Release and hand position, am I on the right track?

[bonvivantva]

Quick background - I took a golf trip to Myrtle Beach last month and was playing the best golf of my life, shooting in the low 90s. This is about 10 strokes better than I was playing last year, which is great. However, I did a ton of practice on my irons before the trip, and then during the trip the reason I played well was I was driving the ball great. My irons were about the same as always.

 

After the trip, I've tried a lot of different things to try to figure out the problem with my irons. I have a slight over the top swing that on the driver produced a very playable fade (I don't think I missed a fairway by more than a yard or two in 7 rounds of golf, which is just incredible for me). However, I almost always hit my irons fat (or sometimes top them). I've focused mainly on my swing path, trying to get more in to out, and also on my shoulder turn, trying to make it less flat. However, I haven't made any real progress.

 

Today, I was taking a fairly typical swing. My swing path was close to neutral, and I swung in to out about as often as I came over the top, but we're talking about subtle draws and fades, not hooks and slices, so no big deal (to me). My shoulders were probably still a little flatter than ideal, but I wasn't moving way back off the ball and moving my head all over the place like I had been. I just couldn't hit the ball solid. I lined up to the ball with a 7 iron the way I would with a driver. I was tilted way back and really coming from the inside. I hit the ball pretty solid, but the club was so lofted I was only carrying about 130. This obviously isn't the best way to hit an iron, but it got me thinking about what was different about my driver and iron swings.

 

I realized the only difference during good contact was that my hands were much farther forward before impact, and I felt like I was swinging past my body after second parallel. Previously, I'd been trying to take my arms out of my swing to help my over the top swing path, but today I was aggressively swinging my arms as forward as possible to get my hands in front of the ball before impact (like I do with the driver). So to clarify, I set up normally for a 7i, but changed my swing to really force my hands forward before impact. I was hitting some shots left but mostly right of target, but my distance was pretty consistent at about 150 carry with a 7 iron. The contact felt much better than usual. I wasn't slamming the club into the mat the way I typically do.

 

When I got home, I tried to google info about getting your hands forward before impact, forward shaft lean, lag, etc. I couldn't find any videos that pertain to contact. I only found videos about lag, distance, etc. However, getting my hands past the ball seems to be the key to solid contact. My concern is that I'm forcing my hands forward. They naturally want to fall back near my trail leg, and then I guess I flip at the ball. The feeling I have when I fixed it was separating my arms from my body and really throwing/releasing my arms out past the ball. I ran out of time at the range (lunch break), and headed back. My concern is that I've really only found another compensation. How do I get my hands to naturally end up more forward at last parallel before impact? I felt like I was shifting my weight forward pretty well, and I didn't feel like I was hanging back, it really just seemed like my hands were stuck 6 inches too far back. Any videos that explain this/that have drills would be ideal, but advice is also very appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[bonvivantva]

 

Went down the rabbit hole on cf and cp releases. The above video leads me to believe I may be stalling my turn when I chunk. I certainly don't have that feeling, but a consistent chunk has to come from somewhere.

 

The forcing my hands forward feeling may just be a cp release that doesn't stall out. Thoughts?

[bonvivantva]

Or maybe the problem isn't forcing my hands forward, its letting them get disconnected and behind the body in the first place? I found some, "spinner no throw" videos where you don't really release at all I guess, but I'm not clear on what exactly that drill is our how you are supposed to use it. When I don't release, I don't seem to hit the ball well and my hands never get forward enough.

[GungHoGolf]

If you want useful advice on your swing, you really should post up a video of it.

 

Describing your swing in words just doesn't work, because you're an unreliable witness to it.

 

Feel isn't real. Video don't lie.

[bonvivantva]

I posted some video previously, and nobody said anything about flipping at the ball. I might not have even captured it on video, but it does feel like something I struggle with. When I force my hands forward, I make better contact. I'm mostly curious what people thing I could look at to work on consistently getting my hands forward, or getting them forward more naturally.

[bogeypro]

Post it. I’ll comment on it.

[bonvivantva]

Went to the range today, but I realized my tripod wasn't in my golf bag, as I took it out for a recent trip. So no video yet.

 

However, I did figure out what the problem was. The feeling was my hands, but really the issue was my right elbow. When I really focused on getting my right elbow forward in the downswing, it helped stop my over the top, and really helped my consistency. I really didn't chuck much, and even better, I never slammed the club down fat like I sometimes do. After working on the right elbow some, the issue became closing the club face. I really had to try to get the logo of my glove to the target when I was swinging better with my elbow or else the face would be wide open. So I haven't fixed everything yet, but at least I know to focus on that elbow and then once that gets better, work on managing the club face.