Started making full shoulder turn, now I have a reverse pivot...

[SoundandFury]

Realized that trying to keep my left arm relatively straight while not making a full turn was causing all manner of problems (out to in swing, inconsistent contact, etc.) So Ive been consciously trying to make a full 90 degree turn, but for the life of me I can't help keeping my weight on my left foot during the backswing. Any advice?

[tristanhilton85]

No... you are doing it right. There is nothing wrong with keeping your weight mainly on your left (front foot) during the backswing. Just keep it there (and move more of it there) during the downswing.

A reverse pivot is not just the weight going forward on the backswing... it also has the weight moving to the back foot on the downswing, so as long as you don't have that going on you don't have a problem.

[rustyredcab]

You are right handed correct? Have you seen yourself and your 90* turn on video?

If you find that you are making a reverse C in your backswing, you may need to "feel" a different turn.

Try feeling like your spine stays in the same relative space and that you turn around it -- never feeling like it moves back or forward. Perhaps even bend the trail knee toward the target a little before starting your swing. I feel like almost all my weight is on the inside of my trail foot and none rolls out to the outside of that foot and I don't think about the front foot in my backswing. I want weight forward into a flex lead knee at contact but always powerful in the backswing. The feeling for me is "athletic." I want to feel like if I stopped at any point in my swing, I am stable and you could nudge me and I would keep my balance.

Also make sure you are not over turning. I'm 53 so overturning is not a problem. You may be much more flexible and you may be turning more than you think. Video will give you a hint. I get my lead shoulder close but not exactly 90*. If I get short, all kinds of bad things happen including a paradoxical block right. As I said, getting long is not really an issue. Too long of a backswing happens when I break down my lead arm not when I over turn my shoulders. But when I was younger...

Power and speed does not come from a big backswing. It does start with a correct backswing and a powerful (not big) turn around the spine.

[Chas]

Agree with Rustyred about the proper feel on the backswing.  I'm working on making a full shoulder turn myself now and agree with the OP that there is a danger of reverse pivoting if you aren't careful, esp. if (like me) you used to be a reverse-pivoter.  Don't forget to load up that right foot, preferably on the inside edge.

The feel should be very "athletic" at the top, making sure that the right knee remains somewhat bent (not too much, not too little ....).  A suitably athletic forward move then starts with the rotation/bump of the hips and with the dropping of the hands into the slot.  Don't rush things at the top or you'll make an out-to-in swing, just like the bad old days.

For me, slowing everything down (until free release in the downswing) seems to help me get the elements of the swing better coordinated.  If I rush all hell breaks loose and I usually push right, or hook left with a compensating hand action.

Thanks for the thread OP, I'll be guarding against the dreaded reverse pivot even more now.  It's still a danger still lurking out there for me.

Rustyred: yes, my standard miss (esp. with driver) lately has been a push or push-fade to the right - I rarely pull the ball, sometimes I hook - which I believe is mainly due to an incomplete shoulder turn.   Time will tell.

[SoundandFury]

Chas, glad it helped. You brought up something I'm curious about: the concept of "dropping the hands into the slot." Towards the end of a very mediocre range session this morning, I made an adjustment where I felt like I was dropping my hand a little closer to my body, basically just straight down from the top of my back swing.  I subsequently hit about 10 of the crispest, longest irons I've ever hit.  I'm talking 180-190 with the 6i, and it felt effortless.  Of course, because this game is so damn frustrating, I "lost" it after that and went back to my usual, 1 clean, 1 fat, 1 thin routine.

[bigwave916]

Originally Posted by SoundandFury

Realized that trying to keep my left arm relatively straight while not making a full turn was causing all manner of problems (out to in swing, inconsistent contact, etc.)

So Ive been consciously trying to make a full 90 degree turn, but for the life of me I can't help keeping my weight on my left foot during the backswing.

Any advice?

I feel your pain brother.  I worked so hard on getting a full turn, stretching and exercising with a medicine ball, but I was just never satisfied. Then I saw myself on video and not only was I making a big hip and shoulder turn I was ending up with a lot more than 50% of my weight on my front foot at the top of the swing. Now that I'm aware of the problem, I still make my full turn but I try to start with my back foot loaded, lift my front heel on the backswing, then imagine I'm smashing a beer can with it on the downswing. I sometimes hit balls at the range with a wedge under my front foot.

I hit a lot fewer pulls and big slices this way.

[Chas]

Originally Posted by SoundandFury

Chas, glad it helped. You brought up something I'm curious about: the concept of "dropping the hands into the slot." Towards the end of a very mediocre range session this morning, I made an adjustment where I felt like I was dropping my hand a little closer to my body, basically just straight down from the top of my back swing.  I subsequently hit about 10 of the crispest, longest irons I've ever hit.  I'm talking 180-190 with the 6i, and it felt effortless.  Of course, because this game is so damn frustrating, I "lost" it after that and went back to my usual, 1 clean, 1 fat, 1 thin routine.

"Dropping the hands" is not something you do consciously - you don't manipulate the club to make it happen.  Rather, when you make the proper hip turn to start the downswing (just ahead of any downward movement of the club), it happens of necessity.  The arms and hands just have to go down.  I'm not saying that I'm great at doing this - many others on this forum will be much better than me - just look at their handicaps - but I've learned it the hard way.  I do know when I'm doing it right and there's no doubt that this is the way to get the forward movement going, with hip bump and weight transfer of course (see some of Erik's posts on the subject).  You will then be attacking the ball from the inside - you need to develop a feeling for that.

If you don't start the downswing with a hip turn/bump and with a drop of the hands you're gonna come down from the outside and have all kinds of problems.  And that IS something I know a bit about .....