A short story...
For those of you who saw my swing video a while back, you know I have been fighting a really armsy swing that was way too much inside the line on the way back. Anyways, to make a long story short, yesterday I had the chance to stop at the golf store and fiddle around with my swing while watching the clubhead monitor.
Most of my warmup shots were pushes, blocks, and a few shanks. Not good I thought. Watching the clubhead monitor I saw the problem immediately, my path was EXTREME inside-out. Funny, didn't feel that way, but ok, I'll try hitting more down the line to the target. Didn't work at all. Could hit the ball worth a lick. Clubhead path got worse instead of better.
The teaching pro at the golf shop stopped by and said I should try hitting the ball without hitting a tee placed outside the line. Ok, I'll give it a shot. Couldn't do it. No matter what I did, I couldn't hit the ball more off the toe, or get the club tracking a straight impact line. The instructor said... "you have too much right hand pushing the club out away from you". Too bad I didn't tell him I was basically leaving my right hand dead through the shot.
After a few more swings and looking at the monitor, I decided to try something different. I reasoned if the right hand is "pushing out / down the line" then the left hand must "pull IN" to counteract and draw a straight plane line as the body turns through. I remembered Brian's NHA idea of "swinging left". Well, it was worth a shot. Made a few practice swings, with the idea of swinging the handle to the left. Stepped up, and made the shot.
The first shot took off with such compression it practically scared me. 6 iron, about 185 yards, almost dead straight. The sound of the shot itself was rediculous. I checked the clubhead monitor. the path was almost perfectly straight through the hitting zone. Too good to be true, I told myself, no way it lasts. Did it again. And again. It still worked! Now, they weren't all perfect, but the worst misses were slight pushes and pulls.
I realized I had to think of a way to remember the action of my hands so I could try this "revelation of clubhead path" later, with my clubs, on the outside driving range. It occured to me, that the feeling was one of "putting my left hand in my left pocket" on the downswing. It never really got there because of the swing through and body turn, but that was the feel target for the hands. I proceeded to hit multiple shots with the only thoughts being "Take it straight away, and put the hands in the left pocket". Sounds a lot like "Up the wall, down the wall, left of the wall..." doesn't it?
Now, I've had little "revelations" like this before but they never last through more than one club. So I picked up a driver and thought, what the heck, I'll try it. The result was exactly the same as the 6 iron. A straight plane line through impact. Unbelievable!
I'm so rediculously syked right now about working on using this "feel" this "action" to straighten my shots. Seeing the clubhead change from "severe inside-out" (we're talking like 20 degrees inside out), to dead straight was amazing.
For those of you who saw my swing video a while back, you know I have been fighting a really armsy swing that was way too much inside the line on the way back. Anyways, to make a long story short, yesterday I had the chance to stop at the golf store and fiddle around with my swing while watching the clubhead monitor.
Most of my warmup shots were pushes, blocks, and a few shanks. Not good I thought. Watching the clubhead monitor I saw the problem immediately, my path was EXTREME inside-out. Funny, didn't feel that way, but ok, I'll try hitting more down the line to the target. Didn't work at all. Could hit the ball worth a lick. Clubhead path got worse instead of better.
The teaching pro at the golf shop stopped by and said I should try hitting the ball without hitting a tee placed outside the line. Ok, I'll give it a shot. Couldn't do it. No matter what I did, I couldn't hit the ball more off the toe, or get the club tracking a straight impact line. The instructor said... "you have too much right hand pushing the club out away from you". Too bad I didn't tell him I was basically leaving my right hand dead through the shot.
After a few more swings and looking at the monitor, I decided to try something different. I reasoned if the right hand is "pushing out / down the line" then the left hand must "pull IN" to counteract and draw a straight plane line as the body turns through. I remembered Brian's NHA idea of "swinging left". Well, it was worth a shot. Made a few practice swings, with the idea of swinging the handle to the left. Stepped up, and made the shot.
The first shot took off with such compression it practically scared me. 6 iron, about 185 yards, almost dead straight. The sound of the shot itself was rediculous. I checked the clubhead monitor. the path was almost perfectly straight through the hitting zone. Too good to be true, I told myself, no way it lasts. Did it again. And again. It still worked! Now, they weren't all perfect, but the worst misses were slight pushes and pulls.
I realized I had to think of a way to remember the action of my hands so I could try this "revelation of clubhead path" later, with my clubs, on the outside driving range. It occured to me, that the feeling was one of "putting my left hand in my left pocket" on the downswing. It never really got there because of the swing through and body turn, but that was the feel target for the hands. I proceeded to hit multiple shots with the only thoughts being "Take it straight away, and put the hands in the left pocket". Sounds a lot like "Up the wall, down the wall, left of the wall..." doesn't it?
Now, I've had little "revelations" like this before but they never last through more than one club. So I picked up a driver and thought, what the heck, I'll try it. The result was exactly the same as the 6 iron. A straight plane line through impact. Unbelievable!
I'm so rediculously syked right now about working on using this "feel" this "action" to straighten my shots. Seeing the clubhead change from "severe inside-out" (we're talking like 20 degrees inside out), to dead straight was amazing.