Drills to overcome hitting

[bunkerputt]

I've been a hitter for my first 3 years of playing. Now that I've started swinging through the shot, mostly by keeping my shoulders and arms out of it until the club is way down in the swing, I've found that it's quite a nasty habit to break. I'm not sure what the root cause of hitting instead of swinging is, but I know a big part of it is lack of trust that just making a good swing will send the ball on it's way. Before my relationship with the ball was something like:

Me: "Screw you ball. I'm going to hit you and you're going to like it."
Ball: "We'll see about that."

Now, it's more like:

Me: "Ok ball. If I just focus on making a good swing, would you be willing to fly where I'm aiming?"
Ball: "I guess I can handle that."

This seems like more than just a "swing change". It's really a completely different perspective on how to hit a golf ball. All that has really happened is that my wrists are leading my knuckles leading the club into impact, but something about not using your arms to move your arms into the shot is just difficult to cement. I took it to the course today and had some very mixed results. When I hit late, I had some nice shots, a couple of 290 yard drives, a 150 yard cut into a breeze with an 8-iron, etc. But I also got quick a few times and hung-back, threw the club and topped the ball. It was really difficult to keep the feel of a late-hit tempo in my mind. I usually play from the blue tees, but I was playing from the black tees because I've gained so many yards. I was wondering if that made me swing harder to try and help the ball like I tend to do when I swing poorly.

One thing that has helped some is to find a piece of crabgrass somewhere, put it forward in my stance and just clip it out of the ground with a bit of a crash into the back of it. The impact gives me a good sense of how far ahead my hands are of the club head.

For ballstrikers on the other side of this huge chasm, do you remember when you went from casting at impact to hitting with some lag left in the wrists? How long did it take and what did you do to get the perspective cemented?

[dozu]

i actually believe that for adults learning the game, we all have some athletic background to leverage with.

if hitting is natural for you, you can make it work, without necessarity have to change to swinging.

i can feel like I am hitting the ball like a tennis forehand (hence like hitting), or can feel like I am just tossing my arm to the target (swinging).

both can work.

don't overcome.... leverage.

[bunkerputt]

i actually believe that for adults learning the game, we all have some athletic background to leverage with.

"Hitting" has caused me to cast. It, therefore, doesn't work for me. When I say "hit" I really mean the early unwinding of the shoulders which causes the club to release too soon. There is no way you can develop consistency regardless of your level of athleticism when this is going on.

[Lefty22]

http://tempomaster.com/

I just saw this thing today (on the web, never seen one in real life) and it looks like it would really emphasize swinging in a full arch instead of the pounding "hit" you describe.

Once again, not recommending it or anything as I haven't used it, but just letting you know about it...

[MiniMoe]

what??? keeping your shoulder and arms out of it until the club is way down in the swing? The shoulders and arms control the swing. You don't keep them out of it, you let them control it. They keep everything else connected. The club is an extension of the left arm. Why would you keep that out of the swing? The club will not be in the correct positions during the swing unless the arms and shoulders do what they are supposed to do. Everything else in the swing follow their lead. Sure, the hips are a little ahead of the arms, but that is more like throwing a baseball overhand. The hips and legs always lead the arms, but the arms are the controlling factor. But they are always in sequence.

So, the club follows the left arm. Think about swing the arm, and not "releasing" the wrists. The wrists will follow what the arm does.... they play a passive roll in the swing, not a controlling roll.

[jambalaya]

When I saw the title of this thread my advice was going to be for you to leave your clubs in the bag.

[bunkerputt]

what??? keeping your shoulder and arms out of it until the club is way down in the swing? The shoulders and arms control the swing. You don't keep them out of it, you let them control it. They keep everything else connected. The club is an extension of the left arm. Why would you keep that out of the swing? The club will not be in the correct positions during the swing unless the arms and shoulders do what they are supposed to do. Everything else in the swing follow their lead. Sure, the hips are a little ahead of the arms, but that is more like throwing a baseball overhand. The hips and legs always lead the arms, but the arms are the controlling factor.

I can unwind my shoulders faster than I can turn my hips. I'm sure others can do this too. That has nothing to do with the fact that my hips are slow. It is because the hips have to move the shoulders and the head. The shoulders have only to move themselves and the head. When I get to the top of my swing, it's pretty easy to lose the tension early if I don't give my lower body time to get through the shot. Are you saying it's OK to start unwinding your shoulders from the top? When I do this, I cast. When I don't I don't cast.

[dozu]

I used to take my daughter to a roller coaster ride when she was 3-4 years old.. the ride goes 45 degrees up to the sky.

now when I try to build her a swing, I ask her to imagine that the left hip is the roller coaster, her arms are herself and dad :).... the 2 passengers are grabbing the safety bar (the club).

The golf swing is the roller coaster taking the 2 passengers for a good ride into the sky.

If she had any attempt to use the shoulders/arms to hit at the ball - I tell her it's like passengers trying to jump from the back row to the front row during the ride - no can do!

[MiniMoe]

the shoulders follow the hips, the arms follow the shoulders, then the hands follow the arms. Everything is in sequence.

[bunkerputt]

I used to take my daughter to a roller coaster ride when she was 3-4 years old.. the ride goes 45 degrees up to the sky.

I'll try that one! I have some very hit or miss days with sequencing. I think it might be related to my workout schedule. One to two days after doing a leg workout, I have a lot of trouble getting over to my left side due to lower body fatigue. My upper body compensates by running the swing for me. I used to end up with serious shots to the left when the legs got slow, but I've worked it into a little fade that is somewhat playable. Also, if I have any pain in my middle back, I tend to release my shoulder turn too soon because, obviously, it eases the pain. So I have really great sequencing the day or couple of days after doing a lot of lat/back and bicep work. They're nice and limber, and too tired to help out in the swing.

I know from camera work that when my shoulders spin out too soon, I cast the club just a bit and my shoulders are open to the target. This is also verified by the fact that, when sequencing poorly, I hit a lot of really high shots off the toe. The open shoulders pull the club off the target line since the left sholuder is farther away from the ball, and the early rotation slows the shoulders down too soon leading to a slight cast. When I hold them back better earlier in the swing, my shoulders are square at impact and the toe shots disappear. Also, my hands reach their full extension down the target line and rebound to a spot further behind me at the finish, pulling my shoulders around to where the club is wrapped around and pointing more towards the target. I can't fight a full finish when my sequencing is correct. Otherwise the hands finish low and forward and the club snaps against the back of my neck painfully just to add to the frustration of the shot. I figured out a nice variation to the Happy Gilmore drill that helps somewhat. Start with the feet together and shoulder line parallel to the target line. Take a backswing and lift the left foot up. Then plant the left foot and swing. This is, of course, the Happy Gilmore drill. What I do is continue by bringing my right foot up and stepping forward, still remaining parallel to the target line. Then I do another swing and walk my way forward in a rhythmic fashion. The BIGGEST key to this drill is to aim for something on the ground with each swing that you are going to clip. I like to brush the grass. Your brain has no idea where the hands are at impact without anything to impact. When the club brushes the grass, it provides just enough impact to feel whether or not the hands are leading the club into the shot. This is an awesome drill and I recommend that anyone having trouble with casting or with developing a good rhythm try it out.

[bunkerputt]

OK. So apparently this is called the "Hit Impulse" and is the reason for hitting from the top instead of swinging through the shot. This thread should be named: "Looking for tips/drills to overcome the hit impulse". Use that as a clarification if you post a response.