Raising out of Posture

[AvidHacker]

Hi People, New member and new to golf! Been playing roughly 3 months, with lessons and practice I get to the range 2-3 times a week and have only played 3 times on an executive Par 3 course (which I am told is a diffcult one as its so unforgiving!)....I have been videoing my swings and as you can imagine I have a multitude of problems. My main one, and one which I am trying to work on is that as soon as I start my backswing I raise up from my hips. Now, sometimes I get back into posture at impact and hit the ball ok (not much distance but thats the next thing to work on!) but that tends to be on the mats at the range, when I hit from the grass at the range it I tend to top it a lot more (this is also true on the course).....The thing is I have noticed that when I practice swing I do not raise up at all, which leads me to think it could be a mental block I have when actually hitting the ball? Is this possible, if so is there any drills\swing thoughts I should incorporate? My Pro showed me the shoulder plane drill (club over the shoulder, point left shoulder at right foot etc) but to be honest I have only started doing this religiously for 3 days (everyday 50 reps) to try and ingrain some muscle memory. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I will try and upload a video but its from an app an proving difficult to extract. PS - ignore my HP at 28, I havent one but was told this was the highest you could have! In reality I am much much higher!

[clutchshot]

Focus on impact for the time being. Ball needs to be hit before the bottom of the swing, if you're topping, your swing plane is reaching bottom of arch and beginning to move back up before it hits the ball. All the good golfers I know swing differently, but they all hit purely, focus on hitting the ball pure, and you'll be fine.

[saevel25]

Hi People,

New member and new to golf! Been playing roughly 3 months, with lessons and practice I get to the range 2-3 times a week and have only played 3 times on an executive Par 3 course (which I am told is a diffcult one as its so unforgiving!)....I have been videoing my swings and as you can imagine I have a multitude of problems.

My main one, and one which I am trying to work on is that as soon as I start my backswing I raise up from my hips. Now, sometimes I get back into posture at impact and hit the ball ok (not much distance but thats the next thing to work on!) but that tends to be on the mats at the range, when I hit from the grass at the range it I tend to top it a lot more (this is also true on the course).....The thing is I have noticed that when I practice swing I do not raise up at all, which leads me to think it could be a mental block I have when actually hitting the ball? Is this possible, if so is there any drills\swing thoughts I should incorporate? My Pro showed me the shoulder plane drill (club over the shoulder, point left shoulder at right foot etc) but to be honest I have only started doing this religiously for 3 days (everyday 50 reps) to try and ingrain some muscle memory.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I will try and upload a video but its from an app an proving difficult to extract.

PS - ignore my HP at 28, I havent one but was told this was the highest you could have! In reality I am much much higher!

this is mostly caused by a shallow shoulder turn, and poor posture.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/56069/good-golf-posture

http://thesandtrap.com/t/62804/steady-head-drill-and-how-painting-mental-pictures-can-help-your-swing

Basically work on getting the right posture, and rotate your left shoulder more towards the ball in the backswing. This will help keep your head steadier, basically your not forcing your head to move with bad body movements.

[AvidHacker]

Thanks guys, I have taken both suggestions on board. One question on impact, is it worth getting an impact bag to try an train the correct lag\impact?

[rustyredcab]

Thanks guys, I have taken both suggestions on board.

One question on impact, is it worth getting an impact bag to try an train the correct lag\impact?

Yes. They are not very expensive and can be a good aid. An impact bag is a good way to learn the correct feel of proper impact position. When I use it correctly, I push on the bag feeling my hip, leg, knee, shoulder, head... positions as well as the feeling of leading with my hands. I only use it for slow swings and for training positions. I never bang on it.

[bendport]

I would try the STEP IN  DRILL.

What you need to do is

Stand away from the ball, swing back then step into the ball with your left foot as you simultaniously hit the ball.  The momentum of the step in will force your posture angles to be maintained or you may even tilt over more on impact.  This will give you a good feeling of maintaining your posture angles through impact.