Whats Happened To My Swing!

[DeepRedCee]

Hey folks, I don't have video as I was playing but I hit some of the worst shots I have ever hit today. Bit of background, play off 11, straight to draw stock shot, bad shot is a block/push.
Today I started ok, then hit 3 or 4 thin shots, then progressed to a couple of tops, then short irons that went straight right and low (cry), followed by wood shots that went straight left topped, one of which didn't go past the tee!
As I reached the last hole a par 3 of 185 yards into a stiff left to right wind, I set up for an intended hook/draw aiming feet/shoulders right and hit a 7 wood to 10 feet, feeling it was a fluke I did it again and hit the green. I then set up normally and topped it left/low.

What the hell am I doing?

Many thanks
Steve

 

[savydan]

You normally swing too far to the right and then band-aided it by hitting a pull.

 

[spktho]

NHA!

 

[DeepRedCee]

You normally swing too far to the right and then band-aided it by hitting a pull.

Sorry I don't understand, I rarely hit pulls unless you mean I am really hitting a pull when I think I am hitting straight?

Thanks

 

[bax1865]

Sounds like your path is too inside to out.....too flat. Place an object, Brian has used a rolled up towel, between you and the ball leaving only a few inches between it an the ball. Make swings that only allow you to strike the ball and not the towel. You may also be standing too far away from the ball.....get closer, more upright and let 'er rip. Good luck and post a swing if you can, there is great information here for you to learn from

 

[savydan]

Sorry I don't understand, I rarely hit pulls unless you mean I am really hitting a pull when I think I am hitting straight?

Thanks

And the shot you cannot hit is a baby fade, correct?

On the par 3, you had a recipe for hitting it right of right so you swung left by instict. I wouldn't really dwell on that one shot.

You need to learn to swing more left from a normal alignment.

As an 11, you probably got 1 or 2 "little poisons" in your swing that keep your path in-to-out.

And from the sounds of your misses, it's probably a more severe case than a "good player's" little stuck in to out.

 

[DeepRedCee]

Sounds like your path is too inside to out.....too flat. Place an object, Brian has used a rolled up towel, between you and the ball leaving only a few inches between it an the ball. Make swings that only allow you to strike the ball and not the towel. You may also be standing too far away from the ball.....get closer, more upright and let 'er rip. Good luck and post a swing if you can, there is great information here for you to learn from

Hmm, my Pro has me picturing Miguel Angel Jimmenez practice swing (we tried a baseball swing first) which is very rounded which he says helps me make a proper shoulder turn both ways, but it does feel like the club is laid off even if its not, I wonder if I am overdoing it.
I'll also check distance from ball, its early in the season and I haven't seen my Pro yet for my annual pre season check.

I'll try and get a video sorted.

Thanks

 

[DeepRedCee]

And the shot you cannot hit is a baby fade, correct?

On the par 3, you had a recipe for hitting it right of right so you swung left by instict. I wouldn't really dwell on that one shot.

You need to learn to swing more left from a normal alignment.

As an 11, you probably got 1 or 2 "little poisons" in your swing that keep your path in-to-out.

And from the sounds of your misses, it's probably a more severe case than a "good player's" little stuck in to out.

Yes you are right, I don't/can't hit fades, probably stems from when I started out and sliced badly, I was taught to swing in to out with a slightly stronger grip and roll hands /forearms coming into impact.
I always assumed if I block/push its because I didn't close / square face up or didn't rotate my shoulders back and forward. I'm not a very technical player and probably rely on feel far more than having an understanding of how my golf swing works and today was a real surprise, I just don't usually hit the sort of shots I mentioned in my original post.

As for swinging more left, I think this is why my Pro gets me to do the Jimmnez practice swing so that I swing across my body rather than away from it, does that make sense?

One more question, if I was swinging too much out/away, why did the Wood shots go straight left and topped, was I leading with the hosel maybe?

Many thanks

 

[savydan]

Yep. The driver was likely topped near the neck of the club and could have gone anywhere.

The hooks, blocks, pushes, and thins all point strongly to a severe in to out path.

You probably started over-cooking the Jimenez practice swing that gets your arms blocked, collapsed or otherwise very out of position at the top. You have no way to get back to the ball without coming from the inside.

When I visualize over-doing the Jimenez move, I can see how you may be standing too far from the ball as Bax said above.

Quick fix is to make sure you're not reaching for the ball, square stance and try to hit big pulls left. You may discover what's going on. Your athletic instincts will probably tell you that you can't make divots left from your current position at the top.

 

[Burner]

Hey folks, I don't have video as I was playing but I hit some of the worst shots I have ever hit today. Bit of background, play off 11, straight to draw stock shot, bad shot is a block/push.
Today I started ok, then hit 3 or 4 thin shots, then progressed to a couple of tops, then short irons that went straight right and low (cry), followed by wood shots that went straight left topped, one of which didn't go past the tee!
As I reached the last hole a par 3 of 185 yards into a stiff left to right wind, I set up for an intended hook/draw aiming feet/shoulders right and hit a 7 wood to 10 feet, feeling it was a fluke I did it again and hit the green. I then set up normally and topped it left/low.

What the hell am I doing?

Many thanks
Steve

My guess is that you have the club in a death grip, hanging on for dear life to that flat left, and bent right, wrist and never get round to releasing the thing.

Been there and done that all to often myself.

Just relax and let the club head go through the ball rather than swing at it.

 

[DeepRedCee]

Yep. The driver was likely topped near the neck of the club and could have gone anywhere.

