My Swing (Flyfish13)

[flyfish13]

I have totally lost my swing.  It has became so bad that I am not sure what my natural swing is.  Any guidance is greatly appreciated.  I'm normally an 85-94 type player.  Sometimes lower, sometimes higher.  I played 3 times last week in Phoenix and never came close to breaking 100.  Final round was a 112 and was lucky to shoot that.  Only made good contact with the ball maybe 5 times in three rounds.  If I did make contact it resulted in a very week push.  If I swing very slow I can make solid contact with very little distance.  If I try to increase my swing speed, I seem to get "quick" and it results in a week fade.   Very frustrating.  When my swing goes bad, it goes very bad.  Have been battling this the last 5-7 years.  Seems to be happening more frequently.  No consistency whatsoever.   Just hit an all time low last week.

I've been Playing Golf for: 28 years

My current handicap index or average score is: 16-18

My typical ball flight is: fade

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: week push

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Videos:

[JonMA1]

Your swing looks really solid to my untrained eye.

I'm just throwing this out there because it's easy to check, but are you hitting towards the heel of the club face by any chance?

[Hammer 4]

Your swing looks really solid to my untrained eye.

I'm just throwing this out there because it's easy to check, but are you hitting towards the heel of the club face by any chance?

I would think the toe, to my untrained eye, he seems to move ever so slightly away from the ball at impact. Then again, these Old eyes, need new glasses...........Again! lol

Otherwise, swing looks good to me too.

[flyfish13]

Your swing looks really solid to my untrained eye. I'm just throwing this out there because it's easy to check, but are you hitting towards the heel of the club face by any chance?

Yes I am....feels like a swiping contact with the ball low on the face of the club.

[flyfish13]

Very seldom a solid strike with the ball

[Hammer 4]

Yes I am....feels like a swiping contact with the ball low on the face of the club.

Like I said, these OLD eyes...lol

[JonMA1]

I'm quite literally the last member on this forum who should give advice, but you could always put some tape on the club face and take some swings (I use 1"x3" mailing labels). When you hit into the net, can you tell how solidly you've struck it?

[JonMA1]

Like I said, these OLD eyes...lol

That makes two of us.

[boogielicious]

@flyfish13

I did notice something that was similar to an issue I had.  The screen shot below shows you are moving your head forward and your hips back during the backswing.  This causes you to have to compensate on the downswing to get back to a good impact position.  When I did this, I would get pushes and fat shots.  Check out the thread below for keeping your turn centered.

[flyfish13]

@flyfish13 I did notice something that was similar to an issue I had.  The screen shot below shows you are moving your head forward and your hips back during the backswing.  This causes you to have to compensate on the downswing to get back to a good impact position.  When I did this, I would get pushes and fat shots.  Check out the thread below for keeping your turn centered.  [CONTENTEMBED=/t/76114/how-to-make-a-centered-hip-turn layout=inline]​[/CONTENTEMBED]  [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/113000/] [/URL]

Thanks B...what are some key thought/moves to get the club shaft forward at impact? In my mind at least, when I try to turn in place, I feel like I have to lean forward to generate power and hit down on the ball. Which seems to be causing my problems....

[flyfish13]

@flyfish13 I did notice something that was similar to an issue I had.  The screen shot below shows you are moving your head forward and your hips back during the backswing.  This causes you to have to compensate on the downswing to get back to a good impact position.  When I did this, I would get pushes and fat shots.  Check out the thread below for keeping your turn centered.  [CONTENTEMBED=/t/76114/how-to-make-a-centered-hip-turn layout=inline]​[/CONTENTEMBED]  [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/113000/] [/URL]

Was finally able to hit a few shots into the net tonight with mixed results. I seemed to be able to eliminate pushing my hips back during my back swing but was sliding my hips toward the target and getting quick on the down swing. Did make some better and sometimes great contact when I would focus on making a big hip turn in place and then focused on pulling my left hip/leg straight back. This seemed to keep me from sliding.....will take a lot of practice.

