Drill to stop Rushing Downswing

[gregsandiego]

What do you guys think of this?

Because this is a constant issue for me I'm always looking for a fix.  This drill seems good because it forces the backswing. The only problem is it is hard to make a clean hit after posing for 3 seconds. Surprisingly bad shots result.

 

[Jack Watson]

That guy knows how to swing.  That said I think simply pausing at the top has a low likelyhood of getting a person to understand what a swing is.

My tendency if I do that is to lunge targetward trying to leverage the clubhead with my body action to create speed from the top.  It causes a cast for me and an effortful motion devoid of freewheeling speed. It's leverage not swinging.

To me a real swing has kind of a built in tempo not unlike watching a child on a playground swing.

From the top coming down not much force is applied it's more about the clubhead finding the arc.

If you stay steady in the start down and follow through freely with the clubhead there's more consistency and power.

No flip.

The power is given after the clubhead has found the arc and continues freely through to a nice finish.

My feel on my best swings is that I don't do much at the top but I apply a full follow through.

Ive always fought getting quick from the top.  

 

[Lihu]

1 hour ago, gregsandiego said:

What do you guys think of this?

Because this is a constant issue for me I'm always looking for a fix.  This drill seems good because it forces the backswing. The only problem is it is hard to make a clean hit after posing for 3 seconds. Surprisingly bad shots result.

Seems like a great drill. I'm currently working on slowing down my transition so I can keep the shaft from flexing at the top. I'll try this on my practice round tomorrow morning.

[mvmac]

I wouldn't start out hitting balls doing this but it will give you the feel of good sequencing on the downswing.

Or you can do something similar where you allow the left heel to raise, pause for a second and start the downswing by planting the heel.

 

[roamin]

I downloaded a metronome app a few weeks ago and have been using it for my full swing to slow things down and work on a smoother swing/tempo/transition/whatever. I've found a 3/3 or 6/8 time works best, for me. Using this method to control tempo and speed, and even tying specific feelings or movements to different parts of the beat, feels very natural. I'm an old band geek, though. YMMV. 

[rickrocks384]

What I see with a lot of people is that their upper body beats their lower body to the ball. This is a simple fix.

Get to the top of your backswing and pause. Now swing your hips to toward the target with a good weight shift without swinging your upper body down.

Get that feel for your hips to lead first, then your core and then your arms and shoulders.

Then hit shots by overemphasizing the hips leading with a good weight shift. You'll be hitting pushes but with better ball striking. That's better then the shanks and tops I assume you were hitting before.

After you do that, don't emphasize the leading of the hips as much. Then you'll be hitting "golf" shots.

Its all about getting a good tempo. Everyone's tempo is different. You just got to find yours.

 

[gregsandiego]

10 hours ago, mvmac said:

I wouldn't start out hitting balls doing this but it will give you the feel of good sequencing on the downswing.

Or you can do something similar where you allow the left heel to raise, pause for a second and start the downswing by planting the heel.

 

I like her swing, but I'd probably fall over if  I tried it LOL

10 hours ago, roamin said:

I downloaded a metronome app a few weeks ago and have been using it for my full swing to slow things down and work on a smoother swing/tempo/transition/whatever. I've found a 3/3 or 6/8 time works best, for me. Using this method to control tempo and speed, and even tying specific feelings or movements to different parts of the beat, feels very natural. I'm an old band geek, though. YMMV. 

I'm also an old band geek. But you don't mean time signature do you? (as in 6 eighth notes per measure ?)

How many beats up and how many on the down?

[Slowcelica]

Feels differ between people, but for me I feel like at the top of my backswing I pause my upper body, and turn my hips, then swing my upper body. I have always started from the upper body, but on camera doing this starts my lower body just before my upper.

[roamin]

12 hours ago, gregsandiego said:

I'm also an old band geek. But you don't mean time signature do you? (as in 6 eighth notes per measure ?)

How many beats up and how many on the down?

Sorry, yeah, that was confusing. 3/3 or 6/8 time signature on app to help me count/think in triplets.

