Gaetano Fasano

hahaha , you're right RandallT. Confirmed. My daugther started this year (she's 8) but controls the steering only, me the pedals .

My wife went even further: I ignored Valentine's Day, She ignored it as well and now has been ignoring me too

Fading the ball seems to be more difficult to me. To do that I have to manipulate my address position heavily to the left and trying not to close my clubface, keeping to swing outward as well. I often get to pull shots due to this. Standing square parallel, it's like natural golf ball flight should be the draw.

A) Should the trail arm (right arm, triceps internal) stay close to your right side (pectorals) during the takeway? In this video, Day seems to stretch his right arm very well and seems to detach the right arm very soon from his right side One more thing (hope not to be OOT here): from A2 to A4 he seems to elevate his arms on purpose. Which of the following sentences would be more appropriate? 1) he actively lift the left and the right arm 2) left arm (along with club..) gets elevated due to momentum (shoulders rotating back) while right arm actively keeps the handle away from the head cheers

Hi! did you improved on this? did find out any other good tip to limit overactive hips? Do you still think that flaring your right toe can help? I thought it would enlarge hip rotation (so more difficult not to turn). I am trying to wait for my arms passing through the chest before rotating my right hip forward, trying not to use the lower body and trying to take my right heel on the ground (probably correlated aspects) before impact. best regards

Hello @iacas and thank you so much for sharing all these useful drills, hope I may ask for a clarification: Which part of the hands did you ask him to hit with? The back of the left hand? Pulling the handle in transition, DOWNward and OUTward helps powering my swing significantly but, if I think of continuing in pull the handle, up to hit the noddle with the bottom part of the grip, I fear like the clubface may result open at impact (cutting across the ball). Is it a reasonable concern or I should simply trust the clubface squaring by itself due to gravity effect? Thank you in advance and best regards.

Hello @podunker and thank you for sharing this. How would you chop the ball? more vertically? more horizontal? or obliquely? I usually image to do something similar but I struggle with the driver, woods and long irons (I tend to hit the ground with the club head before the ball) probably because I try to chop too vertically. Do you have any comments / suggestions for using this feeling with long clubs? Thank you in advance!

Observing several pros' swing dtl and reading other TST posts I noticed that this is related to my right knee moving toward the ball too much causing me some early extension and occasional shanks with wedges. All big players seem to move the right knee toward the position occupied by the left one, while left side clears, without crossing the line from toes. I think this allows maintaining the distance between the ball and the center of mass unchanged. I am going to use this mental images for next DR sessions: a) having a low hurdle passing over the toe of my foots, which is knees-high, and then trying to swing avoiding the knees touching the hurdle during DS. Something like this: b) After the impact, from A9 to A10, my head and shoulders should still be tilted toward the ball like the last picture of Pieters dtl above. I will think of me draining sea-water from the right ear. This should help keeping required side-bend and not to flip during impact; anyway, I think that a) should automatically reduce flipping as well as a) and b) are linked aspects. Let's see.

Hi JetFan! I started working on something similar one week ago. I am tying to keep my head more steady and behind my hands during impact and follow through. I have the same problem of right heel popping up to soon which takes my right knee and rx hip moving towards the ball too much during DS (I suppose this is not good, better to keep rx knee inside the toe line moving more towards the left knee). It also cause my upper body to drift forward (not only the pelvis). I then discovered this drill: 1. I make full turn in the BS trying to keep my arms well extended in front of my chest; I also let my head rotating back with the shoulder so I can look at my hands which are waiting for the DS on my right side with the shaft pointing upwards. 2. I try to move down the handle fast like I was trying to hit the ground on my right side (like my club was and ace cutting a piece of wood placed on the ground, on the toe line, just outside of my right foot). 3. I think about this but before hitting the ground I reroute my hands (first) and the club head (following) "falling" through the ball, almost like I was swinging behind me, looking from the top to my hands which disappear under my left armpit. 4. I let my body turn naturally in order not to get hurt and magically the club face square itself and the momentum transport my upper body to a very nice high hand finish. This seems very similar to what you suggested. In case I am right, eventually my question is: I can hit great shots this way but only with short irons. When I try to apply the same concept to the driver (also woods and long irons) I tend to hit the ground with the club head before the ball. Do you have any comments / suggestions for using this feeling also with long clubs? ps. to keep the right heel down before impact, I try to image I have a low hurdle, which passes over the toe of my foots, and arrives at the knees and then I try to swing avoiding the knees touching it during DS. Cheers

