My Swing (Mike Boatright)

[billchao]

4 hours ago, Mike Boatright said:

Ok Iv'e attempted to make a better no sway swing with a narrow stance overall it feels very good,but a little restricted.

You're still swaying and overturned at the top. You're not going to change that just by narrowing your stance and feeling you're not swaying. It takes a conscious effort to make a different move than you're used to.

You seem to be convinced that the extra motion in your backswing builds speed and power. It doesn't. Even if it did, you're gaining what, 1 or 2 mph at the cost of making it harder to hit the sweetspot of your club, which adds far more to ball speed than the small increase in clubhead speed does. You will hit it farther more consistently if you make a shorter swing with less compensations, catching the sweetspot more often (and missing closer to it on the clubface).

 If you don't change that perception, you will never truly be able to change to a centered pivot because you haven't convinced yourself it will help you.

This guy hits it pretty far and he doesn't overturn. He doesn't even take the club to parallel. Length of the swing isn't everything.

 

[Mike Boatright]

No I'm very much convinced it will help. I think the narrow stance improved my swing a ton! My head still moves off the ball a little and the weight drifts to the outside of my right foot. I'm going to keep it basically like it is and improve on it as much as I can. If you notice Freddie here he drifts to the outside of his back foot ever so little much but his head is very,very steady and arguably has the best golf swing of all time.. I'm looking for set up tweaks that's all not a lecture on how I still don't get it. Iacas was correct a narrow stance helped me less sway. A long enough swing for me is the difference between 112 mph driver swing or not. If I swung Like Jb here I'd get 88 mph with my driver and even worse with my irons because I'm not Jb and simply not a strong or big as him I guess. My goal is to eventually swing with only marginal head movement back and a just past parallel swing that's hit. I always hit the ball semi solid that's not an issue It's my inside path sometimes creates wild shots or toe hits that hook or slice right.

 

I'm still looking for more setup tweaks and pointers before I hit the ball it's that simple for me! I have good enough eye hand coordination that I could sway off the ball 4 feet and still manage to hit some great shots occasionally... I know the steadier I can keep my head the better though,Again I don't mind coming off the ball say 6 inches as long as my path is true this should equal some consistency. 

 

Edited March 27, 2016 by Mike Boatright

[Mike Boatright]

40 minutes ago, billchao said:

If you don't change that perception, you will never truly be able to change to a centered pivot because you haven't convinced yourself it will help you.

By the way how do I achieve this this then in laymens terms? Golf isn't that complicated do I bend my right knee more, square up my shoulder in relation to my stance,stand up taller what's the secret it should be a key secret that's very simple and take 5 min to click?

Edited March 27, 2016 by Mike Boatright

[JonMA1]

I'm a poorer player so take my advice for what it is....

There are a few "feels" which have helped me, but as you know, feels that help one person may be totally useless to another. Also, if I relax too much, the sway comes back (although not quite as bad yours).

1. Starting the take away with more weight on my right side. Feels like much more than 50/50. My backside feels like it moves towards the target as it rotates.
2.  Increased pressure on the inside of my right foot/heel and along the inside of my right leg during the backswing and transition.
3. The feel that I'm "swinging towards first base" to start the downswing.

You have Hogan's Five Lessons... his description of "sitting down" may help you (it didn't with me).  Whatever approach or feel you find, just take a bunch of slow swings, not worrying about the quality of the shot. Work your way up on that after you've seen an improvement with reducing the sway.

You won't change this picture in 5 mins. Swaying is engrained. It may take days... weeks... you may be fighting it for a while.

Good luck @Mike Boatright

 

[saevel25]

30 minutes ago, Mike Boatright said:

By the way how do I achieve this this then in laymens terms? Golf isn't that complicated do I bend my right knee more, square up my shoulder in relation to my stance,stand up taller what's the secret it should be a key secret that's very simple and take 5 min to click?

There is none. Golf is hard and it takes work. If you claim you are a 5 handicap then getting improvements will take some time. 

