Weak fades, shanks and short no more!

[Hategolf]

There was something not feeling right in my swing for quite sometime, kind of like worse than ever. I am not a very good golfer and I don't have a great swing yet,  but I can hit the ball, keep it in play and have a chance for par in a few holes. 

Something was not working in my swing, it was just feeling weird, I was hitting a weak fade with my irons,, and suddenly i started shanking a lot.  

When I first started to play golf, I shanked all the time. I remember going to the range and hitting over 75 shanks in a row (medium buckett), no matter what I tried. It was depressing, then eventually the shank would away and I would go back to play.

I took lessons from a guy who told me I was standing too close to the ball and that I had other issues that could contributing to the poor contact..so I stood further and  the contact was weak, and I mean very poor. After a while the shank would away and I would be hitting it solid again. I struggle with this on and off since I started to play golf.

Every time I asked an instructor, they would address other issues that could contribute to the fault but never solve the issue. Finally I figured it out.

What else is knew, it seems  the most I know about the swing and the very little good I have going in my swing is due to my research, perseverance, pain and suffering. 

So here are the proven reason why I would hit a weak fade and shank! 

Fade :

1) poor grip.

2) Not making enough of a turn at the top of the swing, would cause me to come over the top. 

3) Open stance. 

Shank:

1) During the downswing I would bring my left knee(Right knee for a righty) forward towards the ball, this would push my body towards the ball just enough to hit it with the hosle.

2) I was disconnected and throwing my arms out at the ball.

3) poor grip would contribute to open club face.

4) And finally and the most important fault... was the lack of supination on my right hand during the downswing Yup. Apparently I used to do it without noticing, when I didn't do it, it would leave the face of the club open at impact, no matter how hard I tried to close it. 

I looked and looked at my angles at impact and I eventually I realized there were  only a few ways to close that face during the swing:

1 ) Either rotate the face by rolling your hands thru the shot,  2) Supinate, more like Bow my right hand . or 3) to Start the upswing/take away of the club with the face slightly close.  

By the way 1 and 2 are not the same.

The rotation of the face close by rolling the hands is a concept a lot of people call release..I don't cal it that. This type of action will close the face but can promote casting and is hard to compress the ball like that. So straight shots with no zip can be the result. I know because I tried it.

Starting the take away with a face slightly close is a great way to do it too but it might not be enough for some people like me. Furhter more you could end up opening the club again further down the swing

The bowing of my right hand was what I really needed to work on.

After doing some research I found the video I embedded.

I had seen this piece of info before and I remember Thom Lehman talking about this piece of the release in the Golf channel but I didn't pay too much attention then.

I just came back from hitting a bucket and what a difference...Solid, longer and straight shots with the occasional draw.  

This issue was very expensive to fix, lots and lots of buckets at the range not knowing what would be the issue, a couple of wasted lesson, aggravation and lots of loss of sleep. 

So here are the points to keep it straight, solid and longer :

I can finally move to other areas of my swing. 

 

Edited January 9, 2017 by Hategolf
spelling

[Vinsk]

On 1/9/2017 at 6:35 PM, Hategolf said:

The rotation of the face close by rolling the hands is a concept a lot of people call release..I don't cal it that. This type of action will close the face but can promote casting and is hard to compress the ball like that. So straight shots with no zip can be the result. I know because I tried it.

No disrespect meant here. I don't understand what this means. I'm the most prominent shanker of the entire TST world so I'm always reading about the disease. I believe the 'release' of the club is something that occurs with proper sequencing and not a deliberate action. That's my two cents on that matter. Can you please explain what you mean how 'rolling the hands, closing the face' will promote casting?

[Hategolf]

On 2/16/2017 at 6:42 AM, Vinsk said:

No disrespect meant here. I don't understand what this means. I'm the most prominent shanker of the entire TST world so I'm always reading about the disease. I believe the 'release' of the club is something that occurs with proper sequencing and not a deliberate action. That's my two cents on that matter. Can you please explain what you mean how 'rolling the hands, closing the face' will promote casting?

None taken. Watch this video. 

Yes the release should happen as an effect of the sequence. The problem is that if your grip is not very relaxed you actually prevent the left wrist from bowing. Most of us high handicappers just hold the club to firm to prevent bad shots. 

That is something i battle with a lot. 

Edited February 17, 2017 by Hategolf

[Hategolf]

Sorry, I believe I missed read your posting. 

When I talked about rolling of the hands can cause  casting, I refer to loosing your lag too early on your down swing by trying to active the rotation of your hands.

The weight of an iron is placed to promote rotation of the club face from open to closed. Centrifugal force helps the rotation to occurred naturally at the bottom of the swing if you have a relax grip. So if you try to rotate your hands too early when you start the down swing, you could find yourself casting. It is hard to lag the club naturally when trying to rotate your hands. 

Because of that. I try to get the feeling of slightly bowing my right hand (as a lefty) and the rest of the release takes care of itself at the bottom of the swing. So I don't have to think about rotating my hands. 

[Blackjack Don]

Raising hand. My problem, too. The collapsing left wrist. Part of it is keeping the left arm straight through impact. Another is pronating it at the top, whether by turning my left wrist or rolling the left arm. It's still a work in progress. But this shallows out the club, bringing my elbow in, and coming through inside out. Holding the lag, too. Lots of stuff has to come together to make a good swing.

[Vinsk]

I think I get what you guys are saying. I've always struggled with this whole 'release' concept. Based on recent video I've seen with my current instructor I seem to have good weight transfer but I release early and often have my hands even with the ball or slightly behind thus having a chicken wing on the follow thru. I've actually had the swing thought to feel the wrist cock at the top ( I too have bowed my right wrist which helps me cock it properly after using the swinggyde tool) but then completely forget about my hands. I 'feel' as though I'm letting my body swing my arms down and through. Video showed my lag was indeed increased when I applied this swing thought. However, my natural swing is a shank. Every time. On the money. It's an awful struggle. Good set up, nice tempo, shift the weight with a small right hip bump towards the target with a rotation then post up that right side. Shank. I played 9 holes last week twice then again on Thursday. No shanks the first round and shot 2 over. Second round 3 shanks and ultimately 4 over. Then the shanks came full on and after 5 holes I just quit and hit hit the bar.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Vinsk