My Swing (divot dave)

[divot dave]

I've been Playing Golf for: less than 1 year

My current handicap index or average score is: not really sure yet, i've been playing mostly without keeping score

My typical ball flight is: fade/straight

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: fat shots, pushes

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Videos:

[Ernest Jones]

Zero hip slide bro. Gotta get that weight forward, that may be the cause of the fat shots. Try slow motion practice swings where you aggressively push your ass towards the target from the top. From the top try to swing ALL hips and NO arms to see if you can develop a feel for initiating the DS with your lower body.

[Valleygolfer]

Your right foot should not "spin out". A really armsy swing and forced follow through. I agree with Ernest, you knee to shift your weight and relax your swing a bit.

[clueless]

Stick a glove or head cover in your right arm pit to help you turn your torso with your arms rather then just a slight turn of your shoulders and a lifting of your arms.

[Stretch]

Dave, read this thread from the beginning.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/29616/the-biggest-secret-slide-your-hips

[Stretch]

OK, back from taking the kids to breakfast and have a little more time to expand on the above.

Dave, you're one of those players that will most likely benefit from feeling (with the proviso that feel isn't real) like you keep your weight much more forward, generally. Your feels are going to be: Backswing -- "Weight Forward." Downswing -- "Push Forward." An effective drill for this is to practice with an alignment stick stuck in the ground and touching your right knee at address. Make your backswing -- keeping your knee against the stick, then push your right hip into it as you swing down. The purpose of this is to get your weight more onto your front foot at impact, and the purpose of that is to get the low point of your swing in front of the golf ball. Right now, your low point is behind the ball, which makes it really hard to consistently hit the ball first, then the ground. A related issue that this drill will help with is your right knee action. It's coming in (away from the target) too much -- and that's a big part of the reason why it's hard for you to properly shift your weight onto the right foot as you come down. Flare that right foot open a little more and practice flexing the right knee out towards the right toe, not in towards the left . From that position, the right knee then pushes outside the right ankle to start the downswing. That's what gets the hips moving laterally towards the target and that's what gets the weight onto the front foot at impact. Here's a video that illustrates the drill I'm describing. You don't need to add the second "gate" in this case, unless you find it helpful. Just getting the weight moving forward is also going to help you with your swing path and to get your right arm and club more in line through impact.

[divot dave]

Your right foot should not "spin out". A really armsy swing and forced follow through. I agree with Ernest, you knee to shift your weight and relax your swing a bit.

thanks, i noticed the spinout as well, probably more from the slick surface (wet that day) and shoes with no grip... but the vote seems unanimous... weight forward

[divot dave]

Originally Posted by Stretch

OK, back from taking the kids to breakfast and have a little more time to expand on the above.

Dave, you're one of those players that will most likely benefit from feeling (with the proviso that feel isn't real) like you keep your weight much more forward, generally. Your feels are going to be: Backswing -- "Weight Forward." Downswing -- "Push Forward." An effective drill for this is to practice with an alignment stick stuck in the ground and touching your right knee at address. Make your backswing -- keeping your knee against the stick, then push your right hip into it as you swing down. The purpose of this is to get your weight more onto your front foot at impact, and the purpose of that is to get the low point of your swing in front of the golf ball. Right now, your low point is behind the ball, which makes it really hard to consistently hit the ball first, then the ground. A related issue that this drill will help with is your right knee action. It's coming in (away from the target) too much -- and that's a big part of the reason why it's hard for you to properly shift your weight onto the right foot as you come down. Flare that right foot open a little more and practice flexing the right knee out towards the right toe, not in towards the left. From that position, the right knee then pushes outside the right ankle to start the downswing. That's what gets the hips moving laterally towards the target and that's what gets the weight onto the front foot at impact. Here's a video that illustrates the drill I'm describing. You don't need to add the second "gate" in this case, unless you find it helpful. Just getting the weight moving forward is also going to help you with your swing path and to get your right arm and club more in line through impact.

Stretch, thanks for the time you put into thinking about my swing. I'll be sure to practice this next time I'm on the range (and at home while I'm waiting for suitable weather).

