My Swing (joshray)

I've been Playing Golf for: 15 Years

My current handicap index or average score is: 90

My typical ball flight is: Slight Fades

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: topping the ball , keeping it straighter

A few other notes, I'm 6'4" and playing with a stock set of clubs.  I've been talking with some local shops and most are telling me I need to add 1.5 inches and 1-2 degrees increase in the lie angle.  I generally hit the ball pretty straight, but will sometimes push it right, or it will have a slight fade.

This is the first time I've ever recorded my swing, and I was surprised to see how I pull up right as I'm making contact.  I'm curious if anyone can tell me what would cause that, and any practice tips to fix that?  I don't feel like I'm pulling up, but I'm guessing it's not good.  I'm guessing that if I can drive that momentum forward instead of up, that I can probably add some yards to my drives.

Thanks for any advice.

You do a whole lot of the same things wrong that I do.

Letting the hips sway back during the takeaway, letting the head start forward at the start of the forward swing, not maintaining lag long enough so you run out of room at the bottom and have to pull up to keep from sticking the club in the ground behind the ball.

My biggest problem is that I've been doing it wrong for a long time and I am about as good as I could get at doing it the wrong way, so I'm trying to change it without falling apart.

One of the members (Stretch) suggested that I make a training device out of a driveway stake and a pool noodle to practice keeping my head still. Early but shows some promise.

I'm not looking for more distance as I hit the ball plenty long for a 57 year old but I've always been wild with a driver and have to make up for it everywhere else, and fixing it is long overdue.

I would also suggest that you start practicing staying down through impact by choking down some on your driver and try to get a feeling that your left arm is vertical at impact. It probably won't be but at least it won't be in line with the shaft and pointing at the ball so you run out of room.

If you want to see the training device I made to keep my head more still you can look it up on my "Member's Swings".

P.S. Go by your wrist to floor measurement for determining your club lengths. How tall you are can be misleading. My son and I are the same height and his wrist to floor is 3 inches shorter than mine.

Thanks for the tips.  I just checked out your noodle thing, and it looks like it would probably help.  I don't have my own private driving range in my backyard like you do though, I might feel pretty dumb with a big pink noodle on my public range.

Can you help me understand what you mean by "not maintaining lag long enough?"

As for the fitted clubs, I've been talking with a lot of different people, and they've all been measuring my wrist to the ground.  TaylorMade is coming out to a local course this month and I'm hoping to get fitted by them before I buy a new set.  I'm also planning to get some lessons this year, but I'm waiting for my new clubs to do that.  I used to play religiously, and was shooting in the low 80's, then I got married and took a few years off, and now it feels like I'm starting from scratch - I've forgotten a log of the basics.

Holding the lag longer and keeping more of the angle between the shaft and the left arm that we have at address all of the way to impact gives us room to hit the ball without pulling up our head and spine.

We are unlikely to hold all of that angle until impact but just coming closer would be an improvement. These videos give a good look at what I am taking about from both a face on and down the line view. Even Tiger loses some of that angle and his hands are slightly higher at impact than at address but comes close enough. Some players like Sergio keep exactly the same shaft angle at impact that he had at address. Notice that Tiger's left arm is fairly vertical at impact and the shaft is still running at close to the same angle it was at address. Our swings would have that left arm and the shaft in more of a straight line and we have no choice but to pull up our head and spine angle.

There is also more power with the left arm more vertical. If you tried to pull a church bell rope out away from your body it would be a less powerful position than the left arm closer to vertical.