Stuck and Frustrated

Getting a bit down about an issue I'm having and wondering if anyone has any thoughts/drills on what I might be doing wrong to have this tendency.

At impact my arms don't want to release/square the club head or whichever term you prefer to use that means bringing the club head square into the ball and trailing arm crossing over into the follow through. My natural miss is a push slice (big slice) I'm a lefty so ball starts left of intended target and the slices further left, when I don't focus on every tiny thing in my swing and just let it rip.

My instructor has helped me with this by getting me forward using the front foot drill (all weight on front foot, back foot just behind you to keep you from falling over and taking half swings). I can get this going pretty good but as soon as I put the other foot down and take some full swings I feel like I'm back to square 1. On my own I've been practing relaxing and trying a bit weaker grip, it's been commented by several teachers my grip is pretty strong but good.

I prefer the idea that most of the swing should be automatic and you shouldn't have to rely on timing to tell yourself to hit the ball. I just happened to notice today, before I got ran off the range due to rain, that even when I kind of stood there letting the club swing back and forth loosely it didn't really want to turn over. If I think back before I even tried working on this if I tried to kill a longer club my follow through was about waist hight with the lead hand on top almost like the grip was leading the way at that point.

Have you tried taking half swings - making a full turn but ending with club pointing at the target? Your left hand turns naturally with the toe of the club pointing toward the sky. Then there is the "L" to "L" drill. You backswing forms the letter L with arms and hinged wrists and finishes the same way just opposite side. Are you getting a "chicken wing" or flying elbow? When I get that I tuck my leading arm shirt sleeve under arm pit to remind me to stay connected and turn fully and not let the sleeve fall out until that arm folds at the finish. To remind me to follow thru, I find a leaf or piece of dirt about 5 yds in front of my target line and extend the club to that point, the folding finish just happens because it has no where else to go. Hopes this makes sense.

Thanks.

if I don't slow down and force it in I definately get what could be described as a flying elbow (lead elbow pointing straight up in front of me in the followthrough).

Edit: As far as the sleeve under the armpit drill...that means that connection should be there from start to finish normally, or is that just a consolation made while doing this drill?

Concentrating on keeping the lead arm connected (use a tee in the arm pit or shirt sleeve) and making sure you rotate, making sure your belt buckle is pointing at the target at finish. The flying elbow I have found is from hitting at the ball, not SWINGING the club. We tend to tense up at impact and try and muscle it thru and refusing to let the club do the work. Trust me, I have it resurface almost monthly and when I go back to tactics described above, it goes away.

It's a good thing you don't do that cross-over thingie because it will only lead to a flip. With a flip, you'll end up having the club head pass the hands at or before impact. Once this happens, you'll add loft to whatever club you hit, contact will be vague, and rarely in the center of the club face. Your shots will be weak ones left, right, and a majority of them will be fat or thin. Pretty much, you'll be f*cked.

The reason why you hit the ball better when you pre-set all or a vast majority of your weight on the front foot is because that's where your weight needs to be when you hit the ball. The reason why you're having trouble when you set up with a "regular" stance is because you didn't move your weight to that front foot. You left too much of it on your back leg. Two great threads to read up on to help you (they did a fantastic job for me--use the search button): 1). For that cross-over thingie (that you don't want to do): Maintaining the Flying Wedge. 2). To move your weight to the front foot: The biggest secret; SLIDE your hips. Lastly, I don't know your instructor, and far be it for me to question him (but, I'm going to do it anyways). Why the heck is he giving you a drill, but not tell you the purpose of the drill? In the future, whenever you're given a drill, you should ask why and what are you correcting and/or hoping to accomplish with that drill. The reason why you should ask is so you gain an understanding of the swing fundamentals. If you don't do this, then when things go awry, you won't have an idea of what adjustments or corrections to try. Instead, you'll grasp at everything you've been taught and throw it at your swing hoping that the "fix" is in there somewhere. I've been there and it is no fun whatsoever.

oh he told me the purpose of the drill. It was to get my weight forward because I was getting stuck on my back foot and I think he put it hit the ball with more authority without having to kill it. When I do it just right the ball almost whistles as it's fliying through the air getting the same distance with less effort. He didn't really go into the biomechanics of how it helped close my clubface but I've yet to see an instructor do that out on the range, and I tend to mess around with before and after feelings while I'm by myself to satisfy myself with the whys.