The hooks, blocks, pushes, and thins all point strongly to a severe in to out path.

You probably started over-cooking the Jimenez practice swing that gets your arms blocked, collapsed or otherwise very out of position at the top. You have no way to get back to the ball without coming from the inside.

When I visualize over-doing the Jimenez move, I can see how you may be standing too far from the ball as Bax said above.

Quick fix is to make sure you're not reaching for the ball, square stance and try to hit big pulls left. You may discover what's going on. Your athletic instincts will probably tell you that you can't make divots left from your current position at the top.

Many thanks for reply (Burner too), unfortunately I wasn't feeling so good this morning (shock of so many bad shots!) so couldn't get to the range, but I have a practice round booked for tomorrow morning so we'll see how it goes then.

Thanks again

 

[Burner]

Many thanks for reply (Burner too), unfortunately I wasn't feeling so good this morning (shock of so many bad shots!) so couldn't get to the range, but I have a practice round booked for tomorrow morning so we'll see how it goes then.

Thanks again

I'm playing tomorrow too, so its time for me to my own advice.
Be good to hear how you get on DRC.

 

[DeepRedCee]

Ok, round completed and overall I am very pleased how it went

Objectives were be more relaxed, stand closer, swing more up than round and swing left
First two holes I hit well struck but pushy shots, got to the 3rd and hit a long pull and smiled to myself as I felt that meant I was on the right track.
Up to the 9th I had it going very nicely, straight shots with the odd pull.
The 9th I hit a pull so far left it went over the trees on to the next fairway, but still left me a shot to the green.
From then on I gradually weakened my grip and tried to rotate less hoping to get some fade shots but kept hitting straight with the odd pull until I reached the 15th.
Good drive then horror another low/right/socket short iron or whatever you call it, dropped another and hit it so far right I almost took someones knees off on the next fairway.
I managed to finish the hole ok, but next hole is 6/7 Iron par 3 and I promptly hit that low/right into the trees and was more than a little nervous as I teed up again, went thru my swing keys and hit a perfect fade onto the green.
This gave me some confidence and I finished the round with another couple of fades
So no tops or thins, but 3 really horrible sockets and for the first time in years some fades.
Of course its only one round but it was so much better than last time.

As I mentioned earlier I am not a technical person and play more on feel, for my pulls it seemed to me that swinging left gave me a more out to in path with my standard grip/hand/arm rotation shutting the face and it wasn't until I got my grip weaker and made an effort to not rotate (and that felt sooo weird) that I hit some fades from what I think of as a neutral alignment.
Does this make any sense, with all that's be posted on the forum regarding ball flight I find my old methods of opening/closing stance with club aiming at the target don't appear to hold up as based on today I'd say I could hit a draw or fade from the same square stance

Think I better stop now before I send you all to sleep and thanks to all who gave some input, I'll update you how I get on after my first competitive round of the season on saturday

 

[savydan]

If you can go from big in to out to hitting fades, that's pretty darn good. Good luck Saturday. Post up a swing when you have a chance.

 

[holeout]

In your round you probably fell back into your old pattern of swinging too far right on a couple of shots, hence the ugly ones to the right. You had also probably become used to having the clubface a touch more open to match the straighter path, but with the path out to the right, it got ugly.

Get us some video!

 

[spktho]

Good drive then horror another low/right/socket short iron or whatever you call it, dropped another and hit it so far right I almost took someones knees off on the next fairway.
I managed to finish the hole ok, but next hole is 6/7 Iron par 3 and I promptly hit that low/right into the trees and was more than a little nervous as I teed up again, went thru my swing keys and hit a perfect fade onto the green.

Hard to tell without seeing, but, there may be some over acceleration of the hands/club going on causing too forward hands at impact.

 

[DeepRedCee]

In your round you probably fell back into your old pattern of swinging too far right on a couple of shots, hence the ugly ones to the right. You had also probably become used to having the clubface a touch more open to match the straighter path, but with the path out to the right, it got ugly.

Get us some video!

I am hoping it was the 'old' pattern, it was very hard to keep focusing on the new things, good job it was only practice tbh

As for video, I've asked a friend to film me next week so I'll post it up asap

Cheers

 

[holeout]

I am hoping it was the 'old' pattern, it was very hard to keep focusing on the new things, good job it was only practice tbh

As for video, I've asked a friend to film me next week so I'll post it up asap

Cheers

Nice! Can't wait.

 

[DeepRedCee]

input, I'll update you how I get on after my first competitive round of the season on saturday

As promised here's a quick recap of my round Saturday

I can hit a fade when needed and sometimes when I don't
Swinging more upright on the back swing and left on downswing has made me realise I don't have to swing so around myself or away from myself anywhere near as much as I was taught to do.
This seems to have reduced heavy or pushed shots but without introducing the slice I started out with when I first started playing.

Things I didn't expect
1. More distance, presumably because I am hitting more of the ball?
2. A lot of pulled short irons, something that I don't normally see, do I need some sort of address change (I always use my standard stance)
3. Pulls/Fade misses are usually playable!
4. I found it necessary to keep more of a straight line between arm and club at address to keep backswing more upright, this felt a bit 'forced' but looking through youtube plenty of players have that line, including English Turns very own Derek Sanders as shown here on Brian's page.

YouTube - brianmanzella's Channel

But right now I am very excited about the changes, no doubt there will be rough times ahead but right now I can't wait to get back out there to work on it.

Will get the video up soon and thanks again to those that helped