Think about this, how long have you been playing golf? Now that is how long you've probably been swaying in your swing. Think about all those range sessions and rounds of golf ingraining that motion. Now ask yourself does it seem reasonable that a 5 minute thing would fix that? 

[Mike Boatright]

7 minutes ago, JonMA1 said:

You won't change this picture in 5 mins. Swaying is engrained. It may take days... weeks... you may be fighting it for a while.

 

1 minute ago, saevel25 said:

Think about this, how long have you been playing golf? Now that is how long you've probably been swaying in your swing. Think about all those range sessions and rounds of golf ingraining that motion. Now ask yourself does it seem reasonable that a 5 minute thing would fix that? 

Good point's than you. Yes I'm a firm believer in cause an effectual meaning that I can fix this in literally 30 seconds. Iacas tips about narrowing my stance a bit reduced my head movement a ton as you can see on the dart board behind my head in the video's.  All I need to know is what do I need to do next,or do I need to do anything at all? I know If I take a more open than usual  stance I tend to have more lateral leg motion in my swing,or if I stand up taller my swing it get's more vertical and 2 planeish vs bending over more at set up is more one plane and flat, This is all cause and effect what's the cause of the sway?

[saevel25]

5 minutes ago, Mike Boatright said:

 

All I need to know is what do I need to do next,or do I need to do anything at all?

Keep working at it till your head doesn't move 8 inches in the backswing. Keep doing it till it becomes ingrained. Then you can move onto something else knowing you have this down. Just thinking about it once doesn't cut it. 

 

 

[billchao]

1 hour ago, Mike Boatright said:

A long enough swing for me is the difference between 112 mph driver swing or not. If I swung Like Jb here I'd get 88 mph with my driver and even worse with my irons because I'm not Jb and simply not a strong or big as him I guess.

No, that's what I was saying. Swinging shorter will not cause you to lose 25mph on your swing. So even if the difference was 112 vs 108, 108 on the sweetspot generates more ball speed (not to mention is more accurate) than 112 off-center.

1 hour ago, Mike Boatright said:

My goal is to eventually swing with only marginal head movement back and a just past parallel swing that's hit. I always hit the ball semi solid that's not an issue

With the driver it is ok to shift laterally a little, but not the way you are doing it, no. Your athleticism saves the shot by allowing you to make compensations subconsciously, but if you had a more technically sound swing, you could use that same athleticism to put more power into the swing without making wild misses.

1 hour ago, Mike Boatright said:

It's my inside path sometimes creates wild shots or toe hits that hook or slice right.

The overswing and the inside path are related.

1 hour ago, Mike Boatright said:

Again I don't mind coming off the ball say 6 inches as long as my path is true this should equal some consistency.

The problem with that is it takes some world class athleticism to make numerous compensations repeatedly with the correct timing to get consistent results. Moving off the ball 6 inches means you have to move back towards it 6 inches. In any given swing, what happens if you move towards the ball only 5 inches? Or 7? Or only move off the ball only 5 inches and back towards it your usual 6? I'm exaggerating a bit on the variation from swing to swing, but golf is a game of inches and degrees, so all of that extra movement will affect how you bring the clubhead back to the ball and where on it you strike.

1 hour ago, Mike Boatright said:

By the way how do I achieve this this then in laymens terms? Golf isn't that complicated do I bend my right knee more, square up my shoulder in relation to my stance,stand up taller what's the secret it should be a key secret that's very simple and take 5 min to click?

The right knee needs to extend, not flex in your backswing. Straighten the right leg as you swing back.

The other stuff has been addressed by others. You have trained your muscles over thousands of swings to do a certain motion and no matter how much you change your setup, you're going to keep swinging basically the same way you always have unless you change the way you use your muscles. There is no quick fix and if that's what you're looking for or expecting, best of luck to you.

[14ledo81]

I found using a mirror was very helpful with improving the back swing.  Put a mirror in front of you and try some slow practice back swings. 

