Nick_wahl_

So I’ve been trying to feel a very small shift to the right side in my backswing. Do you mind taking a look now? Also, You were right. I noticed I was forcing the handle forward a little bit which was hurting my speed. To combat it I’ve been feeling like my right arm starts extending through the shot early in the downswing. What’s crazy is that feeling actually Gave me more lag lol But It helped because I release the lag rather than trying to hold on to it. One more thing.. My speed has improved in the last week but although to me, It looks like my swing is coming along nicely and I don’t really see anything that would hinder my club head speed but for some reason I can’t get driver above 115 on my swing speed radar. Two of my golf buddies don’t have the lag or dynamics I have but they are getting 123 mph on the radar. To me, it looks like I should be able to swing it way faster but I’m not. Do you see anything that is hindering my speed? Hey man, I appreciate you chiming in. I don’t really see the hands starting down before the body though..

Exactly my point my friend. But the untrained eye will look at the club on plane and say “ok good” even if the shoulder plane is super flat.

I think you misread what I said. I went from having a flat shoulder turn and a laid off club to a flat shoulder turn and the club on plane. The club being on plane looked better but Still had the flat shoulder turn which was the cause in the first place. Thank you!

I agree. If I have a feel that works for me I typically start over doing it after a while and have to have a slight variation in it. It was more of a hyperbole. Again, it was a hyperbole to emphasize how lost a golfer can get in how many Variations in swing thoughts they come up with to try and fix a flaw. I would say for this that you can employ a direct emphasis by simply thinking about not hinging or indirect thoughts. I think the best Thought would be to feel like your trail palm is putting some pressure your lead hand throughout the backswing. Keeps swing very wide and limits their ability to hinge. I’m realizing I need to be way more specific on TPT so my fault. An example of when I say “looked” better but doesn’t make it better in my own swing is this. I used to get the club flat and laid off a good bit at the top. When I looked at my own swing all I would see is that and every instructor would tell me to get it more upright on the backswing etc... So I did that by focusing on being more upright. What we all missed was that that problem derived because my shoulder turn was way too flat. So what I ended up with is a flat shoulder turn and a steep club plane because I was forcing the steep path but never went to the root cause of the flat shoulders. Therefore, although to the untrained eye my backswing would have looked pretty good, it wasn’t. I can tell your extremely knowledgeable so I’d like to ask you what some of the best ways are to achieve a steeper shoulder plane to the top of the swing? Thanks. I’ve been reading through a ton of content on the site. I Definitely enjoy it.

Yes absolutely. That sounds like progress 👍🏼

... I disagree wholeheartedly man. I think that there are 100s of ways to think about any particular desired move but that only a few (sometimes 1) will actually engage the proper body parts to actually improve a golf swing rather than give a false appearance of improvement. Ive been playing since I was a kid (20 years) and working on my swing like crazy for 10 years and went through 1000s of swing feels. I was always able to make my swing “look” better but never work better. It wasn’t until I got the right feel that engaged the right muscles that everything changed and started to feel way easier. Fair enough. I should say in my opinion. I’m probably going to end up disagreeing with 99% of people on here about the golf swing though haha. You teach them how to make it work correctly... I feel that most instructors go through a “play book” of swing thoughts / feels to correct flaws until they find one that gives the appearance of improvement. 99% of the time those thoughts don’t actually engage the correct muscles and are only aesthetic. For example, You can have someone who rotates the shoulders way too flat on the backswing but is still on plane with the club. That’s a “fake out” in my opinion because that’s evidence that the hands and arms are forcing the plane rather that the body dictating it. I work on getting them to feel the correct body motion to engage the correct muscles.

Alright, so in your opinion, what are the best swing thoughts / feelings for each phase of the swing that you feel actually engage the correct muscles and encourage good sequencing. One for the backswing, downswing, and follow through. I think that there are 100s of ways to think about a particular desired move but that only a few will engage the proper body parts to actually improve a golf swing rather than give a false appearance of improvement. Ive been working on my swing for 10 years and went through 1000s of swing feels. I was always able to make my swing “look” better but never work better. It wasn’t until I got the right feel that engaged the right muscles that everything changed and started to feel way easier. For me it was all about my backswing and ensuring that my body coiled correctly and shoulders rotated steep enough. From there my downswing takes care of it self. I felt like my left shoulder works very low by thinking keep my left shoulder OFF of my chin. This made me turn way steeper and coil better. Swing speed jumped 8mph with driver and accuracy is WAY better. So I’m curious what are some keys that you found that changed your game for the better? .

Great! Thank you! I’m not hitting off a mat here but I get it. Corona virus has me turning my backyard into a practice facility lol. I’ll try the shift / fall into the left side and report back with a video. 🤙🏻 thanks again for the time!

This is my first day on TPT. I figured the idea was to jump in with your thoughts and ideas. My belief is that the head will move naturally if the body works properly and I don’t believe that putting awareness on the movements of the head is the right way to go about it. If the head is working incorrectly it’s because the body is working incorrectly. For example, when someone sees a head moving up in the backswing and way left in the downswing (face on view) they may advise “feel like your head goes down in the backswing and back in the downswing” or whatever. I look at what there body is doing to find the root cause of those poor motions and start there. And thank you!! 🤙🏻 I won’t get offended lol. I love talking and debating the golf swing with others. I’ve played golf almost my whole life (I’m 28 now started at 8 ). Literally my favorite thing in the world is golf haha. I still spend 3+ hours daily hitting balls and probably spend 3 hours reading content online and watching videos.

When you say it’s very “still” and has a lack of dynamic motion how can I improve this and make it more dynamic? Do I need to rotate more?

Hey, thanks for the reply. I just put none because I explained what I was having trouble with in the post. The struggle is that sometimes it feels like I can’t stay in the shot with mid - long irons and I can’t get down and into the ball. It the bottom of the face a lot.

Sure, I can buy that it may give the appearance of improvement. There are 100s of popular swing thoughts for every aspect of the golf swing and typically, every swing thought (where the person is putting body awareness) will have unintended consequences elsewhere in the swing. The key is to apply a swing thought (awareness) that does not cause unintended consequences in the swing that negatively effect it. Thinking of the head staying still is one of the worst thoughts to teach. 99% will loose dynamics.

I've been Playing Golf for: 20 years My current handicap index or average score is: +3 My typical ball flight is: Slight draw The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: none Hello everyone, This is my first post ever on Sand Trap. I figured I’d give it a try to get a little advice on a swing flaw. My club doesn’t shallow out early enough in the downswing to allow free upper body rotation through the swing. Notice the slight jammed look in the left shoulder right after transition. For the most part it looks like I recover from it ok but every once in a while it feels like I can’t stay in the shot long enough because of this. Especially with long irons. Anyone know what’s causing this? ..

The answer is to not thinking about keeping it still and not to think about moving it either. Get the body to work correctly and the head will work correctly.

Pretty good action. Backswing could improve. How your club travels on the backswing is determined by how your shoulders work and turn. You can fake a good backswing by consciously forcing your arms / club on a proper plane but it won’t improve your ball striking. Go to the mirror and try feeling like your shoulders are turning much steeper on the backswing and notice how that naturally changes your hand path. Best way to feel it in my experience is to feel like right from the start of the swing the lead shoulder stays really low throughout so that it is low enough to not even touch your chin at the top of the swing.