The driver... so frustrated... so discouraged... so confused ...

[jcspigler2010]

@mvmac

Thanks for the drill!

Ill give it a whirl.

Another question, is it possible to have too much shoulder lean?  Or exaggerate it to the point it's affecting your swing plane and path?  I'll get a face on video next time I'm at the range.

[mvmac]

8 hours ago, jcspigler2010 said:

Another question, is it possible to have too much shoulder lean?  Or exaggerate it to the point it's affecting your swing plane and path?  

Yep for sure, most of the time you see the effect with the head movement.

[jcspigler2010]

Just a little update on my progress with..... THE DRIVER

Went to the range the last two days and worked on a couple things.

1.  Don't exaggerate the spine/shoulder tilt at address.  Make sure your shoulders are parallel with the target line but don't feel like you forcing your left should to the sky.  I've noticed less head bob and a much more balanced and  comfortable setup.  I would always look at the pros and they looked so natural addressing the ball with the driver.  I felt like I was pulling off a balancing act when I did...

2.  Supinate/bow the left wrist a bit at the top of the back swing.  Now I'm not doing a DJ bow, but I think of it that way so I know my wrist is straight with my forearm if not slightly bowed.  This does two things for me.  1) Setting the wrist at the top of the back swing gives time for my hips to initiate the down swing 2) setting the wrist helps with early cast and maximizing squaring up the face.

3.  Focus on keeping the elbow pockets to the sky and the arms connected throughout the swing.  I tend to forget this part of Mr. Hogan's 5 lesson/ get lazy.... 

4. Brace the right leg with a slight bow inward of the knee.  This prevents me from swaying and head bobbing and gives me the feeling of becoming a spring to unload on the ball.

The biggest thing I need to work on which I notice also plagues my 3 and 5 woods is continuing rotation of the lower body through the swing.  I think I get a BIT quick in my down swing.  I do start the down swing with my lower body but my arms get ahead.  This leads to the duck hook and pulls.

Still pursuing instruction, just wanted to give and update.

Oh and I've STOPPED the fruitless youtube quick fixes.  It only creates a frankenstein of swing thoughts that end up confusing and frustrating me.  I've dedicated my practice to slowing it down, analyze the problem, and work on the mechanics to improve.  Not THEE quick fix. 

[NoobSwingz]

Duck hook?! oh man, i feel ya brother lol. same reason i ended up finally posting here cuz i couldnt take it anymore. which you are alot farther along in your game than i am but the driver is definitely the one pissing me off the most. 

@mvmac you mention here that your head should not move an inch. Im working on center pivot right now as my priority and finally took a few swings today after practicing a simple drill that you had posted. I only got to hit about 20 balls but i was definitely making some fat shots. Were you over exaggerating the motion in the video? its was a quick vid where you had a club across your chest, then turned 90 degrees, then slowly lowered your head/lead shoulder way forward. ive been practicing it the same way and wondering if i should really be going that low while in action

 

 

[NoobSwingz]

nevermind.....i just watched another of your videos and see it in action as opposed to just seeing the drill. nice steady head with no up and down movement 

[mvmac]

1 hour ago, NoobSwingz said:

@mvmac you mention here that your head should not move an inch.

Not really. I actually said for the wall drill to have the head about an inch away. That would force him to really feel what he needs to do to keep the head from dipping forward. The head can move an inch (steady, not still) during the swing.

1 hour ago, NoobSwingz said:

its was a quick vid where you had a club across your chest, then turned 90 degrees, then slowly lowered your head/lead shoulder way forward.

I'm not sure which video/drill you're referring to, is it posted here?

44 minutes ago, NoobSwingz said:

i just watched another of your videos and see it in action as opposed to just seeing the drill. nice steady head with no up and down movement 

Ok good. Yeah the idea is to move the body in a way that keeps the head steady. Steady head is the result of a good pivot.

[jcspigler2010]

Posted in the right place :)

 

 

Thanks!

[NoobSwingz]

On 3/29/2017 at 11:16 PM, mvmac said:

I'm not sure which video/drill you're referring to, is it posted here?

this is the one.....but i think u just have a little more forward posture than me....so i was trying to match how low you were dropping the shoulder here and i stand a bit taller at address

[cnl390]

I hated, hated, hated hitting my driver my driver.  My "normal" tee shot was a slice way over the trees a couple of fairways over, . Now I can't wait to get to the tee and show off to my buddies.  I basically did 4 things to fix it.

1. Started going to a PGA pro that understood my goals, and worked with my style of swing.  He tweaked aspects, but didn't try to change it completely.
2. Stopped watching instructional shows on the Golf Channel at the insistence of my pro.
3. Discovered (again from my pro) I was placing the ball to far back in my stance, and was not keeping my arms extended throughout my swing.
4. Started using a stronger grip than I use with my irons.

This is just what worked for me.  The #1, main thing is get with a good pro that will work with you. 

 

[mvmac]

4 hours ago, NoobSwingz said:

this is the one.....but i think u just have a little more forward posture than me....so i was trying to match how low you were dropping the shoulder here and i stand a bit taller at address

Gotcha, yes you can use that one to give you a feel of about where you want to be at the top of the backswing. 

I think a better way to do it would be this,

Or this one I put together for another TST member.

 

[HitAndGiggle]

On 3/25/2017 at 5:53 AM, jcspigler2010 said:

Thank you everyone for your responses!  I'm pumped to be part of this community!

Yes, I still fight a too far inside take away.  Something i work on every day. One thing i notice though, it seems if I try to keep the club out in front of me longer,  my swing becomes disconnected from the rest of my body and I end up coming over the top.  Any suggestions on how to overcome or work on this would be awesome! ...

Well, for me one key I got in instruction seemed to help. In my takeaway now I keep my clubface a little more closed than I did before. For me, when my hands are back in the 9oclock position my clubhead is at the same angle to the ground that my spine tilt is. I hope that makes sense. I was opening the clubface more before (it was vertical when my hands were at 9oclock), and that (for me) resulted in the club getting behind me a bit on a shallower plane. Now my club goes back more like Justin Thomas'. I hope that makes sense. After a few sessions with my instructor I saw an analysis of Thomas' swing in slowmo during the tourney he won in Hawaii and it was obvious to me. So, anyway, watch some vid of his takeaway and maybe that will help...

[DrvFrShow]

I look forward to hitting the driver - ball is teed up high, big face on the club, what's not to like? If I can keep it between the 2nd cuts I'm happy. Still it's that next shot where i usually blow it.

[Lihu]

13 minutes ago, DrvFrShow said:

I look forward to hitting the driver - ball is teed up high, big face on the club, what's not to like? If I can keep it between the 2nd cuts I'm happy. Still it's that next shot where i usually blow it.

Well, you're not alone.

If you don't curve too much off the tee, then the iron game is where all the scoring happens.

[zero]

Just my .02 as I've struggled the most with the driver. 4 years ago, I got a few lessons. Huge improvement. 3 years ago, I messed around with my driver setup and shortened the shaft. 2 years ago, I took it out of my bag for a full year and enjoyed my rounds much more while working on the driver at the range. Lastly, I got a new adjustable game-improvement driver (Callaway X2 Hot) and set it to draw. Now my drivers are usually straight or draw but also on some days still use the 3-wood if my old habits are back that day. That being the case, the distance difference between my 3W and D is only about 15-20 yards because trajectory on my D is still not great. I also tended to play courses with fewer par 5s for while so I could improve other parts of my game while fixing the long clubs at the range. HTH.