Need advice for overswinging....regripping....etc.

[Dub]

I played a couple of buddies yesterday. I had never played with one of them and was told prior that our scores would be close.

I did fine through the first two holes...even par, matching him.

I noted that he was unreal long...a full 50 yards longer on his drives and 1.5 clubs longer on the irons.

Third hole was a tight driving dogleg left. I led off with a perfect 3Iron and wound up with a three-put bogey. He scrambled for his second shot but recovered with a bogey. We're still even.


My game held up through seven holes until for whatever reason I tried to "duel" it out with him on the par 4s and 5s and go long off the tee.

I know that I was making a full shoulder turn, but I suspect I was raising up my left arm even further and regripping the club at the top of my backswing.

This led to nasty results.

I could feel things being loose at the top but I seemed powerless to stop it. My poor band-aid was to grip more fimly at address but this only built tension and then the old fades came back.

How can I make mid course corrections to ensure a nice wide turn without hiking things upwards on the backswing.........just a simple full turn back and the correct wrist hinge???

Any drills come to mind?

I'm returning from a 2-3 year layoff and am trying to be more self diagnostic than I was in the past.

[flyfordelectronics]

hey don't know if this will help but this worked wonders for me go to
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IuTa82xLWKQ

It's a video of tiger's swing, now go get your golf club and practice your swing trying your best to copy every single part of Tiger's swing - his grip, his turn, everything. It'll take a while but I found and you might find that your swing is completely different to Tiger's and when you actually replicate his swing it's so much easier. It's like it's effortless, there's no big hip turns no strain. Just practice it till you feel like you getting his swing right and when you go out to the driving range you'll be amazed and how much you improved your swing without even hitting a ball.

I managed to improve my scores being at home with youtube and a golf club.

I remember hearing a lecture once and the guy was saying that fastest road to success is to imitate the best until you get consistent results then innovate so in other words wait till your consistently playing well before you try and reinvent the wheel. and who's better to copy than tiger. You could also try looking at the other pro's swings and tiger from different angles. You'll find there are some common denomatiors to all their swings and they are the secret to consistency. Apply them to your own swing.

don't know if i helped you but that's my two cents

[jasongst]

I could feel things being loose at the top but I seemed powerless to stop it. My poor band-aid was to grip more fimly at address but this only built tension and then the old fades came back.

Have a look at my handicap and then take what I say with a grain of salt (as you should with anything you hear, even on TV).

One thing that helps me with regripping at the top of my swing is my left thumb. Now this may or may not mesh with whatever grip you are using, but if you can keep your left thumb centered on the shaft at the top of the backswing you will have far better control over the club head and your grip. If you let it slip to the right or left you will be subject to regripping, and you'll need to shorten your backswing to compensate. The other piece of advice I have is tempo. If you want to swing hard, then practice swinging hard. Practice until you find a tempo that allows you to swing hard without regripping, then bring that to the course. If you start swinging harder in the middle of a round you're going to find it difficult to adjust. But of course the best advice is just, "stop doing that!" If you can't get the power you need, don't try to make up for it by over-swinging. Just spend months overhauling your swing mechanics until you find something that does the trick ;) Seriously. I'm sure weight training helps, but I'm a poor advocate for that since, even though I'm fairly sedentary off the course, I'm still satisfied with my swing speed. The biggest weight I lift is the milk jug to fill the cereal bowl.

[jasongst]

I remember hearing a lecture once and the guy was saying that fastest road to success is to imitate the best until you get consistent results then innovate so in other words wait till your consistently playing well before you try and reinvent the wheel. and who's better to copy than tiger. You could also try looking at the other pro's swings and tiger from different angles. You'll find there are some common denomatiors to all their swings and they are the secret to consistency. Apply them to your own swing.

I agree with that. That's why Ben Hogan's book is so good; because he tries to break down his swing for you. I spent part of my time looking at YouTube, and part of my time trying to mimic the swing positions from the book. Using my little digital camera for videos also did wonders to open my eyes to my flaws. I used to have a massive sway that I didn't even know about until I saw it on video.

