My Swing (nick4501)

[senorchipotle]

actually, i think what's causing your slice is in your downswing you're hitting the ball from too far inside. if you play the ball back in your stance you're going to hook it off the planet, and if you play it forward of center you're gonna slice it. i'd get a little bit more room between myself  and the ball, only about 4 or 5 inches and see if that helps the situation. and try to extend your lead arm through impact, cause the more extension you get through the shot the less spin you're going to impart on the ball.

[nick4501]

Originally Posted by senorchipotle

actually, i think what's causing your slice is in your downswing you're hitting the ball from too far inside. if you play the ball back in your stance you're going to hook it off the planet, and if you play it forward of center you're gonna slice it. i'd get a little bit more room between myself  and the ball, only about 4 or 5 inches and see if that helps the situation. and try to extend your lead arm through impact, cause the more extension you get through the shot the less spin you're going to impart on the ball.

Great advice!  Thanks mate.  I will give it a try and get back to you if it's still a problem.

[Dave Gordon]

Your posture does look a little bit cramped. Stick your backside out a bit more so your back is straighter .

This should help get your weight balanced more over the ball.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by senorchipotle

actually, i think what's causing your slice is in your downswing you're hitting the ball from too far inside.

Could you clarify this one?

[motteler621]

your backswing needs work, your taking the club back way under the plane line and cross the line at the top. Read some instruction on a proper backswing.

[senorchipotle]

Originally Posted by iacas

Could you clarify this one?

basically, he's coming into the hitting area with a shaft that's under the ideal swing plane because his hands are too far behind him or "trapped" and his clubface is open so it's cutting across the ball hitting an inside out push slice.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by senorchipotle

basically, he's coming into the hitting area with a shaft that's under the ideal swing plane because his hands are too far behind him or "trapped" and his clubface is open so it's cutting across the ball hitting an inside out push slice.

That's kind of rare... As you know "inside to out" will tend to draw the ball unless the face is REALLY open, and it gets confusing if you call that "inside to out." It's outside-in relative to the face but the face would have to be SO FAR open that talking about the path is almost irrelevant - the face is by far the out of whack thing in that case...

Hitting the ball "from too far inside" doesn't imply "slice" to people. It implies pushes, sure, but also big hooks.

[nick4501]

Hi guys.

I've been playing a lot of golf this year, in an attempt to get my handicap stable.  I generally shoot around 100, but recently went through a spell where everything just seemed to click.  I was regularly shooting under 90 and only losing shots because of my putting.  I THOUGHT that this increase in performance was because I'd slowed my swing down and therefore gained more consistency, so I actively concentrated on keeping my swing speed slower...and this is where my trouble started.

I started to notice that I was spinning the ball a LOT (leaving a large white ball scuff down the middle of my club).  Great, I thought, until I noticed that this was resulting in a loss of distance - a BIG loss.  I was previously hitting a 7 iron about 140-150 yards on a clean hit, but it's fallen and fallen (and fallen!), and I'm now struggling to reach 100 yards!

I'm certain that this must be due to a timing issue (more than likely caused by me consciously slowing my swing down), but I can't work out how to resolve it!  I've now had this problem for about a month, and it isn't getting any better...

Please can you check out my swing and point out any obvious flaws?

Just for reference, this video is with a pitching wedge (that I used to hit about 110 yards), and the clean hit that you see in the video only went about 70 yards...

Thanks in advance!

Nick

[bunkerputt]

I'm surprised that even went 70 yards. . Relax.  You seem to have taken the "tie your arms together with a rope" advice literally.  If you will just let your body turn your arms, they will stay connected automatically and you shouldn't have to try.  Let your feet flare a touch too too so that you can get your legs into it.

Imagine your arms are ropes hanging from the shoulder joints and you have no feeling or control from your sternum up.  Then try to get the club swinging using the remaining unanesthetized body parts (legs, hips and obliques) .  That's the part of the golf swing that you are missing.  You have to let the pivot drive your swing.

[rustyredcab]

The good news -- there is a lot of good stuff in your swing.

Not sure what is causing what, but you can see if you freeze the picture on your downswing, before impact, you have completely released the club by the time the club is pointing two feet behind your trail foot. It is bad on the practice swing too but a bit closer to your trail foot instead of behind it. The fact that you can release so early and still hit the ball solidly is amazing. Most of us would be hitting it fat or topping it. You have found a way to still make contact but the ball is never going to go anywhere if you give up your speed three feet behind the ball.

Again, hard for me to say what is cause and what is effect. The early release could have something to do with your lower body action as mentioned above. Go to the top of your backswing and freeze. Where do you feel your weight? It is hard to tell face-on view but, it looks like it is on your trail foot heal. Your head goes away from the target on your backswing. I can not tell if it also goes back toward your heals or just back down the line. And I think that back leg is pretty straight. When you were hitting it farther, I'll bet you had a bit of flex in that knee and weight nearer the inside front of that back foot (the pad of your big toe). And that centered weight in your backswing allowed you to drive forward with ease and release the club into -- not ahead of -- the ball.

