deekay

Thanks for the responses. I ask because I heard or read somewhere that this is a good check to see that your shoulder rotation is steep enough (leading shoulder under, rather than in front of, your chin) and that you are not "standing up" as you take the club back. It feels uncomfortable to take the club back so that my back foot is visible, but, on the other hand, I know that what feels comfortable in the golf swing is not necessarily correct. So I wanted to know if the comment was valid and something I should work on.

Hi all, just a quick one.... Can you see your back foot when you are at the top of your backswing, or is it blocked out by your lead shoulder/ forearm? Should you be able to?

Hi all, I am interested to know why it is that when I watch the pros play a greenside chip (not a pitch, from further out) they almost always seem to play the ball waaay back in their stance, sometimes even outside their back foot. This seems contrary to a lot of advice seen on this and other sites. Surely even highly skilled pros would want to play a shot with (supposedly) a higher margin for error, using the bounce?

You could also take your address position (without a club) facing a wall, with your forehead just touching the wall. Now make a backswing movement, rotating around your spine. You will instantly be aware if your head shifts. The way it feels when you keep your head still is the feeling you want to replicate when making your swing. Its useful to hold something in your hands so that you also get the feeling of the arms working, while keeping your head still.

Disappointed there aren’t more comments here. Chunking shots badly is so destructive to your enjoyment of the game (and so embarrassing!) that it must be one of the most common reasons why many folk give up the game after only a few attempts. There are many things which can cause you to hit the ground before the ball; standing too close to the ball, improperly fitted clubs, swinging too much from the inside, swaying (and staying) back, etc, etc. Perhaps the instructors here could share the most common causes they have observed, and what was most helpful to their students....

Hi All, The first thing that really helped me with fat shots was realizing that I was often simply standing too close to the ball! This meant I had to lift my hands through the stroke to avoid hitting the ground behind the ball. What helps me is to take my stance with the ball just outside the toe of the club. Then I lean over a little more and slide the club in behind the ball. Just this simple set-up change made a big difference. The second help was to focus on swinging "forward and up", onto a braced front leg. I thought that this would have me hitting it thin, but it didn't do that. Rather, it really helps me move forward through the shot. So for me the downswing is now all about swinging "up" onto that front leg. Any thought of hitting down on the ball is death, causing me to chop down at it, making the problem even worse.

As an Afrikaans speaker, I can assure you that when Louis gives his name he pronounces it OO-WHIST(not OOST!)-HAY-ZIN.

I also find the railway tracks illustration a poor one, because one always thinks of the tracks converging in the distance. One should rather refer to only a section of railway track. If you lay down on your stomach and sight along each track in turn, and fix a target in the distance along each track’s line, those two targets in the distance would appear to be many yards apart, way further apart than the tracks themselves. I prefer to think of the legs of a short ladder, or simply two clubs layed down parallel to each other. Mark Crossfield has an interesting Youtube clip where he discusses how his own concept or visual perception of “straight” (or parallel left) can change from time to time. Before a round he will ask a playing partner to line him up “straight,” only to find that, to him, it seems he is lined up way left. So for the rest of that period he needs to line up (what seems like) way left in order to actually be “straight.” Then on other days/ courses, his eyes deceive him the other way, and he needs to line up (what feels like) to the right in order to actually be correctly lined up. So I guess the only way to be really sure is to either lay two clubs down and line up to an imaginary target, or ask someone to line you up, and then use that visual “picture” for that particular day.

I am sure that playing off the forward tees would make golf more enjoyable/easier for many, but was that really the intention of those who developed the game? Was it the intention that all players play the same course, and that their score would then be the measure of their skill/ability? If that makes it more difficult for those who don’t hit the ball far, then so be it. After all, many sports are skewed in favor of certain physical characteristics. Or, on the other hand, perhaps golf should actually be played in such a way that each player is able (at their own skill level) to reach the par 4 holes in 2 strokes? Is this perhaps the level playing field which provides the true comparison between each player’s ability to maximize his/her potential? What do you think?

