Something is not right with my take away....Help

[clane1844]

I have been playing golf for six years now....I have at least three more months until i get on the course...(gotta love upstate, NY) Here is my issue: At address everything is fine but when I start my take away i tend to shift my shoulders forward and keep my left foot planted on the ground (Hitting a low snap hook......I feel like I have no bend in my left knee to get my motion going....I had a lesson about 2 years ago and the Pro told me to roll my left foot onto the inside towards my right foot....This worked for awhile but now it feels really odd and i just don't like doing that....any suggestions on what I can do to train my mind into not thinking about it...It is all I think about at address....Please Help!!!!!

[grantc79]

One thing that might fix it is reworking which muscles are used to take the club away.

Some people that have that problem you are talking about push the club away with the left hand/arm which tends to tilt them downward a lot.

Focus on taking the club away with your right forearm straight down the line and then fan your right forearm up. Imagine a pitcher throwing a baseball in reverse.

Of course this all goes hand in hand with your pivot.

[clane1844]

pivot?????

[grantc79]

Yes, the pivot is when your hips and shoulders turn during your back swing.

[starchuk]

Sounds like you may want to look at your pivot.

Do you hands make you pivot OR does your pivot move your hands? I find that if its the hands that make the move, they tend to move away and up, rather than back, in, and up controlling them with the pivot.

Pivot is crucial and its not talked about much..maybe because its not explained very well.

[bunkerputt]

I'm not sure I really understand your problem. Keeping your left foot on the ground is generally a good thing. Are your legs too straight? Forget the whole "Feel like you're standing on the edge of a pool about to jump in" BS. Try to get your weight over your shoelaces and feel like you're about to jump up in the air rather than out. That way you can use the ground for leverage to add a lot of power.

[clane1844]

After reading some of these posts I do believe that it is my pivot more than anything.....Any idea of drill to work on to improve my pivot and or to do it the right way????

[verse214]

what I focus on is using my body to move my arms. Pretty much keep your arms "stiff" (but relaxed) and rotate your shoulders while keeping your arms in front, your wrists will naturally break and the clubhead will "square" will the plane.

same thing coming down, focus on your body swinging through the ball and it will "pull" your arms to strike and this will also create some natural lag.

the only drill i can think of is just swinging but keeping your arms pretty passive and not the initiators of the swing action...

kind of like a crane and a wrecking ball

[MiniMoe]

When bad habits show up in a swing it is usually something small in the set up that is the root cause. Go back to the basics of grip, stance, posture, balance, ball position, and alignment. It's hard to work on that by yourself, so seek out a pro to help. Once that is taken care of, then you can work on the problem. Here are a few simple things to key on that will help to get the correct weight transfer.... your right shoulder should be lower than your left at address, it's ok to start the backswing with a little more weight on the right instep, keep your head from moving forward, and the back swing is started with the chest, shoulders, arms, forearms, and wrists all working as one unit to take the club straight back.