Straighten right arm through impact?

[AmazingWhacker]

Hey all,

I've been trying to work on getting a better release of the club.  My golf instructor showed me the position I need to be in but I'm struggling to find a way to get there consistently.  I find releasing with my right arm/hand actually hurts my hands - fingers dig in on impact.  Trying to control the release with my left arm makes me tend to pull-hook it.

I was practicing today and found that if, after the club has already started the downswing (in my mind's image, when then club shaft is just before parallel to the ground), I try to straighten my right arm through impact, the results were pretty good.  If I tried too hard or did it too soon, the contact would be heavy or a bit fat.  If I did it too late, the result was a block or even a bit worse.

Overall, though, it seems better than the things I've been trying already.  Question - is this a good swing thought or action . .trying to straighten your right arm through impact?

[iacas]

I'm not sure this is the first priority, but the trail arm will NOT straighten for a good part of the downswing, then will actively straighten from about A5.5 to A7.3 in combination with the WEIGHT getting forward properly.

[AmazingWhacker]

I'm not that familiar with the position names but I just reviewed the thread about it and that's exactly where I'm trying to do it.  My current thinking is that I have to try to do it because I'm not doing it naturally . .and hopefully it will become natural.   I'll keep at it for a few sessions and see how it goes - thanks for the input!

[mvmac]

If you feel the right arm doesn't straighten and stays bent then it's probably the result of something else going on in your swing.  Maybe try keeping the elbows closer together throughout the swing.

[sk golf]

Originally Posted by AmazingWhacker

I'm not that familiar with the position names but I just reviewed the thread about it and that's exactly where I'm trying to do it.  My current thinking is that I have to try to do it because I'm not doing it naturally . .and hopefully it will become natural.   I'll keep at it for a few sessions and see how it goes - thanks for the input!

I would recommend either posting a video here or signing up for evolvr. http://evolvr.thegolfevolution.com/

That way you can stop guessing and make sure you are working in the right direction.

Best of luck

[AmazingWhacker]

Originally Posted by sk golf

I would recommend either posting a video here or signing up for evolvr. http://evolvr.thegolfevolution.com/

That way you can stop guessing and make sure you are working in the right direction.

Best of luck

I have posted a few videos in the Member swings section.  They are DTL, though - not face on - not enough space in my practice area.

It's not really that I'm guessing - I know what I'm trying to do.  At impact, my clubface is too open - or tends to be, anyway.  So - my instructor taught me to roll my right wrist over my left though impact and showed me what the fully extended  - somewhere between A9 and A10 - should be like.  My left wrist should still be flat and my right wrist should be on top of it - the motion of the left arm after impact is like a dumbell curl, if that makes any sense.  But I'm struggling to find a feeling or swing thought that gets me into that position consistantly.  Everything I've tried so far, including straightening my right arm through impact,  has lead me to have a tendancy to over-manipulate the club and hit big hooks.

I achieve this position easily if there is no ball on the ground  - but if the ball is there I really struggle.

[hanalei]

I could be wrong but most videos of pros have a slightly bent right elbow at impact, straightening after as the left arm folds... I use V1 Golf to watch high speed video of swings.

[Stretch]

Nice example here.

[mdl]

I've been working for a long time to get my club face closed at impact.  If I swing naturally I can have a nice, powerful swing with a good club path at impact and crisp, consistent contact.  But with that natural swing I leave the club face open with long irons and woods all the time, and everything longer than my SW on some days.  I've been working really hard at trying to finally fix this.  One thing that helped was trying a new grip.  Just gripping it the way I was but stronger never worked for me, but I happened upon these two videos a while ago and the new grip definitely helped.  I've arrived at a grip sort of in between what I interpret as the recommendations of these two vids.

The key differences for me were getting away from having the the club too high in the palm towards the pinky side of the left hand (ie, more fingers, less palm), and the recommendation in the first video about how to start gripping the club with the fingers and with the wrist straight, and then roll the hand over onto the club, rather than sort of clamping straight down trying to keep the wrist straight as you close the grip with the left hand.

