Had my first lesson of the season....

The pro I'm working with said I should always be de-lofting my club at impact and he has me doing such a forward-press before my swing that I can't imagine it ever feeling natural. Has anyone else worked through this?

He did find some major flaws like my ball position was way off. I was playing everything way to far forward and he said that could be leading to my shanks (leading the hosel into the ball because it's so forward in my stance), and the reason I'm not taking divots or hitting down on the ball.

Do you always have that forward press angle feel when you set-up? I worked at this last year, and I just can't get it to feel right.

Thoughts??

The forward press has been difficult for me to implement as well. I only have a slight press but I guess it's better than nothing,and I'm trying to increase it a little, but I think having too much may not be a good thing.

Like you mention, at first it doesn't feel natural. But once you get used to it, it just becomes part of your normal set up and you don't have to think about it and don't realize you are doing it. I just try to put my hands even with the ball and that gives me a little price.

At first, I was changing my grip to get my forward press, taking a really strong grip. That led to shanks and just wild shots in general. Then I started just slightly cupping my right wrist (bending it backwards) while taking my normal grip, and that seemed to feel much more natural and yielded better results.

Next time you have a lesson take along a digital camera and get him to take a photo of you in the position he wants you to achieve. When you have a look at it, I bet you find that your hands are in a good position, compare it to photos of setups of other good players/pros. What you have described as feeling with your new setup is a natural result of him getting your hands and shaft in a good position, and that "good" position not being what you are used to.

Forward shaft lean at address is a bandaid I had used in the past to generate lag for crisp ball contact and more power.

But I no longer need that crutch after I started keeping my right elbow tucked on the way down (drive right elbow into right pants pocket). This not only generates tons of lag, but also an inside swing path.

First off forward pressing at address is not going to cause the hands and wrists to be ahead of the shaft at impact. If you completely locked your arms and wrists and only swung back to hip high (chip or punch style shot) then you might be able to maintain that forward position, but in a full swing the wrists hinge, the arms swing, the shoulders rotate, and weight is shifted, so they are not going to stay pressed forward (and if they did you probably wouldn't make too good of a swing).

I don't know if I've seen your setup with an iron, but from the video of your driver swing you posted a while back, I don't see anything wrong with your ball position. I recommend setting up and looking in a mirror to see what the position he told you to do looks like. If you look at pros you will not see them forward pressing with the shaft pointed outside of their front arm. If you draw lines through pro shafts at setup you will not see it pointing outside the body (the possible exception being if they are trying to hit under low hanging branches. Look at the pros in the picture below and you do not see any drastic forward press with the irons. In the end if you're not comfortable with what the pro is telling you to do, and it doesn't look good in reflections or video then you might be better off finding another pro to take your lessons from in the future.

Thank goodness for Avid Golfer. He is very right. I never understood the forward press thing. The way I see it... considering the back swing plane and downswing plane are completely different (and should be), starting at a good impact position isn't going to guarantee a good impact position!

However, a good waggle will help you with a good "wrist in front of the club" impact position. Check Hogan's 5 Lessons for more info on that.

You should be delofting the club at impact. A pro takes his 5 iron and turns it into a 4 iron. An amateur takes his 5 iron and turns it into an 8 iron... You shouldn't, however, use the hands to force an impact position. There shouldn't be any conscious hand movement in the golf swing.

I think if you are an 18 hdcp, he is just trying to start you in the position of ideal impact position concerning the back of your left hand. Once you build some muscle memory regarding that feeling and your handicap drops, you will then be able to decrease the amount of forward press in your swing initially and learn to hit the ball correctly with the back of your left hand creating the proper trajectory on a consistent basis. Whatever the case, you are taking the time to take lessons and make yourself better instead of toiling away, spinning your wheels and wasting your time not getting any better. Your are on the right track. Stay with it and good luck!

having the ball at your front of you stance is better for high iron swings, at least i find but if you do this with all your clubs try at home on the lawn or something and have even just a tee and place it in the middle of your stance and try some different things to find a comfortable feel. i know pretty bad advice, but its worked for me in the past.

My dad does the forward press, along with a little front leg lift to go along with it, I never understood why he did it, he even does the forward press with the putter.

I've tried it a few times, but Really do not see any difference, I couldn't grip the concept of doing that everytime you swing.

Thanks for all of the good advice. This makes me feel better about not having to have this huge forward press in my swing.