My Swing (rein26)

[rein26]

I've been Playing Golf for: 10 years on and off. I've only played 30 rounds over the last 10 years and spend most of my time at the range.
My current handicap index or average score is: Average score on 9 holes is 45
My typical ball flight is: high ball flight without consistency 
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: early extension/flipping of the wrist

Misc: I've been video taping my swing since I started 10 years ago and I've never been satisfied with my swing. As a result, I've constantly changed my swing and don't have ingrained bad swing habits that I've used for years, so I can change things relatively quickly. The quest to prevent flipping the wrist and early extension is my nemesis. I've had about 10 golf lessons over the years with 4 instructors, which have been very helpful. I've been using the website since 2013, so I'm very excited to finally be a part of it and join in on the conversations. Please feel free to offer any tips, suggestions, or ask any questions. I'm ready to rebuild my swing from start to finish if necessary. Thank you in advance.

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Videos: 7i DL & 7i FO

 

 

[Bo the Golfer]

I am certainly no expert but you may want to have a read of the below.

 

 

[rein26]

Thank you, I seem to forget the importance of that. I once had an instructor asked if I ever snowboarded, and said to replicate the "duck stance" that I'd use while snowboarding. Thanks for pointing that out!

[boogielicious]

I would add to work on turning your hips more in the backswing. Flaring your feet should help that. Your shoulders appear to be pretty flexible, but your hip turn could restricting your backswing a bit. Flaring the feet also can help get your weight to move forward during the downswing, which can help with early extention.

Pretty nice swing though IMO.

 

[rein26]

Thank you for the feedback and compliment! You're 100% correct in you assessment of very flexible shoulders, but not so much in the hips. My backswing has always felt very tight and flat. The topic you posted is excellent and I've referred to it in the past -- one of my favorites. Flaring the feet will definitely help, thanks! 

The following post #152 in that topic really resonated with me and has helped my backswing stay in posture and help make my backswing more vertical (it used to be very, very flat - shoulders/arms😞

 

You guys are awesome and I really appreciate the feedback!

[rein26]

It's nice having the slow-mo video of my swing on my bigger monitor vs. on my phone. On my phone it's obviously smaller, but blurrier too. This is helping me analyze my swing better.

I noticed right before impact I'm jumping out of my posture. Today I worked on maintaining my posture/spine angle through impact to A9. The results were great -- less early extension and a better impact position. I work so hard at my backswing and maintaining everything, that I think I just let it loose and let everything go at impact (which in reality occurs before impact). This new swing thought prevents that for the time being. I'll continue to experiment with it.

In the past, the only thing touching the ground at impact were my tippy toes, and the early extension/flipping was extreme. I really try to keep my feet grounded to prevent that, so that's why my back foot is kind of restricted in my follow-thru as I'm intentionally over doing it. Not sure if this is counter productive, but it seems to help at the moment.

[saevel25]

The flipping is caused by how your club routes from backswing to downswing. All that is set up by your poor hip turning from set up to where the club is parallel to the ground. You want the turn to carry the hands inward. With out a proper turn you end up doing what you do, send the hands out and kick the club head inside. Then you try to save it by flattening the club at the top of the swing, but the movement of the club head causes it to kick out in transition (over the top). You early extend so as to not chunk the ball because the club is probably very steep into impact. 

 Also, I would bring you chin closer to your chest at set up. You don't want to be looking down the bridge of your nose at the ball. 

 

[rein26]

Wow, this is great information. Thank you for taking the time to break my mechanics down and explain it.

Here's a quick summary followed by a few questions, if that's OK. My backswing swing thought is to extend my left arm straight back, preventing wrist hinge until I'm parallel, which starts the hip turn where I focus on ensuring my hips turn back so my back right pocket goes up and behind me. The back pocket up and behind part helps me maintain my spine angle and prevents flatter shoulder rotation.

I practiced for a few hours trying to implement your tips. Bringing the club more inside was an easy adjustment, and it definitely reduced the loop at the top of the swing, more inside downswing, and better forward shaft lean at impact (I video taped these practice swings, so take the improvement I noted with grain of salt). My swing was just a tad flatter on the backswing, but not a notable difference.

Question: if I understand correctly, my issue is that my hands/arms out race my delayed hip turn, so if I initiate my backswing with earlier hip turn and keep my hip turn & hands more connected, my hands by default come more inside. I believe my hip turn occurs too late in the backswing. Is that accurate? Or, is the separation OK as long as my hands take a more inside path from set-up to were the club is parallel?

