Squaring the Face Through Impact

[bsnone]

Hi Folks,

Had my first golf lesson in 15 years today. Was a fairly positive experience and was nice to have my swing taped to see what was going on. The pga pro who gave my lesson was very impressed with my swing mechanics, in fact he was suprised at how high my handicap was considering my swing mechanics - however, I am leaving the clubface slightly open through impact and not swinging down on the ball enough. We spent about 30 minutes working on swinging down on the ball and taking a divit after hitting the ball. It certainly was a struggle but I feel like I will gain a lot but working on this. He also commented and had me work on building a "stronger" grip which is amazingly uncomfortable but from what I understand is probably a big problem with why I can tend to leave the clubface open through impact.

Now, I will continue to get lessons but at $75 a pop, it is going to be monthly instead of weekly. I'm wondering if anyone else has worked through similar problems and if they have any drills that helped them achieve their goals. All he really left me to work with was to grab a small dowel and work on getting the "swoosh" sound by bringing it outside in, and practice hitting a hook over and over again. Any suggestions? Thoughts? Thanks!

[jambalaya]

Hi Folks,

Grip changes are always uncomfortable at first. If it is amazingly uncomfortable you must have had some grip problems. You'll get used to it pretty quick. I sure don't want to fill your head with anything new. What the pro gave you was plenty to work on for now.

[jjb333]

I think you ought to get the idea of hitting down on the ball and taking a divot before going back for another lesson. It's incredibly effective and cheap to go to a soccer field with a PW and 10 or 15 balls and just hit them over and over again. This is how I learned to hit down on the ball and since I started doing this about a year and a half ago, I've gone from a 25 to now a 12. Best of luck though with the lessons, just remember that hard work on your own can get the same results.

[Dub]

Actually....I think monthly lessons are better than weekly....provides you with more time to work through and anchor down the suggested changes.

Hitting down on it.....so key. Maybe not the favorite of the course maintenance crew....but an important part of ball striking. I've only known one great player who doesn't take divots....it's freakish how he picks 'em clean.

Sand in those divots and keep plugging away.....striving for "ball first" contact.

[bsnone]

Thanks for the insight. Now that I've had several hours to process things I'm feeling very positive. The lesson really felt like information overload but now that I'm able to step back I'm really looking forward to working on these changes. The grip changes feel strange but I feel like the club is much more in my fingers - where I used to think the club was but now I have a better feel for what that really means. Here's hoping I can keep improving. Thanks

[hamletsdead]

I took some lessons last year and it sort of helped my game. I found more improvement in taking one-off lessons with a theme in mind -- e.g. a lesson on the flop shot, a lesson on how to get out of the sand, etc. I'm not a big fan of full swing lessons, since I can only absorb so much criticism at one time -- I keep telling my pro, "Okay, just tell me one thing you want me to fix today, and that's it." Then I go back and ask him to tell me something else he thinks I should work on.

My main improvement in ball striking, oddly enough, has come from hitting practice balls in my back yard. The dogs have torn the lawn to shreds during the last six month's drought, so lately I've been going out with a bucket of those balls that only go 30% of the distance and just focusing on hitting down and taking a divot. Now the lawn looks really terrible, but my iron striking is better (and I can tell my wife it's the dogs' fault).

My real problem now is that I don't like teeing up my irons at all, since that makes me go back to playing t-ball, and I find it hard to hit down. Does anyone here just forego the tee and hit off grass on par 3s?

[nutsnbolts]

I like being a sponge and the more things you can tell me I’m doing wrong, the more things I can take away and keep conscious of doing. I know that some people say, work on one thing at a time or change one thing at a time but if you can take each critique, then write it down and when you are in the golf range or on the course, you can constantly keep an eye on “all” the critiques that was given.

At some point in your golf life, you will obviously pinpoint specifically the issue that went wrong. In my opinion, working on the wrong thing over and over again can waste time so when I’m on the course/range and I would have like 10 things that was told of me, I try each one, each combination and see which of the 10 things actually pertains to me.

To me lessons are important if you don’t have the basics down, after a while, instructors just becomes another eye looking at you and allowing them to find things that is wrong (which may work for you regardless).

Of course, if you haven’t seen an instructor or taken a lesson for a long while, it’s best to do so again because they can see where you may have “slacked-off”. So yes, definitely see an instructor in the beginning for a few times, then work on it, then when you feel you maximized the lesson, then go back again to see where you may be weak, and then work on that, and finally, an instructor again to tweak it more.

Hopefully, this evolution will allow you to keep fine tuning your technique, gain experience and lower your score.

[Chas]

Grip changes are always uncomfortable at first. If it is amazingly uncomfortable you must have had some grip problems. You'll get used to it pretty quick. I sure don't want to fill your head with anything new. What the pro gave you was plenty to work on for now.

Yes, you'd think so. But just recently I've moved my right hand counter-clockwise on the shaft so that my left thumb is fully covered by the heel of the right hand (as it's supposed to be and as you see it in most instruction books). Erik mentioned in a post a while back that he'd pointed out this fault to someone learning the game, and I realized I had too "open" of a right grip myself.

