Maintaining height in golf swing

[mnguy19]

I recently recorded my golf swing and noticed a dramatic dip in height during my backswing. It usually doesn't end up well with the best case scenario being a ripping fade that more or less veers back towards the target line. I am a habitual chunker with lots of fat shots. I experimented recently while at the range with my 5 iron and when I actually managed to maintain my height and balance I ripped the purest shot I ever have with my 5 iron. For some reason though maintaining my height throughout the backswing feels so unnatural to me that I can't help but bend my left knee (I'm right handed) every time I bring the club back. This happens even more dramatically when I try to add power to my swing.

Has anyone had this same problem with their swing? What has helped to eliminate that dip? For me, I've had to stand much more upright in my attempt to try to avoid dipping with minimal success. Other than the normal swing fundamentals (eye on ball, relaxed grip, swing not hit) this feels like my last bad habit to break before I can improve my consistency. If anyone has any advice for this it is very welcome. Watching a lot of youtube videos seems to confuse me more than anything so I thought I would try the community. No more fat shots!

[Dave325]

Welcome! One of the first keys you probably want to consider is keeping a steady head (not moving up/down or side to side. I think I have had my head moving in every direction at one time or another. My tendency is to want to lift up and move away from the ball. Don't worry about the unnatural feeling (there is very little natural about a good golf swing). 

I would suggest the you post a video in the MySwing forum. There are a lot of great golfers much better than me that are able to help.

[boogielicious]

9 hours ago, mnguy19 said:

I recently recorded my golf swing and noticed a dramatic dip in height during my backswing. It usually doesn't end up well with the best case scenario being a ripping fade that more or less veers back towards the target line. I am a habitual chunker with lots of fat shots. I experimented recently while at the range with my 5 iron and when I actually managed to maintain my height and balance I ripped the purest shot I ever have with my 5 iron. For some reason though maintaining my height throughout the backswing feels so unnatural to me that I can't help but bend my left knee (I'm right handed) every time I bring the club back. This happens even more dramatically when I try to add power to my swing.

Has anyone had this same problem with their swing? What has helped to eliminate that dip? For me, I've had to stand much more upright in my attempt to try to avoid dipping with minimal success. Other than the normal swing fundamentals (eye on ball, relaxed grip, swing not hit) this feels like my last bad habit to break before I can improve my consistency. If anyone has any advice for this it is very welcome. Watching a lot of youtube videos seems to confuse me more than anything so I thought I would try the community. No more fat shots!

I had this a few years back. My head and shoulders were dipping right at the end of the backswing. I cured it with the swing feel of getting my right shoulder to stretch high at the top of the backswing. I didn't change my posture at set up, but focused on staying centered during the backswing then near the top stretching my right side and shoulder high. I got that tip from Dave Wedzik in the 5 Simple Keys videos. It also helps keep your body centered during the backswing.

Practice this in front of a mirror to see the effect. More can be found here. Check out the steady head info and the centered hip turn info.

 

[saevel25]

10 hours ago, mnguy19 said:

I experimented recently while at the range with my 5 iron and when I actually managed to maintain my height and balance I ripped the purest shot I ever have with my 5 iron. For some reason though maintaining my height throughout the backswing feels so unnatural to me that I can't help but bend my left knee (I'm right handed) every time I bring the club back. This happens even more dramatically when I try to add power to my swing.

Depends on what you are doing. If your swing constantly feels in and out of balance then your head is probably moving around a lot, or you lack getting your weight forward at impact. 

No way to say for sure with out seeing a before and after of your swing on what you are doing.

[mnguy19]

One of the big things that I started working on is relaxing my arms and wrists and using my body to swing the club. Initially I can say that I've had mixed success primarily because I've swung the club incorrectly for awhile so resisting the urge to tense up and hit the ball has been tricky. I can say though that when I have made good contact the ball goes much further and feels much better. While my maintaining my height is still an issue, I have found that I usually dip only when I'm arm swinging. Thanks for the advice guys. 

[mvmac]

On 2/23/2016 at 5:59 PM, mnguy19 said:

Has anyone had this same problem with their swing? What has helped to eliminate that dip? For me, I've had to stand much more upright in my attempt to try to avoid dipping with minimal success.

I'd do the opposite, rather than "stand tall" I'd make sure your golf posture was like I describe in the thread below. If the eyes are "up" you'll have to make an adjustment during the backswing (lowering the head is a compensation).