I Need Help Incorporating a Swing Thought

[amished]

I finally took my first ever lesson last week and when I could incorporate the movements that my instructor wanted, I was hitting the ball better than I ever have before.  However, one of those things he had me try was a "pause" at the top.  When I "paused", I was much more controlled, I felt like my weight was properly forward to really strike the golf ball.  Seeing the footage, my pause doesn't exist (I could barely see my hands stop at all) but the way it felt was like it took forever to start my downswing compared to what I'm used to.

I tend to have more of an issue incorporating this pause with my driver (Ping G15 "Draw" with a regular flex shaft) that I bought early on in my golf career that was the best at the time for my swing at the time.  As I've grown as a golfer, and particularly with my lesson, I'm much more athletic and swinging much faster (because of a better swing in general).  As a frame of reference, I did go out and get fitting for a 3 iron replacement and got put into an Apex 2019 20* Hybrid with their base stiff shaft that really feels nice in my hands that I seem to have less problem with.

Do you have any tips for maintaining that "pause" at the top, could my shaft/club be too whippy for me to feel comfortable pausing, or something else that I'm not thinking of?

[billchao]

14 minutes ago, amished said:

Do you have any tips for maintaining that "pause" at the top, could my shaft/club be too whippy for me to feel comfortable pausing, or something else that I'm not thinking of?

If you can do it with your irons, you can do it with your driver.

What I do is rehearse a swing in my pre shot routine to get my feel and focus on that feel as my swing thought. For you it would be the pause at the top. Exaggerate it in the practice swing and keep it in your mind when you address the ball.

[Shindig]

25 minutes ago, amished said:

Do you have any tips for maintaining that "pause" at the top, could my shaft/club be too whippy for me to feel comfortable pausing, or something else that I'm not thinking of?

Good to hear from you again.  

As you know, feel ain't real.  

Make these moves SLOWLY at the range.  Swing slowly to the top, consciously pause, then do your downswing.  Don't worry what happens with the first few balls, although you'll do practice swings and real swings.  I struggle doing the real swings slowly, so don't beat yourself up if you go back to full speed, but do try to be slow.

As you get to the point where you're hitting it well and slowly, go and try it a little faster. 

[DaveP043]

6 minutes ago, billchao said:

If you can do it with your irons, you can do it with your driver.

What I do is rehearse a swing in my pre shot routine to get my feel and focus on that feel as my swing thought. For you it would be the pause at the top. Exaggerate it in the practice swing and keep it in your mind when you address the ball.

Agree completely with this, at least when you're on the course.  And do the same for practice, exaggerate the change in a practice swing, or two or three, then make a real swing at a ball.  Make short slow practice swings with the pause, then do it short and slow with the ball in place.  Changes aren't always easy, they can take some time and repetition to really become consistent.

[Talldog]

Practice swinging to a metronome (you can get free ones that work on your phone).

Count the beats on the way back and the pause.

1....2....3..&..4

1, 2, 3 are backswing (backswint ends at 3)

& is the pause

4 is the downswing

From my music background, I can tell you that changes are when people tend to speed up, that's why I put the & in--to keep you on tempo. Otherwise you are likely to go: 1....2....3..4

[MarvChamp]

21 hours ago, billchao said:

What I do is rehearse a swing in my pre shot routine to get my feel and focus on that feel as my swing thought. For you it would be the pause at the top. Exaggerate it in the practice swing and keep it in your mind when you address the ball.

Yes...A rehearsed swing that is free-flowing and without fear is my setup. Without fear means I have my target focus but I am not so worried and tense about it that I try to guide the club. Best, -Marv