My Swing (JonMA1)

[JonMA1]

I've been Playing Golf for: 1 1/2 years

My current handicap index or average score is: 110

My typical ball flight is: High fade/straight

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Lack of distance with irons

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I hate asking for help, but not doing well on my own. There are a lot of swing flaws here but just trying to fix key #2  at this point. I can't seem to get my hips forward with a full swing (top). I worked on it last night with a drill from 5sk and thought I had it (bottom). Went out today with video and was making the same spastic move with my lower body. I think my old swing is just taking over. With a half swing there's some shift, but with a fuller swing I lose it. Has anyone had this problem? If so, how did you fix it?

I'm getting good distance with my 4 hybrid (180-190) and 5 wood (190-200) but lately less than 150 yds with my 5 iron. The iron shots are consistent, just really short. I believe forward weight shift along with more shaft lean will provide a bit more distance.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Ernest Jones]

Try cutting a nerf ball in half and putting it under your lead foot out towards the toes. Squish it flat as you can at the start of your downswing. It will also probably help if you keep yourself more centered over the ball.

[Hacker James]

Those little "hitches" can be hard to break. I used to have a little hesitation thing at the top of my swing where it felt as though I had completely stopped. Ordinarily this does not have to be a bad thing, but it could also throw you off plane a little. What I did was during my backswing and before I reached the top limit, I would try to initiate a smooth downswing so that I practically started to come down even before I reached the top if that makes sense. I would start with a little bump of my hips. The club was sort of "floating to the top" but when it got there, I had already started the downswing and the club lagged behind. Not sure how to explain it, but try to imagine a "smooth, one action , transition".   In your video it looks as in your practice swing you start down, then stop to make sure you are lagging, then you do the identical thing in the real swing. I would simply take two "waggles" perhaps no more than 10 inches and then commit to the swing without hesitation.

[JonMA1]

Originally Posted by Ernest Jones

Try cutting a nerf ball in half and putting it under your lead foot out towards the toes. Squish it flat as you can at the start of your downswing.

I will try it. That downward pressure on the lead foot is something that really improved my swing early in the year and one of the reasons I joined The Sand Trap and have faith in the 5SK method. Until recently, I hadn't recorded the swing and thought I was doing this all along.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hacker James

Those little "hitches" can be hard to break. I used to have a little hesitation thing at the top of my swing where it felt as though I had completely stopped. Ordinarily this does not have to be a bad thing, but it could also throw you off plane a little. What I did was during my backswing and before I reached the top limit, I would try to initiate a smooth downswing so that I practically started to come down even before I reached the top if that makes sense. I would start with a little bump of my hips. The club was sort of "floating to the top" but when it got there, I had already started the downswing and the club lagged behind. Not sure how to explain it, but try to imagine a "smooth, one action , transition".   In your video it looks as in your practice swing you start down, then stop to make sure you are lagging, then you do the identical thing in the real swing. I would simply take two "waggles" perhaps no more than 10 inches and then commit to the swing without hesitation.

Been reading Hogan's 5 Lessons and as you've stated, the hips should start the downswing. There's actually a bit of OTT going on when I try to swing hard. A slower start to the downswing usually solves that for me. Just have to program my brain to do as you've suggested without thinking about it. Will try the "smooth, one action transition" with the hip move (as you can see, easier said than done).

Do you think I'm expecting too much to get 160+ yards from a 5 iron? I just want to close the gap a little between that club and my 4 hybrid.

Thank you for the help.

[Ernest Jones]

Do you think I'm expecting too much to get 160+ yards from a 5 iron? I just want to close the gap a little between that club and my 4 hybrid. Thank you for the help.

Well everyone is a little different distance wise but with some practice and better weight shift you should be able to 160 or much more out if a 5 iron. Regardless of what your ultimate distances end up being with better technique the gaps between your clubs should settle into something more or less uniform. This is, of course, assuming that the loft on your hybrid is appropriately gapped to the loft of your 5 iron which is not a given if the clubs are different make, model and/or year.

[JonMA1]

Recorded my swing tonight and I am finally getting some weight forward. It's not where it should be but it's a start. Both suggestions from EJ and HJ helped. Thank you gentlemen.

Don't think I'm driving down on my left foot as much as needed nor am I getting the hips forward enough, but at least I'm finishing in balance with most of the weight on the front foot. A bit of lateral head movement but I will work on that after I feel better about this key.

Staying mentally even-keeled is proving to be the hardest part of this. Will someone please remind me this is just a game.

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by JonMA1

Recorded my swing tonight and I am finally getting some weight forward. It's not where it should be but it's a start. Both suggestions from EJ and HJ helped. Thank you gentlemen.

Don't think I'm driving down on my left foot as much as needed nor am I getting the hips forward enough, but at least I'm finishing in balance with most of the weight on the front foot. A bit of lateral head movement but I will work on that after I feel better about this key.

Staying mentally even-keeled is proving to be the hardest part of this. Will someone please remind me this is just a game.

THIS IS JUST A GAME.

[JonMA1]

Went out and hit 50+ shots with my 5 iron. All I can say is be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. Wanted to get some right to left movement on the ball flight. Half of my shot tonight were low hooks. Those that went straight were still very low. Weight shift continues to be impossible. When I video the swing I just get pissed off. It's a mental issue that I can't seem to overcome. Don't care about having a pretty swing, just want it to be fundamentally better and repeatable .