[ayan]

I don't have any credentials whatsoever and I am still fairly new to the game, so I can only comment on things that have been pointed out to me which I believe have helped me:

1. In the DLT video, it seems to me you're quite far from the ball.  You may want to consider having your hands lower, basically letting your arms hang down in front of you at address.  It seems that, because you're reaching out to the ball, your arms are disconnected from your torso from the very beginning.  Your head moves back, away from the ball throughout your swing and it seems you stand up somewhat and lose spine tilt (and I mean forward); this may be due to your reaching.

2. Also from the DTL, you hinge pretty early on.  Your hands are still way ahead of your feet when the shaft reaches parallel to ground, and you come in pretty steep on the way down.  Surely this relates to what I mentioned in 1. above.  I was taught that some useful check points are: hands just in front of the feet at address, over the middle of the feet midway through the swing (shaft parallel to ground), and just behind the heels at the top.  Your hands are farther to the "right" on those three checkpoints, so in addition to having the shaft pretty far from you (because the ball is far from you at address), you may not be turning your shoulders to about 90 degrees.

3. You begin your transition by tilting the upper body towards the target.  Rather than uncoiling the torso, it appears your down swing is more about "falling" to your left, with your shoulders leading your hips as opposed to the other way round.

I truly hope this helps,

Gil

[flyfish13]

I don't have any credentials whatsoever and I am still fairly new to the game, so I can only comment on things that have been pointed out to me which I believe have helped me: 1. In the DLT video, it seems to me you're quite far from the ball.  You may want to consider having your hands lower, basically letting your arms hang down in front of you at address.  It seems that, because you're reaching out to the ball, your arms are disconnected from your torso from the very beginning.  Your head moves back, away from the ball throughout your swing and it seems you stand up somewhat and lose spine tilt (and I mean forward); this may be due to your reaching. 2. Also from the DTL, you hinge pretty early on.  Your hands are still way ahead of your feet when the shaft reaches parallel to ground, and you come in pretty steep on the way down.  Surely this relates to what I mentioned in 1. above.  I was taught that some useful check points are: hands just in front of the feet at address, over the middle of the feet midway through the swing (shaft parallel to ground), and just behind the heels at the top.  Your hands are farther to the "right" on those three checkpoints, so in addition to having the shaft pretty far from you (because the ball is far from you at address), you may not be turning your shoulders to about 90 degrees. 3. You begin your transition by tilting the upper body towards the target.  Rather than uncoiling the torso, it appears your down swing is more about "falling" to your left, with your shoulders leading your hips as opposed to the other way round. I truly hope this helps, Gil

Gill, thanks for the pointers. I've actually gotten worse since I posted my swing. I have lost all confidence, feel, tempo, power, etc.....don't even really know what my natural swing is at this point. I have shelved the clubs for the past 2 weeks. I do have a lesson scheduled this Sunday with a retired local pro. I'm hoping he can get me back on the right path. Never thought I would be playing as bad as I was when I first picked up s club at 14 years old. I'm 42 now....most frustrating thing ever!

[SavvySwede]

You seem to be casting the club right from the top of the swing. I would venture a guess that you are actively flexing the wrist the last third of the backswing to get it to parallel but that tension will only fight against you when you start down. I suggest you try a a few swings without actively using the wrists. It will feel like the shaft is pointing straight up at the top of the backswing and you might even look like J.B Holmes at the top but when you start down properly with the lower body your wrist angle will increase instead of decrease.

[flyfish13]

You seem to be casting the club right from the top of the swing. I would venture a guess that you are actively flexing the wrist the last third of the backswing to get it to parallel but that tension will only fight against you when you start down. I suggest you try a a few swings without actively using the wrists. It will feel like the shaft is pointing straight up at the top of the backswing and you might even look like J.B Holmes at the top but when you start down properly with the lower body your wrist angle will increase instead of decrease.

Do I not bend my wrists at all? If I don't bend them wouldn't that promote even more pronounced casting?

