how to close hands at impact without causing an over the top motion?

[clearwaterms]

I have been working on my swing and am getting much more consistent with my swing. When my tempo is on track, my ball striking is very good. The biggest problem is that with anything longer then a 6 iron I have to turn over my wrists which will often cause me to come across the top and when that happens the results are unpredictable. (fat, pushed, thin, etc) I feel like I am relying far too much on precise timing. So my question is, does anybody have a drill / practice / swing thought on how to get my club face square at impact when I currently don’t have a swing path problem?

[trickymicky69]

This is my biggest problem so I am waiting for the replies with you.

trying to shut the face conciously is a recipe for disaster for me

[sean_miller]

I have been working on my swing and am getting much more consistent with my swing. When my tempo is on track, my ball striking is very good. The biggest problem is that with anything longer then a 6 iron I have to turn over my wrists which will often cause me to come across the top and when that happens the results are unpredictable. (fat, pushed, thin, etc) I feel like I am relying far too much on precise timing. So my question is, does anybody have a drill / practice / swing thought on how to get my club face square at impact when I currently don’t have a swing path problem?

Hit a lot of 3/4 pitch shots.

PS. When you're working on stuff, ignore the occasional shank.

[senorchipotle]

i don't understand why you'd need to turn over your wrists with your irons below six and not turn them over with those above. you should hit your 3 iron with the same swing as your 8 iron.

[Dave H]

I'm a 23 HDCP so take my advice or choose to ignore it all you want. Anyways, I've been struggling with what sounds like the exact same problem and I guess my wife got tired of hearing me moan about it so her and the kids gave me some lessons with an instructor I've worked with before. After one lesson, I was hitting the ball 100% better. For me, it came down to one thing: trying to control the clubhead with my hands which was causing me to do a few things: grip too tight, swing to hard, and swing at the ball with the club head. What he had me do to combat this, was, surprise! - lighten my grip pressure and focus on tempo. Within a few swings with a lighter grip and much slower swing with good temp, I was hitting the ball great - exactly the way I imagine in my mind. No thin push shots or fat shots which have been my main misses the last 6-8 rounds. In fact, I felt like I knew how to swing a club again. I was stressing out thinking of all kinds of terrible things that might be causing this when in reality it was two of the most basic things. Of course, I still need to get to the course and see if it holds up but it sure was working for me at the range Tuesday night. Good luck.

[Harmonious]

I'm a 23 HDCP so take my advice or choose to ignore it all you want. Anyways, I've been struggling with what sounds like the exact same problem and I guess my wife got tired of hearing me moan about it so her and the kids gave me some lessons with an instructor I've worked with before. After one lesson, I was hitting the ball 100% better. For me, it came down to one thing: trying to control the clubhead with my hands which was causing me to do a few things: grip too tight, swing to hard, and swing at the ball with the club head. What he had me do to combat this, was, surprise! - lighten my grip pressure and focus on tempo. Within a few swings with a lighter grip and much slower swing with good temp, I was hitting the ball great - exactly the way I imagine in my mind. No thin push shots or fat shots which have been my main misses the last 6-8 rounds. In fact, I felt like I knew how to swing a club again. I was stressing out thinking of all kinds of terrible things that might be causing this when in reality it was two of the most basic things. Of course, I still need to get to the course and see if it holds up but it sure was working for me at the range Tuesday night. Good luck.

Stay with that instructor. He knows what he's talking about.

[kilbyman]

I have been working on my swing and am getting much more consistent with my swing. When my tempo is on track, my ball striking is very good. The biggest problem is that with anything longer then a 6 iron I have to turn over my wrists which will often cause me to

The bolded statements kind of contradict each other, as coming across at the top is a swing path problem, but my suggestions based on what I know about the golf swing (and not how I execute!) is that a wide open club face that makes you feel like you have to turn your wrists means you didn't start down with your hands early enough. So two things you might want to consider working on: 1) Feel like on the take away the club comes straight back down the target line. In reality, you won't actually do this, but it should help with what iacas has a nice thread about

: keeping the clubface square to plane. If you take it like that on up to the top, you are halfway there. The next thing then is to get your hands through impact before the club face. The key thought/feel for this is keeping your left hand just inside your left hip in the downswing, and no flipping! If your hands come through at the correct time, and your club face is square to the target (not toe pointed straight up, again see iacas' thread), you should be able to get the whole idea of shutting the face or turning over or whatever out of your mind and hit straight shots. Good luck, and post some vids.

[Shanks A Million]

You have a swing path problem, I can guarantee it. The mere fact you're trying to manipulate the clubface is almost absolute proof that that's what's causing your problem. If I tried to manipulate the club face, I couldn't break 100. It's impossible to time it. What you're doing, in all likelihood, is coming over the top with every single club, but because the longer ones create less backspin, they slice noticeably. This is not a face problem, it's a path problem.

Post a video of your swing. That's the easiest answer.

[clearwaterms]

The bolded statements kind of contradict each other, as coming across at the top is a swing path problem, but my suggestions based on what I know about the golf swing (and not how I execute!) is that a wide open club face that makes you feel like you have to turn your wrists means you didn't start down with your hands early enough. So two things you might want to consider working on: 1) Feel like on the take away the club comes straight back down the target line. In reality, you won't actually do this, but it should help with what iacas has a nice thread about

Can you post a link to this thread?

[kilbyman]

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads...light=takeaway

[Paz]

I heard one way to shut the face that I like but I don't do, at least not consciously that's for sure. Right before impact if you are coming in with a whole lot of lag and have trouble with too open of a face, you can simply turn your left elbow inward at impact.

Honestly, I don't like anything to do with conscious thought and timing in the golf swing, but I thought it was somewhat of a good tip.

Turning your left elbow inward as far as you can will only square the face up and you likely won't over square the face to where u close it like you would with a hands/wrist roll. Now, if you were to turn your left elbow in and your right elbow out, that would be the same as a hands/wrist roll.

[clearwaterms]

I heard one way to shut the face that I like but I don't do, at least not consciously that's for sure. Right before impact if you are coming in with a whole lot of lag and have trouble with too open of a face, you can simply turn your left elbow inward at impact.

As a lefty, do I reverse what you are suggesting?