Address versus impact

[Mordan]

I've been doing quite a lot of work on my swing recently, working with James on evolvr and one thing that's been driving me a little nuts is differences between the longer and shorter clubs. Especially finding a comfortable address position, and potentially how the address position affects your impact position. Here's me with a PW on the left and driver on the right.

Both look ok to my eye but I've very comfortable with a PW, and very uncomfortable with a driver at the moment. And that's translating into impact as well. So my question is are there elements of the way you address the ball (distances, angles etc) that are reflected at impact, or is it very individual, or irrelevant?

[iacas]

  Mordan said:

Originally Posted by Mordan

Both look ok to my eye but I've very comfortable with a PW, and very uncomfortable with a driver at the moment. And that's translating into impact as well. So my question is are there elements of the way you address the ball (distances, angles etc) that are reflected at impact, or is it very individual, or irrelevant?

Just a question: how do you feel your balance is with each of the clubs? How's your swing length vary, if it does, for each of the clubs?

I'll have James pop on here and add some more info, too, but consider the above questions too, as address position probably matters least when it comes to impact (when address is within a reasonable range, that is).

[Mordan]

  iacas said:

Originally Posted by iacas

Just a question: how do you feel your balance is with each of the clubs? How's your swing length vary, if it does, for each of the clubs?

I'll have James pop on here and add some more info, too, but consider the above questions too, as address position probably matters least when it comes to impact (when address is within a reasonable range, that is).

For some reason I was trying to get my weight forward on my feet (ie. more towards the toes), I think I was using that feeling because of a tendency a while back to have my weight too much towards my heels and I ended up over doing it. This caused me to overbalance towards the ball sometimes and shank.

So I'm now just concentrating on feeling balanced at address and I feel quite solid in both those photos. My swing length is good with the PW (I can even keep my right heel down and just bank my foot!!), and still too long with the driver. And I'm struggling to stop myself lashing at the ball with the driver too.

I wasn't looking for a silver bullet, ie just move this or that at address and it will sort out the other issues, but I just thought there might be some commonly accepted wisdoms about certain address positions translating into impact. I did suspect that the answer would be a bit of "it's individual" and a lot of "it's pretty irrelevant".

[Pablo68]

I don't want to appear out of line but iacas, doesn't his alignment with the driver seem off?

His shoulders appear either square or slightly open but his hips and feet seem aligned a bit to the right. For his PW, it seems right on but the driver seems off.

[cbrian]

  Pablo68 said:

Originally Posted by Pablo68

I don't want to appear out of line but iacas, doesn't his alignment with the driver seem off?

His shoulders appear either square or slightly open but his hips and feet seem aligned a bit to the right. For his PW, it seems right on but the driver seems off.

Ball position is different.

[Mordan]

  Pablo68 said:

Originally Posted by Pablo68

I don't want to appear out of line but iacas, doesn't his alignment with the driver seem off?

His shoulders appear either square or slightly open but his hips and feet seem aligned a bit to the right. For his PW, it seems right on but the driver seems off.

Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned the evolvr bit, I wasn't trying to put everyone else off adding their bit.

My target is a white flag one third of the way in from the right of the building you can see (it can just be made out if you click on the photo and view it full size).

With the PW my feet are aligned left of my target. I intentionally open my stance with my wedges because otherwise I draw the ball too much.

With the driver, I'm going for a pretty neutral alignment. Although as I said I'm struggling at the moment to translate the movements I'm making with the shorter clubs to the longer ones.

[Pablo68]

  cbrian said:

Originally Posted by cbrian

Ball position is different.

Would that account for that much difference in alignment between hips and shoulders? Maybe I'm just overanalyzing it but the OP's hips and shoulders look nowhere close to each other.

[boogielicious]

No worries.  You weren't putting us off.  Many of us use Evolvr.

I am interested in what James would say as I am a bit the same as you in that the driver is the least comfortable club for me.  I have a tendency to swing it differently that my other clubs.

Your setup and posture look pretty good to me.  Do you feel you swing the driver harder than your other clubs?

Also, you mentioned overdrawing the wedges, so you keep the face open (I do this with my irons).  Is your driver ball flight also a draw?

[james_hirshfield]

Hey Guys,

This topic actually goes a little deeper than just longer clubs vs shorter clubs. longer clubs need to be categorized as shots off the turf, or on a tee, such as the driver.

Don't be fooled by feet alignment. Many of the best golfers in the world have the right foot pulled back, or have slightly closed hips at setup. It helps assist the turning component in the backswing and swinging enough to the right, especially for a driver if the golfer is choosing to hit UP on it...

That is also an important question... is the golfer not hitting it far enough, and hitting up will optimize the numbers??? well then there needs to be changes to the mechanics of the swing to still swing out enough.

Dana Dahlquist did a brilliant video of Robert Rock, and went over some very important address pieces, such as the amount on ankle, knee and hip flexion.

It's also important to remember, that sometimes, "uncomfortable" isn't a bad thing, its just that you're not used to it...

The distance away from the ball becomes important in dictating what type of shot you're looking to hit. Further away for push and draw swings, as it has the arms hang more outward and raises the handle... closer to the ball has the arms more downward and lowers the handle, helping shift the swing more leftward.

In an ideal world,I believe we would flight the short clubs lower, and long clubs higher, but lets be realistic, we dont have time , money, or energy to learn exactly how to do all of these, though there are simple ways to do all of it. But i strongly believe Driver adjustments are necessary if you're looking to optimize launch monitor numbers.

[Mordan]

  james_hirshfield said:

Originally Posted by james_hirshfield

The distance away from the ball becomes important in dictating what type of shot you're looking to hit. Further away for push and draw swings, as it has the arms hang more outward and raises the handle... closer to the ball has the arms more downward and lowers the handle, helping shift the swing more leftward.

In an ideal world,I believe we would flight the short clubs lower, and long clubs higher, but lets be realistic, we dont have time , money, or energy to learn exactly how to do all of these, though there are simple ways to do all of it. But i strongly believe Driver adjustments are necessary if you're looking to optimize launch monitor numbers.

It looks so easy watching Robert Rock do it! Such a simple looking swing, and interesting commentary from Dana too.

That makes sense about distance from the ball and shot shape. And means my tendency to slowly get closer and closer to the ball isn't too compatible with trying to hit draws.