Can't Shake my Overswing. Help!

[AOB3398]

Looking for help and suggestions in how to overcome a nasty tendency to overswing.  I started golfing 6 years ago and improved from a 28 handicap when I started to a 10 two years ago.  I was consistently getting better but irons were always the weakest part of my game.  While I had a short, compact stroke, I never really took divots and my iron shots were too inconsistent for my liking.  I started taking lessons and tinkering with my swing and somehow I developed a really bad overswing.  I've been battling for 2 years to shorten my swing but I have a hard time stopping before the club goes past parallel because I feel like I have no power behind my shot otherwise.  My swing is now too long, out of control, and I feel like I'm all arms.  My most common misses are duck hooks, fat shots, or the dread cold shank.

If this sounds familiar to anyone, I'd love to hear any and all suggestions on how to possibly overcome this.  It's been killing me for 2 years!

[boogielicious]

2 hours ago, AOB3398 said:

Looking for help and suggestions in how to overcome a nasty tendency to overswing.  I started golfing 6 years ago and improved from a 28 handicap when I started to a 10 two years ago.  I was consistently getting better but irons were always the weakest part of my game.  While I had a short, compact stroke, I never really took divots and my iron shots were too inconsistent for my liking.  I started taking lessons and tinkering with my swing and somehow I developed a really bad overswing.  I've been battling for 2 years to shorten my swing but I have a hard time stopping before the club goes past parallel because I feel like I have no power behind my shot otherwise.  My swing is now too long, out of control, and I feel like I'm all arms.  My most common misses are duck hooks, fat shots, or the dread cold shank.

If this sounds familiar to anyone, I'd love to hear any and all suggestions on how to possibly overcome this.  It's been killing me for 2 years!

Post a swing in our Member Swings section. Folks will help. I know a few members who have had the same issue.

[Vinsk]

Start filming your swing. Do very slow swings at first. You’re probably going to have to really exaggerate the brevity of your swing to see a difference. 

You can make this change. It will feel awful, alien and downright silly. Start with a backswing no higher than a 20yd chip. Film it. You must. Because as short as you think you’re swinging, you’re not. You’ve ingrained your ‘muscle memory’ to feel that over swing is necessary for power. You can ingrain that a shorter swing is too and probably will be better. It takes time.

[Piz]

I think the main culprit, in over-swinging, is believing that it is necessary to really clobber the ball.  It is never a good idea to add something extra...just in case.  Try playing some shots with what you think is a 3/4 swing and compare the distances you get to those obtained with an "over-swing".  Chances are pretty good that you aren't getting anything "extra" from reaching beyond your shoulder turn.  Keeping your arms and hands in sync with the rest of you requires that you don't allow them to wander off at the top of your swing.  

P.S.  I didn't truly appreciate what I was doing, right and wrong, until I took some lessons that included video.  What we imagine we are doing is often inaccurate.  Having a clearer mental image is quite helpful.  Bon Chance.

[Zippo]

6 hours ago, Vinsk said:

Start filming your swing. Do very slow swings at first. You’re probably going to have to really exaggerate the brevity of your swing to see a difference. 

You can make this change. It will feel awful, alien and downright silly. Start with a backswing no higher than a 20yd chip. Film it. You must. Because as short as you think you’re swinging, you’re not. You’ve ingrained your ‘muscle memory’ to feel that over swing is necessary for power. You can ingrain that a shorter swing is too and probably will be better. It takes time.

I agree. An instructor recently told me that, if you're making a change and it doesn't "feel" awkward alien and downright silly, then you're probably not doing it correctly.

[stealthhwk]

10 hours ago, AOB3398 said:

Looking for help and suggestions in how to overcome a nasty tendency to overswing.  I started golfing 6 years ago and improved from a 28 handicap when I started to a 10 two years ago.  I was consistently getting better but irons were always the weakest part of my game.  While I had a short, compact stroke, I never really took divots and my iron shots were too inconsistent for my liking.  I started taking lessons and tinkering with my swing and somehow I developed a really bad overswing.  I've been battling for 2 years to shorten my swing but I have a hard time stopping before the club goes past parallel because I feel like I have no power behind my shot otherwise.  My swing is now too long, out of control, and I feel like I'm all arms.  My most common misses are duck hooks, fat shots, or the dread cold shank.

If this sounds familiar to anyone, I'd love to hear any and all suggestions on how to possibly overcome this.  It's been killing me for 2 years!

Stop trying to shorten your swing!!! Lol! I been going through same thing...started just trying to SWING SMOOTH instead. Less mechanical which means less thinking, and its easy to tell if your doing it right cus everyone knows smooth. As mentioned before, just cus u think your swing is shorter, doesnt mean it is. 

Done this last 3 weeks and it helped me transform my scores. From can’t break 100 to 92, 88, 90. Good luck!!

 

 

[Vinsk]

4 hours ago, stealthhwk said:

started just trying to SWING SMOOTH instead. Less mechanical which means less thinking, and its easy to tell if your doing it right cus everyone knows smooth.

It would be interesting to see video of your ‘not smooth’ vs ‘smooth.’ It’s true we know what ‘smooth’ means but what it feels like is completely different from person to person for a golf swing. 

