Over swinging

[Effington]

Hey guys,

As I continue to practice daily going on about 7-8 months now, I feel I have developed an excellent short game.  I would even call myself very proficient with my Attack/Approach wedge, which I can hit consistently to within 15 feet from 100 yards...at least in my indoor practice facility in perfect weather & lie.  I'm playing with Taylormade Burner Plus irons, where the AW is a 50 degree wedge.  With a light, easy swing I'm hitting it with a 33 degree launch angle and a swing speed in the low 70's.

However, as I move up to other clubs, my performance drops.  I would say I am pretty good with my nine (125), and OK with my eight (135-140), but after that it's very sketchy.  What essentially happens is that the longer the club gets, the more backswing I get, which also leads to less wrist hinge, coil, power, & accuracy.  With this long back swing I also seem to use more arms with my down swing.

I can always find my swing by grabbing my AW, but it just seems so difficult not to over swing with the other clubs.  My teacher keeps telling me that I should have the same swing for each club, which would be great because I think my swing is great with my AW, but it doesn't seem to work out that way.

This seems to be a mental thing, since I clearly know what I'm doing wrong and I can correct it simply by switching clubs.  But yet I still continue to struggle with longer shots.

Any tips?

[onephenom]

We'd have to see a video to really be able to help. The thing about wedges and short irons is that there isn't a lot of room to shape shots, so the same out to in swing with a AW won't bend much compared to a 7i. So just because the AW is good, doesn't necessarily mean the swing is right. Also, what do you mean performance drops? Slices? Shanks? Tops? Hitting fat? Not sure how to figure out what is wrong without knowing the miss

[Topper]

Originally Posted by onephenom

We'd have to see a video to really be able to help

+1

I have a tendency to over swing...by a lot.  I had no idea until an instructor showed me on video early last year.  I was absolutely amazed.  It took repeated rounds of swinging a club and then checking video until I could develop a feel for how far my back swing should be.  The funny thing is that I'm not even that flexible so my over swing was causing all kinds of crazy compensations.  I still have to keep an eye on this because over swinging has a nasty tendency to creep back into my swing.....just like all the other bad habits.

Anyway, I agree with onephenom.  Video is important.

[Effington]

I'll see if I can some sort of video up later.

But when I mean performance drops, it's a lower trajectory and harder hook.  I know I overuse my right thumb which causes a hook, but I can feel that everything is an effect of swinging too hard.

In my virtual game with a green that is about 30 yards wide, with the short irons I'm always on target, meaning on the main part of the green.  With the longer irons I'm usually hitting about 10 yards left of the green.