My Swing (blaylock6502)

[blaylock6502]

I've been Playing Golf for: 4 months

My current handicap index or average score is: No clue

My typical ball flight is: Short Slice

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Slice with a driver

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Videos:

[Hacker James]

Looks pretty good to me...(.better than mine.)

[blaylock6502]

The only things I notice (keep in mind I have no idea what im talking about) is there is a lot of head movement and I dont feel like my left leg should be straightening as much as it is.

[blaylock6502]

I meant to say my right leg not left

[IvanSanders]

ADJUSTMENT 1:

Bend more at the knees, without sitting on your hips, them push the club out low and square and into a wider swing arc. Preserve the wide arc by retaining all weight on the right foot  until immediately before the ball is struck.

ADJUSTMENT 2:

You are coiling but then losing all of your coiled energy by uncoiling at the top of your down swing. The arms by themself generate very little hitting distance. All pros hit out to a false target 20 yards right of the green and staighten up just before impact. Keep your right shoulder back when attacking the ball as long as you can. You have a great follow through so any initial blocking right will soon be corrected once you adjust to this new procedure. Once you get it right you will have 2-3 yards of draw but it takes a lot of practice. Initial practice should be undertaken with irons of increasing length. Start with a wedge, then a 7 iron etc. Swing your practice irons as though they were a driver. Until you can draw all of your irons you are not ready to draw a driver. Such is far more difficult to do. Expect to hit considerably longer once you have mastered this.

There are many other aspects which can be improved, but the above two are the fundamentals. You have a good solid natural rhythm and will do well.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by IvanSanders

Preserve the wide arc by retaining all weight on the right foot  until immediately before the ball is struck.

Huh? PGA Tour players have 85-95% of their pressure under their front foot at impact. And "immediately" before it they have 80-90% there. At no point is "all weight" back.

[blaylock6502]

Thank you very much IvanSanders! Now let me see if im grasping what you are saying! So with adjustment one bend more at the knees I get and you say without sitting on your hips. By this are you saying to keep my shoulders out in front of my hips? And by pushing the club out do you mean just more space between me and the club? Should my arms hang down loosely or be pushed away from the body more? With adjustment two is my leg straightening what you are seeing as uncoiling or just rotating the shoulders too soon?

[blaylock6502]

Does it sound like I understand

[IvanSanders]

Iacas,

Of course one's weight is on the front foot immediately before impact / at impact. But it all needs to be on the back foot on the back swing / most of the down swing in order to be able to create and maintain a wide swing arc which is necessary in order to create maximum swing speed and minimise hitting down on the ball too steeply and creating excessive back spin.

I have not spoken to all that many P.G.A. tour players and so cannot comment on what they all do. I do however understand the swing dynamics necessary to generate power way beyond what P.G.A. tour players achieve. I work with international longdrive competitors and can still live with them at 62 years of age. My record speaks for itself.  How many P.G.A. players do you know who are around 5 ft. 9 ins. tall, over 60, and can average 340 yards?  I can and my driver is only 46" U.S.G.A.

Blayblock 6502,

Knee bend:

Various parts (nearly all parts, including feet) are capable of contributing towards power output. As a former marathon / ultra runner my legs are extremely strong. In order to utilise that strength one knees need to be flexed otherwise one cannot tap into their power. Your shoulders lie in a straight vertical line above your hips and are nothing to do with this simple point - i.e. bend your knees.

Push away:

No.  The push away is the start of the backswing where you push out towards 6 o'clock if we call the green (target) 12 o'clock. One needs to push out until one feels one's front foot start to lift. But avoid hip sway. Such is prevented by flexing your back knee (right knee for right handed players) towards target.

Push out very low and square. To keep the driver head parallel to you body it actually feels as though you are pushing it out away from you. Sticks placed on the ground are very useful  for controlling this until it becomes second nature.

Line of arms / club at address:

This is a contentious point.  I personally prefer my hands 7-8 inches from my crotch with my arms and the club creating a broken line -  a wide 'v' shape.   This I feel helps me to draw the ball and avoid stretching, which can cause the club head to come in slightly open and cause a fade. However many of the world's top long drivers essentially create a straight line with the arms / driver.  One needs to experiment and find what works best for each player. This is not a black and white area.

Coiling:

Just like most beginners I feel that you are over-analysing. But that's far better than being brain dead and repeating the same mistakes over and over in practice!

Once the push away has been completed (do it slowly) turn one's waist and shoulders together. The shoulders turn far more than one's waist but let's not get too complex.  When one's driver is at the top of the backswing  one's torso is taut and under coil stress.

My point is a simple one namely hold onto that through the downswing. Don't (as 99% of amateurs do) uncoil at the top of the downswing otherwise most of your potential power is tossed away. Try to hit the ball out of line, never coming in square. In reality you sub-conscious will bottle out and bring you in square just before impact which is what is needed. This will occur naturally and is something you do not need to try to do.

Don't think about what you legs are doing except as stated above and of course hit into a braced left leg. A fast moving right side of the body needs to collide with a braced left side into to create kinetric compression. This can cause one to stagger backwards at impact if one swings very fast. This is illustrated on my recent YouTube clip - 'Ivan Sanders, European Longdrive Championships 2013.'

