Feeling the stretch at impact

[bunkerputt]

Do you let your scapula slide forward on your downswing or do you tend to fight it and pull your arms in, in a misguided effort to retain control of the club?  I've been missing a little off the toe for about a week now and I'm trying to find out where I'm losing extension.  Downswing tendency is too much inside.  It's hard for me to lift my arms enough on the backswing to get out-to-in on the downswing.  Ball flight is a push-draw, so I don't think it's a swing path problem.  Weirdly, I worked really hard this week on maintaining my ground-relation and tush line on my downswing and the problem got worse.  So I don't think it's a body angle issue.  I'm wondering if now that I'm preserving my angles better, the ball is just too close and I'm pulling in my arms to hit the ball so I don't shank it.

[MPS67]

Do you mean slide forward as in towards the ball?

In the 1st video below, Shawn Clement advocates letting the upper body turn out of the way so that there's no crash with the arms swinging thru. I'm just wondering If your takeaway is too flat and inside, causing a downswing that is too cramped. If so, maybe you then feel the need to pull in the arms because your body is actually deflecting the arms outward?

But maybe your assumption about ball position is correct. This 2nd video discusses a good address position relative to the ball, where a line from the center of your shoulders down to the back of your hands should be 90° from the flat ground. A smaller angle could lead to a flatter takeaway and more difficult downswing.

The images below are of Rory McIlroy.

For each image, I placed a light blue dot between his shoulder blades. If anything, he moves his scapula forward a very small amount towards the ball at the top of the back swing, but then returns it to original spot by impact. His hands also move slightly towards the ball - most likely because of centrifugal force from the club head's inertia. But do you also notice how his club head is closer to him at impact? Maybe you don't need to worry about shanking because the club shaft will be more vertical than that of address and as a result, closer to the body at impact.

[bunkerputt]

Yes.  Thank you.  I'm quoting you below because for some reason the quoting on this forum never lets you put anything after the quote (Firefox 3.6 RHEL5.4).

I noticed that if I hit golf balls when my traps are sore after a workout or when I am tense in some way, I tend to miss shots off the toe of the club.  I think the left shoulder is pulling back off the ball some at some point through tension.  If I try to let it "sag" some, which I feel as a stretch in my left shoulder from my lower body driving the shot, I know I'm in a good position to deliver the center of the face.  The feelings are a slight stretch in the left scapula and some air under the left armpit.  I'm just wondering what keys players use to know that they haven't lost their arm extension.

Originally Posted by MPS67

Do you mean slide forward as in towards the ball?

[Gresh24]

Quote:

I'm quoting you below because for some reason the quoting on this forum never lets you put anything after the quote (Firefox 3.6 RHEL5.4).

Hmmmmm

[bunkerputt]

Did you mean Hmm?

Originally Posted by Gresh24

Quote:

Hmmmmm

What doesn't work for me is quoting MPS67's quote.  Not sure if it has anything to do with embedded video, but there is no way to enter text after the quote. *edit* Tried it again and it works. Weird.  I promise it really happened. .  Sorry for the off topic post.

[bunkerputt]

Is that driving range slanted in the second video?  The camera looks unlevel.

[saevel25]

Thats because he is hovering the golf club, so it looks like its extended out more, as you can see the golf club is above the ground in the first picture of rory, and lower at impact.

[MPS67]

Originally Posted by bunkerputt

Yes.  Thank you.  I'm quoting you below because for some reason the quoting on this forum never lets you put anything after the quote (Firefox 3.6 RHEL5.4).

I noticed that if I hit golf balls when my traps are sore after a workout or when I am tense in some way, I tend to miss shots off the toe of the club.  I think the left shoulder is pulling back off the ball some at some point through tension.  If I try to let it "sag" some, which I feel as a stretch in my left shoulder from my lower body driving the shot, I know I'm in a good position to deliver the center of the face.  The feelings are a slight stretch in the left scapula and some air under the left armpit.  I'm just wondering what keys players use to know that they haven't lost their arm extension.

I'd first make sure that you stretch the muscles on which you exercised, and do so soon after workout. Look at this video for a specific stretching exercise for tense traps. If you worked your traps with a butterfly type exercise motion, then try the stretch exercise in video #2.

#1

#2

The instructor in the video below has some good drills for arm extension. I like the idea of swinging with an extra club.

#3

It almost sounds like (because of the shoulder tension) you have a minor left arm "chicken wing" fault. Have you tried placing a golf ball, glove, or towel under your left armpit to see if it falls out early during the swing? Also, put some chalk on the club face to see where the ball comes into contact.

IMHO, the keys for which you're looking are probably all about feel, and maybe looking at the shape of your divot. For example, do you see a toe biased divot?

[MPS67]

Originally Posted by bunkerputt

Is that driving range slanted in the second video?  The camera looks unlevel.

Yes the video on the left side is slanted. Not very professional. The line from the center of his shoulder to the back of his hands are not quite optimal though. (See Yellow)

Originally Posted by saevel25

Thats because he is hovering the golf club, so it looks like its extended out more, as you can see the golf club is above the ground in the first picture of rory, and lower at impact.

True. So would this increase the gap (address vs. impact) a little more?