My Swing (ruufiyo)

I've been Playing Golf for: 6 months

My current handicap index or average score is: 28

My typical ball flight is: straight, tends to be very high

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: ball flight too high

Hi,

I started playing golf about 6 months ago, taking lessons every 2 weeks. I am really happy with the progress I am making but struggling with something I cannot really grasp fully yet. My ball flight tends to be really high (even with Wood 3 or Driver) and I think I know what is causing this: My hands are not in front of the ball at impact and I am releasing the club too early/flipping my hands. Furthermore, I think I am not driving/sliding my hips enough forward which might add to this as well.

But even while I know this (hopefully this is correct), I cannot find a "trigger" to help me move my hands and wrists as they are supposed to be.

If anyone has some feedback on my video below (had some issues with balance there as well) or knows some drills on how to find the right "trigger" for the correct wrist release / hip slide, I would really appreciate this.

Videos:

Quick Update:

Had a lesson today, I need to work on my upper body turn to move passive hands forward at impact. Actually broke a club (8 iron) today on the range, got a lot of folks amazed, including my pro...as the shaft broke in three pieces during the backswing, beginning of the downswing. Even the guy at the golf shop where I bought the club said he never saw something like this before. Probably set the angle in the wrist too hard or something.....

This is a video of me trying to focus more on upper body turn, half swing, 8 iron:

Had some more time at the range with this today and starting to get a better feel for the upper body. Still struggling with lag/early release of the wrist angle.

And, of course, still looking for feedback and advise :-)

Hey man, looks like you are working hard, keep it up! A couple things. As far as a trigger for your wrist hinge. Check out this thread about your trigger finger:

http://thesandtrap.com/t/57531/the-importance-of-pp3-lower-hand-index-finger-against-the-club

When I separated my right hand index finger slightly it helped me feel my wrist hinge more. The hinging action for me happens pretty naturally just from moving my arms into position in the backswing. The newest video of the drill it looks like you have maybe have a bit too much hinging since your arms havent gone very high yet. You might try having more forward press at address.

One other thing I noticed, your hips seem kind of out of sync with your arms. Check out this video by Ben Hogan that I really like. He really shows how your arms should be connected to the rest of your body during the downswing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtleMCfvy3I

Hope this helps, good luck!

Thank you for your help, I am going back to the range today to give it a try. Will focus on fixing my early extension as well, let's see how this works. Hopefully all goes well as I am going to join a little tourney tomorrow on a difficult course (PAR 74, CR 74,7, Slope 144, around 6700 yards).

I love that ben hogan video- it should help get you on the right track.  For someone who's only been playing the game 6 months I'd say you're looking good- I wish I could get some of my hack friends to dedicate half the time you are to getting better.  Other then what you've already noticed (hands getting stuck in the first video) you just need a few minor fixes.  If there's one thing watching professional golf can teach you on tv in 2012 is there are very few perfect swings anymore, as long as you're on plane at contact you can get away with some mistakes in your swing.  Don't get too caught up on thinking so much shot to shot.  Go out there choke down on the driver half an inch- it will give you more control and you'll hit more fairways.  Most important thing to do when you play is keep your own scorecard- track you're fairways hit, greens hit, and putts made.  That will give you an idea of what to practice more to lower your score, oh and keep us posted.

Been working on using PP3 more which is working quite nicely. Still a long way to go getting my hands in front of the ball more and releasing a bit later. And, of course, fixing the early extension keeps me busy as well :)

Here is a quick swing update:

What an amazing session at the range tonight. I am still working on creating lag and having my hands at the right position at impact and used this drill (from Andrew Rice Golf) to help me on this:

I played most of my shots with only half swing again and the results were great: The feeling at impact, the sound and the ballflight felt so right. I even managed to hit down on the ball without the swim noodle which was a completely new golf feeling. On the other hand, I struggled to hit down on the ball without touching the swim noodle when doing a full swing, so I need to keep working on this.

Will try to post some swing updates incl. full swing later this week.

Just another quick update on my swing....finally got a feeling for a better backswing (not overswinging anymore) and this is a big breakthrough for me. I guess there is still a bit room for a better shoulder turn in the backswing but very happy with this. Now I need to find a good way to work on my balance and getting my hands forward at impact. It is amazing what a good, clean contact does to your ball flight

Edit: I know that this looks really rushed (it probably is)....but this is because I wanted to fit a couple of swings into the video and was so curious to see if I really stopped overswinging.

2 videos with my latest swing....so much to work on...feels like there is no improvement at all...just tells me to work on my swing even more.

Down the line:

Front View:

Way too much head movement....oh my...

I like the dtl video.  to stop lowering in the downswing do a ton of phantom swings where you make an exaggerated lift with the backswing, feel like you are growing upward in the backswing, this may reverse the tendency to lower on the way back

Hi. No update in ages but here is my current swing. At the moment, I am really happy with it, my misses or pushes or hooks but they are quite rare now. 

Thank you for the edit as well as the offered advise. I am always looking for ways to improve, so would greatly appreciate if you could elaborate on this, iacas.