[ppine]

Start by hitting a ball, standing on grass with golf shoes.  Don't swing so hard and keep your balance and that will help a lot.

[iacas]

8 hours ago, billchao said:

You're still swaying and overturned at the top. You're not going to change that just by narrowing your stance and feeling you're not swaying. It takes a conscious effort to make a different move than you're used to.

You seem to be convinced that the extra motion in your backswing builds speed and power. It doesn't. Even if it did, you're gaining what, 1 or 2 mph at the cost of making it harder to hit the sweetspot of your club, which adds far more to ball speed than the small increase in clubhead speed does. You will hit it farther more consistently if you make a shorter swing with less compensations, catching the sweetspot more often (and missing closer to it on the clubface).

 If you don't change that perception, you will never truly be able to change to a centered pivot because you haven't convinced yourself it will help you.

You're getting a lot of help for someone who seems dead set against ignoring all of the advice you've gotten thus far.

Change the picture.

[DrvFrShow]

Here's a couple of videos of a driver swing by LPGA #1 Lydia Ko. Notice how steady she is on her swing. Granted she only drives the ball 250 but she's only 5'5", and it doesn't look like she's putting much effort into the swing either. It's a steady camera, and you can use the sign behind her. These illustrate the 5 Simple Keys about perfectly.

 

[natureboy]

5 hours ago, DrvFrShow said:

Here's a couple of videos of a driver swing by LPGA #1 Lydia Ko. Notice how steady she is on her swing. Granted she only drives the ball 250 but she's only 5'5", and it doesn't look like she's putting much effort into the swing either. It's a steady camera, and you can use the sign behind her. These illustrate the 5 Simple Keys about perfectly.

I'm pretty sure top one is a fairway wood.

[DrvFrShow]

6 hours ago, natureboy said:

I'm pretty sure top one is a fairway wood.

Fine. I don't see much difference.

 

[Ernest Jones]

@Mike Boatright Change of speed here, but what the heck are you hitting balls off of in these videos? Some kind of plane guide??

[Mike Boatright]

16 hours ago, iacas said:

You're getting a lot of help for someone who seems dead set against ignoring all of the advice you've gotten thus far.

No as I said before i'm not ignoring any of this. I'm just saying everyone is unique and for some reason i'm semi consistent with it. I'm going to work on this but If I stay consistent then i'll stick with it. The reason reason I keep wanting more info is to get more ideas about my swing not just the swaying Is that my only issue?

7 minutes ago, Ernest Jones said:

@Mike Boatright Change of speed here, but what the heck are you hitting balls off of in these videos? Some kind of plane guide??

Yes it's the Haney swing plane guide and it's an awesome device.

[Mike Boatright]

15 hours ago, DrvFrShow said:

Here's a couple of videos of a driver swing by LPGA #1 Lydia Ko. Notice how steady she is on her swing. Granted she only drives the ball 250 but she's only 5'5", and it doesn't look like she's putting much effort into the swing either. It's a steady camera, and you can use the sign behind her. These illustrate the 5 Simple Keys about perfectly.

 

Good depiction very much makes sense.

[Ernest Jones]

6 minutes ago, Mike Boatright said:

No as I said before i'm not ignoring any of this. I'm just saying everyone is unique and for some reason i'm semi consistent with it. I'm going to work on this but If I stay consistent then i'll stick with it. The reason reason I keep wanting more info is to get more ideas about my swing not just the swaying Is that my only issue?

The sway is your priority issue (piece).  It would be silly to address other issues lower on the priority list because those issues may change with the priority piece. That's how priority pieces work and that's WHY they are priorities. They tend to fix many other things further down the line. Prioritizing is about finding the keystone so to speak. The one piece that will fix many other pieces. Working on something lower in the priority list can often lead to chasing your tail. Fix the sway, shouldn't be too hard if you actually work on it properly, and then you can reevaluate if it's still your priority piece, but thinking about it won't fix it, you gotta DO.