Even bigger for me was realizing that my problem was that a natural swing for me was to essentially bring the club face back to the same position it was in at setup relative to my secondary upper spine angle or my shoulder angle.  But if you get any decent amount of secondary axis tilt at impact (as one is supposed to) then a face angle the same as it was at impact relative to your upper upper body is open.  Try this:

Set up with a known target, preferably something at somewhat close to an actual shot distance, not the wall across the room.  Then just statically to a strong impact position, with the hips bumped and well rotated but not pushed towards the ball, front leg straightened, hands a bit in front of the ball, head not moved front or back, etc.  Now look at your target.  For me at least, with good secondary axis tilt but the head stable, the target now looks like it's almost behind me, which is weird given I'm more facing the target now than at address.

Trying to figure out how to naturally and powerfully get to impact hitting the ball much further left than feels natural now is what I spend 100% of my golf practice time on these days.  Going to that static impact position and not getting the club face square just manipulating it but trying to feel through the body what has to be strong and rotated/bumped enough to let the face get square without too much arm/hand manipulation has helped.  But frankly, I'm also actively extending/rolling my right forearm and wrists right now, sort of forcing it into position to try to get used to it, under the theory that I can slowly ingrain what the rest of my body needs to do to decrease then eliminate that active extension/closing with the hands.

[joekelly]

My favorite  golf teacher, via book, is Percy Boomer. He instructs us on the 6 essential points of the golf swing and number 2 is simply  "It is essential to keep the arms at full stretch throughout the swing- through the back swing, the down swing, and the follow through."

So, your question is answered.

[AmazingWhacker]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Nice example here.

Yep - that's exactly it.  My teacher has me doing something slightly more extreme - but I imagine that's on purpose because I'm so far off from it now.

I was practicing with my net and I thought I had found a way to do it without actively rolling my wrists - but I tried it on the course and it was no good.  Clubface was wide open and I absolutely tanked the first three holes.  Then I went back to rolling my arms with the usual result - some good shots, some too far left and some way too far left.

[AmazingWhacker]

I have given up on the idea of trying to roll my wrists over through impact - seems like no matter what I try it is inconsistent - maybe I lack the hand-eye coordination or athletic ability to do it this way.  I end up with a lot of pull-hooks.

I found another way to do it.  At address - I feel almost as if my arms were made of rope.  One end of each rope is attached to a shoulder socket and the other to the club shaft.  Then I imagine what it would feel like to swing like that into the ball - and then try to swing with my arms completely passive (not really, of course - but that's the feeling I'm trying for).

So - thinking nothing about the wrists or hands or clubhead at impact - but it seems to be working very well.  I've been working on it for almost 2 weeks now and my range sessions are great  - especially in terms of contact and distance - and my swing in my videos looks a lot better . .I can't see enough detail to know if my arms are rolling over or not but my takeaway is much more on-plane. I'm hoping to try it out for 9 holes later this week.

[sk golf]

In 2011 I taught over 1,000 lessons and never told any of my students to "roll their wrists"...

[AmazingWhacker]

Originally Posted by sk golf

In 2011 I taught over 1,000 lessons and never told any of my students to "roll their wrists"...

I'm probably not describing it right - I know that others teach this particular move.  The position he wants me to be in right after impact is the same as Brian Manzella's "put the club on the movie screen" move - from the Never Slice Again video.  He definitely did say to roll my arms over (think he said arms and not wrists), though.

I can't do it, though - so I'm going to stop trying for now and possibly revisit it later.

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by sk golf

In 2011 I taught over 1,000 lessons and never told any of my students to "roll their wrists"...

Good because I would't talk to you anymore

[AmazingWhacker]

Here is Michael Breed explaining pretty much the same thing - my teacher's version is more exagerrated, though. I'm sure my description of it made it sound like a worse concept than it is - but whenever I "try" to do this I pull-hook about every other shot.

[mvmac]

The rotation of Breed's hands isn't causing the ball to curve right to left

[iacas]

Originally Posted by mvmac

The rotation of Breed's hands isn't causing the ball to curve right to left

Right. http://thesandtrap.com/t/30392/advice-i-hate-release-the-club/