 

 

[rein26]

No need to answer the question above. My evolvr lesson clarified it for me. You guys were spot on with your recommendations! Time to get to work, and I'll post updated swings once I can execute my current goals. Thanks again.

[boogielicious]

6 hours ago, rein26 said:

No need to answer the question above. My evolvr lesson clarified it for me. You guys were spot on with your recommendations! Time to get to work, and I'll post updated swings once I can execute my current goals. Thanks again.

Remember to practice smart. It is easy to get into the old groove of just hitting balls. I still fall into that trap at times. But an hour practice where you only hit 20 balls can be way more effective. 

If you have an iPad, I also recommend the Mirror Vision app. It makes it so much easier to film your swing and also use it as a mirror in between recording.

[saevel25]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

If you have an iPad, I also recommend the Mirror Vision app. It makes it so much easier to film your swing and also use it as a mirror in between recording.

Sorry to hijack the thread on for this, but I will be downloading this app at some point to try out ;) I have an iPad that needs a purpose.

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

Remember to practice smart. It is easy to get into the old groove of just hitting balls. I still fall into that trap at times. But an hour practice where you only hit 20 balls can be way more effective. 

This. I am the prime candidate for the KISS method, keep is simple stupid.

Solid contact isn't always the determining factor for if you are improving. People can get caught up in the fact they just shanked a ball or hit a slice. When you are thinking about how the club moves, or the body moves, it isn't as precise till you lock those changes in and you can turn those movements into your intent on the course.

So, be more concerned with changing the picture,

 

[rein26]

Great feedback on practice habits. I've always wondered about mis-hits when I'm focusing on body movements. I practice at my local PGA superstore and have the annual membership. You can watch the FO video after every swing, so this has really helped me slow down, swing, review the video, and focus on body positions. Sometimes I hit the ball so horribly I've wondered if my approach was right, so thank you for confirming that. I feel better about those horrible practice sessions now 🙂

[rein26]

After my first evolvr lesson here's what I'm working on:

• Flaring my feet
• Earlier hip turn, with a much greater inside hand movement from set-up to parallel. Also, during this movement keeping my right hand facing more towards the ground.
• At the top, keep my right palm from facing the sky (old swing), and facing more towards in front of me or more vertical.

Here's a few practice swings with about two hours of practice. Earlier hip turn is tough, but I'll continue to work at it. The new position at the top feels pretty good. Now I just need to practice, practice, practice, to get muscle memory built in.

 

 

[iacas]

Just let your right knee extend.

Turn your hips man. 🙂

[rein26]

Took my practice to the range today and it was rough, really rough, but that's what I expected. Any time I change swing mechanics there's definitely regression before improvement. Gotta keep grinding. My range routine of drills, video taping every swing, reviewing, and repeat has really helped me slow down. I can't believe I left range balls behind!

[rein26]

Backswing Practice Notes:

Set-up:

• Flaring my feet at 20-25 degrees seems optimal. If I go much further than that, I can't get weight on the balls of my feet. Also, I can't engage my inner thigh muscles, which help power the hip turn to increase range of motion.
• A previous instructor told me to bump my hip forward at address, which I've been doing until now. This makes it nearly impossible to have a good hip turn for me. With my set-up more balanced, I can turn much easier. My set-up position FO still looks good with proper spine tilt.

Backswing swing thoughts/feels:

• Inside hand take-way, palm down, diagonally across back right foot. At the same time, rotate around spine with my left shoulder going low under my chin (this helps to engage my left hip to turn earlier and also keeps my spine angle).
• Back to target, lift my arms vertically with right palm more upright.

[iacas]

24 minutes ago, rein26 said:

Inside hand take-way

It's important that you do this with the pivot of your body, not by "taking your hands in."

 

[rein26]

Awesome topic. Thank you for sharing. I never knew about club depth throughout the backswing, so this very helpful.

I think I may be starting to get on the right track. I used to control my takeaway with only my hands, which I think compounded my restricted hip turn. Now, I've noticed that unless I push the club back with my rotation of my left shoulder low/left knee flexion and keeping my shoulders/arms/hand connected, my hands "crash through the wall" (reference to your Hand Depth video posted in above in post #17).