Swinging With the Body/Loose Arms and Wrists

[softjones]

On ‎3‎/‎7‎/‎2016 at 12:55 AM, Mike Boatright said:

Ahh yes you have discovered the gravitational relation ship between the clubhead and yourself however there is more to it. Within the golf swing you have force and applied force when you take the club back to the top be it correctly or incorrectly you have achieved a form of leverage. The clubhead has mass and will falter to the ground if nothing is applied so having a looser grip and arms creates and extended leverage point to the club and when you add tensile force with your hands it multiplies this along with gravity into the ball. The reason you find it one day and lose it another is practice technique swing path etc.. When you find the magic formula it's simply you creating maximum inertia into the ball with a weighted object extended to a stick that's all :)

Thanks for summing it up. After a lot of work, I've gotten a better set up posture and finally let my arms hang proper. Now I can feel the club head at all times. Club head hangs back a fraction longer at the top now so my hips can clear. Helps with realizing a real release too. Golf!

[HitTheMark]

On 3/5/2016 at 7:38 PM, mnguy19 said:

So recently I decided that I wanted to really focus in on why I was hitting the ball so short compared to all the guys at the range. I've noticed more and more that when I loosen up and relax (without trying to chop at the ball) I've been hitting it further and making better contact. I've started revamping my swing as now when I reach the top of my back swing, my main thought is loose arms and loose wrists. Once I let my wrists hinge I turn my arms off and cue my hips and lower body to start moving. When I have been able to swing with my body I've been hitting the ball further than I ever have by a mile. The problem that I've found is that it is ridiculously hard for me to keep my arms turned off because every time I crush one swinging the right way, I somehow start tensing up trying to hit the ball farther and then my good swing goes away. The nice thing about swinging the with the body is that now I understand all the talk about tempo and letting the club do the work. The problem however is getting my body to do what doesn't feel natural and get used to powering my swing from the ground up. 

I guess why I'm writing is because I was wondering what other people have done to make this transition easier. I'm sure a lot will come down to practice but I thought if anyone had any tricks or tips they've used to remind themselves to swing with the body it could be very helpful. For some reason at the range, at some point my brain stops believing that the easier, more effortless swing will won't work anymore and it becomes a struggle to loosen up and relax. Honestly, I'm not even as concerned about power, just some consistency with making good contact. Thanks guys.

Same man...its like I get a false sense of confidence that I've figured our the secret to power, so then just try to hit the ball farther and farther with my arms until I get frustrated to the point where I just go back to a "passive arm" swing, hit the ball great. Then the cycle continues 

[HitTheMark]

On 3/5/2016 at 7:38 PM, mnguy19 said:

So recently I decided that I wanted to really focus in on why I was hitting the ball so short compared to all the guys at the range. I've noticed more and more that when I loosen up and relax (without trying to chop at the ball) I've been hitting it further and making better contact. I've started revamping my swing as now when I reach the top of my back swing, my main thought is loose arms and loose wrists. Once I let my wrists hinge I turn my arms off and cue my hips and lower body to start moving. When I have been able to swing with my body I've been hitting the ball further than I ever have by a mile. The problem that I've found is that it is ridiculously hard for me to keep my arms turned off because every time I crush one swinging the right way, I somehow start tensing up trying to hit the ball farther and then my good swing goes away. The nice thing about swinging the with the body is that now I understand all the talk about tempo and letting the club do the work. The problem however is getting my body to do what doesn't feel natural and get used to powering my swing from the ground up. 

I guess why I'm writing is because I was wondering what other people have done to make this transition easier. I'm sure a lot will come down to practice but I thought if anyone had any tricks or tips they've used to remind themselves to swing with the body it could be very helpful. For some reason at the range, at some point my brain stops believing that the easier, more effortless swing will won't work anymore and it becomes a struggle to loosen up and relax. Honestly, I'm not even as concerned about power, just some consistency with making good contact. Thanks guys.

Yep...this is the only swing thought I have..."dead arms and hands"...i move till my shoulder is just above or a little before the ball...shoulder pointing steeply...then rotate...club shallows without thinking about, wrists cock without thinking about, releSe is perfectly timed...worst case miss is an overdraw or honestly...I'll randomly just rope one 15 yards further than I expect...problem is this feeling and thought goes away randomly...when I'm feeling this "dead arms" swing I can easily shoot low 80s high 70s...when in pissed and trying too hard (which happens a lot) I'm lucky to break 90...golf is so mental its obnoxious 

[iacas]

16 minutes ago, HitTheMark said:

Yep...this is the only swing thought I have..."dead arms and hands"...i move till my shoulder is just above or a little before the ball...shoulder pointing steeply...then rotate...club shallows without thinking about, wrists cock without thinking about, releSe is perfectly timed...worst case miss is an overdraw or honestly...I'll randomly just rope one 15 yards further than I expect...problem is this feeling and thought goes away randomly...when I'm feeling this "dead arms" swing I can easily shoot low 80s high 70s...when in pissed and trying too hard (which happens a lot) I'm lucky to break 90...golf is so mental its obnoxious 

I'll ignore the last bit… and just point out that this is a feel that isn't anywhere near real for anyone good. The arms definitely aren't "dead" - they contribute a ton to the golf swing, and WORK hard on the downswing. If they didn't, your lead arm would stay pinned against your chest until way, way too late in the downswing.

If the feel works for you, keep at it… but at the same time, just keep in mind that the arms contribute a TON to the golf swing.