[BC-to-MI]

On 6/3/2019 at 5:56 PM, Piz said:

I think the main culprit, in over-swinging, is believing that it is necessary to really clobber the ball.  It is never a good idea to add something extra...just in case.  Try playing some shots with what you think is a 3/4 swing and compare the distances you get to those obtained with an "over-swing".  Chances are pretty good that you aren't getting anything "extra" from reaching beyond your shoulder turn.  Keeping your arms and hands in sync with the rest of you requires that you don't allow them to wander off at the top of your swing.  

P.S.  I didn't truly appreciate what I was doing, right and wrong, until I took some lessons that included video.  What we imagine we are doing is often inaccurate.  Having a clearer mental image is quite helpful.  Bon Chance.

Couldn't agree more with everything here. I really struggle with overswinging at times, but I've found that what I think is a 3/4 swing is really a full swing, so I don't lose any distance with it, while also being far more consistent.

And video was my best friend. I assumed I was just making a full swing, but video helped me see how out of control my backswing was when I was trying to smoke the ball. I highly recommend getting some video to see whether you are overdoing it. People on this site are also quite helpful with pointing out ways to combat this if you post in member swings.

[tinker]

90% of the golfers I see on a public course on a given day swing too hard. The modern mentality is “ kill the ball”.  Swinging hard woks great when you can hit the center of the club every time. The pro’s can, most others can’t. You have 14 clubs, each one responsible for a different distance. The farthest you hit the longest club with a controlled swing is what you have, some just have more swing speed than others. The beauty of golf is that 3 150 shots gets you on the green on any par 4 in town. Make a put, get a par. Trust your clubs and swing with the object of hitting the ball clean and solid. You’ll learn your distances and be fine. A longer club hits the ball farther all by itself, it doesn’t need extra help. 

[Vinsk]

6 hours ago, tinker said:

The beauty of golf is that 3 150 shots gets you on the green on any par 4 in town.

And the ugly part is making those 3 150yd shots well. It simply isn’t that easy. And a 150yd shot isn’t helpful on a par 3 with water to 160yd. If a player can hit 3 shots 150yds and keep them in the fairway they can hit longer clubs and get closer to the hole.

6 hours ago, tinker said:

A longer club hits the ball farther all by itself, it doesn’t need extra help. 

If only that were true! The club has to be swung. The longer irons have less loft and more speed is required to hit them properly. This is why many amateurs will hit their 4-5-6 irons almost the same length. Especially the 3-4-5. That blissfully peaceful and ‘ oh it’s so natural’ 78mph 7i swing can get one by...but once they pull the long irons it’s pure misery.

[ChetlovesMer]

7 hours ago, tinker said:

90% of the golfers I see on a public course on a given day swing too hard. The modern mentality is “ kill the ball”.  Swinging hard woks great when you can hit the center of the club every time. The pro’s can, most others can’t. You have 14 clubs, each one responsible for a different distance. The farthest you hit the longest club with a controlled swing is what you have, some just have more swing speed than others. The beauty of golf is that 3 150 shots gets you on the green on any par 4 in town. Make a put, get a par. Trust your clubs and swing with the object of hitting the ball clean and solid. You’ll learn your distances and be fine. A longer club hits the ball farther all by itself, it doesn’t need extra help. 

I understand what you are getting at. I'd like to discuss a couple of points with you. 

1 - The modern Mentality is "kill the ball".  - I don't know how long you've been playing golf, but this is nothing new. I don't think it's the "modern" mentality. The "Hit Instinct" has been in mankind for a long time. 

2 - I think when you say 90% of golfers swing too hard. I'd argue that those golfers aren't swinging too hard. They just haven't had enough training to swing efficiently. 

I take your comments in the spirit in which they were intended. I'm probably just arguing semantics. 

[tinker]

I have been playing for a while. I never played until I was well into my 30’s ( I was a 4 nite a week baseball, softball player in competitive leagues). I started out being the long and wrong kind of player. Plenty of power, rough numbers on the card. I constantly practiced and studied the game, kind of how I approach things. I ended up owning a custom golf shop that did about 200 sets a year and worked on clubs for every pro in a 30 mile radius. I score as well now at 65(love the senior tees) as I did at 45. As I aged my distances crept down. I worked my ass off learning to hit the long irons. I went back to traditional lofted blade irons and learned to use them all. I’m at around 135 with my 7 iron and can get 175 out of my 3. I even carry a 2 iron(it isn’t the highest shot in the world but it works for certain situations).the breakthrough came when I discovered that swinging the long irons as smoothly as possible made them work( same with fairway wood). The minute I tried to jump on a shot the contact got sloppy. The hardest thing in the world is to look at a green 180 yards away and not try to juice the ball. My 3 iron loft is probably equivalent to modern 5 irons but I have the advantage of that 3 iron being 39 inches long which generates it’s own speed. I see guys buy 46 inch long 12 degree drivers and turn around and buy delofted short shafted irons. Makes no sense. You have to get balls in the air to play proper yardages, you can’t depend on roll, especially with irons. I don’t like hybrids because I have no shot making abilities with them, they’re good for just advancing the ball. I can hit a 4 iron high or low, fade or occasional draw.

 

[iacas]

21 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

2 - I think when you say 90% of golfers swing too hard. I'd argue that those golfers aren't swinging too hard. They just haven't had enough training to swing efficiently.

Right. They all look like they're swinging too hard because they have bad sequencing and bad balance.