Thanks @mvmac, I did this move last evening with the backrests of two chairs resting against my left and right hips respectively. It's my understanding that if I simply rotated in position (stationary axis) a gap would open between both hips and their respective backrests. What actually happened is that a gap opened between my right hip (I am a righty) and it's chair, while my left hip actually pushed the chair away slightly. Feels as if my (straightening) right leg is pushing my lower body slightly to the left as it rotates. The position of my head means that my left knee is still slightly "inside" my front foot when it appears in line. I actually use that "knee appearing in line with foot" as a bit of a swing thought!

Hi all, I notice that some players allow their left knee to "break" somewhat towards the ball (while straightening their back leg a little), while others seem to let the knee "break" more toward their front foot. I find that if I do the latter (towards the front foot, while allowing my back leg to straighten a little), it really helps me shift forward through the stroke. This does, however, feel as if I am shifting the axis of rotation towards the target, rather than keeping it centered. It is not a gross shift, but it is there all the same. I have struggled with fat shots for a while, and this has really helped. On the other hand I don't want to form a habit which is going to cause other problems down the line. Any thoughts? P.S. Apologies if this has been covered already and I have missed it!

Sorry i should have added that the "how to get there" part seemed to fit in with this question.

Has anyone watched the David Leadbetter A swing presentation on youtube? It seems to concentrate on a position at the top of the backswing more appropriate to the skill level of weekenders (as opposed to pros) and how to get there.

"Relaxed but in control" sounds good. I feel as if my wrists tighten up and then all sorts of bad things happen in my ball striking. But I am aware of the "feel isn't real" syndrome, so I wanted to know whether my wrists should be a completely flexible link between my hands and the shaft, the club simply following down the swing path established by the movement of my hands.

Hi all, There is quite a lot of info on grip pressure, but not so much on wrist action. I would just like to know, on a scale of say, 1 to 5, how stiff, or rigid should your wrists be, particularly in the downswing? I am thinking now in terms of swinging a weight on the end of a string. Obviously the "connection" at the point where the string comes out of your hands is completely flexible. Is this the effect you are looking for when swinging the club (as opposed to hitting with it)?

You may want to try setting up to the ball as described in this link; I find that this makes it easy to make a slightly descending stroke into the back of the ball. If you feel a bit rigid or mechanical, you can try letting the weight of the club hinge your wrists just a little in the backswing. The ball may very well roll a little past the hole, requiring two putts to get down, but after a little practice it’s a very safe shot. And WAY better than blading a flop shot into the bush behind the green, taking a penalty drop, chipping back on (hopefully!), and then taking two putts anyway! Later, when you can hit these well nine out of ten times, you can begin practicing the higher shot, where you slide the bounce of the wedge through under the ball. Admittedly, that is probably the method a Tour player would use in order to stop the ball from rolling too far. But for me it’s definitely : Crawl, then walk, then run!

Just some feedback for anyone else struggling with hitting at (rather than through) the ball.... It was definitely a distance-from-the-ball issue. When I checked where my practice swing brushes the grass, it is clearly further from me than the ball would be in an actual swing. Spent an hour at the range on Saturday, and played 9 holes yesterday, paying particular attention to having the ball a little further away at address. Immediately my swing felt much more fluid. I was able to swing through the ball, with much better weight shift. And no more chunks! The key was having the ball on my natural swing path, rather than having to chop down at the ball.

Hi all, I was hoping for some tips for establishing the correct distance from the ball to stand. Do you step into the ball while holding the club in one hand? Or do you ground it behind the ball with both hands on the club? How do you establish your distance from the ball?

