bent left knee at impact

[Backspinalot]

Hi,

So I have had this swing problem for as long as I can remember until last Fall I think I got it taken care of. I started swinging very very well in February, (left leg extended fully at impact and then hurt my lower left back somehow, then my swing went to crap from there. I was too shut at the top, and too flat. I am getting better with this but it took 6 weeks for my back to heal up. I don't know if the thing caused me to swing differently which introduced bad habits but now I am not nearly as fast as I was in CHS back in february, I am getting better, but not close yet. I am also hitting the ball with a low hook usually or just a low straight shot. I know I was doing this partially from being shot with the club at the top which I've pretty much fixed, and starting to hit a bit higher. But, I can see in my shadow that right at impact, my left knee goes foward to the target right at impact and collapses almost like I am not clearing my left side. In my practice swings I don't do it at all. But even with a pitch shot with a wedge it happens, and I have poor impact. I can sit there and hit for hours focusing on just extending the left leg at impact and make no progress. Febrary I was hitting a slight draw, 15 degree launch angle, good spin numbers and my BS average was about 172 and CHS 116mph. Flying it roughly 285 at sea level, now I am barely flying that at 4500feet elevation.

Any drills or what might be the cause?

Thanks

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by Backspinalot

But, I can see in my shadow that right at impact, my left knee goes foward to the target right at impact and collapses almost like I am not clearing my left side. In my practice swings I don't do it at all. But even with a pitch shot with a wedge it happens, and I have poor impact. I can sit there and hit for hours focusing on just extending the left leg at impact and make no progress. Febrary I was hitting a slight draw, 15 degree launch angle, good spin numbers and my BS average was about 172 and CHS 116mph. Flying it roughly 285 at sea level, now I am barely flying that at 4500feet elevation.

Any drills or what might be the cause?

Thanks

Well congrats, your "issue" is actually a good thing to do.  There should be some flex in the left left knee at impact.  Especially with the pitch shots.  For full swings the left knee is in the process of extending, but shouldn't be fully extended at impact.  Do you think your left knee stays flexed too long into the followthrough and doesn't extend?  That could definitely lead to some lower back problems, like the old reverse C finish, where both legs are bent.

Here are some good left knee pics

Hogan and Snead

Again left knee is in the process of extending at impact, here what the left knee looks like a few frames after impact

[Backspinalot]

Thanks. The back gets sore lower left side after a while hitting balls. I am getting better with it but I still feel like I am lacking the speed I had a few months ago. One thing I've been trying is focusing on pulling my left shoulder up and back through the ball. My left knee is a tad more flexed towards target than those pics. But same idea. I just think there is something that causes me to do that, like maybe the shoulder thing.

I think I can get it worked out with time. Maybe I'll post a vid here. It stays flexed too long I know that too. There is power loss there and I am trying to make my swing as effecient as possible for higher launch and more speed.

Thank you for those pics too.

[mvmac]

This would be a good drill to do or at least give you a good visual.  Will help with the speed.