Thanks again Hoger. I've been working on that lead arm connection and it seems to be helping alot. I'm still a bit unsure of the "proper" way of involving it in the take away and am looking for videos/articles reguarding it. If I keep it say attached to my pectoral in the takeaway it feels real restricting, vs say turning shoulder away while lifting arms and then waiting for it to reconnect if you will during the start of the downswing.

Okay, first off - if you slice(push slice), you dont have to worry about release, cuz there is nothing more you can release, all your lag is probably gone before impact. I guess your divots point to the left correct? That would mean you come from outside to in.

Regarding your grip - if you already slice, why would you weaken your grip - that just makes it worse? Having a stronger grip doesnt cure your problems but at least the club face it a bit more shut at impact. Or are you talking about grip pressure? A strong grip pressure might also be the cause for an OTT-Move. Regarding the armpit/glove advice and connection - i would be careful, my pro explained me that this is normally used for people who take it to the inside. So what did your pro told you about your takeaway/backswing? Regarding connection - do you know the Hogan picture in his book where he has his elbows wrapped into a rubber band? Keep them on a steady distance and you will be fine (push the hands a bit together where they overlap).

I dont exactly know what the pectoral means, but if you feel restricted, you might want to look out, if you dont reverse pivot when doing that drill...

If you are in a correct position on top, the downswing should start with a weightshift, which causes a small lateral shift of the hips and then into rotation of the lower body - that brings your arms down hip high, from there you can focus on your release. Depending if you are a swinger, you release passivly, if you are a hitter you staightening your right arm into the ball which causes your release. BUT, to get into this position, you have to get your transition correct on top. For the transition or iniation of the downswing there are probably as many drills out there as there are golf pros. But the key for you is - exactly identify your problem (s) and then look up some drills that help you get the correct feeling. If you dont identifiy your problems correctly you will just guess forever and never come to a positive result.

You realize that there are Swingers & Hitters and if everything is probably applied they are just as good ballstrikers as you can be?

I want to thank everyone for their responses.

They go to the left, however I am a lefty (not sure if you noticed or I mentioned that). In the nastiest lose my head type swings, which thankfully are getting less and less, it's like swinging down with the hosel leading the way.

Actually did some grip work today after watching what looked like a very good video on it (I'd link it but it's from another large golf forum and I don't know how mods here feel about that.). The reason I was making it weaker is because everyone would look at it and exclaim Geeze that's a strong grip. It evolved after reading several sources that said strengthening the grip would make it easier to get the clubface squared at impact, one of those little didn't help so went further and further. I had gotten to a point where the velcro flap on my glove was parallel to the target line at address and it didn't seem to make any difference. It actually seemed being that strong was leveraging against the other wrist preventing any kind of squaring the club at impact. According to all sources it was sound, matched up where everyone says on the fingers with the lined gloves, instructors said it was fine (they they recommended it might be too strong when it was at it's worst). Though what I think I've determined is my kind of odd sized hands for my frame had been disguising a structurally flawed grip. Fairly big guy, with smallish palms but real long skinny fingers. So things by the book were looking right from the outside but I don't think I was getting pressure on the right parts of the grip.

I've struggled with that from day one (hence the instructor's front leg drill). I know in my head the correct order and feel, but I seem to find some new change every day that's minor where I'd have to say my body cheats in the weightshift more times than not. I tend to think it's mental as I get anxious to smack the cover off the ball in the transition so rarely get that upright 90% on lead leg finish I should have on a full swing. Some weight goes forward but not enough, or it goes mostly forward but back into the heel instead of the whole foot, hammer down one problem and when I leave the range found I've started doing another in its place. Worked on tempo and slowing down, tried pausing in the transition, humming a toon, several other tricks. I am getting to the point where I realize when I've just screwed it up but by that point the ball is long gone. That's probably my most frustrating thing, you know what you should have done but the body is not cooperating more times than not.