2 Years In

[lhagsjr]

At 34 years old, a lifetime athlete who did pretty well in pretty much any sport I tried, I figured I could play golf. The last 2 years have been humbling and frustrating to say the least. I almost quit golf 2x most recently this past 4th of July.

Id like to say I have made some progress. Im always told I have a nice setup and grip but people I play with as well as the couple people I have taken lessons with. My backswing is solid after recently fixing a problematic laid off position. Just fixing my backswing to avoid the layoff position has improved my overall swing pretty quickly.

Im still struggling to be consistent in my downswing. I had a great lesson with an 80 year former PGA professional yesterday. He believes I am "close" to playing some pretty good golf. He told me my main issue is my shoulder position(specifically the right shoulder) at impact/coming down. He states I "spin out" instead of driving my right shoulder "through" the ball. He held my forehead while making my swing and demanded my right shoulder go under his arm when coming down. IT was ridiculous how great of contact I was making. I was hitting my 7 iron 160 yards. Normally I hit it 140 if im lucky. But it wasnt just about the yards, its about the contact. It was so much more crisp.

My question, anyone have any swing thoughts or ideas to make me drive my shoulder down instead of spinning out? Obviously I cant have my guy hold my forehead on the course :)

[Lihu]

  lhagsjr said:

At 34 years old, a lifetime athlete who did pretty well in pretty much any sport I tried, I figured I could play golf. The last 2 years have been humbling and frustrating to say the least. I almost quit golf 2x most recently this past 4th of July.

Id like to say I have made some progress. Im always told I have a nice setup and grip but people I play with as well as the couple people I have taken lessons with. My backswing is solid after recently fixing a problematic laid off position. Just fixing my backswing to avoid the layoff position has improved my overall swing pretty quickly.

Im still struggling to be consistent in my downswing. I had a great lesson with an 80 year former PGA professional yesterday. He believes I am "close" to playing some pretty good golf. He told me my main issue is my shoulder position(specifically the right shoulder) at impact/coming down. He states I "spin out" instead of driving my right shoulder "through" the ball. He held my forehead while making my swing and demanded my right shoulder go under his arm when coming down. IT was ridiculous how great of contact I was making. I was hitting my 7 iron 160 yards. Normally I hit it 140 if im lucky. But it wasnt just about the yards, its about the contact. It was so much more crisp.

My question, anyone have any swing thoughts or ideas to make me drive my shoulder down instead of spinning out? Obviously I cant have my guy hold my forehead on the course :)

From what I can tell in your text, it sounds like you were somehow implementing Key 1 of the 5SK.

A swing video would be beneficial for any real answers. . .

[Duff McGee]

I think I have the same problem and I believe that answer has to do with your turn. If you are like me you figured that the coil was around and you twist out of it and hit the ball. The problem is that the coil is 3D and involves the bend from your waist. So you are not turning laterally, you are turning both around and up with your right hip and shoulder. I don't know if I am making any sense. I can picture in my head what I am trying to say but I might have used the wrong language.

[boogielicious]

  lhagsjr said:

At 34 years old, a lifetime athlete who did pretty well in pretty much any sport I tried, I figured I could play golf. The last 2 years have been humbling and frustrating to say the least. I almost quit golf 2x most recently this past 4th of July.

Id like to say I have made some progress. Im always told I have a nice setup and grip but people I play with as well as the couple people I have taken lessons with. My backswing is solid after recently fixing a problematic laid off position. Just fixing my backswing to avoid the layoff position has improved my overall swing pretty quickly.

Im still struggling to be consistent in my downswing. I had a great lesson with an 80 year former PGA professional yesterday. He believes I am "close" to playing some pretty good golf. He told me my main issue is my shoulder position(specifically the right shoulder) at impact/coming down. He states I "spin out" instead of driving my right shoulder "through" the ball. He held my forehead while making my swing and demanded my right shoulder go under his arm when coming down. IT was ridiculous how great of contact I was making. I was hitting my 7 iron 160 yards. Normally I hit it 140 if im lucky. But it wasnt just about the yards, its about the contact. It was so much more crisp.

My question, anyone have any swing thoughts or ideas to make me drive my shoulder down instead of spinning out? Obviously I cant have my guy hold my forehead on the course :)

I don't think about the shoulder as much as the right elbow getting in the proper position during the downswing. If it gets stuck behind your shirt seam, then even driving the shoulder down will result in an outside in path. This thought the instructor gave probably helped the elbow position as well as your shoulder plane in the downswing.  The video below is helpful.