Ball Fixation Stopping Proper Rotation

[Ced]

I've been having lessons for a while and recently when videoing a practice swing, my instructor excitedly pointed out to me that I was doing everything right on that swing. As soon as a ball appears, I get fixated again and don't keep the rotation going, leading to a stall and the club flipping a bit early. This leads to a high launch and inconsistency of strike and direction, which subsequently destroys my round. The worse the striking gets, the more inhibited my body gets and it's a vicious circle and the card goes bang.

The problem gets worse when I have trouble on the left (RH golfer) as I subconsciously shy away from what *feels like" I'm turning my body towards the trouble, even though I *know* that failing to rotate will cause the flip and pull. In addition to that, to try and fix it I sometimes hold off the wrist release as, in my mind, that will stop me pulling the ball left, but of course this results in a block or push. I used to have an awful slice; everything went right. I've been almost completely cured of that now (occasional minor block, but nothing too dangerous) and the bad shots are now what I used to never suffer - pulls, pull hooks, thin/fat connection and the dreaded shank - all caused from my obsession with "coming from the inside" and now letting the arms get disconnected and swinging away from my body on the downswing, hence the path to the right. When it all comes together in timing I hit a lovely draw that flies. I'm tall and strong and hit the ball a long way, so any misses are greatly exaggerated and almost always run into trouble.

So, is anyone aware of any drills to lose the ball fixation and swing as if the ball isn't there please?  It's all well and good telling myself to do it and it's only when I watch video playback that I realise I'm not. It's very disheartening as I'm on the verge of good scores, but this problem crops up a few times in rounds and then I'm finished as, once it goes, I can rarely get it back on the day. I've found a few times recently where I go to the other extreme to try to self-cure on course and fire the lower body waaaaaaay early and get totally disconnected such that the ball flies miles right and fades.

[klineka]

37 minutes ago, Ced said:

So, is anyone aware of any drills to lose the ball fixation and swing as if the ball isn't there please?  It's all well and good telling myself to do it and it's only when I watch video playback that I realise I'm not. 

Slow the swings down when you are practicing. It sounds like you are trying to implement the change into your full swing too quickly. You have likely made thousands of swings with the old motion, it is going to take time for your body to learn the new motion.

 

[Ced]

OK, thanks for that. So there's no harm in me practicing the swing from (hands at) 9 to 3 on the clock face to give the body a chance to get used to turning ahead of the hands, which in turn stay ahead of the clubface basically? Then gradually build up more from there to see if that will allow me to control the face to path better?

[klineka]

3 minutes ago, Ced said:

OK, thanks for that. So there's no harm in me practicing the swing from (hands at) 9 to 3 on the clock face to give the body a chance to get used to turning ahead of the hands, which in turn stay ahead of the clubface basically? Then gradually build up more from there to see if that will allow me to control the face to path better?

Nope there's no harm in that at all, that is exactly what you should be doing. Keep the swings at the 9 to 3 length (or even shorter) until you can nail down the movement (might be a few days of practice, might be a few weeks, etc). 

Then don't just jump from 9 to 3 swings to full swings either, do 3/4 swings, etc. You have to keep making small, slow steps forward and eventually your full swing will have the new motion worked in, but that could take multiple months and dozens of practice sessions. Be patient and good luck!