Shoulders position at impact ?

[mobosecomin]

Square or open towards target?

Im kinda confused at the moment as iv been trying to disect my swing and some some problems. Driver is still an issue for me even after some quick fixs problems start appearing when im under pressure or playing on a course im not familiar with. Im coming slightly over the top and ending up with clubface open at impact. As i work back from my grip through my body and the sequence it seems that my hands are ahead of the ball at impact and my shoulder open to the target this seems to cause me to open the clubface.Since iv noticed this Iv been working on getting my shoulders back nearly to the address position and its been working ok so far with some improvments.

I was just wondering where your shoulders should be at impact? dose it vary from player to player?

Also this my open shoulders seems to work quite well with my irons even long ones but not with my driver.? dose this make sence?


iacas if you by any chance come on to this thread iv noticed you seem yo have alot of pics of players in the impact position maybe you could put a few up here so i can have a look. not that easy find images of dtl impact position with google.any help would be appreciated

[iacas]

Square or open towards target?

It varies from player to player. Generally 0-30° open at impact is fine.

[Carland]

iacas, do you believe that it is preferred for the shoulders to be square or slightly open at impact? Also, do you prefer the head point straight ahead at the ball at impact or swivel down the line? Thanks.

[iacas]

iacas, do you believe that it is preferred for the shoulders to be square or slightly open at impact? Also, do you prefer the head point straight ahead at the ball at impact or swivel down the line? Thanks.

In order...

Square to open, sure. But that's two of three cases - closed is the only other option and I certainly don't prefer that. And it depends. Some can get away with swivel while some do better with their head staying down a bit longer as it forces them to stay in their inclination a bit longer. I'm definitely not a fan of "keep your head down" as a general rule though, and "keep your head down" only works if the desired outcome (spine inclination perhaps) is warranted/necessary.

[Carland]

Thanks. I've been thinking more about head position at impact since reading Kris Tschetter's new book about her college days working with Ben Hogan. She wrote that Hogan instructed her to move her body in this order in the downswing: legs & hips then shoulders then arms & hands and last the head. When I look at a picture of Hogan's head, it is facing the ball at impact and not swiveling down the line.



Are there problems caused by swiveling the head at impact?

[iacas]

Thanks. I've been thinking more about head position at impact since reading Kris Tschetter's new book about her college days working with Ben Hogan. She wrote that Hogan instructed her to move her body in this order in the downswing: legs & hips then shoulders then arms & hands and last the head. When I look at a picture of Hogan's head, it is facing the ball at impact and not swiveling down the line.

Ben Hogan was one guy.

Annika Sorenstam certainly did pretty well for herself swiveling her head.

[Carland]

Same with David Duval. Head swivel didn't stop him from being No. 1 in the world or winning the British Open. At the same time, when I look at swing sequence photos of pro golfers, most have their heads facing the ball at impact rather than swiveling. Here are Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods:





So both approaches work. I'm just trying to figure out the pros and cons of both ways.

[iacas]

So both approaches work. I'm just trying to figure out the pros and cons of both ways.

I doubt that this is the biggest issue you face right now, and the answer is "both work," yes, but you have to know which one you need more of. And you're not going to figure that out by posting pictures of Nicklaus, Hogan, Tiger, Duval, etc.

[Leftygolfer]

For me I try to stay down for as long as possible (within reason). I'm not an expert of my swing (totally built on the illusion of feel) but this feeling has helped me retain my inclination to the ground, hit it more with a decending blow, and improve my iron/wedge play.

[Carland]

I doubt that this is the biggest issue you face right now, and the answer is "both work," yes, but you have to know which one you need more of.

I have worked for a while on getting my left hip over the outside of my left foot by impact, which I am starting to do a little more consistently. Now I'm working on keeping my shoulders feeling more square at impact and less open. I'm having a hard time with this move. It seems like looking at the ball instead of swiveling my head would keep the shoulders closer to square at impact. But I'm trying to figure out why shoulders square v. shoulders open matters if both techniques work for really good players. My index is 6.4 and I want to try to make real improvement this off-season instead of hanging up the clubs until next spring then struggling to get back where I left off.

[JackLee]

Just musing about the misuse of another word or phrase in golf, IMO. It seems that a toe line, hip line, or shoulder line that is parallel to the target line has become known as "square". Square to what?

Back to the op's question: My shoulders could be close to parallel to the target line at impact. However, I use a very closed stance, which makes a big difference.

How could you have parallel shoulders at impact while using a parallel stance? Maybe you could do it with a big axis tilt, or a big flip .

[MS256]

The weather is decent enough now that I am hitting a lot of golf balls. Tried to make some changes over the winter and so far they seem to be working pretty well but I have noticed that when I am hitting my best shots my shoulders are more open at impact than they used to be. Almost "feels" like I am pulling the club from outside in but it's really not until a good bit after impact.

With my shoulders being more open my left arm is at more of an angle toward the ball at impact (from a DTL view). When my shoulders were less open my left arm was more vertical at impact.

I like the look better when it's more vertical but so far that's not working as well. Still trying to work things out before we start playing a lot.