my swing (sabanist)

[sabanist]

5 iron





1. On Irons I seem very hunched over, not standing up straight enough imo.
2. On the back swing I notice that I go even further down as my club goes up. Judging from the tape, it's at least a 3 inch drop
3. My shoulder turn is great but it seems my wrist is cocked at the top of my swing, leading to the shaft going perpindicular with the ground instead of parallel.
4. My tempo is steady which is good I think. It doesn't appear that I rush the swing.
5. My release looks early, which could be the reason I don't get as much distance as my playing partners.

I think if I can get these addressed I will significantly increase my distance and ball striking ability.

[Chilli Dipper]

The fundamental flaws in your swing:

• The ball is too far forward in your stance at address.
• Your hips sway well behind the ball during the backswing.

The issues that you list are directly related to those two causes. You actually do a decent job at keeping a neutral head position throughout the swing, but the way the body contorts itself to keep the head in place when the hips move so far behind it contribute to your concerns with posture. Because the torso is tilted forward, the top of the swing appears more past parallel than it already would be. (There's nothing wrong with the way your wrists are set; the backswing is just too long.) Your hands release early because they have to, or else you'd hit six inches behind the ball every time.



Compare your swing from the waist down to that of a superlative ballstriker, Zach Johnson. Zach's ball is a couple inches back of his left heel. As he makes his backswing, the ball stays in line with his left inseam the whole time. Move the ball a little further back in your stance at address, and work on keeping a stable midsection through the backswing. Those moves should give you a much more solid foundation to build the rest of your game on.

[bwdial]

Like Chilli Dipper says, move your ball back a few inches and your ball striking should improve.

Your swing also looks very upright to me, which is similar to what I've been fighting to change. I feel like when my swing gets too upright, my angle of attack leads to poorer ball striking and a tendency to dig the club into the turf, rather than take a nice shallow divot.

BTW, are you the same Sabanist that posts on Rivals?

[Zeph]

Just a quick post from me here.

1. On Irons I seem very hunched over, not standing up straight enough imo.

Nah, you are not too hunched over. If anything, it looks like you are too far back, with the weight on the heels. If your weight are on the balls of your feet, it's good. You could perhaps move the ball a bit more away from you, it looks a bit too close. This could also get you in a bit more athletic position.

2. On the back swing I notice that I go even further down as my club goes up. Judging from the tape, it's at least a 3 inch drop

Yep, you dip forward a bit much right away on the backswing. The things I've suggested you work on can help. It is possible that part of the reason you dip is the tall posture and close ball position.

3. My shoulder turn is great but it seems my wrist is cocked at the top of my swing, leading to the shaft going perpindicular with the ground instead of parallel.

I would not call it great, you are a bit too flat. Ref:

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads/39667

5. My release looks early, which could be the reason I don't get as much distance as my playing partners.

What kind of release? Ref:

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads/30392 There are lots of things to work on, distance will come in time. You do have a big sway going on, but you get the hips well forward again on the downswing. It should be worked on later. I would start out with your hand path, getting the hands deeper and stop flipping the club behind you on the backswing. Ref: http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads/30325 This is related to the shoulder pitch, so you might as well look into that at the same time. Rotating the shoulders on plane makes it easier to get the hands deep. Getting the ball a bit more away from you will also help so the hands don't bump into the thighs as you get the hands deeper. Ref: http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads/39667 I could draw some lines and show some pictures, but I don't have the time right now. By the way, could you tell us a bit about your game? Do you hit it fat, thin, left, right, slice, hook? If you haven't already, look up the ball flight laws, it will help both you and us. Ref: http://thesandtrap.com/playing_tips/ball_flight_laws It is important to know the difference of a straight-slice and push-slice fi.

[*]The ball is too far forward in your stance at address.

No, his ball position is fine.

[iacas]

I think his ball position is fine. Much better a bit too far forward than a bit too far back.

Problem A1 with a star:


(Weight not far enough forward - likely because it went so far back in the backswing, elbows pulling apart, and of course, FLIP! )

Zeph talked about deep hands but this is a case where there are so many other issues that you might never tackle deep hands. This guy is a two plane swinger and I don't see the need to change that unless his ball flight begins to suffer, he wants to hit more draws, etc. The pieces he needs are the hips and the weight and the flying wedge/arms extended and elbows close together stuff. I don't know if I'd ever change the two planes to one.

[sabanist]

Just a quick post from me here.

Thanks for the reply, I'll try moving the ball out a bit and see what happens.

When i say release I mean casting. I watched my swing in slow motion and at about waist height on the downswing is when my wrist breaks. I'll check out the links you posted If I don't consciously think about rotating my forearms through the swing and just let it rip. The ball will push right, sometimes grossly. But if I tell myself to roll those forearms on the downswing, I hit it either dead straight or it fades. Either way I usually aim for a left flanking bunker on drives and approach shots. If I mishit it, it usually is a fat shot. Rarely top it or hit it thin. Almost never hook or draw the ball.

[sabanist]

BTW, are you the same Sabanist that posts on Rivals?

I will invoke my right to silence on that one.

[sabanist]

I think his ball position is fine. Much better a bit too far forward than a bit too far back.

When you say flip, what exactly do you mean?

And I can see that my arms need to be more extended at impact and closer together, but how does one not put the club head straight into the ground by doing that. I mean won't it lower the club head another 3 or 4 inches if I am at full extension?

[kilbyman]

When you say flip, what exactly do you mean?

If you don't flip, you won't put the club head into the ground. Your arms do not only extend downward, but outward, and through the shot. You want to contact the ground after the ball. Being a similar handicap, I struggle through what you are talking about. With that being said, the flip refers to the angle of your wrist flipping in a way that instead of your left wrist bowed away from the ball at impact, it is curved in towards the ball. You can see in the above picture that your left wrist curves inward at that position in your downswing. That is the result of trying to help up the ball by "flipping" the club up at the ball, instead of swinging down and through the ball.

This is a result quite possibly of what Zeph noted that when you start your backswing, you break your wrists very early so that they are not properly set at the top, and that mixed with the swaying off the ball in the backswing and swinging too flat, you have to flip at the ball to keep from chunking the ground behind the ball. Keeping your wrists straight during the takeaway instead of breaking your wrists at the very beginning, as well as keeping your hips centered and turning over the ball, instead of swaying, will allow your arms to be extended, close together, with the proper forward shaft lean at impact. You will notice that the crispness and accuracy of your shots will greatly improve with extended arms, forward shaft lean, and proper weight shift. Long-winded, but hope that helps a little.

[sabanist]

OK, I tried some of the tips some of you reccommended and I appreciate the input, but all that serously screwed up my swing. I tried to not break my wrist so soon in the back swing and I don't know why but unless I have the club pointing at the sky at the 8 or 9 o clock position, I will NOT hit it consistently.

I also tried to make my shoulder turn more up and down rather than flat, and that resulted in some shots straight, some shots left, some shots right, no shots long.

Like I said, I appreciate the input, but it looks like Im going to have to go see a pro.

[Zeph]

Well, nobody here is a magician, so showing you some things will not fix anything. You have to find out how to do it properly, make sure you do it properly, then repeat. When most people are trying something new, the real change is really a lot less than they feel. Also, trying to do more than one or two things at the same time is a waste of time. Focus on one thing (make sure you do it properly too) and repeat it for some weeks or months, depending on how much you hit balls. Once you are at a point where the change is starting to get implemented, you can think about working on the next thing.

Some things are of course easier and quicker to fix than others.