Take Away Problems and Leaning in Towards the Ball

[68begin]

Hi, I've been working on my swing this year and, frankly, although it's more consistent that it used to be, it's still a long ways from where I want it to be.  My main problems are slicing the ball and shot inconsistency.  Sometimes I hit shots that I really like, but other times, I'm just stuck asking myself were in the world that last shot came from......  Recently, I've started to analyze every aspect of my swing, which may be a mistake, but it's the route that I'm taking now.  I've found 2 things that I was doing that are contributing to my slice and, I think, my inconsistency; one is my take away, per se, and the other is leaning in towards the ball on the take away and the downswing. 

On the take away, my natural tendency (I'm not sure why this is my natural tendency, but it is) is to turn my hands clockwise from a 12 o'clock position to about a 2+ o'clock position.  I do this almost immediately when I start the take away.  As I finish my take away and start my downswing, slowly, I now see that my clubface is far from square when I make contact; it's more in the 2 o'clock position, which I know is not good, but which validates for me that the position of the club face shortly after the start of the take away is going to be the position of the club face at contact.  I've stopped making this clockwise wrist rotation, keeping my hands more or less in the 12 o'clock position relative to my upper body and it has helped a lot.

The second thing that I do on the takeaway is to lean in towards the ball.  Again, I'm not sure why I do this, because I have a pretty good bend in my legs, but I think it has to do with the fact that I really want to power through the ball (read "Kill") when I finally make contact and I think that, somehow, I associate getting closer to the ball with hitting it harder; again, total speculation on my part, I really have no idea why I do it.  But, I do now know that leaning in means that I have to swing at the ball from the outside in, because I've shifted my body position forward (horizontal to the intended ball flight path), so I cut across the face and that also imparts spin to the ball and gives me a slice. 

I'm working now to stop leaning in at the take away and the downswing.  I try making half swings with my butt up against a solid surface, so I can feel what it's like to keep that part of my body in place during the swing.  Are there other exercises that I can do to get this ingrained in my muscle memory?  Is there any type of equipment that would help me in this respect?  Any other suggestions?

Does it sound like I'm on the right track with these two changes?  Thanks.

[iacas]

3 hours ago, 68begin said:

Does it sound like I'm on the right track with these two changes?  Thanks.

I think you should do this:

@mvmac knows a thing or two, and you got a good amount of his attention and whatnot. You can only really ever focus on one thing at a time, as a golfer, and so those one or two things are what I'd start to work on.

[68begin]

Thanks iacas.  I did focus on those two things.  But, that post was over a year ago and after having worked on those things, and others, I was still slicing a lot of my balls (woods, hybrids and irons).  That was the reason for going back and analyzing my swing.  What I mentioned in the first post of this thread are two things that I've come to recognize as problems for me; at least I think that they're problems.  I was just trying to see if what I was saying sounded like it was on the right track to getting a better swing.

[iacas]

I’d update your Member Swing topic with new video.

Feel ain’t real. We have no real idea if what you think you’re doing you’re actually doing.

You will get a lot of free help here if you make the minimal effort.

[68begin]

OK, I will do that.

[Mark N]

I suffer from the same issue - - i.e. leaning toward the ball as I begin my takeaway. Were you able to resolve this issue? If so, what were the keys to your success?

Best of luck in 2020. I hope you are hit it straight down the middle!

[dennyjones]

1 hour ago, Mark N said:

I suffer from the same issue - - i.e. leaning toward the ball as I begin my takeaway. Were you able to resolve this issue? If so, what were the keys to your success?

Best of luck in 2020. I hope you are hit it straight down the middle!

He hasn't returned since 11/12/2017.     The same advise he received, will work for you.   Start a member's swing thread.   Welcome to TST!