My Swing (bogeysaurus)

[Bogeysaurus]

I've been Playing Golf for: 3 weeks seriously

My current handicap index or average score is: 9 hole avg = 50

My typical ball flight is: high slight push

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: hitting fat, big divot behind ball

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Videos:

From my layman perspective it appears my lower body is too active...but try as I might I can't seem to quiet it down much.

Thanks for any feedback!

[BostonBrew]

First two flaws I noticed are you're sliding or swaying away from the target instead of turning, and you're flipping at impact.

In my opinion, the best drill to learn how to coil and turn, instead of sway and slide, is to place a ball under the middle of the outside of your right foot. This forces your back leg to brace and your hips to coil into it as you turn back.

As for flipping at impact, here's a video from Mark Crossfield:

[Bogeysaurus]

I agree that I have too much sway and I've tried to eliminate it but without much success.  I will try the ball under my foot.

As far the flick, perhaps that is due to my hips swaying?  Thanks for the feedback!

[BostonBrew]

Watched it again. I think the flipping is a result from you coming out of the shot. And by that I mean your movement vertically before impact. It's almost like you're standing up and trying to scoop the ball to get it airborne as opposed to hitting down and compressing the ball. Might be a reaction from hitting behind the ball as you stated is your miss. Remember that you want to hit down on the ball. The divot starts after the club has made contact with the ball. Easy way to tell where your divot is starting is to place a tee next to the ball and after you strike it, compare the start of the divot to the tee.

[Bogeysaurus]

Just went back out in the back yard and hit some more whiffle balls thinking to hit down on ball instead of scooping....

It seemed to make a difference.  I will know better when I can try this out at the range tomorrow morning.  Thanks for the input!

[Bogeysaurus]

How does this look compared to before?  Thanks

[BostonBrew]

Honestly, it's more of the same. If you're serious about improving, nothing beats hands-on instruction. Set up an appointment with a local PGA Teaching Professional.

You'd also benefit from widening your stance.

[Bogeysaurus]

I have been taking lessons with a local pro.

Had another this morning... I can't even hit the ball anymore...and he couldn't correct it...

Everything is coming off with wicked slice way right...

So frustrated...  went from hitting majority of my irons nice and straight too nothing in two days...

[MrMulligan]

I agree with Boston, the problem I see is with your legs. Your legs are moving up and down through your swing, this should not happen because it is causing you to become vertical which could in turn cause you to change your club face angle and your swing plane which is why youre probably mishitting. Focus on moving your legs forward through impact, not up. Also widen your stance, your feet are way too close. If I was you, I would quit paying for lessons until you fix this problem because you are waisting money. Go to the range and focus on moving through the ball and staying down and also widen your stance.

[Bogeysaurus]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I will give the wider stance a shot as well as focusing on my lower body.

I doubt my swing was correct before but I guess my body had figured out how to compensate and I was hitting the ball what I thought was very well (straight and good distance).  However, now that I'm trying to correct things I can't hit the ball.  I suppose this is normal with golf.  As you try to fix/modify your swing this happens.

I was watching my swing compared to others that have much IMO better swings and I wanted to see what you think of this analysis:

My hip rotation is not happening either fast enough or rotating enough (maybe due to sway) and my arms come around to quick.  This is why I scoop, because my body hasn't rotated far enough and I have to stand up and do that scoop thing so I don't dig a ditch behind the ball.  Does that look like what you see?  Aside from ball under back foot, how can I practice rotating my hips?

Thanks again!

[MrMulligan]

Yes, I do think that is what is happening for the most part. When you try to scoop the ball it is because you are compensating for a faulty swing sequence. Yours is faulty because of your verticality and the lack of hip rotation, this makes you feel the need to scoop the ball to get contact. I had the same problem as you, I was playing golf decently with bad technique, once I tried to learn the proper way to play, my game went to hell. Im very happy that I did make the change though because now my game is better than ever. One thing you need to also work on is your posture, you seem to be very vertical from set up, move back from the ball because you look very close to it. Bend more at the hips and less at the knees. Here is a simple hip rotation drill, do it in front of a mirror and just got the feel of it before you hit a ball. Start simple, put a ball on the ground and move away from it some, then bend at the hips and less at the knees. And use this drill over a ball and in front of a mirror. Focus on coming through and not up. Hope it helps!

[Bogeysaurus]

Thanks for the tips.  I'll look at my stance and see what I can do with it to put me in a better position to rotate.  If I'm bending too much at knee vs waist I suppose that would make rotation more difficult.

You are right about the improper technique.  I'm sure it is better to have a proper swing instead of just making an improper one work.  But dang, two days ago before I knew I was a scooper I loved golf, not so much now.  Hopefully that will return as I fix my swing.

It does make me wonder why the pro didn't bring this up in my lessons.  I guess he figured 6 lessons wasn't enough to rebuild my swing so just make it work with what I had.

[MrMulligan]

A pro doesn't have the time to go through all the minor details and things. Many expect that you have the basic mechanics down. This is why I said I would stop the lessons for now.

[ChiralClubs]

Regarding hip rotation, one key here is to let the back leg straighten on the backswing.  This will allow the hips to rotate much more easily and give them some more vertical inclination.  Side note: during your downswing, your back leg should naturally flex back to its original position.

Check out how Charlie Wi is letting his back leg straighten out here, allowing his hips to rotate and preventing him from swaying off the ball.

[Bogeysaurus]

I did some practicing concentrating on the back leg.  It might be a bit better but for some reason I have a hell of a time keeping it from swaying!  It did feel though that when it was a bit straighter and less swaying my rotation was a bit better.

How do these half swings look?  During these it felt like the release was happening as desired without a scooping action.  If I can get the half swing down and get the back leg, perhaps I can put the two together!

Things again for all the feedback guys.

[Bogeysaurus]

  BostonBrew said:

Originally Posted by BostonBrew

It's almost like you're standing up and trying to scoop the ball to get it airborne as opposed to hitting down and compressing the ball. Might be a reaction from hitting behind the ball as you stated is your miss. Remember that you want to hit down on the ball. The divot starts after the club has made contact with the ball.

I think this might be one of or THE fundamental issue with my swing because of my swing thought.  So you aren't supposed to scoop the ball you "hit down on it" to compress it.  I want to make sure I understand this correctly.  Does that mean that what makes the ball get airborne is it being compressed between the club face and the ground and rebounding?

It might seem stupid, but I've always thought you were supposed to "scoop" it.  Which brings up my next question, is this different when pitching?  Chipping makes sense to hit down still but pitching seems like you are intentionally trying to create extra loft.

Thanks again.

[BostonBrew]

Correct. You are supposed to hit down and compress the ball. Pinching it between the clubface and the ground. The loft of the club is what makes the ball jump into the air. The proper golf swing is NOT a scoop. Here is a picture showing the proper angle of attack for the clubhead. The yellow area is where the divot would be. The red arrow shows how the club strikes down on the ball. If it were scooping the ball, the club arc would bottom out behind the ball and collect it on the way up.

[iacas]

  BostonBrew said:

Originally Posted by BostonBrew

Correct. You are supposed to hit down and compress the ball. Pinching it between the clubface and the ground.

That's fine to say as a "feel" so long as we all understand that the ball is neither compressed nor "pinched" AT ALL between the clubface and the ground…