Thank you @Marty2019 I think my BS gets longer when the ball is on the ground. Without the ball in play I can make much better movements because I manage in releasing my momentum towards the flag (focus is well after usual ball position). Instead, when the ball is there, it becomes my target and I start to over-swing like my brain felt a shorter distance to the target for releasing my lag. Fat shots and some shanks with short irons happens when I focus on the ball. This is my actual idea and that's why my hcp is still so high. Generally I make good shots but I make many mistakes too. However, the wall drill is having very good effects. My last I6: My head is much more steady now and the flipping is a bit better. I still don't like my finish because the hands go very low and around me in the follow through. When I release well to the flag they go more vertical from down to up and finish much higher. Any drill to improve momentum release towards the flag and forget of the ball on the ground?

When I do this, I generally loose my head steadyness. The more I push on my left foot during the DS, the more my upper body moves forward. I understand that this move can provide me more power but it's difficult to control. Should I push more towards the toe or the heel of my lead foot? Cheers

@natureboy thank you very much for your last comment. It was really informative to me. I do want to relay more on my hands. After reading RandallT's suggested post and looking at the video on the driver from a chair, I remembered a video with Monte (link below) which is a bit long but treats about the "arms driven" swing concept (hope I can say like this). I remember that when I tried to just deliver my hands to the follow though position from the top of the backswing, a fast as possible, without thinking about my pelvis, I got great contact and more distance. I didn't realise the whole picture that time cause I was wondering about my left wrist flipping, avoiding fat the ball, etc. and I was more of the idea that rotating faster (specilly with the left hips and left shoulder) would had induced a flat left wrist at impact. I now think that pelvis rotational improvement may derive from faster arms movements. This weekend I'll try that at range to see if my hands shall gain more shaft leaning this way (with an hands & arm swing). Sorry for going a bit OT talking about my swing.

Hello iacas, thanks for your comment and many compliments for the TST, great site. They can't because of phisical limitations? Or it's a matter of focus on wrong parts of the body during the swing? Or it just happens after a certain time? I just noticed something probably obvious and maybe already well known: more pelvis spinning imples more CH speed. But that's very interesting to me since, in case it's true, I might work on that very specific aspect to improve my performances. For example, should we work more on pelvis muscles improvement (like in a jim) than others aspect to increase CH speed? Thank you again and best regards.

Hi guys and thanks for posting! I agree that focusing on the upper body may result more natural, let me say easier, making the timing less complicated. If you hit the sweet spot doing so, you'll be longer and straighter than making a faster swing hitting on the toe/heel. I know that there are pros which actually focus more the upper body and I understand that may be kind of people who comply better with such a style of swing. But maybe, rooting to a proper use of the lower body (gradually, working at the DR), "spinning" more the hips in the DS, should lead to higher rotational speed of the core. This is just my interpretation of the data in the article since, on average, most of the pros rotate the hips 30% more than us. When I focus on my arms/torso in the swing, I feel that my pelvis assists the upper body in the rotation naturally but some how passively. It's like missing some part of the potential propulsion which can derive from our powerful legs muscles. From a very extreme point of view, a passive lover body might also be seen as a ballast that slows down the development of torsion. Even if I understand the weight shift analogy, the comparison with the baseball player seems not to be the more appropriate in this case because in the golf swing we don't lift the lead leg to load in torsion and, more in general, we make a much more composed movement. I always felt naturally comparing my right side bending in the DS with bowling ball release posture but that balls are so heavy that I can't really manage comparing the leg action we are used to implement in golf. For this post, I would see more adequate thinking to hogan's "skipping the stone" and the "two-handed basketball pass" drills (and he was very good with his lover body ). My thought is not "can we swing better spinning the pelvis?" but more something like "may our CH get faster if we spin harder our pelvis?"; above data seem to confirm the latter.

