*Warning* Ugly Swing

[jershan1]

Background: Pretty decent golfer (could be low 70s or mid 80s haha).

I took a year off and came back to golf a couple of months ago. I started with soft draw to get rid of being laid off.
I think I overdid it though. Are my shoulders too steep? Am I cocking my right wrist or something? That takeaway looks funky.

I have ALWAYS "looked back" in the backswing. Any real problems with that? lead to inconsistent contact?

This ball was a 2 yard draw max.. it was well struck.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNjhuVz9TpM[/media]

My issue is not knowing where the ball is going to go. Left, right, etc. I usually hit it pretty solid, just maybe lack club face control. I was on a trackman fairly recently. I was way inside out. Think I got it more left?

I would love to hear any suggestions from you guys!

Thanks,

jershan1

 

[dbl]

Very interesting. This is like one of those projects where you take a car into the mechanic having disconnected the distributor rotor and throttle linkage and complain you've lost acceleration and see if they can find the problem. Really trying to test people, eh?

And I'd say metaphors just can't be used enough: it's like you "took the whole bottle of aspirin!" The SD backswing with super lift! Then for the downswing, you arch the wrist and drop the arms and finally remember to move the hips after you've hit the ball. (I think the hips are still closed at impact.)

An instructor would have to give you a starting point. My take is I think you could live with the backswing, since Ricky Fowler can, but you need to change the downswing and get the pivot shifting and motoring to drive the downswing.

 

[jershan1]

Not really sure what all of that meant. This was a 7 iron hit at a target lasered at 173. It landed what looked like a few yards passed. Distance is not much of an issue.

So the hips being closed... caused the inside out path? Sounds right.

I have basically just jumped from one extreme to another

 

[spktho]

I agree with alot of what dbl said and you realize that you have overdone the backswing some. I think you could relax the right elbow above the left on the backswing and use more of a lagging clubhead takeaway. Then you can feel like you leave the hands at the top, step on your left foot and hit the ball with your pivot. I sometimes try to feel like I hit the ball from the top with my right shoulder working down and out to the ball. You can search for "throwing the drunk off you back", which a good pivot feel too.

 

[jershan1]

That makes a lot of sense.

In that swing I was feeling the right elbow above the left big time.. probably why it is so extreme. I can make a swing without any issues that looks like the exact opposite of this. I probably should have posted a swing feeling nothing. By friday I will have one. Takeaway will be on plane.. laid off at the top.. steepen in transition.. etc.
I have gone from one extreme to the other.


Thank you for taking the time to help me out

 

[spktho]

Ya, post another video. Laid off isn't always bad--especially if you hit the ball where you want to.

Looking at your video again, you may also want to try and finish with the club head pointing down more to where the ball was instead of around the head or at least the "one last point".

 

[rogerdodger]

First part of the backswing the club looks like Johnny Miller's. From three quarters back to top of the swing it looks like the club wants to lay off. A suggestion of Brian's is to use the left thumb to stop the club at the top. I do not think laying the club off will make you more consistent.

 

[jershan1]

Yeah I noticed that too. No matter how "across" I feel.. I struggle to actually get it across. It looks like I am fighting laying it off the entire backswing.

Does that mean to feel the left thumb under the shaft?

Is the main thing for right now to work on the downswing pivot to get it more active?

 

[rogerdodger]

I am working on the same thing, Brian fixed my lay off move by incorporating a soft draw type of backswing. I still find it easy to lay off late, which it appears you are doing as well. It is easy to let torque lay you off in that position. One thing I have tried is pointing my right thumb at the top to the right. It is a feel, I doubt I am really doing that. But, if I try to accomplish that at the top, prior to the hands coming down, my results are more consistent. It is easy to avoid pop-out in the first half of the backswing, really tough to prevent later in the swing, that is an issue I wrestle with. For me it is causing duck hooks something fierce. I know from my good shots that I am on the right track. If I cross the line at the top, no duckies. The lay off move is what causes my quackers.

 

[lookingtolearn]

There's nothing wrong with a lay-off move if you play well that way. With this swing, however, it looks like it is caused by under-rotation of the left arm early (overdoing some SD concepts) and lack of an early pivot.
You have to get some "in" sooner or later, and you seem to do it with a late hip turn and allowing the clubhead to come in late (the lay-off move).
I suggest adding some more hip turn early in the backswing along with a more standard takeaway. I would also try Brian's ball bounce drill to help with the downswing pivot.

 

[Matt Bryda]

jershan1,

I would work on the back and forth drill and adding a toss to get to one last point from Brian's Soft Draw video.

Matt

 

[jershan1]

Thank you everyone for giving me such great advice. I will try it out and report back when I notice any significant changes/improvement. Change takes time, so I have to be patient. I know that if I put the work in everything will pay off. This forum really is the best place to learn about the golf swing. I learn new things every single day.

Jershan1

 

[jershan1]

Here is a swing from this morning:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok7HXFlmbws[/media]

I had no swing feels in this swing.

 

[lookingtolearn]

Here is a swing from this morning:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok7HXFlmbws[/media]

I had no swing feels in this swing.

I think it looks pretty good. If that "lay it off" move is natural I would just play with it. Getting deeper with the pivot with a flatter right shoulder would probably lessen it some, but my advice would be to work on the downswing to help your path and only change the backswing if you have to.

 

[jershan1]

Thanks. Laying it off feels a lot better. I can go at it harder. It just sometimes makes my miss a huge cut. Does deeper with the pivot just mean turn more and early in the backswing?

 

[spktho]

Thanks. Laying it off feels a lot better. I can go at it harder. It just sometimes makes my miss a huge cut. Does deeper with the pivot just mean turn more and early in the backswing?

I agree that you can definitely play with that move. Your big cut misses may be from an open club face on those swings. The club face looks good in this video. But, with the layoff move, you really have to tumble the club to square up the face.

I think lookingtolearn means getting deeper with the hands moving a bit more to the inside on the back swing and allowing the right shoulder to turn back more instead of moving up.

 

[jershan1]

Thanks for the clarification. The big cut is solely with the driver. I am pretty sure you are right about the open club face causing it. It rarely starts left and cuts.

It does kind of look like I am doing more tilting than turning of the shoulders.

 

[jershan1]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jhbQnqlAhM[/media]

Hey guys!

I think the backswing has improved.. could still be more on plane halfway back though.

Downswing looks pretty bad right? I need to do the ball bounce drill A LOT

What do you think?

 

[Matt Bryda]

Jershan1,

I would like to see a swing at regular speed.

and..

calling the Manz..

and I would like to see more movement to the right (away from the target and movement towards the target) arm swing.

just my 2 cents.

Nice work!

Matt

 

[jershan1]

Not really sure what you mean by the arm swing thing..

and thanks! I'll try to get some regular speed video soon