My Swing (MattM)

[mvmac]

Mike quick question for you....When you do that drill do you find that you lose any distance versus your usual swing?

Yeah at the speed in the video, maybe hitting it 10 yards shorter. I've even done the drill where I only hit it 60-70 yards.

[MattM]

Mvmac I wanted to thank you for your drill. While I had some rather not good shots on sat during my round I also had the most quality shots in one round which netted me an 83. I almost holed a 110 yard shot and had two birdies! With this drill my swing has shortened just enough for the club not to wrap around my head. That alone has added tons of accuracy!!!

[mvmac]

Mvmac I wanted to thank you for your drill. While I had some rather not good shots on sat during my round I also had the most quality shots in one round which netted me an 83. I almost holed a 110 yard shot and had two birdies!

With this drill my swing has shortened just enough for the club not to wrap around my head. That alone has added tons of accuracy!!!

You're welcome, glad it helped.

[MattM]

Mvac, I wanted to report back on the progress.  In drills and practice I can successfully shorten my swing but when I take full cuts with the longer clubs my swing does go right back to where it was.

Having said that, I integrated the hitch you show into my swing to permanently shorten my back swing and while it does shorten it, it's only enough to get the club pointing more toward the target than off to the right like before at the top of my backswing.

This has completely upgraded my iron game!  They are for the most part straight as an arrow with no loss in distance.  As a matter of fact every club that I hit off the deck has seen an upgrade in accuracy and even contact.

The one caveat that I have right now is with the driver.  It has really made my driver erratic, and I was wondering if you had any sort of strategy for it whilst utilizing the hitch you showed me?  Any help with that would be much appreciated!

[mvmac]

Mvac, I wanted to report back on the progress.  In drills and practice I can successfully shorten my swing but when I take full cuts with the longer clubs my swing does go right back to where it was.

Just keep doing the drill, on the range and at home and keep building up the awareness of where you need the arms to be at A4.

The one caveat that I have right now is with the driver.  It has really made my driver erratic, and I was wondering if you had any sort of strategy for it whilst utilizing the hitch you showed me?  Any help with that would be much appreciated!

Tough to say without seeing the swing. You're basically making the same swing with a few set-up adjustments.

[MattM]

Here is a slow mo down the line vid of my latest driver swing. I'm still having issues shortening it though....

[mvmac]

Gotta get the handle higher, probably see immediate improvement just by doing this.

Try to post a face on swing, want to see what's going on with the axis tilt. Guessing you may not have enough from address to impact.

I wouldn't worry about this too much for now (and it looks like you may be doing the drill, not much turn from 1-2) but just be aware that the right arm doesn't need to stay glued to your side, there is still space between your right elbow and rib cage. Just keep the armpit connected.

[MattM]

Ok I'm glad we are having this conversation because there is one thing that's been killing me that I haven't been able to fix.  So even when I preset my wrists if I try to get my right elbow off of my ribs it causes the club to point way over to the right of the target at the top of the backswing instead of the preferable layed off position that you guys like to see.

Do you have any idea what on earth I'm doing in my backswing that causes that?  Because when I even preset that layed off position somehow my backswing still points off to the right at the end if I try to get my elbow off my ribs.....I feel like my elbows are still pretty close together.  Do you think they should be closer and that's what is causing it?

[mvmac]

Ok I'm glad we are having this conversation because there is one thing that's been killing me that I haven't been able to fix.  So even when I preset my wrists if I try to get my right elbow off of my ribs it causes the club to point way over to the right of the target at the top of the backswing instead of the preferable layed off position that you guys like to see.

To be clear I never said anything about the shaft position and we don't prefer a laid off A4. There is no preference, just don't be too far in any one direction. Your shaft alignment at A4 is fine, it is a little across the line but that's because the pivot stops (more on that below) and the arms keep loading (not a lot though).

Do you have any idea what on earth I'm doing in my backswing that causes that?  Because when I even preset that layed off position somehow my backswing still points off to the right at the end if I try to get my elbow off my ribs.....I feel like my elbows are still pretty close together.  Do you think they should be closer and that's what is causing it?

That why I wanted to see a face-on swing, how the body is working can have an effect on spacing of the arms/elbows. Your knee flex changes very quickly in a short amount of time and your torso looks very stiff. Rather than guess I want to be sure on the torso alignments.

You don't need to get the elbows closer together.

[MattM]

Faceon slow mo.

[mvmac]

Take a look at these pics.

So the head goes forward on the backswing and even more forward on the downswing. Like I said earlier, you need more axis tilt (yellow line above) from address to impact.

At address, push the hips a little forward so that they're level. More reverse K. Also relax the arms, especially the right arm. Your elbows are way too close.

Is this the drill or a regular swing? If it's a normal swing I would calm down this move from 1-2. Just let the pivot carry the arms and keep the right arm "soft". Having it super straight at 1 goes against the right arm folding move anyway.

This is a biggie, as you pivot back feel like the chest stays pointed towards the ground so that you retain the axis tilt (green line). Turn the hips in place while maintaining the reverse K. This will also help you create some space between your right elbow and rib cage.

To review.

.

• Push the hips forward (target) a few inches at setup to create more axis tilt at setup.
• "Softer" arms at address.
• During the backswing let the pivot carry the hands back while you maintain the axis tilt, "stay in the reverse K".