BTW, your swing may feel slow to you but I really like your tempo. Don't blame your lost distance on that very nice tempo.

[Dwood]

You are casting the club down on the downswing and scooping the ball up in the air. Look up fixes for casting and stuff and do some drills. Also that mat isnt helping you because it is allowing you to hit slightly fat when you scoop and you think you are getting good contact.

[nick4501]

Excellent advice guys!

I will be trying to:

Keep my weight on the inside of my back foot;

Not lock my arms together at the elbows at tightly as it looks in that video, and take the punkerputt and rustyredcab's posture advice;

Try to keep my head steady;

Keeping my tempo the same;

and work on some anti-casting drills.

Thanks again guys.  I will post another video if/when I have cracked this and I'm back to my usual distances.

Nick

[tomvk77]

From what i can see your rushing the downswing , all positions are off before impact.

also on your finish our whole body is behind where the ball was. you should go up and over that line.

It looks like your trying to help the ball in the air. ( good hits go sky high with little fade or slice???)

do you hit balls thinn or fat??

you should try to start the downswing by turning your hips to the target, than followed by your arms.

also your arms are way to tight on your setup!

on a good setup your arms should hang lose straight down under your shoulders. from what i can see

on your position your hands are to far in front off your body.

Change your setup and your swingplane will change with it, so you should hit a nice divot after the ball,

rest off swing looks ok!

Good luck

[nick4501]

Hi guys.  I've been working on the above advice, but still can't beat the lack of distance problem.

I've uploaded an updated version of my swing:

Any improvement?  I'm obviously still not generating enough club head speed, but can't pin-point the cause...

[threejack]

alright i am going to attempt it. look at the angles here. you are releasing the club head which I have come to understand should really even happen. on the right is camillo villegas and notice how he maintains the angle between his arms and irons. the lower body and hips should bring the club head through the ball, not your arms.

this is what i understand from what others have told me on that forum, correct me if I am wrong guys, but I am pretty sure that is your main problem.

[threejack]

i mean should never really happen (about the release)

[iacas]

Originally Posted by threejack

i mean should never really happen (about the release)

Cart before the horse... Let's stop having to time some move a foot off the golf ball and back, first.

[rustyredcab]

Any improvement? You are releasing the club six inches or so closer to the ball. That is improvement but I suspect none you'll see in results. You have still released the club and given away all clubhead speed before the clubhead gets to your back foot. Your goal is to release it just AFTER you've hit the ball. Notice how your lead arm and the shaft of the club make a straight line pointing behind your trail foot. You should want the club shaft parallel to the ground when your hands are passing your trail leg with the shaft and your arm still at near 90*. Hard to say what is cause and what is effect. I'm not sure what is "causing you" to start unhinging your hands early. (You are not the first guy with this issue.)

What to do? Try chipping. 10 or 15 yard chip shots. Little baby chips with the ball still close to your normal iron position instead of back like you might do if playing a chip out on the course. Hinge your club back to no more than waist high, shift weight like you would if you were playing (keep weight forward and avoid that head thing Eric is noting), and pay special attention to your hands.  Strike the ball with your hands ahead of the ball. Then, as you followthrough keep your hands in front of the clubhead. Don't release the club past your hands -- hold that short followthrough with your lead elbow away from your body. You should still have some hinge left to release that you are are "saving." Your lead arm and the shaft should not make a straight line at impact with the line from your shoulder to your hand will point in front of the ball. At impact, you will have forward lean on the shaft when you make contact and you will work to keep that relationship of clubhead to hands on your abbreviated followthrough -- that is why you will have some hinge left to give. Do not worry about how far you are hitting the ball with these chips. Just make excellent little chip shots. Feel your body and hands leading the clubhead to the ball. Once you think you are doing it correctly, slowing increase the distance of the chip shots by increasing the amount of hinge until you are hitting 40 yard chip shots (try to do it with more hinge instead of just more shoulder turn). Still do not completely release the club and still hold your finish. Then try a 1/2 - 3/4 "regular" swing with the same feeling at impact but this time allow yourself to let the clubhead finish through. Short swing with your arms parallel to the ground on the backswing, the club hinged up 90* from your arms, begin the swing by moving your hands/arms and keeping that 90* hinge for a moment, then finding that impact position from the chipping drill.

You'll find lots of us working on improving our shaft lean at impact -- many threads bring this up one way or another. People work on "lag" or "ball compression." It is one of my big goals for the winter -- do what I'm asking you to do consistently correctly. I find that I need to do these chipping "drills" before every round to work on that feeling of leading with my hands. Even when I have it down, it can disappear in the middle of a round and I find myself flipping the clubhead at the ball.

This is a big thing, but it is one thing. Once you feel what proper hinge and release feels like, you will be great. There is a lot of good stuff on your video. But if you ever want to hit the ball normal distances, you need to fix your early release. And when you fix that, lots of other little things may just fix themselves. Good luck.

How about a down the line (DTL) view next time too.