My Swing (Righty to Lefty)

[Righty to Lefty]

I've been Playing Golf for: 14 years (9 Right Handed and 5 Lefty Handed)
My current handicap index or average score is: 5.2
My typical ball flight is: High
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Pulls with Driver and Pushes with Irons

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Videos: 

 

[iacas]

I said it before, and you spent a few paragraphs justifying it, but your ball position is too far back. You're adding an artificially low ceiling that's going to limit how good you can get, particularly on tougher courses.

I realize your "goal" is to get your low point ahead of the ball, but that's "cheating." You're not getting the low point ahead of the ball properly.

If you're content to be a 4 or a 5 or a 6 or so, cool. If you want to get better, this is one of the things needed.

[Righty to Lefty]

It should be noted that my clubs are Heavily toe/ fade biased  and my shots feel like I am hitting a draw but the actually ball flight is very much straight and high.  I feel like you should also know my intentions with the shot that I was hitting.  I also think that should be part of the questioning at the beginning of each swing thread because I will look very different hitting a  fade as opposed to a draw.  

I don't feel like I am my "cheating" to get my low point in front of the ball.  I put it there and my intent is to keep it there as that is where it has to be at impact.  I will post some fades as soon as I can because I want to see  the difference side by side myself also. I will take a look at what you suggest but I am trying to understand what the benefit will be as I am noting that the shots on video were hit with really good leverage and they all flew straight.  Sure the fairway wood that it hit with the demo club was low but that isn't my ball flight with my club. I am a high ball hitter my shots fly straight with all the clubs in the bag because of how I have set up my clubs.  

This is where I learned my ball position from. Sure I make adjustments throughout the round to find impact and play the game but this is he premise explained (Once again I feel like I am playing a draw because of the toe bias of my clubs but my actual ball flight is straight.)  

 

[iacas]

20 hours ago, Righty to Lefty said:

It should be noted that my clubs are Heavily toe/ fade biased  and my shots feel like I am hitting a draw but the actually ball flight is very much straight and high.  I feel like you should also know my intentions with the shot that I was hitting.  I also think that should be part of the questioning at the beginning of each swing thread because I will look very different hitting a  fade as opposed to a draw.

I'll play along:

• How are they "heavily toe biased"? Why?
• If you're hitting the ball high it's probably because of spin, which isn't great, either. The launch angle on your 5W was, what, 6°? 7°?
• You posted multiple shots all with the ball ridiculously far back, so I don't think I'm assuming too much about your intentions that aren't there.
• Your swing shouldn't look that different when hitting different shots. Just change your alignments.

20 hours ago, Righty to Lefty said:

I don't feel like I am my "cheating" to get my low point in front of the ball.

I do. You're putting the ball way back in your stance, so if your low point is even in the middle of your stance (which isn't great), it'll be "in front of the ball."

20 hours ago, Righty to Lefty said:

I put it there and my intent is to keep it there as that is where it has to be at impact.

Yes, but "there" is too far back. Low point should generally be beneath your front shoulder. Yours is well back of that.

You're "cheating" it. It's a band-aid or a compensation.

20 hours ago, Righty to Lefty said:

I will take a look at what you suggest but I am trying to understand what the benefit will be as I am noting that the shots on video were hit with really good leverage and they all flew straight.

The benefits? Better launch conditions.

20 hours ago, Righty to Lefty said:

Shawn is wrong. The low point is not beneath the sternal notch in the swings of good players. We can measure this stuff, and we know this stuff. It's generally below the left shoulder.

Ball position, for a standard shot, is not back of center (even for a wedge), and is generally further forward the longer the club.

Your ball position is well back in your stance with one of your longest clubs.

Shawn doesn't even demonstrate this very well:

What you'll see here is in the top photo I've traced the circle that the blur of the hosel makes in order to find the center-point, and then I've drawn the arrow below the center-point.

The center-point of the swing moves a bit because pre-impact he still has wrist hinge, and post-impact his left wrist is slightly extended, so the center point moves back slightly as the club goes to inline and beyond. But neither of those points is at the center of his stance as he demonstrates in the bottom picture.

I stopped watching the video when he said that to hit a draw you put the ball behind center. That video is bad, IMO.

BTW, here's one way to prove this to you:

PGA Tour players average AoA with their DRIVER is -1.3° (in 2017).

When was the last time you saw a PGA Tour player with the ball anywhere near the center of their stance, let alone back of it?

You can look at the other data in that list, too, for AoA. PGA Tour players play the ball forward of center almost always, and yet manage to hit down on it throughout the set.

[mvmac]

Agree 100% with @iacas, ball position needs to move way more forward. Check out how your 5-wood looks before you take it back, the club isn't designed to be addressed like that.

Compared that to someone who plays their driver a little back (compared to modern day drivers). I know you're hitting a 5-wood. I'd say you should move the ball up to the orange line. Why?

- Ball position is causing you to make compensations in your swing
- Use the club how it's designed
- Help you launch it higher and straighter, less curve.

Since the ball is so far back, it causes you to be angled with the body well to the left. So the grip gets really strong and the shoulders are tilted a lot at address. 

My recommendation would be to reduce all this.

- I like a strong grip but yours is too much. Weaken the right hand a little, trigger finger pad of the left hand on the side of the grip, not under the grip. The "V" of your trail hand is pointed away from your left shoulder. This will also help get the shoulders less tilted.

- Ball position two ball inside the right heel for a stock shot. This will help reduce how far outward you set your swing direction at address.

- On the backswing feel like the right shoulder works down and in or down and across, under your chin. Rather than having the right shoulder collide into your chin, causing the head to rise and move a little towards the target. Part of this is the ball position, with the ball so far back it doesn't make sense athletically to turn "behind" the ball because you'd have to move your head well off the ball.

- I'd feel this with a club across my chest and turn my torso in a way where the shaft feels like it's pointed more downward and just inside my left foot. Might also feel like the left hip gets deeper on the backswing.

- With a better pivot you won't have to tip the head so far back on the downswing, leading to those pushes and pulls.

[Righty to Lefty]

Thanks for all the advice so far I will work on these things and video my progress and see what happens I will also video myself hitting a fade because I want to see how that will contrast with these swings also. 

[iacas]

11 hours ago, Righty to Lefty said:

Thanks for all the advice so far I will work on these things and video my progress and see what happens I will also video myself hitting a fade because I want to see how that will contrast with these swings also. 

It shouldn’t be very different.