My Swing (johnclark12)

[boogielicious]

  On 9/7/2020 at 10:30 PM, johnclark12 said:

Having trouble hitting the heel of the club...

 

Any advice?

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Have you try the drills in the thread I suggested above?

[johnclark12]

  On 9/8/2020 at 12:07 PM, boogielicious said:

Have you try the drills in the thread I suggested above?

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I've tried them for what feels like weeks on end. It's almost like there is something missing or a mental block stopping me from doing something critical.

[boogielicious]

  On 9/8/2020 at 12:32 PM, johnclark12 said:

I've tried them for what feels like weeks on end. It's almost like there is something missing or a mental block stopping me from doing something critical.

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Try filming the drills and posting that here. You are not hinging your wrists in the backswing very much.

[FlyingAce]

Any particular reason why you are not bending your right elbow in the backswing? 

[johnclark12]

  On 9/8/2020 at 5:24 PM, FlyingAce said:

Any particular reason why you are not bending your right elbow in the backswing? 

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It's like no matter how much I try I can't get it to bend. It's quite embarrassing. Not sure if I am just gripping too hard and locking my arms at the start or what. Sometimes I have to really work to get it to bend. I'm trying to figure out some ways to make that easier for me. It should be easy, but for some reason, I can't execute it. 

[FlyingAce]

  On 9/8/2020 at 7:38 PM, johnclark12 said:

It's like no matter how much I try I can't get it to bend. It's quite embarrassing. Not sure if I am just gripping too hard and locking my arms at the start or what. Sometimes I have to really work to get it to bend. I'm trying to figure out some ways to make that easier for me. It should be easy, but for some reason, I can't execute it. 

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Try to relax the shoulders! Imagine the ball just happened to be in the way of your swing and you are not trying to hit it. Don’t try too hard to keep your left arm straight like the pros - not everyone is that flexible. Without bending your right elbow, there is no way you can rotate correctly and make a full swing. 

I used to grip my clubs tight and that was because my grips were too small/worn smooth/the club too heavy (my first instructor gave me a men stiff loaner club). I also wear gloves on both hands to increase traction so I know I don’t have to grip tight. 

Can you take lessons at a local course? I have never touched a golf club until I bought a Groupon deal - $100 for 5 lessons and that’s how I started! I am a good player but I am not qualified to give advice on grip/swings - pretty sure there are guys on here who can help you better.

[iacas]

Please find some local help or at least film yourself and work in a mirror. And then post here.

You're setting up with your wrists far too "uncocked" as your forearms and the shaft form almost a straight line. Then you take the club back by super palmar flexing the left wrist.

You need to learn to hinge the club properly.

If you film yourself, or do the drills from the first five days of the COVID-19 topic in front of a mirror, you should be able to spot the differences.

[johnclark12]

Hey guys, I have been putting in some work this spring with a local pro and a friend who is very low handicap. I wanted to post an updated swing video and try to get some more feedback from you guys.

 

Basically, my wedges/irons are getting way up in the air, a little higher than I would like. I am also still having some issues with hitting the ground/mat before the ball, which causes my speed to drastically decrease and me to often hit shots to the right.

Any suggestions on what to focus on next?

Edited April 18, 2021 by johnclark12

[Dave325]

Hey John - you have a nice looking swing with a nice turn on the backswing. I’m not a pro, but just something that helped with a similar issue on hitting mat and getting the body movement going forward before the top of the backswing is working on the swing flow drill from the Covid practice plan. Take a look and maybe others can add further input. Best wishes. 

[johnclark12]

  On 4/18/2021 at 9:51 PM, Dave325 said:

Hey John - you have a nice looking swing with a nice turn on the backswing. I’m not a pro, but just something that helped with a similar issue on hitting mat and getting the body movement going forward before the top of the backswing is working on the swing flow drill from the Covid practice plan. Take a look and maybe others can add further input. Best wishes. 

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Appreciate the input and kind words!

[boogielicious]

  On 4/18/2021 at 9:22 PM, johnclark12 said:

Hey guys, I have been putting in some work this spring with a local pro and a friend who is very low handicap. I wanted to post an updated swing video and try to get some more feedback from you guys.

 

Basically, my wedges/irons are getting way up in the air, a little higher than I would like. I am also still having some issues with hitting the ground/mat before the ball, which causes my speed to drastically decrease and me to often hit shots to the right.

Any suggestions on what to focus on next?

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You still need to work on those items Erik mentioned. Review the first 5 drills in this thread again. The wedges may go high because you are flipping or sweeping them up. A face on of a wedge swing would help.

 

[billchao]

Hinge the club up in the takeaway instead of back. More up, less around you in the backswing.

[iacas]

@johnclark12, you will not find any good golfers who are where you are at the top of the backswing.

Please learn that the arms elevate, and the body is responsible for the "around." Specifically:

• The shoulder elevates the elbow.
• The elbow elevates the hands.
• The hands (hinging) elevate the shaft/clubhead.

These are all basically right up in front of your nose, or because the left elbow doesn't bend, it's in front of your right pec.

The arms aren't responsible for more than a few inches of the "around." (From your nose to the right pec.)

[johnclark12]

  On 4/23/2021 at 2:38 AM, iacas said:

@johnclark12, you will not find any good golfers who are where you are at the top of the backswing.

Please learn that the arms elevate, and the body is responsible for the "around." Specifically:

• The shoulder elevates the elbow.
• The elbow elevates the hands.
• The hands (hinging) elevate the shaft/clubhead.

These are all basically right up in front of your nose, or because the left elbow doesn't bend, it's in front of your right pec.

The arms aren't responsible for more than a few inches of the "around." (From your nose to the right pec.)

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@iacas
can you elaborate more on the following paragraph:

These are all basically right up in front of your nose, or because the left elbow doesn't bend, it's in front of your right pec.

 

[iacas]

  On 4/24/2021 at 12:02 AM, johnclark12 said:

@iacas
can you elaborate more on the following paragraph:

These are all basically right up in front of your nose, or because the left elbow doesn't bend, it's in front of your right pec.

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As in… all the arms do is elevate the club up in front of your nose.

If you're standing at address, and you move the hands, elbow, shaft… toward your nose, that's what your arms do.

Your arms do not really do much to help the clubhead (or your hands) go around you.

[b_lcky]

Short answer: As mvmac mentioned early on, you have very poor rotational mechanics on the back swing that puts you in a tough body position to hit the ball effectively. You need to practice rotating around your spine angle (or as others have mentioned rotating up rather than flat).

Longer answer: You definitely have some issues with grip/posture/wrist hinge that others have mentioned, and the good news is that you've shown some ability to change these things across the different swings and I would continue to work on those issues. But the bad news is that fixing those issues will still leave you with a very inefficient swing if you can't rotate properly.

In your swing, the shoulder "rotation" is achieved by leaning to the left (at the hips), and arching backwards, which is one of the reasons your swing looks so flat.  If you look at your last swing vid, you haven't really "rotated" that much, but it looks like you can barely see the ball at the top of your backswing. This is probably why the concept of bending your right arm seems impossible, because doing so would pull your head so much you wouldn't be able to see what you're hitting.

Mirror drills are great for learning what it feels like to be in proper body position