Downswing Swingthoughts?

[Guest]

What works for me is to "pause" at the top of the backswing...I say to myself, "stay quiet at the top" at the start of the upswing. During that quiet moment, I imagine the straight-line-to-the-target at which the club head will travel through the ball in the soon-to-come downswing. Then I command myself to let it go down slowly and FIRE!
Hope this helps some.

[MiniMoe]

I don't have any swing thoughts when playing except... swing to the target.

The key to my downswing is swinging under myself (like skipping a rock) while keeping my right foot on the ground and extending to the target. What initiated that movement.??? I think it is "planting" the right foot into the ground. Almost like I'm pushing off, but not exactly. The key is always the right foot.

[HighSchool Golf Freak]

I have always started my back swing with my arms, but thats because my lower body goes so fast my back foot is at finishing position by impact, Which causing me to lose a lot of power. I think a good thought is to always feel tight( in a good way like everything is on a track) until impact when you should feel totally extended

[McGolf-Doggie]

  verse214 said:

go on youtube and search for "shawn clement hogan power move"

The guy gives a pretty illuminating perspective, thanks. His clearing of the left hip, and the left punch back are interesting. My local pro -- a real downswing guy -- had me doing something like it earlier this month, to stop me collapsing the arms too much in the backswing. That may be only one of two times he even addressed the backswing.

As for downswing thoughts: maybe too many during practise, very few during one of those rare rounds. My real problem has consistently been with either balance, lower body slide, or pulling up late. So I try to get those issues under control first.

[Scott_Tee]

Keep your balance, head down, even tempo, and concentrate on hitting the ball. Also, make sure you setup correctly. Allot of Golfers over anlayze thier swing, and usually the problem is just a bad fundemental problem.

[csalcedo_tw]

My backswing is nice on plane but when I get to the top I drop my hands a little to enhance lag

[RC]

  tm22721 said:

Turn my left hip atop my posted left leg as fast as possible while holding all of the angles - and hold on for dear life.

That is my downswing thought as well, but I am not posted on the left leg -- I am mostly braced on a flexed right one at the top. Clearing the left one causes the weight to shift hard to the left leg which then is posted so maybe this is what you also mean. I like the "hold on for dear life" comment. Does your club smack you in the back when you do this? I've hit myself pretty hard sometimes.

[ks8829]

I believe that if your set up is correct that you are simply uncoiling and generating power by extending your hands and snapping your wrist out.

The key is the set up. I like to lower my rear shoulder and keep my rear elbow close to my body, when I take my backswing I make sure that my left arm is straight and that I make a full slow and deliberate turn and my only thought on the downswing is uncoil, extend my arms and snap my wrist to generate speed at the point of contact with the ball.

In summary if your set up is correct everything falls in place and becomes automatic on your downswing and very simple and hardly any thought.

[Ben]

  tm22721 said:

Turn my left hip atop my posted left leg as fast as possible while holding all of the angles - and hold on for dear life.

That's a good way to put it!

As for me: Left hip, turn hard . Left hand, firm through impact. Finish, fast and full .

[golfmechanic]

Hi,
A higher downswing plane usually results from your backswing 'looping' over the top of your transition.

That typically is a result of too much muscle tension buildup on your backswing causing you to initiate your downswing with a shoulder turn...the effect will be an outside-in club head swing path causing a slice/fade shot.

Try to focus on restricting your backswing slightly to reduce muscle tension build up in the backswing and then initiate your downswing with the hip rotation and let your shoulders lag behind...

To make the downswing even more effective, keep your wrists 'cocked' for as long as possible from the start of the downswing so that the hand release lags the shoulder turn....this will help you accelerate your downswing more by keeping your swing MOI as low as possible.

Good luck!

[mm6840]

  barrycuda said:

so i had a lesson yesterday. my line-up, set-up and backswing are great and need no work said the pro. but after that iam lost. it appears iam not turning my hip properly and getting my weight forward. iam just hopeless when it comes to the downswing and follow through. ball impact on the club is off the toe area and iam fighting to get it to move more towards the middle of the clubface. either i will turn my lower body too soon and cut accross the ball or leave it too late and block/hook the ball. I have a reverse C finish that is starting to wreck my back. :(

Hi,

Maybe you should consider switching to one-plane swing (regarding : reverse C finish that is starting to wreck my back). But that require a lot of changes ! regards,

[jambalaya]

  Ben said:

That's a good way to put it!

I like that idea and have been using that thought in my swing lately. Seems to me it helps with lag and clubface control.

[jambalaya]

  golfmechanic said:

Hi,

On a two plane swing, how do you gauge how flat the start of your backswing should be. I see time and again on Swing Academy where someone will suggest a golfer is taking the club too far inside on the takeaway but some of the golfers still manage to get in a good position at the top and bring the club back down on plane. Hogan probably takes the club "too far inside" by today's standards.

[Prodigy]

two words trap the ball (catch the ball first and drive it through the turf)

[fairwayfader]

Just remember to make a smooth transition from your backswing to your downswing.

[Prodigy]

  Prodigy said:

two words

three words i should say god i am a idiot lol

[kc8kir]

Besides initiating with the lower body, I think Harvey Penick had the best advice for how to start the downswing. Left heel down and right elbow return to side.

Two things to keep in mind here. If you aren't lifting your left heel on the backswing, it's gonna feel like you just push the left heel into the ground. This gets your weight going left and back. Second, the right arm to body connection should stay in place until either just before, or just until impact. Depends on the release you want / works for you (David Toms impact versus Adam Scott for example).

Want you don't want is to loose that connection really early and just end up flailing at the ball with your arms. Take it from me, that's a recipe for some really ugly shots.

[1dayIllBaPro]

Pull only my left hip out of the way while trying to keep my back foot on the ground.

You fix wound be lower your arms position down a little bit at the top.

Good Luck.