Favorite fundamental?

[jasongst]

What's your favorite fundamental? That thing you constantly have to return to when your swing is feeling out of whack? I'm sure it's different for everybody. I have several, but here are two I especially like:

1. Firm right side. I like to pretend my right leg, from my thigh to my shin, is a tree trunk. I keep it slightly bent, but solid. I find that if I can avoid flexing my right knee during the swing that I will return to the correct impact position far more often. This is how I get rid of fat shots.
2. Balance. I don't think this gets stressed enough. When I practice staying in good balance, everything gets better, and I'm freed up to swing more athletically. My personal thought to keep in balance is to balance on my arches. I like to pretend there is a sliding rail that I'm standing on during my swing.

[Shindig]

Ball position accounts for a ton of my poor shots.

Many of the rest are a slipped grip.

If those both fail, I probably swung too hard. This happens on 3H and above, but rarely on my lower ones. I don't have the ego that compels me to hit a wedge into a green when a 9-iron will do nicely.

[tm22721]

What plagues me most is lapsing back into a steep backswing and downswing causing fat shots.

It is very hard for me to sense swing plane. I see many pros checking their swing plane just before a shot.

Anybody know a drill to engrain the proper swing plane ?

[kehanra99]

Mine is tempo, mainly having a nice backswing turned into a rushed downswing...which causes me to either push the ball or chunk the shot. I have to remind myself that the anything outside of my solid, natural swing speed isn't worth the little bit of extra distance. There's always a lower club.

[itzzzberny]

posture. don't hunch over. keep your back straight and bend at the hips. remember to keep your chin up so that your shoulder can clear under it.

[JKilgore44]

Tempo

As stated earlier, good tempo is they key to good ball striking. Nice rhytmic take-away that transitions into a good swing. I try to focus on a good transition and making sure that I in the slot and then I really accelerate through contact (from the 9 o' clock to 3 o' clock position on a clock).

Posture

I sometime get too much weight on my toes and lean towards the ball a little. This is a common mistake for a lot of people. To correct this, I make sure that I am keeping my weight centered in my "middle". I can feel the difference in my feet. When I have good posture, the weight is evenly distributed between my heels and the balls of my feet. A good way to check this is to have a playing partner gently push you after you address the ball. If you stumble either forward or backward, then you're not centered.

[jasongst]

  JKilgore44 said:

I sometime get too much weight on my toes and lean towards the ball a little. This is a common mistake for a lot of people. To correct this, I make sure that I am keeping my weight centered in my "middle". I can feel the difference in my feet. When I have good posture, the weight is evenly distributed between my heels and the balls of my feet. A good way to check this is to have a playing partner gently push you after you address the ball. If you stumble either forward or backward, then you're not centered.

Yep, this is exactly the type of balance I try to achieve. What I realize is that when I'm not balanced on my arches, then my swings are really a controlled fall. And when I'm in a controlled fall it's difficult to have the same swing plane every time.

[DavidFehertysBike]

My favorite fundemental is by far the grip. Its a great feeling when you have the shaft wrapped in your hands correctly.........

[DavidFehertysBike]

  itzzzberny said:

posture. don't hunch over. keep your back straight and bend at the hips. remember to keep your chin up so that your shoulder can clear under it.

Yes. Trying to "keep my head down" set me back for months.

[golf_junkie27]

The two for me are grip and alignment. When I take the time to concentrate on both, I play really well.

[RyderSim]

Grip:
I tend to get my right hand to far on top of the club and my palms do not face each other. This causes me to not square the club face consistancy. When my palms face each other, I have a better feel for where the clubface is throughout my swing.

Tempo:
I tend to get to quick with my lower body which gets the club stuck on my downswing. Although I know I am not actually doing this, but the feeling is that my club beats my lower body through impact.

[Avid Golfer]

  jasongst said:

What's your favorite fundamental? That thing you constantly have to return to when your swing is feeling out of whack? I'm sure it's different for everybody.

I feel the fundamentals (grip, aim, alignment, posture, ball position, and balance) all work hand in hand and if more than one is off at the same time it can lead to struggling.

For me the one that makes the biggest difference between really swinging well and struggling with my ball striking it is posture. Posture influences balance, swing path, swing plane, arm hang, tension (or lack thereof), angle of attack, weight shift (or lack thereof), optimal ball position (for where the club contacts the ground), and many other things.

[Wisco-Kid]

Tempo for me. If my tempo is on everything else seems to fall into place.

[itzzzberny]

other important fundamentals not to forget:
-no reverse pivot
-golf is a game of opposites (if you try hard to kill the ball. it will kill your swing)
-light consistent grip pressure
-its a game. have fun with it.