Thanks for the comments, Last evening I made some practice swings in the garden, and it struck me that perhaps I am looking at this from the wrong perspective: I should focus more on why the practice swing feels so relaxed, rather than on why the actual swing at a ball feels so awkward. I then made a couple of nice practice swings and realized that I am letting the club find the ground naturally, without any attempt to steer it. In my actual swing the tension created by trying to steer the club into the ball could be what inhibits my weight shift, hence the fat shots. This means that in my real swing the ball position is crucial. It must be on that natural path, particularly as far as my distance from the ball is concerned. Then the ball just waits for the club to arrive, rather than me steering the club to the ball. There are a number of clips on Youtube about distance from the ball, but they all seem to depend on the instructor’s own posture and setup. I must find a way of using my practice swing to establish distance from the ball for the particular club I will be using. How do you establish distance from the ball? Do you set your club first, and then build your posture around the position of the handle, or do you first settle into your posture and then lower the club to the ball, shuffling further away or closer?

Oh I don’t doubt that fat shots are primarily the result of not getting one’s weight forward. My question is more “How come I hardly ever chunk a practice swing?” A related question may be “How come I can make a slow, relaxed practice swing, but any attempt to “swing easy” with a ball is nearly always a disaster? I feel that if I don’t overcome this “hitting instinct” I will never really improve my golf.

Hello all, I have been playing for 6 years now, having started in my late forties. I still have a serious issue in my game and was hoping for some insights... I still hit at the ball, rather than through it. I can make great practice swings, just brushing the turf ahead of where my ball would be. I check this regularly with tees to ensure I am not fooling myself. Yet as soon as I put a ball down things go wrong. Out of 30 balls on the range, at least 3 or 4 are massive chunks. I know a practice swing is often not as great a swing as it feels, but in my case there doesn't seem to be any problem with the low point. As we are looking at the ball when we swing, is it that all players actually hit at the ball, and the difference between a talented player and a hacker is in the ability to continue into a good follow-through? Has anyone else had, and overcome, this problem?

Hello everyone, I posted this on the Swing Thoughts forum, but there was no response. I was checking my grip the other day and noticed that when I adjust my grip so that the club face is square in an impact position (shaft leaning somewhat forward), and I then return to my address position (shaft still leaning slightly forward, but not as much as at impact) without adjusting my grip, the club face is closed. Does this mean I should address the ball with a slightly closed club face, or do the dynamics of wrist/hip movement during the swing take care of it? (As far as ball flight goes, the longer clubs do fade a bit. Not a huge slice but definitely fading. Short irons often go straight left.)

Hello everyone, I was checking my grip the other day and noticed that when I adjust my grip so that the club face is square in an impact position (shaft leaning somewhat forward), and I then return to my address position (shaft still leaning slightly forward, but not as much as at impact) without adjusting my grip, the club face has closed. Does this mean I should address the ball with a slightly closed club face, or do the dynamics of wrist movement during the swing take care of that in some way? (As far as ball flight goes, the longer clubs do fade a bit (not a huge slice but definitely fading), while the short irons go straight left quite often.)

Hi all, and thanks for the comments. And thanks for going to the trouble of posting the video, Mike, it was very helpful as most swing videos begin with the player already addressing the ball. I notice you also step in with your feet fairly close together, and then place them to set ball position and alignment. I am going to work at this routine also because I find that when I rush this my ball position is not constant. I also saw an interesting Chuck Cook video where he put 3 tees in the ground in a slight arc, with one centered in your stance, one slightly forward of center and the other slightly back. He says to hit a ball from each one, and the one which results in the desired ball flight is the correct ball position for your individual swing. I want to try that next visit to the range, because I suspect that an inconsistent ball position is causing many of my problems with accuracy.

Thanks for the comments, guys. I notice the "grip first" and "grip last" tally is just about evenly split. But with only one exception everyone sets lines the club up behind the ball before stepping into their stance and posture. Is this why it's so important to have the correct lie and shaft length clubs because variations here will affect the height of the grip at address, as well as distance from the ball? This leads to a follow-up question.. How should the club head sit behind the ball? Should the sole sit level on the ground, or should the club rest slightly on the heel? l tend to pull my short irons a bit, so could resting the club incorrectly on the ground contribute to this?