Good post for you to check out for a couple of the pieces you need to work on.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/34167/my-swing-saevel25/864#post_1164130

[MattM]

That was a part of the drill I was trying to do to shorten my swing.  I'll have another face on video for you tonight.  I think I have the hips more forward in the swing I have the video of, but I'm concentrating on the axis tilt so much that my swing still goes way across the line.  That said I hit a 300 yard shot straight down the middle of the fairway!

I'll have that video tonight.

[MattM]

Here is a face on video from Sat.  Like I said it's an ugly swing because I go way across the line at the top of my backswing but I think I have my hips forward like you mentioned.  That said, I starting using the swing extender to try to shorten my swing and I still went across the line so I don't even think that my right arm folding too much is the culprit.  I seriously cannot tell from the videos what is causing it....

[mvmac]

Here is a face on video from Sat.  Like I said it's an ugly swing because I go way across the line at the top of my backswing but I think I have my hips forward like you mentioned.  That said, I starting using the swing extender to try to shorten my swing and I still went across the line so I don't even think that my right arm folding too much is the culprit.  I seriously cannot tell from the videos what is causing it....

The arms just keep going even though the body has stopped, that's why you get across the line. Note how each of the body positions are the same, only difference is the arms.

Head is still going forward a little, keeping working on the chest pointing towards the ground, maintaining the reverse K feels. That'll help the arm/pivot sequencing. Experiment with it at home. Make a backswing where you stay "flexed-over", then make one where the spine is more vertical, like the left pic. The flexed-over one will probably make it easier to keep the arms in check.

Next time you post a swing film one where you're swinging at 30% speed making sure you change the picture.

[MattM]

Do you know of any sort of feel I should be trying to get to keep that tilt?  While pushing my hips forward at address has helped me I still feel like I'm coming forward some.

With the arms.  It's so weird.  I videod my practice swings with no ball, and I do exactly what I'm trying to do.  The arms don't keep going and there are no issues.  Then I get over the ball and I don't know if it's because my focus is now completely on the ball or what, but my swing quickly deteriorates into this long mess!

Edit:  After looking at your picture on the right....I'm thinking what if I try to focus on point my butt first at the target to keep it ahead of me upper body.  Seems to by what is going on in that swing.

2nd Edit:  I was at the course on Friday and again on Saturday.  That face on swing was from the first tee on Friday.  That axis tilt while not perfect is still better that before and I had two drives that day that were over 300!

On Sat I couldn't hit my driver for some reason but my irons were great.  Actually I was hitting them too far.  On 18 I had 195 to the hole which is usually a strong 5 iron for me.  I take a normal swing and wind up hitting it about 20 yards over the green onto the cart path which then bounces it out of bounds.  I drop another one to see if that was a fluke and this one goes further.  It was crazy!

[MattM]

Last question of the day I promise!  I was watching my 5 simple keys videos again and in one of the segments Dave Wedzik talks about comeing into the back swing and making sure the left arm stays on the chest the whole way back.

It occurred to me that I may not be doing it correctly?  Which could possibly be cause the disconnected arm movements?  In looking at my vids do you feel like my left arm isn't staying connected to my chest like Dave recommends?  If It's not staying connected how connected to my chest should I keep it?

[mvmac]

Do you know of any sort of feel I should be trying to get to keep that tilt?  While pushing my hips forward at address has helped me I still feel like I'm coming forward some.

Yeah, scroll up a few posts

@iacas just posted this, different way of saying the same thing.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/54169/my-swing-poser/108#post_1193183

Head is still going forward a little, keeping working on the chest pointing towards the ground, maintaining the reverse K feels. That'll help the arm/pivot sequencing. Experiment with it at home. Make a backswing where you stay "flexed-over", then make one where the spine is more vertical, like the left pic.

This is a biggie, as you pivot back feel like the chest stays pointed towards the ground so that you retain the axis tilt (green line). Turn the hips in place while maintaining the reverse K. This will also help you create some space between your right elbow and rib cage.

During the backswing let the pivot carry the hands back while you maintain the axis tilt, "stay in the reverse K".

@Matt M , I can't tell you exactly what you need to feel, I can only make suggestions. You need to "finalize" what the feels need to be, what feels work for you to change the picture. Use the pictures I post. Get in front of a mirror, use the camera, write down what you had to feel to do it.

With the arms.  It's so weird.  I videod my practice swings with no ball, and I do exactly what I'm trying to do.  The arms don't keep going and there are no issues.  Then I get over the ball and I don't know if it's because my focus is now completely on the ball or what, but my swing quickly deteriorates into this long mess!

That's why I recommend you do it at 30% speed while hitting 70 yard shots.

Last question of the day I promise!  I was watching my 5 simple keys videos again and in one of the segments Dave Wedzik talks about comeing into the back swing and making sure the left arm stays on the chest the whole way back.

It occurred to me that I may not be doing it correctly?  Which could possibly be cause the disconnected arm movements?  In looking at my vids do you feel like my left arm isn't staying connected to my chest like Dave recommends?  If It's not staying connected how connected to my chest should I keep it?

@Matt M , what the heck does this have to do with your priority?

I don't see any issue with your left arm connection. You couldn't possibly keep your left arm more connected unless you were wearing a straight jacket.

Stop looking or hypothesizing for things that are wrong in your swing

[MattM]

I understand what you are saying. I was just looking at drills...feels or swing thoughts that could help me consistently shorten my swing/stop my arms from continually taking the club passed the line. Ill stop though.