[SavvySwede]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SavvySwede

You seem to be casting the club right from the top of the swing. I would venture a guess that you are actively flexing the wrist the last third of the backswing to get it to parallel but that tension will only fight against you when you start down. I suggest you try a a few swings without actively using the wrists. It will feel like the shaft is pointing straight up at the top of the backswing and you might even look like J.B Holmes at the top but when you start down properly with the lower body your wrist angle will increase instead of decrease.

Do I not bend my wrists at all? If I don't bend them wouldn't that promote even more pronounced casting?

No I was just saying it would feel like that. Even with no tension in the wrists the weight of the club will fall into its natural position. Holmes position looks like that because his wrists/arms aren't so flexible and he has a big chest.

So whe you swing it will feel like you are maintaining the position the wrists are at address without them being locked into place. Gravity will drop the clubhead and the lower body initiating the downswing will increase the angle further. Some call it "float loading"

[ayan]

I'll chime in again.  :)  First, don't give up after a lifetime; in my short career as a wanna be golfer, I have had great days followed by horrible days and most of the times the problem is something trivial that I am simply not aware of.

Perhaps what's happening to you now is something that I have struggled as well during the take away.  I mentioned that I believe you hing early and don't turn your shoulders too much.  That being the case, maybe you give the club an extra tug to see if you can hinge some more at the top of the back swing because you sense you're off plane, etc.  What I have found is that starting the take away with the arms, imagine pulling the left arm with your right hand, guarantees death.  I will not complete my shoulder turn and by the time I get to the top of the back swing, my arms are all tense, I am struggling to maintain my position, my arms have slid across my chest to where they are no longer in front of me, etc.  It's impossible to get the arms back into position from that point, so I loose my lag, have an "armsy" down swing and there is no telling what the shot will look like.

What I have done is try to isolate my shoulder turn, at the beginning of the back swing, from my hip turn.  It's hard to describe a feel, but I feel my should blades are working.  I am not pulling with my right arm nor pushing with my left arm.  All the arms do, while the blades do the work, is lift straight up in front of the chest, with no tension and kind of glued to my torso.  Halfway through the back swing, the arms will be almost on a straight line with the shaft and my hips will have started to rotate as well.  Shoulder turn is a lot at that point, like approaching 80 degrees.  I start hinging then and when I reach the top of the back swing, I am not struggling to hold the position.  You can try this feel of starting with the shoulders and if your experience is like mine, you will see that you turn the shoulders a lot more and that your not pulling with your arms at the top.  Once you've completed a workable back swing, the rest is easier: you will be connected, the arms will be in front of your chest and will have less distance to travel, and your shoulder turn will be greater and give you an extra couple of MPH at impact.  Basically all you have to do is not turn to fast and loose your lag.  I think you go a good job of keeping your right leg planted, but it goes without saying that if we let the hips sway, it'll harder to return to the ball at impact.

Good luck!

Gil

No I was just saying it would feel like that. Even with no tension in the wrists the weight of the club will fall into its natural position. Holmes position looks like that because his wrists/arms aren't so flexible and he has a big chest.

So whe you swing it will feel like you are maintaining the position the wrists are at address without them being locked into place. Gravity will drop the clubhead and the lower body initiating the downswing will increase the angle further. Some call it "float loading"

[flyfish13]

No I was just saying it would feel like that. Even with no tension in the wrists the weight of the club will fall into its natural position. Holmes position looks like that because his wrists/arms aren't so flexible and he has a big chest.

So whe you swing it will feel like you are maintaining the position the wrists are at address without them being locked into place. Gravity will drop the clubhead and the lower body initiating the downswing will increase the angle further. Some call it "float loading"

Thanks SS.  When I try this while also setting up closer to the ball, I have a severe power drain somewhere.  The only way I seem to be able to generate power is to move farther away from the ball which promotes the casting and becoming "separated".  What I think I am trying to say, is when I try and keep my hands closer to my body at setup and on my downswing I have no point of reference/confidence to strike the ball solidly with power etc..........