I ended the session by relying on my right arm to control the swing path, lag and power. I don't think that's the way it should be but it worked. I'm a natural lefty so my right arm has always been weaker. The last few shots were high and straight with clean contact. It looks like I'm going to have to come up with a modified swing for the longer irons.

The 5sk system seems to have helped my short to mid iron game. A bit more distance without any significant loss of accuracy.

[iacas]

Low shots typically mean your head is going forward (and/or the ball is too far back). Key #2 is achieved largely with the hips going forward, creating what's called "secondary axis tilt" (i.e. your spine leaning away from the target at impact).

[JonMA1]

That type of information is nice to get. I was probably so hell bent on shifting my weight that I let my upper body move forward. I worked on the secondary axis tilt tonight and by doing so, couldn't help but get my hips to move forward. Much higher ball flight. It's almost as though you know what you're talking about.

I'm still finishing with a lot of weight on my back foot but I have to give it a rest for a couple of days as it's dominating my practice. I think it will eventually click.

There's a good long iron swing in all of this chaos - I've felt the increase in power at times especially with key #4. It's just not repeatable yet.

[JonMA1]

I played around with a no backswing drill today - kind of a baseball swing. Anyway, was able to generate a lot of power but don't know if it accomplished much in the way of helping my golf swing. Went back to working on a more fluid tempo and maintaining lag longer.

Shouldn't the back of my hand be facing the target at impact? It seems as though too much of the heel of my left hand is facing the target.

Also, is it possible to have your hands too far in front of the ball?

[JonMA1]

I was doing so well the last several weeks. One of the members of the site told me about six months ago that I would "know it" once I found my swing. Well, I had found it.

All the terms I've been reading about for the last year started to make sense. Weight forward, hands dropping into the slot, compression or trapping of the ball then a divot, really good ball flight, and a tiny bit more distance. I even had some control over the trajectory. For the first time since I've taken up the game, I felt like I was swinging more with my body than with my arms. Every time I'd go out to hit, it seemed to get better - definitely repeatable. It might take a dozen or so swings but once I was in the zone I felt like I could hit greens with every club. I'm not saying the swing would have looked good, but it sure felt right.

I went out to my workshop tonight to take video. After a couple of decent swings with each club, I completely lost it and couldn't get it back.

This is the kind of crap that makes me wonder if I should just learn to enjoy the game without trying to get better. But I won't. It will bug the shit out me tonight, I'll go out in the morning and try it again. I just don't want 2014 to be a repeat of 2013 when the whole season was spent changing instead of improving an iron swing.

It's like I have no business on this site. I have as much desire to improve and as much passion for the game as anyone but I just don't have what it takes (between the ears apparently) to become even an average golfer.

Ok, end of rant. I feel much better now. Tomorrow's another day...

[JonMA1]

I'm really just working on trying to get my left hip to move forward to initiate my downswing (not worried about the head movement right now). I'm not making a full turn/swing because I thought that might help. I included the practice swing in this video because to my untrained eye, it looks closer to what I want to do. I guess it's a mental block because as soon as I take a real swing I fail to get the hip forward. I really "felt" like I was doing it until I took this video. I've tried the nerf ball under the left foot drill but to no avail. Has anyone else had this kind of trouble with Key#2?

Even with the funky swing, my contact with the ball is better than it has ever been (please ignore my previous post) and I think my hands and most of my weight are forward at impact. If the temps weren't in the single-digits and the ground frozen solid, I believe I'd be able to hit decent iron shots right now (of course, hitting from a mat is a bit easier). But I know this key is very important and I have all winter to work on it. Any suggestions, comments or even ridicule would be much appreciated.

[mvmac]

Video is private

[JonMA1]

Video is private

Sorry, it's fixed now.

[mvmac]

Left knee is caving in too much towards the center of your stance.  I would recommend working on these feels.

Get the left knee to "bow out" a little at set-up.  Yours is pointed inward.  Then on the backswing feel the left knee flex over the left ankle.  This will help keep the hips center.

Also make some practice swings trying to copy the pic below (it's a practice swing not a full motion swing).  Left knee flexes past the left ankle.

[JonMA1]

Even though I'm still not getting my hips forward on the downswing as I should, there is more weight on the left side at impact. On the backswing, I'm trying to prevent the left knee from caving in and my hips from sliding away from the ball - obviously needs a bit more work. But this swing feels very natural.

Overall, I feel like I'm making progress even if it's slow and minimal. I took the mat outside and hit a few into the woods. Despite the swing flaws, contact is so much better and more consistent.

Thanks for the help.

[Hammer 4]

As a side note: What I feel is, that I'm "bumping" my hip to the left, and my knees just sorta follow along. The trick for me was to keep my spine angle in check, i.e. spine is the same at impact as at address, or pretty close. this gets your weight to the left for righty players. The problem I had was I swung to hard, losing my balance due to my shoulders being to level, and losing my spine angle, there fore I couldn't maintain my balance. Also Key #1 plays a big roll in this, as does Key #2.

I found that Slowing my swing, i.e. tempo also helped a bunch, and helped me finish my shots much better, all this was due to mvmac's guidance. I hope this helps some what.