Irons: going from “sweeping” to “digging”

[Hazsa]

4 hours ago, Kalnoky said:

Thank you for the video @Hazsa 

I did fix my flipping problem and now I take small divots with the wedges and short irons. It took me three weeks of furious practice until one day at the range out of frustration, I started taking one-armed swings. To my utter shock and fascination, I hit a 5-iron straight about 170 yards. I tried it again, left arm only, with the same result. And then again, and again, and again.. same beautiful ball flight. I thought I was hallucinating.

I concluded I was releasing early and flipping because my dominant right side took over in the downswing. When I swing this way, the only way to hit the ball in the air is to hope to catch it low and flip it into the air, like you describe. That is VERY hard to do on a consistent basis, as all flippers of the ball know. And, you will not get any distance this way.

Looking back, my instructors tried to communicate this idea of a "quiet" or "hollow" right side, but it did not register with me. I admit, I'm probably a slow learner. I now see what they were trying to show me. One drill I do a lot to keep from flipping is just practice chipping. Just ball first contact, with no wrist movement. Another thing I do I saw Sergio Garcia do on TV, which is to deaden your right arm and pull it through a practice swing with your left arm. It gives the feeling of the left arm being live and the right arm being "along for the ride".

Anyway, this was my problem. Now I have another problem, which is coming up out of my stance to early and thinning the ball. But that's much easier to fix. All in all my ball striking has improved 500%. Last week I shot 35 on a Par 31 exec course, for me that is really good.

 

Wow! Sounds awesome. I might have to give this a go! Anyway, great to hear of your progress.

[natureboy]

7 hours ago, Mr. Desmond said:

Coming out of posture early? Stick your butt out, but keep your posture, during backswing and downswing until your follow through takes over after contact.

And don't stand up on the trail leg coming down tying for more power (fault of mine I've been working on). For me anyway it's almost automatic early extension. Just use the trail leg as a brace for your rotation.

[TourSpoon]

Sometimes golf instruction can get very technical and it is really hard for me to think about all of those thoughts. The one thing that helped me was an idea in Bobby Clampett's book The Impact Zone. To simplify this concept, I will put my gaze a few inches in front of the ball and that somehow tricks my mind, and subsequently body, to not make the ball the bottom of the swing arc, but makes an area in front of the ball the bottom of the swing arc. When I start getting thin on the range I will concentrate on this and it gets me to swing through the ball and not at the ball. During actual play I don't do this, but occasionally will look at the front of the ball instead of the back of the ball. I still don't take huge divots, but I do consistently bottom out a few inches in front of the ball. 

 

Edited October 20, 2016 by TourSpoon

[Patch]

I think the instructor was on to something when he said let the hands lead the club head through the impact zone. I do this. 

The drill I use is slow swings, where I sort of "drag" the club head across the turf into the back of the ball to get the idea of what I should be doing. Once I get that sensation down, I increase my swing speed while not actually dragging the club head.