Practicing 3:1 backswing to downswing ratio, or as close as I can get. So I'm aiming for one measure up and two beats down (in 6/8). Since I don't want staccato anywhere near my swing, I guess I was thinking more of how a 3/3 measure might be conducted as one downbeat/upbeat stroke representing the triplets in my head (smooth bounces or like the swinging child @Jack Watson mentioned). So, really, I'm using a 6/8 time signature on the app to (also) hear the "ands" of triplets in 1/1 measures. I think. 

At slow speeds it's been hard so far to get the downswing to slow down to the proper ratio. Either way, I'm to slow or still to fast. With anything faster than slow-motion, I can't think about counting after the downswing starts. 

[JetFan1983]

On 4/22/2017 at 1:01 AM, mvmac said:

I

 

Read more  

Haha, good ol' Reunion. Miss that place. 

For tempo stuff, I find that just watching Fred Couples or even Rory McIlroy can really help me accept you don't have to swing hard to make the ball go far. 

Freddie:

 

Rory: 

The Big Easy:

Steve Elkington:

Vijay:

Louis Oosthuizen:

 

Luke Donald:

 

Sometimes it just helps to get into a good player's rhythm. It's probably one reason we often play better with better players, but who really knows 

Cheers, and have fun out there.

[JetFan1983]

Oh, sorry for the double post, but I sometimes love watching Rocco Mediate swing, as "ugly" as his motion is. His tempo and overall lack of traditional athleticism really reminds me that you don't have to muscle it out there to get 250+ yards out of your drives. 

 

[gregsandiego]

On 4/22/2017 at 9:40 PM, roamin said:

Sorry, yeah, that was confusing. 3/3 or 6/8 time signature on app to help me count/think in triplets.

Practicing 3:1 backswing to downswing ratio, or as close as I can get. So I'm aiming for one measure up and two beats down (in 6/8). Since I don't want staccato anywhere near my swing, I guess I was thinking more of how a 3/3 measure might be conducted as one downbeat/upbeat stroke representing the triplets in my head (smooth bounces or like the swinging child @Jack Watson mentioned). So, really, I'm using a 6/8 time signature on the app to (also) hear the "ands" of triplets in 1/1 measures. I think. 

At slow speeds it's been hard so far to get the downswing to slow down to the proper ratio. Either way, I'm to slow or still to fast. With anything faster than slow-motion, I can't think about counting after the downswing starts. 

I'm still a bit confused but I think I'm getting it.

Does your metronome have time signatures, e.g. 3/4, 6/8 ? I don't remember those but it's been many years. I'm not sure how the concept of a measure comes in to play. For me it would be just so man beats up and so many down.

 

 

[boogielicious]

8 hours ago, gregsandiego said:

I'm still a bit confused but I think I'm getting it.

Does your metronome have time signatures, e.g. 3/4, 6/8 ? I don't remember those but it's been many years. I'm not sure how the concept of a measure comes in to play. For me it would be just so man beats up and so many down.

 

 

Sometimes a word or phrase works better than a count. Tom Watson used "edelweiss" e-del-weiss, as a word in his video. Of course, you may start breaking out into other songs from The Sound of Music, if you use that one!

[1badbadger]

On 4/21/2017 at 9:54 PM, gregsandiego said:

What do you guys think of this?

Because this is a constant issue for me I'm always looking for a fix.  This drill seems good because it forces the backswing. The only problem is it is hard to make a clean hit after posing for 3 seconds. Surprisingly bad shots result.

If you're having issues with your transition from the top of the backswing to the start of the downswing, let me make a suggestion...

I use a swing trainer called the Orange Whip.  It's a very whippy shaft with a heavy weight on the tip end of the shaft and another weight above the grip.  You don't hit balls with it...you just swing it.  The weight along with the whippy shaft makes you complete your backswing, and doesn't allow you to rush the start of the downswing.  It makes you pause slightly at the top.

I have seen all the gadgets over the years, and have tried many of them.  Almost all of them are gimicky or there is a way to "cheat" the device, meaning you can make an incorrect swing or get into an incorrect position that it's supposed to fix.  Then they end up in the closet or the corner of the garage.  Not this one.  It's the only swing trainer that gets your swing on plane, helps tempo and sequence, helps with flexibility and can increase clubhead speed.  I have used this thing since they came out, which was about 8-10 years ago.  It doesn't force you into uncomfortable positions...but it''s awesome at providing the feel of a good swing.

