PingGKEN

I am a righty swing and the pain is just south of my right nipple.

OP here..(thread is pushing 3 years old!!) I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't played golf at all this year. I went out for the first time last week and chunked a few good ones out there. After I was finished I had that same slight pain in the same spot! After 3 years? I am very active playing all sorts of volleyball, softball, etc. It must be a muscle that is only triggered via a (bad) golf swing.

What are your thoughts on Pressure Point 3? I started to put all of my focus only on feeling constant pressure there from the start and all the way through the downswing until after contact. The key being that the initial pressure is created via my body pivot and not my hands "pushing" on the club. If I can time the pivot just as the club is still going back, I can really feel the pressure build up on PP3. From there it seems like the rest of swing just takes care of itself. I took a quick side view of my swing and it was night and day from last year. My hands were actually ahead of the clubhead at impact with forward shaft lean! I have never once seen those positions before in previous videos of my swing. Is it really that simple? Physics tells me that if one can feel constant pressure on PP3 in the downswing, then the clubhead MUST be trailing the hands, correct?

Hey!!! Its the Airport Driving Range!! Its open??

Thanks for all of the replies, guys. It really helps. I think I am going to break for a while. If (when) I get the itch again, I am going to remind myself why I got into this game in the first place. I just got so caught up in mechanics and positions that I lost all feel for my own swing.

Simply put, I'm not having fun anymore. Playing OR practicing! I used to have tons of fun when I first started 5 years ago. I developed some wacky homegrown swing that worked for me and kept me in the low 90s. That was acceptable and fun for me. Then, one day, I decided I would try to get better. (Big mistake?) Started taking lessons, reading tons of articles, watching instructional videos, researching different methods, etc etc. Turns out, I got WORSE! This summer was an absolute complete wash. I invested so much time and money last year into "getting better" that I felt if I did not see results on the course, that everything I worked on would have been a waste. Hundreds of dollars of lessons, range balls, etc. It has gotten to the point where I don't play because of the fear that I would further confirm that all my efforts are indeed a waste. Go ahead, laugh, I know that is probably the stupidest thing ever written here, but its true. I've got so much useless info in my head I just want to flush it all out and go back to having fun with a semi-crappy swing. Is that possible? If I just try to forget about golf all this fall/winter and maybe pick it up next spring?

Then what? You'll regularly carry 290? Sorry, sorry, I couldn't help myself. hahahh

OOOhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Hahahahah. Seriously?

Interesting charts, thanks. Why the difference in attack angle of the driver between women and men?

I dont want to point fingers at anything but myself, but I do believe mats ruined my golf season this year. I began taking lessons late last year and seriously practicing all through winter in a golf dome (mats). We were making some good progress, but I could never really get the feel for ball first contact. I would hit the mat and the ball at the same time and, to me, that was a good shot. When I took that swing to the course for the first time in the spring....BOY was it an eye opener. I was chunking it all over the place and flipping, etc. Lost about 20 yds per club in distance. The grass was (is) playing Jedi mind tricks on me. I've had to literally quit playing this season because my golf game is in ruins.

When he got his first win a few weeks ago and he started crying, I could not help but join with him. GO BUBBA :*-(

I'm the same. Sky high and off to the right you say? Also, lack of expected distance I assume? For me, it is due to a terrible flip at the ball coming into impact. I have made eliminating that horrible, ugly, swing fault my top priority.

Look into buying Brian Manzellas "confessions of a former flipper" video. I watched it once and can already tell that its going to help me eliminate the dreaded flip. I am going to watch it again and see if I can absorb some more ideas from it. He really emphasizes "hitting it with your pivot" while just using your hands to hold on to the club. If you use your body correctly, you will have no reason to flip.

Might be hitting the ball off center. If you hit the ball close to the heel or toe, you will feel the club twist in your hands. Might want to check where you are making contact on the clubface.

I'm pretty sure I pulled my chest muscle from hitting fat shot after fat shot after fat shot at the range. So, I would say that my injury came as a result of bad swing technique. Lol

Thanks, iacas. Yeah on these shots, it seemed like I put so much effort into them with so little results. I went back outside after watching "confessions of a former flipper" and really took note of using the pivot + rotation of the body to square the face. I made sure to key in on the power coming from the ground reacting to my body turn while my hands just held on to the club. I hit a couple shots that went 2 times as far with what felt like 1/2 the effort. I'll post some more video after working on all of these ideas a bit more. Thanks again.

Ahhh! Funny to see my post brought back to life. I guess I can take this opportunity to update my status. I basically had to deal with the pain for a while and it healed itself. Took a good 4 or 5 months.

I've always approached chipping as just a putting stroke with a wedge/iron. I don't use any wrist when I putt, so.....

Thanks for the reply. Those videos are definitely familiar to me. I've tried to practice moves like this, but I end up taking huge chucks of earth. Something in my body just does not trust that the face will be square if I don't throw the club head at the ball. What do you guys think of the rest of the swing? Do you think practicing to eliminate the flip should be my main focus? Might look into buying Manzella's "flipper" video.

Hey guys. I thought I'd try to film a few swings for you to dissect. Been playing for about 6 years. Without lessons, I was hovering around 93-100. I started taking lessons late last year. All winter were worked on things and I finally felt like I had a nice swing brewing. Come spring I couldn't wait to hit the course. I SUCKED. It was worse that before lessons! Those damn mats in the dome had me all messed up. I've stopped the lessons for now because I felt like we were going over the same things every time we met. Plus I felt like if I didn't play well, I was wasting money on lessons. Things just snowballed from there. I was a wreck mentally. I'm a flipper. I've never properly taken a divot in front of the ball. I don't know what ball first contact feels like. It seems so elusive to me. Face On: DTL: Let me know if these vids are ok, or if you want any other angles or speeds. Thanks.

They don't intentionally spin the ball in tennis? Anyways, how about a full kick in soccer? Your leg is the club, obviously. They fade and draw shots all the time.

What is the secret? =)

Lol, OP did ask to be humored. hahaha

I used that tip last year! I thought I was the only one that knew about it. It really works, huh?

OR how about this one? I utilized this awesome tip 2 days ago and it changed my game completely! Start out by forgetting to stretch properly before your softball game and then severely pull your calf muscle running from 2nd to 3rd base. There you go, thats it! No more 1st tee gitters....you can cancel your lessons for the summer, and no more bad golf shots to agonize over! What a relief! Ahhhhhhhh