[Stretch]

No worries, happy to help. Jumped in mainly because I went through a lot of the same stuff starting out myself, as I have very similar natural tendencies to yours. Hopefully save you some time and frustration! This was my lead knee progression in just a few practice sessions once I knew what to focus on (thanks to Erik and some of the other pros here). Can tell you it is a lot easier to hit from the position on the right!

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[divot dave]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Hey, not sure what you meant to point out with this illustration... ?

[Stretch]

Don't worry about it at this stage. You can play fine from there. I was just pointing out that some of the descriptions you were getting of your swing were perhaps a bit overdone.

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Don't worry about it at this stage. You can play fine from there. I was just pointing out that some of the descriptions you were getting of your swing were perhaps a bit overdone.

I agree, Dave is not armsy. Just work on that weight shift, make it your only focus/objective till its ingrained. I like to make practice swings where I just concentrate on whacking the mat about 4 inches in front of where I'm addressing the imaginary ball, forget mechanics and let your body figure out the most consistent and easiest way to do this. I think you'll figure out the weight shift or thrust pretty quickly this way, then you can work on transferring the feeling to a real swing with a ball.

By the way, that drill that Stretch posted is pretty cool, when the ground thaws I'm going to go buy some pool noodles. My weight shift is pretty solid now but the second noodle for training your path would really be good for me.

[divot dave]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Don't worry about it at this stage. You can play fine from there. I was just pointing out that some of the descriptions you were getting of your swing were perhaps a bit overdone.

glad you said that... lol, my present flexibility almost dictates that position if I wan't to play comfortably.

[divot dave]

Originally Posted by Ernest Jones

I agree, Dave is not armsy. Just work on that weight shift, make it your only focus/objective till its ingrained. I like to make practice swings where I just concentrate on whacking the mat about 4 inches in front of where I'm addressing the imaginary ball, forget mechanics and let your body figure out the most consistent and easiest way to do this. I think you'll figure out the weight shift or thrust pretty quickly this way, then you can work on transferring the feeling to a real swing with a ball.

By the way, that drill that Stretch posted is pretty cool, when the ground thaws I'm going to go buy some pool noodles. My weight shift is pretty solid now but the second noodle for training your path would really be good for me.

yep, that 2nd "gate" for the plane looked like it could really serve me well. Will give that setup a go one of these days.

Thanks for all your help so far guys.

[Valleygolfer]

Originally Posted by Ernest Jones

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stretch

Don't worry about it at this stage. You can play fine from there. I was just pointing out that some of the descriptions you were getting of your swing were perhaps a bit overdone.

I agree, Dave is not armsy. Just work on that weight shift, make it your only focus/objective till its ingrained. I like to make practice swings where I just concentrate on whacking the mat about 4 inches in front of where I'm addressing the imaginary ball, forget mechanics and let your body figure out the most consistent and easiest way to do this. I think you'll figure out the weight shift or thrust pretty quickly this way, then you can work on transferring the feeling to a real swing with a ball.

By the way, that drill that Stretch posted is pretty cool, when the ground thaws I'm going to go buy some pool noodles. My weight shift is pretty solid now but the second noodle for training your path would really be good for me.

If he is not making a weight shift, he is for the most part only using his arms. I disagree.

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by Valleygolfer

If he is not making a weight shift, he is for the most part only using his arms. I disagree.

Then we interpret/use the term armsy differently.

I see all rotation with no shift/slide but I can rotate back and thru really fast with no weight shift and passive arms and it will swing my arms, I still consider that to be body driven not necessarily armsy.

But I agree whole-heartedly that there needs to be a weight shift to do it correctly and consistently. Let's not clutter divot dave's thread with a semantics debate.

[Parker0065]

Hey Dave,

Just wanted to say for a guy at your handicap level and little time playing your swing is looking really good. We were talking on the winter blues thread and I'm glad you posted your swing. I'm more a player than an instructor so I don't have anything pertinent to add but keep up the good work. You look like you have a lot of potential!

Good Luck!

[divot dave]

Originally Posted by Parker0065

Hey Dave,

Just wanted to say for a guy at your handicap level and little time playing your swing is looking really good. We were talking on the winter blues thread and I'm glad you posted your swing. I'm more a player than an instructor so I don't have anything pertinent to add but keep up the good work. You look like you have a lot of potential!

Good Luck!

Thanks a lot... appreciate the encouragement.