I hope that clears up your queries.

[Hacker James]

Originally Posted by IvanSanders

. However many of the world's top long drivers essentially create a straight line with the arms / driver.  One needs to experiment and find what works best for each player. This is not a black and white area.

IvanSanders...could you clairify that for me?  When you say "create a straight line" do you mean a straight line at address from the shoulders, down the arms, and the shaft much in the manner that the Moe Norman's swing is often depicted?   I am most interested in what responses you get to your post.  I will not render an opinion at this time, mostly because I am not qualified to, but in my forty years or so being around the game, I have a few things that I ascribe to and often they defy "conventional wisdom". I try to keep an open mind and never dismiss anybody's thoughts or theories outright.  At the same time, when offered "proof" borne out of scientific measurement, testing, e.t.c. although I may respect it, I do not necessarily accept it as absolute. It is still up to the individual golfer to execute. Nobody is an "Iron Byron" although a few are pretty darned close.  Your credentials would seem to speak for themselves, although I have no way of verifying them (nor do I really need to, as I believe you).  Thank you!

[iacas]

Ivan, golf is not a long drive competition. We can't hit one ball in bounds out of six and call it a day.

The long drive swing varies from the golf swing because of the speed long drive guys are capable of adding, in addition to the fact that they want to maximize AoA (+8 to +9 oftentimes) and that they play with drivers of 4-7° loft or so.

[TJBam]

OP- I'm seeing more of a push-slice than a short slice.  Check your impact marks on your driver.  Be aware of the ball flight laws psoted elsewhere on this website (use the search function).

You will find better advice from other users on this forum (I am a salesman not a professional instructor) but I notice an open club face at impact along with an outside-inside swing path.  The open club face is the culprit for the push (club face at contact is the #1 factor for initial ball flight (push)) and the swing plane is the #1 factor for the spin on the ball which results in the rest of the ball's flight (slice in your case).

Notice the pushed ball flight.

Also on the front view:

Your weight may "feel" forward at impact in your lower body but your upper body is staying back on your back foot.  I'm not sure the easiest way to fix it but I thought I'd point it out for you.

[blaylock6502]

Thank you all very much for the input! Sometimes I feel like I am trying way too hard to crush the ball and bad things come from it and I would be well served to take things slow and easy but I have a hard time telling myself that with a driver in my hands!

[blaylock6502]

I would say a push slice would be more accurate I guess what I was trying to say is that my drives end up short due to the push slice.

[blaylock6502]

I was talking to the coach I work woth today and he took a look at the videos and started to explain basically to me what you all had said. After I stared at him for a couple of minutes with a lost look on my face he said "swing the darn thing like a baseball bat" (I canged the wording a little). He said slow your swing down and pay attention to your weight transfer, when your wrists unhinge, when your wrists roll over etc and try to swing a bat like that! My neighbors probably already thought I was crazy but now they are sure of it. I tried to swing it like a bat keeping most of my weight on my back foot with my firsy move to be unhinging my wrists and not rolling them over until the end and everything you guys had said started to make sense. So I really started to look at the physics of swinging a bat (start with weight transfer to frony foot drive right elbow into the side lead with the hands and unginge and roll wrists at the same time ) and you realy understand where the power of the swing comes from as well as repeatability. Has anyone ever heard it explained this way? Maybe im just getting further off course but it really seems to make sense.?

[IvanSanders]

Hello Again Everyone,

I will make this my very last post (as there are still questions to be answered) on this topic as I've possibly already become tiresome. So I won't re-visit this thread. (At which points attacks invariably fly in). But I'm pleased that we've had a healthy exchange of opinions.

In chronological order:

Hacker James,

Yes, exactly that.

Iacas,

I never made such a claim. I gave elementary swing advice to a regular golfer. We fundamentally disagree on a very basic point, namely weight transfer. You spoke about the techniques of tour players being fundamentally different yet everything I said has already been said countless times over by tour players in their publications.  For example please see p. 163 of Tiger Woods' book 'How I Play Golf' "I've clearly shifted my weight onto my right side." (Section on driving).

Long drive competitors do not have a different swing either because of their head lofts or swing speed. How could either change swing fundamentals? They do however tend to have longer backswings in order to create more acceleration room.  And perhaps generally wider stances. That, together with s.s. makes control more difficult. But the remaining 99% of the golf swing remains exactly the same as for everyone else.  Swing fundamentals remain true for everyone.

Blayblock6502,

Very pleased that you've now secured face to face help. Nothing beats it, when it's sound.  But do have a look at the book I mentioned above. The more re-inforcement you get the better and illustrative photographs do help.

Hit long and practice carefully:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/XRIzE_xMqMI

[Hacker James]

"Priceless". (the video clip).....Thank you very much for responding and I would welcome any tips or commentary you have at any time. I do hope that you will stick around and give us your views from time to time.

[blaylock6502]

Cant we all just get along? :) I appreciate everyones input it just seems to make more sense now that I can relate it to something I somewhat understand as my gold iq is very low! Thanks again to everyone