bring the club back inside.

Hi,

So I watched video of my swing and when I take the club back I bring it back way too inside (not rolling my wrist) which makes me hit a bad block or a huge push draw....no good. I can maybe post video later. So I was wondering if you can think of any drills to get me to take club more straight back. Even when i try my hardest to swing more upright it is still inside a little although better.

Yes, dont leave your club outside where weather will provide undue wear and tear on your clubs, bring the club back inside!

I try not to analyse my backswing too much, I prefer just to focus on where I want the club to get to at the top. If I had to analyse 1 place during my backswing it would be the point the shaft reaches horizontal and I'd have this checklist:

1. hands are on the same plane that the club was at address.

2. Shaft is directed away from the target in line to the target line. E.G should be able to draw a line through the shaft that is pointed directly at the target.

3. Face is approximately vertical or slightly closed but not much. (e.g. wrist rotated).

4. In balance, shoulders turned about 40-45* away from target, hips barley moved at this point.

Other people especially people who follow Leadbetter types of swing this wouldn't hold true as the wrist break would have already happened, I don't really think that way as I prefer to think of my wrist break as a damper for the club head's own momentum as I reach the top and start the downswing (e.g. wrists are still continuing to break with lag as I begin my downswing).

A guy who helps me says I am fine and square up at the top he just thinks on my takeaway I bring the club back on an inside path (not rolling my wrist more of the right elbow sliding across a little early) so the only path I can really take is outward giving me a high push draw.

This problem is half of what it used to be but the guy says I still need to work on it. He seems a little stuck in the 70's as far as golf goes though. I have played some very very solid ball striking days with this swing and I have a pretty good sized draw but I try to avoid fades at all costs it seems, I just feel like the ball goes no where if I fade it. So I want to fix it without getting rid of my high ball flight and my draw, I have been working on it for a little while and not too many drills have been working like I would like, but then sometimes I ask my self if I even want to fix it at all based on how I've played in the past

Sounds very much like where I was several months ago, on a good shot I was hitting a nice high 5-10m push draw, misses were over drawing the ball (hook) or blocking straight right...I then degenerated into hitting a lot of snap hooks as I started adding a closed face through the swing to my repetoire

I went and got a lesson and the pro said my main issue was not enough shoulder turn and consequently hip turn on the backswing which was making me rely too much on my arms to do the work, making me come too inside and truncating my backswing.

He gave me two drills to work on improving my turn:

First one I set up to address the ball, stand up to lift the club to parallel to the ground with the toe pointing to the sky and then rotate my shoulders 90*. The pro said I should end up basically in the correct position for my backswing when I am parallel to the target line. Focussing on turning with my shoulders to that point really gets my hips turning and clearing much more than they were. This drill is to focus on turning with my body and not pulling the club back with my arms.

The second drill is to address the ball, take a 2' of backswing and check the club face is starting to open correctly that the shoulders and hips have started working.

Readdress the ball and take a backswing to the parallel to the target line position. Check toe of club is pointing at sky, check hips are cleared and shoulders are turned to 90*.

Readdress the ball and take a full backswing, check clubface is properly aligned and hips and shoulders have turned correctly.

Basically this drill is to make sure I am dealing with my closed clubface issue and turning correctly.

I have been practicing this and I am putting a lot less side spin onto the ball. I am going back for a refresher with the pro next week to make sure I am practicing the drills correctly but it seems to have helped me so far. I am striking the ball much more consistently and have lost the feeling I had of glancing across the ball with my longer clubs. I think your best bet is to get a lesson, the pro should spot the major problems in a couple of swings but maybe this type of drill could help you?

Awesome, thanks I will give it a try, I can see what you mean, I feel like I am just rotating my hands around my body when i take it back so that should help!

I have to lol.

Hackforfun Handicap 22

Backspinalot Handicap 5.3

Hopefully it helps but I reckon even a 30minute lesson would get you on the straight and narrow.

Another extremely simple, but good drill to fine tune your hand position is as follows:

1. Take your left hand and put it out as if you're holding an imaginary club.
2. Keep a flat hand on the left hand and cup it backwards as far as you can. (As if you are trying to touch your fingertips to your forearm backwards).
3. Place your right hand over top of the left hand.
   The backs of your hands should be touching each other at this point.
4. Simply do a pretend swing and repeat.
   
   This drill will teach you how your forearms and hands should be properly aligned through the swing. It helps with keeping the club's face square at impact as well as feeling what it is like to have your swing bring your shoulders back to square.