[saevel25]

On 4/21/2017 at 10:54 PM, gregsandiego said:

What do you guys think of this?

Because this is a constant issue for me I'm always looking for a fix.  This drill seems good because it forces the backswing. The only problem is it is hard to make a clean hit after posing for 3 seconds. Surprisingly bad shots result.

 Work on a centered pivot, and get better at keys 1 thru 3.

 

[roamin]

23 hours ago, gregsandiego said:

Does your metronome have time signatures, e.g. 3/4, 6/8 ? I don't remember those but it's been many years. I'm not sure how the concept of a measure comes in to play.

I have an old school (stand-alone) metronome that has a dial for BPM and just clicks away at whatever speed you set, but the phone app I found has a time signature setting as well and it emphasizes the beep/click on the first count of each measure according to the selected time signature.

6/8 time is usually made up of two downbeats of ¹/₈ note triplets per measure, but it really just means six ¹/₈ notes per measure. You're right, though, no need for measures here. One "measure" was just another way of saying six counts. The "beat" can be broken down a number of ways (beats are bolded) -- | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | or | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | or | 1 2 3 4 5 6 |. It's normally related to the speed of the piece. A slower piece might be conducted with six downbeats per measure, while faster pieces would get less beats conducted, but the same number of ¹/₈ notes or counts per measure.

3/4 time has three ¹/₄ notes per measure (so, also six ¹/₈ notes), but as far as I know, always has three beats and would be counted as, | 1 2 3 |. To get six counts, it's: | 1 "and" 2 "and" 3 "and" |.  (Edit: I guess I should never say always, who knows since music is "art" )

3/8 time (what I originally meant instead of 3/3) only has three ¹/₈ notes per measure, thus three counts as well, but with a triplet or waltz-like feel: | 1 2 3 | or | 1 2 3 |. For six counts, it'd be: | 1 "and" 2 "and" 3 "and" | or | 1 "and" 2 "and" 3 "and" |.

Small distinctions, but the way my head (still) works.  

23 hours ago, gregsandiego said:

For me it would be just so man beats up and so many down.

Yes, that's all it is. I started with three counts up and one count down, but switched to counting in sixes to breakdown the movements and timing a little more. So it's six counts up and, technically, two counts to impact, but on the downswing I'm trying not to focus my thought on impact so much and using a full six counts from the start of the downswing to the finish. Which I guess makes it an even 1:1 ratio for backswing to (full) downswing.

(To wrap up by continuing the counting exercise from above...)

If we assign one measure each to the backswing and downswing and then put the "beats" on the start of the backswing and impact, you'd count it as:

3/8 time: | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 

6/8 time: | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 |

So thinking about it as 6/8 time helps me feel like impact is right at the end, or on the "and", of the impact beat in 3/8 time (i.e. not rushed). But again, I'm focusing on following through to a full finish with the same tempo, and not solely on impact.

(Hope that helped. Sorry if I made the confusion worse. It's late. )

Edited April 25, 2017 by roamin

[gregsandiego]

9 hours ago, 1badbadger said:

If you're having issues with your transition from the top of the backswing to the start of the downswing, let me make a suggestion...

I use a swing trainer called the Orange Whip.  It's a very whippy shaft with a heavy weight on the tip end of the shaft and another weight above the grip.  You don't hit balls with it...you just swing it.  The weight along with the whippy shaft makes you complete your backswing, and doesn't allow you to rush the start of the downswing.  It makes you pause slightly at the top.

I have seen all the gadgets over the years, and have tried many of them.  Almost all of them are gimicky or there is a way to "cheat" the device, meaning you can make an incorrect swing or get into an incorrect position that it's supposed to fix.  Then they end up in the closet or the corner of the garage.  Not this one.  It's the only swing trainer that gets your swing on plane, helps tempo and sequence, helps with flexibility and can increase clubhead speed.  I have used this thing since they came out, which was about 8-10 years ago.  It doesn't force you into uncomfortable positions...but it''s awesome at providing the feel of a good swing.

That's a pretty good endorsement from you. I see baskets of these things at the golf store I practice in....

[Lihu]

6 hours ago, gregsandiego said:

That's a pretty good endorsement from you. I see baskets of these things at the golf store I practice in....

Good, I'm glad I'm not the only one guilty of doing this.