Yesterday I came across in reading a scientific article entitled: Comparison of Kinematic Sequence Parameters between Amateur and Professional Golfers. Essentially, the authors have evaluated differences (in terms of average and dispersion) between the kinematic sequence of pros and amateurs and presented several interesting values table; I'll try to exemplify and summarize the article to get to my point as quick as possible (in case you might read the article attached). Among others, they measure the rotational acceleration values of the main segments: Because the body consists of linked segments (pelvis, thorax, Arm, club, etc.), the amount of force in the impulse applied by the distal segment (ClubHead) is essentially the sum of the force from all the joints used (muscles in each part actively contribute to the swing). This means that, if the pros accelerate (rotate) the pelvis less than 2.1 (kd/s2) then the resulting thorax acceleration would be inferior to 3.3. Note that thorax acceleration gain 57% (3.3 / 2.1 = 1.57) respect to pelvis due to the friction between the two sections. Note also that the "progression of the gains" for the pros is pretty similar to the amateur's: Amateurs rotate (accelerate) the thorax 53% more respect to the pelvis (+57% for the pro, not such a difference in terms of acceleration), the lead arm 43% more respect to the thorax (here the pros transmit a few more rotation, +55%) and the club 82% more respect to the arm (pros 73% more, pretty near values). The big difference that stands out to me is the starting values of these progressions: pelvis acceleration for the amateurs is only 1.5 compared with 2.1 that pros swing with (about 30% less!). Due to higher pelvis torque (hence higher rotational acceleration), pros reach higher CH speed (assuming all remaining factors being equal). This result matches with the idea of swinging from ground up during the DS. Maybe we amateurs focus too much on arms and upper body when we aim to speed?! Well, I think I'll start rotating my pelvis damn fast from today... at least I'll try my best to , and you? titlest ComparisonofKinematicSequenceParametersbetweenAmateurandProfessionalGolfers (speed in the pelvis).pdf

@SunkTheBirdie thank you very much for your comments. I really appreciated the time you spent for me. Your long comment deserves a adequate reply: I am sure there is much more staffs to improve respect to what I see in the video above; I just started to work on the ones I "felt" more important. Regarding your comments: (1) I agree, I overswing when the ball is on the ground, I'd prefer the arms would stop earlier. However, if you look at my video with no ball (07 Jan 2017) you'll notice I don't. Hence I suppose my overswing is more the result of something else; why this difference, any guess? (2) is there any typical amount? I checked some pro videos and it seems that my lead hip actually slide more respect them. I just try to move my weight to the left and then rotate on a firm left side but maybe I should think of rotating more from the top?! (3) Yep, I also think it seems a bit extreme. I suppose that is coming from the wall drill (still trying to ingrain). Usually I tend to extend that leg in the BS (to facilitate my hips rotation) but avoid locking it. Here I'm just trying not to slide the right hip backward (which I mange to). I think my right leg should extend as much as possible without locking. Thanks @JonMA1 for the link I already read it once (before your suggestion) and I'm going to read it again. SunkTB what do think about Jon's link? you seems to be in contradiction with it: SunkTB would please finish the sentence? (4) What do you exactly mean with "connected"? Do you mean avoid moving the arms up in the BS? As far as I know, it means: lead arm more linked to the chest at the top and during the DS (more of a one-plane-swing concept). In a connected swing, the lead arm is dragged by chest rotation during the DS (feeling pressure at PP4), with less downward movement of the arms. Crossing my chest, my lead arm should always be in front of me (am I wrong?). Do you refer to my right arm getting behind me? Concerning the hips too ahead, I think this is similar to point (2) above. DW swings are already posted above , had a look? Would you suggest the same to Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson? wow, they look pretty impressive to me. I notated that a longer BS takes me to definitely longer shots but it's more difficult to coordinate/timing (I feel like I need to wait more at the top before starting the DS in order not to slide/hook). I tried shorter BS, they are easier, I agree. Sometimes they take me to thin it. Lots to study here. I'm reading all the posts already written in this site but it takes some time; I will revert back to you asap. for the time being, my personal opinion is that I stop rotate my lead shoulder during (or just before) impact loosing PP4 too soon; if it would keep its rotation, the upward movement should keep the the clubhead lagging. Looking at my videos, it seems to me that the impact is not so bad (lead arm and shaft almost straight) but just after my left wrist cup and I don't like that. My impression is that I just have to let the right wrist rolling over the left better.. but really, I do feel I need a better understanding here. Wow, I'am gonna try it but timing seems not easy at all. Would you suggest starting the DS with this in mind? Finally, May I ask which level of play are you? I'd love seeing a video of you trying the left foot pushing move Cheers