[kurtbayne]

No advice for technical
Mental however, I would think about this:

1. DUELING - I don't like the concept of "dueling" an "opponent" in golf, even in match play. Pay attention to YOUR game, not his. Notice where his ball lands if he needs help finding it, and notice if he violates any rules. Other than that, any mental energy focused on HIM is that much less mental energy available for YOU. And if you play Tiger Woods, you don't try to out-Tiger Tiger, you just be the reasonably-best YOU that you can be that day. No need to be a God, just punch in, and play your reasonable best without a lot of wasted emotion and misc. BS. For me that's the best path for consistent OK golf.

2. SELF-DIAGNOSING DURING A ROUND - Historically I'm a "thinker" on the course, always futzing with mechanics during a round. I didn't "get" the idea of just "letting go" and simply putting your subconcious mind in charge of actually hitting a ball during the round. But now I'm warming up to the idea that that maybe I should be taking the training wheels off my subconscious mind during the round and giving it more free rein and more responsibility. Of course, you're still going to have bad shots, perhaps even worse shots than normal, but perhaps they will be more CONSISTENT bad shots. So let's say you're hitting high, slicey drives today. Well just aim a little more left and let it go. Instead of micromanaging and being in constant fix mode, maybe what we need to do is have even LESS conscious control of our swing. Regripping at top of swing? Huh, how about that. I'll look at it tomorrow.

Whoops kids on lap gotta go

[blackxpress]

Along the lines of what Kurtbayne said, just play your game the best you can. As long as you can reach the greens in regulation, who cares if the other guy hits the ball longer than you do? If he can reach a par 4 with a driver and a PW and it takes you a driver and a 6I, so what? You're both on in two and putting for birdie.

[Dub]

Thanks for all the tips and advice.

I may need to print this one out and put in in my car to read again on my drive to the course next time I play.

Gonna get a range session in tommorrow so I'll give the thumb position a try.

You guys are so right about playing your own game and your own strengths. I was doing very well in that round for a few holes. I found trouble off the tee and tried to make up for it with a huge recovery shot....like the guy I was playing did.

I also tried a huge drive on the next hole and got embarrassed.

Gotta play the course, not the other guy.


In addition to the thumb position, a buddy today told me to try inserting a tee between my left palm and the club and swinging away without loosing the tee.

Thanks again.

[thedub]

hey don't know if this will help but this worked wonders for me go to

funny you said this, i did this same thing!! and....it WORKED!! it was crazy, i bet i've watched that video 15-25 times, easy...try it, it works..

[Dub]

Okay.....the video helped ingrain a couple of things:

1) Perfect takeaway....nothing manufactured

2) Perfect wrist "set" at the top....again, nothing manufactured


3) Parrallel at top....controlled....coiled...nothing loose...again, nothing manufactured.


Watched it several times but had to turn the music down....starting to put me in a trance!!!!!!!!!


Great video....thanks.

[DavidFehertysBike]

Oh man...i used to do the identical thing that you do with the re-gripping the club and the top of the backswing. Its a real killer. I dont have any particular "swing tip" advice but putting the leadbetter form grip on an old iron and putting a bit more pressure on my left thumb with the palm of if my right helped a little. Thats a really tough habit to break man....i feel for ya..

[Dub]

Okay....went to the range this morning and stretched a bit and loosened up.

I wound up hitting two small bags, maybe fifty balls.

I started with SW and went up through the odd irons...back to SW....then 3W...then 7I....then driver.

Extending my left thumd further down the shaft did help to "widen" my left hand's span along the grip.

The result was my wrist "set" on it's own at the top of the swing and ball contact was much more solid. Several came off like butter.

I have to work for a couple hours in the morning but then I'll hit a range on the way home for some more.

Thanks for the tips.

[Pinseeker81]

If you guys liked that youtube video, go to nikegolf.com, click on "Experience" in the upper right, the click on "Swing Portrait". It's the same video, but higher resolution and you can watch the whole thing from several different views without it jumping all over the place.
I've watched that so many times I lost count.