Question about the downswing

[duckjr78]

In playing around with Brian's "one armed swinging test" I noticed that swinging with just my left arm felt much more natural and less contrived than making a swing with the right arm or both arms. I found that a little twistaway early in the backswing allowed me to keep the clubface "squarer" and made for later left arm & club assembly rotation which put me in a nice position at the top.

My question is about the downswing. Swinging with only the left arm attached to the club, I had the distinct feeling of a flat left wrist on the entire downswing and the left thumb was the pressure point that I directed downplane.

Anyone have any experience with anything like this?

 

[SteveT]

What you are experiencing is a natural consequence of Newtonian Physics and unimpeded circular motion.

 

[duckjr78]

What you are experiencing is a natural consequence of Newtonian Physics and unimpeded circular motion.

So is the left thumb on the downswing a viable feel?

Also, I need to note that this feel is for the first part of the downswing. Once the clubface starts to rotate off plane and back to square, I just have the feeling of delivering the clubhead to the ball with a forward leaning shaft. This is a markedly different feeling than the flip I have fought my whole golfing life.

 

[chipingguru]

I am wth ya on the one armed swings, always feel great. What is maddening to me is the gorgeous release action i can put on video with a practice swing, only to turn into a total basket case when the little white ball has to be struck.

 

[SteveT]

You must be uncertain about the role of the left and right hands and arms in the downswing. I sure Brian will help you with that.

 

[softconsult]

Anyone have any experience with anything like this?

Yep, using the right hand incorrectly has to be one of most common swing
destroyers out there.

 

[duckjr78]

Anyone have any experience with anything like this?

Yep, using the right hand incorrectly has to be one of most common swing
destroyers out there.

That has to be what is happening in my swing. The left arm only swing feels natrual and unimpeded. Swinging with both hands attached to the club gets jerky and flippy. Today, all my shots off a tee were played well enough. But, as soon as the ball was down, I was lost. I hit one quality full shot off the turf all day. NHA is what I am currently using. Misses were thin shots that started at target and faded (would have been good if struck solidly) and shots that were hit solidly were all pushes that then faded.

 

[softconsult]

The local public course is very close by and I often practice there.
The practive green is something like 20 yards from the first tee.
I find it sort of fun to watch a player address the ball and then
predict to myself what is going to happen. Everytime I see the
right hand very strong, sometimes with the thumb on the back of
the grip, you can bet they have no clue where the ball is going.

So logic says you have an opportunity to improve your grip.

 

[duckjr78]

I realize that I'm going to have to work on my grip. I simply fool around with it to much. I'm going to work on the Manzella neutral until I have it perfect. Also, regarding the right hand, how come a majority of the pros I see on tv have a visually flat right wrist at address? Is that considered strong?

I also liked your advice to Tophdad. I also have very little hip turn on the backswing and fight a flip.

Am I correct in assuming that too little hip turn back results in making it hard (for some) to time the snap of the kinetic chain on the downswing due to the hips being to close to their ideal impact position, thereby releasing the energy to early causing the club to flip? By not getting the hips turned back enough, my hip swing on the downswing is over to quickly perhaps?

 

[natep]

duckjr78,

I think you're correct in your assessment of the problems that a limited hip turn can cause.

 

[softconsult]

Mid-body hands at address, flat right wrist, bent left wrist. During takeaway the right wrist bends back and the left wrist flattens. I'm just regurgitating from Brian's videos.