For those of you who swing across the ball

[SwinginCaveman]

I took my first lesson the other day which probably came a couple years too late, but I learned a lot. Using high speed cameras my instructor found out that my swing plane is way off. I'm coming back on like A but the downswing comes back lower on line B, causing it to go way left. (I'm a lefty, remember)

So I want to pass on some of the information and drills that my instructor gave me.

My problem was that my swing plane was very vertical and when I came down on a lower path I swung across it and pushed it. He had a couple ways to prevent this:

The first thing he had me do was stand in address posture but with the clubhead about 2 feet off the ground. He said to imagine the ball was on a 2 foot tee. Then he told me to hit the ball. In doing this it forced me to swing around my body on a good plane instead of straight up and down. Every so often you'll see Tiger do this on the tee box during his practice routine. This has worked wonders for my swing plane.

The second thing he had me do was fold up an old glove and put it under my right arm pit. (Remember I'm a lefty) Then he told me to take a few practice swings. He said if your backswing is too vertical, your right arm will separate from your armpit, causing the glove to fall out. After hitting a few balls like this it felt much better and I was hitting the ball much better than before. Very solid contact.

Then he laid down a long, rectangular box outside the tee and told me to hit the ball without hitting the box. Very common drill and after doing his other two I hit 15 balls and did not hit the box once.

Then he told me was that my backswing was too long. He said 90% of players take too long of a backswing thinking that it will give them more power. I had my hands almost behind my head kinda like John Daly and that was throwing my swing plane off as well. I come back as far as I can without bending my right arm. Much shorter than before but much more efficient.

The last thing that he told me was on the follow-through to pretend you're throwing the club down the fairway. In doing this you will get full extension and have a better follow-through.

These are all things you can do in your backyard and have helped my swing plane in so many ways. It feels a lot more natural and I hit the ball 100 times better than I did before. All you need is your clubs, a glove and a box. I promise you will stop hitting across the ball and pushing it like you used to.

[pjsnyc]

...The second thing he had me do was fold up an old glove and put it under my right arm pit. (Remember I'm a lefty) Then he told me to take a few practice swings. He said if your backswing is too vertical, your right arm will separate from your armpit, causing the glove to fall out. After hitting a few balls like this it felt much better and I was hitting the ball much better than before. Very solid contact...

I use this technique too - really helps eliminate the BAD variables and keeps my swing on plane...but don't u mean your LEFT arm pit? I'm a righty and I try to imagine a towel or whatever wedged underneath my RIGHT armpit so as to keep your trailing arm tucked into your body

[SwinginCaveman]

I use this technique too - really helps eliminate the BAD variables and keeps my swing on plane...but don't u mean your LEFT arm pit? I'm a righty and I try to imagine a towel or whatever wedged underneath my RIGHT armpit so as to keep your trailing arm tucked into your body

I use it under my right armpit. With longer clubs it's ok for a lefty's left arm to separate from the body a bit on the back swing. I see a lot of pros do this. I use it mainly to keep my arms swinging around my body, you might do it differently to prevent something else. But if you tuck a glove under your left armpit and swing the club on a vertical swing plane then the glove will fall and that's what I'm trying to prevent.

[Wisco-Kid]

Thanks for sharing this swingingcaveman very good advice! I like that glove in the armpit drill.

[mcgregja]

I never noticed Tiger do the Two feet thing.

My swing has always been more up-and-down than it should be. I've been playing for about 5 years, I've never taken lessons and I've never been able to draw the ball, not even close. My divots are always out-to-in and no matter how much I've tried to swing in-to-out, I've never been able to do so without badly hooking. Over the years, I've just learned to play a fade and tried to control it as best I could. I've always felt that a proper in-to-out swing plane is what prevented me from proper shot shaping, and a single digit handicap.

I went to the range yesterday, and did the two feet thing while getting loose and I noticed something immediately. There was a huge difference between this rotation and the rotation my body does during my swing. In my previous attempts to swing around my body, I wasn't changing my takeaway, thus resulting in a much more angled out-to-in divot. I tried hitting a ball while focusing entirely on opening up my body on the takeaway. Perfect draw. I repeated the two feet drill before every swing, and hit a solid draw on every shot with the exception of one or two blocked off.

I plan on incorporating this drill in my routine and I'll look for Tiger to do it at the Master's. Thanks!

[Trevor07Silvy]

I put the glove in my left armpit to make sure my left arm doesn't leave my body (and lunge at the ball, hitting it off the hosel), works for me, atleast yesterday at the range it did.

[SwinginCaveman]

When Tiger does it it's very subtle. It looks as if he only keeps it about a foot to a foot and a half off the ground, but he defintely takes a couple swings with the club up in the air. Here's what I've made of his routine so far:

Tees the ball up
Walks behind the ball and looks out into the fairway and I'm sure he picks his shot.
Then, while still behind the ball, he turns parallel to it and takes a couple of the practice swings I was talking about.
Then he turns and takes one last look into the fairway, approaches the ball, waggles the club a bit and takes off.

I'm not sure if he has the same routine for every single tee shot but that's what I've gathered so far in my religious study.

[SwinginCaveman]

Just a little update on my progress.

I've been to the range 4 times since my lesson and it seems as if it worked TOO well. The push is long gone except on lazy shots, but now I end up with an ocassional pull. Not nearly as often as I pushed, but when I overexaggerate what I learned I pull it. However, it's not as strong as the push was. It's subtle, and would end up in the rough worst case scenario instead of in the adjecent fairway as was happening before.

It feels weird at first but once you get your muscles used to swinging around your body life gets much easier. Everything is much straighter. I still have a good amount that don't fly down the center of the fairway but they would be in the light rough at worst.

I've also found that I'm getting much better distance that I was before. Swinging around my body has allowed my left side to generate more torque whereas my old swing was all arms and didn't have much on it.

I feel myself swinging much lighter now also. Instead of swinging 100% with my arms I can swing 80% with my whole body and still net more distance.

It's amazing what a half hour lesson can do for your game. I hope to go in for a couple more soon to fine tune some other aspects of my swing.