Downswing Technique Question

[precise623]

Hey All,

Was having some trouble really hitting my irons and driver pure and made a slight change that has drastically affected my play in a positive way. On my downswing, I'm concentrating on keeping my hands and arms close to the body which I believe is keeping my club on plane and allowing me to really hit the ball MUCH better. 

I typically shoot in the mid-high 90s and with this new technique, which may seem obvious, I scored a 90 and an 85 this week and am ****ing pumped. 

I'm curious to know if you guys think this is a real shift and the cause of my improved play or just something else I'm doing. Does anyone else employ this tactic? Also important to mention I'm far more cognizant of my tempo as well. 

[roamin]

I'm certainly no expert and in need of lots of help myself, however, I ran across something similar a few months after I started playing again last year. 

Before I found this site, I was lost and on my own, trying different things at the range to try and get better. With my driver, I typically have a big straight-fade if I just swing away without thinking about it. One day on the range, I noticed that it felt like my arms were flying out as I swung through the ball. I started consciously holding them in as I swung and like magic, every shot I hit was perfectly straight. As the confidence grew, I noticed that I could swing harder and harder and still hit perfect bombs to the back of the range. If I wanted to hit it straight, I held my arms in; if I wanted to fade it, I'd let them go on the downswing. Seemed to work for a few weeks consistently and I had several great rounds of driving, and then things started getting wild again. The feeling that once worked just didn't seem to be as consistent any longer. The biggest problem was that when it didn't work, I didn't know what to do about it.

Fast-forward a bit and add-in a few months of reading great posts on this site like this one about "consistency" and I think I've finally realized (for good) that there's no panacea. I'm not just a slight change away from greatness. If I want my game to get consistently better, I'm going to have to practice properly and commit to making my swing better.

Right now, for me, that consists mostly of working on Key #1 (steady head) and, thanks to recommendations from @iacas in my My Swing thread, eliminating the sway in my backswing and making a good hip turn.

In just two short months, I have seen drastic improvements in my ball-striking consistency with all clubs. And although my scoring consistency hasn't improved how I'd like it to, I'm having a lot more fun on the course. Gone are the days of demoralizing, wrist-killing, ground-first, duffs.

Focus is hard...my swing is getting better, and because of this, I feel like I'm starting to notice other things that are wrong. I desperately want to "fix" everything, now, but I know it's a process. I mix in a few drills here and there on Keys 2-5 for issues I notice or just for some variety, but not to "fix" my current ball flight...as I said, I'm focused on building a good swing. Period. If I do that and work on my short game, the scores will come.

Hope this helps. Welcome to TST! 

Edited August 15, 2016 by roamin

[natureboy]

Sounds to me like you've discovered the concept of 'connection' which many have noted as beneficial. But it's mainly about the upper arms. This may or may not be what you're talking about.

[colin007]

29 minutes ago, natureboy said:

Sounds to me like you've discovered the concept of 'connection' which many have noted as beneficial. But it's mainly about the upper arms. This may or may not be what you're talking about.

Yeah, the OP has me a bit confused, not sure what he means by keeping hands close to the body.

[onkey]

As has been mentioned in many other threads, you probably should get a professional to look at your swing.  The majority of the time when we "figure something out" at the range, it is not a move in the right direction.  For the same price that you'd pay to play a round of golf, you can get a professional to analyze your swing and provide advice that would probably get you on the right track.

[precise623]

Thx all. I just mean that I'm being more cognizant of keeping my downswing closer to my body i.e. more on path than I had previously. I used to shank a lot, and that was because my arms were coming off path on the downswing too far away from my body, causing me to hit the hossel. I played twice last week and by focusing on my tempo and staying on path, which in my mind i'm telling myself to keep my arms close to my body on downswing, I had two great ones. I can't remember a round where I played with the same ball for 18 holes and did on Friday. 

[natureboy]

33 minutes ago, colin007 said:

Yeah, the OP has me a bit confused, not sure what he means by keeping hands close to the body.

My thought is by thinking about keeping the hands in closer, he's functionally achieving a more 'connected' position with the upper arms.

[Rainmaker]

What it sounds like to me  . . and of course I have no way of knowing . .is that you figured out how to swing wide>>narrow>>wide.   Or at least the narrow part . . .

On the back swing and follow through, my hands are far from my body.  On the actual downswing into impact, though, they are very close to my body.  I had to move a fraction closer to the ball after I figured this out.

I'm not a great golfer but that's something I figured out and consider "the truth", lol. 

[Kalnoky]

On 8/13/2016 at 2:50 PM, precise623 said:

I'm curious to know if you guys think this is a real shift and the cause of my improved play or just something else I'm doing. Does anyone else employ this tactic? 

Hey congratulations, 85 is the next goal for me. I will try to use your swing thought at the range today after work - thank you. It seems like it would help prevent casting.

I think everyone is accidentally discovering the same basic things and calling them something different. The hard part (at least for me) is when I don't understand what I'm doing right, I cannot repeat it for very long. 

The last instructor I had was very confusing to me. I couldn't relate the language he was using to the swing problems I was having. I'm just now understanding some of what he said, but it was not a good experience. I am currently looking for someone who teaches with an iPad or other similar technique. It seems all these guys are booked 1-2 weeks out, at least around here.

 

[precise623]

@Rainmaker I think you're exactly right! 

[dmnoland]

I have fought over the top for 40 years. Now my first thought from the top of the backswing is hands in the pocket. So yes, hands in close to the body.