What part of the swing do you or did you find the hardest to learn.

[Mr. Desmond]

The part about hitting the little ball before the big ball.

[walk18]

None of the above for me. I started with the whole stack and tilt stuff a few years ago and what ended up happening was my weight got so far forward and stayed there that I was nearly falling over on my left side during the backswing (I know, I was probably doing it wrong). Now that I've been concentrating on just making a good weight shift and shoulder turn, it feels much more normal to me and the results have been great.

[onephenom]

I voted wrist hinge, but not because I had problems lagging or cock my wrist, but I listened to a horrible piece of advice that made my takeaway wayyyyyyy off plane and took forever to understand what the problem was.

[misty_mountainhop]

Went for dropping into the slot. Was a key advance in my game when I was learning and good impact position pretty much followed on without much thought.

[dc3032]

Originally Posted by arturo28mx

For me it was learning to do the takeaway by moving only my shoulders while keeping my head still and not swaying to the sides. It took me two years to teach my body to do it. Doing swings in front of a mirror and filming my swing helped a lot,

This has allowed me to stay on plane and make solid and consistent contact every time.

Not to be THAT guy, but if you're a 15 hcp, you're probably not making solid and consistent contact every time...  but I get your point.

The toughest for me was the transition from backswing to downswing.  Starting the downswing with the lower body and not the shoulders/arms was (is) toughest for me.  Trying to avoid swaying forward and coming over-the-top was tough.  The swing though that finally did it for me was to remind myself to exaggerate (in my mind) how slow i made the transition.  By doing this, I ended up not with a "slow" transition, but a "smooth" transition that allowed my lower body to start first, thus dropping me into the slot.

It's still a work in progress tho... as I'm sure it always will be!  Thus is golf... that one solid strike that puts the ball exactly where you planned keeps you coming back.

[arturo28mx]

I'm a 15 handicap because my putting sucks!!!

I too need to work more on starting the downswing with my lower body and not my shoulders/arms.

[dc3032]

Originally Posted by arturo28mx

I'm a 15 handicap because my putting sucks!!!

I too need to work more on starting the downswing with my lower body and not my shoulders/arms.

Well if that's the case, I envy you... I feel like putting is the easiest thing to get better at if you just practice a lot.  I actually putt well for someone who shoots low 90's... I average 34 putts per round, which is just a hair under 2 per hole... for me, if I'm two putting, I'm happy b/c my GIR could really use some work.

I bought that iPing app and it works really well.  Gives you real time feed back.

[shooter]

Originally Posted by misty_mountainhop

Went for dropping into the slot. Was a key advance in my game when I was learning and good impact position pretty much followed on without much thought.

I feel the same way. When i make a good swing, a good impact position is the by product. I used to struggle with my swing a while back. I was wrapped up with simulating my impact position then hitting a ball hoping to replicate that position. It worked to some extent, i hit it OK with short irons, but it got worse with each longer club. Last year i started to really focus on passive hands, and a buttery takeaway. That let the club set, and release without actual input from the hands (unless working the ball) with great results. I'm sure i still use my hands, but on a scale of one to ten my old grip pressure was something like 7/10, my new grip feels like 2/10 in comparison.

To each their own, so I'm not implying this can work for everyone, but it was my final key to respectable distance and accuracy.

[matluther]

Take away and alignment. Sometimes I just get into a bad zone and my alignment creates doubt in my mind and that instantly kills my take away. When I get tired, my downswing suffers. I generate a lot of hip turn, but once I'm tired I take some lousy downswings

[Beachcomber]

I didn't vote.  Nothing within the golf swing is hard to learn.  But it's very difficult to execute repeatedly with any precision.

[tstrike34]

Originally Posted by Deryck Griffith

For me, it's getting the swing into the slot.  Various people can have a different take away, grip, wrist hinge, position at the top, etc, however ALL good golfers regardless of the differences I mentioned drop the club beautifully into the slot WHICH results in the impact position that we all desire to consistently have.

When I was at a recent Tour event on the range, I saw a collection of different swings but man, do they ALL drop it into the slot and THAT is what I think is the hardest part of the swing to get right.

I agree... For the good shots I execute, I am finding that I am always get into the slot which allows me to release the club, increase clubhead speed. Although I had been out for awhile (been sick), I had been working on shoulder turn and getting to that slot in order to fire my hips (in rotation) and release the club.

Timing is a major issue.

[cooke119]

All the above.

[Pablo68]

Dropping the club in the slot has always been a difficult thing for me to get. For some reason I start hanging back and dropping my left shoulder down quite a bit with my arms (I'm a lefty so think right shoulder dropping)  and causes a plethora of mishits. When solid contact is made it's usually with added loft and fighting the dreaded 'flip'.

One thing I've found is that I haven't been swinging one way for quite awhile. Either I'm working on too many things at the same time or I'm not putting in enough practice to hone a change. So my New Year's resolution is to work on one thing until it's grooved.

I'm now focusing on letting my left arm fold easier on the backswing which seems to allow me to get on plane and stay on plane easier. I'm hitting my clubs much better but it's still a work in progress. The first round focusing on that had me hitting 10 fairways and either on or on the fringe of 13 greens. I carded a 79 though as I putted like crap. The two double bogies didn't help either.............

[jclark]

If you can drop the club into the slot you can pretty much fire as hard as you want at the ball. Getting the club in the slot is tough if your weight shift and transition is jacked up, like me!

[logman]

I found just about everything in my swing was so different to what I had been doing that I'll get 2 or three things right and number one will start playing up. For example the swing I'm learning requires a stiff top wrist and when you're learning a training aid is used on your wrist to stop it flexing at all. Once you start to feel the desired motion then off comes the aid. The only problem is it's like now my little monkey brain has to think "keep that wrist tight"......and I forget to bend my arms fully, or I lift my rear heel on follow through.......not enough brain power maybe

[jclark]

I found just about everything in my swing was so different to what I had been doing that I'll get 2 or three things right and number one will start playing up. For example the swing I'm learning requires a stiff top wrist and when you're learning a training aid is used on your wrist to stop it flexing at all. Once you start to feel the desired motion then off comes the aid. The only problem is it's like now my little monkey brain has to think "keep that wrist tight"......and I forget to bend my arms fully, or I lift my rear heel on follow through.......not enough brain power maybe

You should only have one swing thought. One thought works for me, the rest is just feel.

[TheDkFBoys]

I would most definitely say for me, it was correcting my Out to In Swing! I am alot more comfortable now shaping a shot understanding the In to Out / Out to In relationship ...

[kevin.chan]

Should ask forumer who are teaching pro which is the most difficult for the student to learn too ...