Casting, Only When a Ball is Present..

Hey Everyone,

New here and appreciate any feedback! Im having a hard time not casting when there is a ball present. My practice swings feel and look great. As soon as I slide a ball in, cast. Im not sure how to break the mental block! Anyone ever have similar issues? Any thoughts/drills on how to swing like I do when the ball isn't there?!

That is because the face is likely wide open in your "great" practice swing. Not a mental block, just your body/subconscious adapting to square the face at impact.

Like Krt said, check your club face at the various positions of your practice swing.

Tour pros have great control of the club face. So when they make a change or try to exaggerate a feel (e.g. Justin Rose or Alex Noren) the face is still always in a great position. It's quite likely that you cannot perform your practice swing when you have a ball in front of you because if you tried to do that swing you would shank that ball or miss it entirely. Your brain is subconsciously making a change to your swing to prevent you from something horrendous happening. Post a video face on and down the line (of both your practice and with ball swings) and more will probably chime in with tips/drills.

The files are too big to attach and the forum wont allow me to post a link to my dropbox. Any other thoughts?

I wasnt able to get to the range so I took a few videos in the garage. These are what I thought to be a couple of the worst ones..Ive really been focusing on the transition, having the sensation of turning the lower body and letting the club fall through..rather than forcing it through and trying to force my hands forward through the ball in order to compress.

When I “turn and let it fall” with the 90 to 90 drill, its when I see my best, most effortless, ball striking. Trying to figure how to transfer that to the full swing. Thanks for any feedback.

Post it to Youtube, and then link the Youtube video.

So if you can make short swings that incorporate a swing change, work on increasing the length of the swing bit by bit while still keeping the change. If you fail, go back a step in swing length and make it happen correctly. Don't make the swing any longer than the point where you can do the move correctly. A toddler doesn't go from baby steps to full stride in one big jump, take it bit by bit.

Abandon the full practice swing from your preshot routine. If it feels great to you and is potentially reinforcing a bad habit, it needs to go (at least for now). Try something that creates a better feel like coming from the inside, or being on plane. Look at Alex Noren's or Justin Rose's pre shot routine. It doesnt need to just be about the full swing feel. If you do think you need a full swing, setup with focus on a tee or a leaf on the ground or something that you are hitting at rather than swinging. Otherwise you swing the club, and then you hit a ball. those are two different things. instead, hit a leaf, and then hit a ball.

Thank you all. If you want to see swing videos you can search for me on youtube. Still wont let me post links here because my account is so new.

youtube account: EC4 Train

Another thing to mention...I take a divot when I practice swing, and most of the time during range sessions. On the course, LOTs of thin and sometimes even cold topped shots.. Not committing?

As others have surmised, your practice swing would produce a miss to the right or even a shank.

Your wrist angles at the top of the swing and transition need significant change.

Your right wrist is almost straight at the top of the swing and it should have significant bend.

In transition, your left wrist needs to flex/bow and/or increase right wrist bend even more.

Id also add you’re probably too close to the ball.

I'll post them for you

Face on (no ball):

Face on (w/ ball):

DTL (no ball):

DTL (w/ ball):

Have always had a hard time even getting my wrist that flat at the top. Used to have a lot more cup. Not sure bow is in the cards. Not everyone bows at the top though from what Ive noticed..?? On transition I can definitely work on that. Thank you.

i didn’t say you needed to be bowed at the top, but that flat right wrist needs improvement if you want to improve your impact. Grip might need to change to get you there.

Would the grip want to go stronger or weaker to help my cause?

The sequence down is shoulder, arm, hand, not hand, arm, shoulder- save that for the back swing. Sort that out first and the grip will generally follow.

I just had to post this just in case anybody missed it. All those posts over the years saying the no ball swing had an open face may have been correct, DTL no ball impact position:

This is why training aids that do not require ball contact (or just doing lots of drills without a ball to hit) have to be used in conjunction with hitting balls with your clubs - things like speed sticks, orange whip, etc can improve aspects of the swing to the detriment of others (club face, low point control being 2).

I took this same exact screen shot. Face is wide open. Looking at these, is there a drill that comes to mind that will help me?

You care too much

Does it happen when you're alone or worse when people are watchin?

?? care too much.. well I care bc my ball striking on the course is garbage lol. Thats why I came here for advice. Trying to figure out my inconsistencies and play better.

But always when people are watching. 2 different golfers when I practice and when I play with others. Im sure thats not uncommon??

First, stop taking video of practice swings, you've demonstrated that they're really not helpful. Second, work with an instructor to figure out the root of your casting. Its most likely to be a symptom of something that happens much earlier in your swing. I'm no instructor, but a good one will help you determine and address the cause, instead of worrying about the symptom.

I'd start with Monte's suggestion - your right wrist needs to extend in the backswing (hinge backwards) - at left arm parallel in backswing feel like you have your right palm facing away from you and at the top you should have a feel of the waiter holding a tray - your left wrist is going to do what your left wrist will do - in transition you want to flex your left wrist a bit more. Don't start fiddling with your grip until you do this and see what results it brings. Otherwise, getting a video lesson from Monte would help a lot more. In the meantime,

Hahaha Im saying you care too much cause sounds like you mind F yourself and make yourself nervous when it counts and I was asking if it gets worse when you have an audience. I knew a guy that had great practice swings but could not replicate the swing when hitting a ball.... nobody knows him now hahaha

To the OP. In my attempts to emulate your practice swing and stopping just before your impact position I am able to square my club face by straightening my right arm.

For what it's worth (and I'm a lowly 22 handicap) I've found that what I call 'the baseball drill' worked well for my face 'control'. Stand up straight, hold your club out in front of you then swing it from side to side. You should find that your arms automatically rotate the face open on the back swing then back through neutral and to closed at the end of the forward swing. Keep doing this while gradually bending at the waist.

Monte has a great video of the face control part of this swing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FH5r5_tROU.

Once you've got this drill sorted you can just ignore the club face.

The only change I make to the basic drill is that as my waist bend approaches that of address I begin using my hips to start the swing down.

Your casting because you have to, kinematic brain performs miracles everyday. Release is crap due to one or more of the following: tension, grip, wrist not set, hand path. Bad backswing wont help matters. I would educate hands, master grip and flail, then effects of hand path. Good luck.

Jnik.

no ball present = swing freely with no care in the world

ball present = knowing you want to hit it straight

cast = subconscious fix for flaws in your swing like wide open face or clubhead too high off the ground approaching impact

Thank you for the feed back everyone. I have been working on my wrist angles and am hitting the ball much better and more consistently.

Martin Ayers had a great expression about this topic better players immediately understand and appreciate. Hit the ball on its time, not yours.