I've been on the range twice with the new grip, and on the track once, and it's making a big difference. I'm squaring the face and releasing better, almost never push the ball way right like I used to do (and I mean a BIG push sometimes, just aweful). OK so I might be hooking a bit more but not so badly, I still need to work to not over-rotate of course. Anyway, the odd thing about it is that it already feels like the natural thing to do. Usually change is a lot more painful than this in golf in my personal experience. Pity I didn't find out about this a few years ago. O well, better late than never I guess.

[PiustheDrGolf]

To practice 'Hitting Down', I place a penny in front of the ball about 5". I am able to hit the penny if I do hit down. For less than a dollar, I know I'm hitting down the ball.
Flag -------------------------------Penny-----Ball
Flag ---------------------------------- |---5"---|

[Chas]

hmmmm, looks like I'll have to start picking up pennies after I drop them from now on .....

5 inches sounds like a long way, but I'll try it.

[nutsnbolts]

Yes, you'd think so. But just recently I've moved my right hand counter-clockwise on the shaft so that my left thumb is fully covered by the heel of the right hand (as it's supposed to be and as you see it in most instruction books). Erik mentioned in a post a while back that he'd pointed out this fault to someone learning the game, and I realized I had too "open" of a right grip myself.

I realized this early when I bought the leadbetter swingsetter with the defined "strong grip" hand alignments.

You can actually go to any golf store and they usually "swing aids" that will show you proper or correct grip. Before, I never really understood a strong grip, even when I watched videos on proper grip or even when someone was telling me about how I should be with my grip. Not until I actually placed my hand on those "swing aid" clubs with the hand grooves did I say hmm..it's uncomfortable but then everything clicked where the videos made sense and from what people told me.

[nutsnbolts]

To practice 'Hitting Down', I place a penny in front of the ball about 5". I am able to hit the penny if I do hit down. For less than a dollar, I know I'm hitting down the ball.

Can you elaborate on this, I don't understand what it is that I"m trying to achieve with the penny.

So, you lay a penny 5 inches in front of it, you swing down....and...?

[Chas]

I realized this early when I bought the leadbetter swingsetter with the defined "strong grip" hand alignments.

OK, now you force me to admit something rather embarassing in public ....

For some years now I have owned a Swingrite II trainer 8 iron (about twice the normal weight), a similar trainer 3-wood (just be careful of the furniture and glassware), and two nifty smaller swing trainers that are about 2/3 the length of a regular mid-iron but with a weight on the end so that they feel quite normal to swing (good for taking on trips etc). EACH of these devices has a "defined" grip moulded in, and they all place the right thumb and heel in the correct position vis-a-vis the left hand and the club. You simply cannot grip the club incorrectly when holding these trainers. Yet, for over six years now I have been gripping my clubs incorrectly (with my right hand), until I read Erik's post about someone else's grip problem. It never occured to me that these were GRIP TRAINERS as well as swing trainers. It's sad I know, so very sad ....

[nutsnbolts]

OK, now you force me to admit something rather embarassing in public ....

This is why I recommend seeing an instructor....at least once for someone to actually show it to you and I'm not even talking about just grip.

You can watch all the videos and look at all the pictures and diagram but you'll never really understand it (if you do then good for you) but it's easier when someone is actually right there to point out what is wrong or right.

[squaddie]

Can you elaborate on this, I don't understand what it is that I"m trying to achieve with the penny.

It sounds like he means, you should be able to hit or make contact with the penny with your club if you are swinging properly. If you don't hit the penny with the club (along with hitting the ball) then you are not hitting down properly.

I have the same problem, not knowing if I am hitting down on the ball. All the driving ranges around here use mats, so I can't make any divots. I wonder if the range officers will have a problem if I put down pennies on the mats? I can't go to a park around here and use practice balls since the city has an ordinance against hitting golf balls in public parks. I have seen divot mats advertised that show you where your club is hitting the ground. Perhaps I can buy one of those and bring it to the range and place it on the range mat.

[nutsnbolts]

So you're saying that every time you're hitting the ball, you're supposed to take a divot? But that makes my club dirty. J/k no seriously, you're supposed to do that?

[squaddie]

So you're saying that every time you're hitting the ball, you're supposed to take a divot? But that makes my club dirty. J/k no seriously, you're supposed to do that?

As you can see from my profile, I'm not an expert. But from the various youtube videos I have seen of top PGA players, all of them seem to make a good divot when they hit the ball with their irons.

Here's a swingvision (slow-motion) view of Ernie Els with an iron-swing that makes contact with the ground from the tee. Ernie Els Swingvision 2007 Youtube Even with the ball on a tee Ernie is hitting downward, which brings the iron partially into the ground.

[PiustheDrGolf]

Can you elaborate on this, I don't understand what it is that I"m trying to achieve with the penny.

Sorry for getting late on your question. After you lay a penny 5 inches in front of the ball and you hit the ball as your normal swing and if you hit the penny also, that means you are hitting down good. For first few shots, you may not hit the penny but just ball. Then, try to hit the penny in front when you hit ball.

Practing the drill gives me: 1. Watching the ball till impact, which means no head up. 2. Feeling of hitting down. (more solid impact) I use this drill time to time to check whether I am hitting down or not. So far, I spend close to $2 total and works great for me.