Well, this is my swing after one week of the wall drill. Thanks @mvmac, I feel the head more steady now, really happy with it and it seems I have a better SAT. Now I feel like my head remains more stable above the inside of my trailing foot before I release the club. I will keep on doing this drill since I still make my mistake (my upper body which moves forward) and hit it fat or hook sometimes. Looking at the video I also notice other staffs I don't like (have to work on) 1) flipping during impact (I did not realize that my left wrist was cupping so much). Do you think I steel need more SAT? 2) the heel of my trailing foot raising during the downswing too soon. I suspect that this is a cause of my problem since I feel like I push too much on the toe of my right foot during the downswing and this cause my upper body to move up (loosing some side bend) and forward (at least I think so..); I would prefer my trailing foot rolling towards the inside through impact.

Hi JonMA1. Actually you can hook with either in-to-out or out-to-in path (being easier with the former). yes, it is, since the ball is more ahead in my stance with long irons (so the low point is about under or just after the ball) the path should be more like in-out-in. I think I get to impact with too a closed face (pointing left of the target) and a straight-path (and that results in a pull-draw / hooky flight). After posting my swing, I understood that I probably miss some secondary tilt during impact; this should lead to a club face more open and the path a bit shifted to the right automatically (I'm working on this now).

Hello @mvmac and thank you for the advice. I think this drill can definitely help me since I've always had a lack of axis tilt and I often forget to implement it. In the past I worked with taking my right hip turning towards the the target during the backswing (+left hip going to the opposite) to stay more centered and avoiding any sway to the right; this worked in this regards since I minimized the problem. But I am scared of: 1.The more axis tilt I add the more I feel the low point moving backwards in my stance and the plane becoming more flat; this way it seems more difficult to me hitting the ball before the turf (I already suffer of fat shots ...about 4/5 times per round) especially with 4 iron and woods where I place the ball a little more ahead in my stance. 2. With pronunced axis tilt I also feel the clubhead stucking behind me at the top (maybe i turn too much?!) and the plane too flat (at least with irons).

Hello @RandallT I didn't know there where a golf course inside Aviano air force base! Thank you so much for this information. It's incredible that someone from US is showing new places where to play nearby me ?. I'm reading the posts you suggested, how ever I don't have problem hitting draws, thats my natural ball flight. The rest you said is the proper interpretation. Cheers

Ok, below there are two swings (with ball and without ball). Note how my head and upper torso is moving forward when the ball is in play! I can't understand why the ball change my movements so drastically (note how my head stay nicely stedy up to almost A8 when the ball is not my concern) With ball: With no ball: Any advice is appreciated!

Now I'm working on keeping the head and upper torso not moving forward during transition. When I make a practice swing without the ball, I can keep the head still and move the lower body first to initiate the swing but as soon as the ball is on the way I tend to make a bit longer backswing and start to transfer the weight on the left (too soon?!) when the clubhead has almost reached the top (backswing not finished yet). I'am going to post some swing soon to better explain my issue. Cheers