What is "Getting Stuck" and how do you fix it??

[madness999]

Most of last year, and all of this year so far, I'd say 75% of my shots are pull hooks, snap hooks, or dead pulls. Throw in a bunch of low heel shots, and a few HUGE push rights, and I am about as screwed up with my swing as I can imagine ever being.

 

More importantly, I consider myself a "feel" player who is usually able to make adjustments on the course by feeling my swing, and I can feel nothing right now. The closest thing I feel sometimes is that all my weight is on my right heel sometimes, and some of my swings feel like they are being done with nothing but my arms.

 

Finally, by the end of 18 holes, and usually about the beginning of the back nine, my back is stiff, feels tight, and I usually get a tight pain sitting under my right shoulderblade.

 

I used to be able to play to a 6-7 but no where close to that right now.

 

My topic question is in response to what a couple of people have said to me - that I am "getting stuck" and also even when watching the Masters, the description of Tiger Woods' shots going left sounded like mine (although not as often or as bad for him of course) and all the announcers kept saying is he was stuck, but they never really said what that meant.

 

With the assumption that my descriptions above mean something, or the comments a couple people have said to me mean something, can anyone describe what "getting stuck" is, and more importantly, how do I fix it if that is what's happening?

 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts...

 

 

[Chase87]

I believe there can be different causes of getting stuck, but basically from my experience, it means that my takeaway is too far inside, so that on the downswing my hips and torso are ahead of my arms. When everything is out of sync, my arms lag behind (bad lag) and I have to attempt to save the shot by flipping the club face closed. If i don't flip it closed it's either a big push or a dreaded shank depending on the path of the club.

As a fix, I try and take the club straight back, or what i "feel" is outside, even though it actually isnt. You still keep the club on the correct plane by a full body turn though, instead of jerking the arms inside. This allows the club to have enough room to come around correctly in the downswing, allowing for whatever type of shot you want to play. I can hit draws and fades simply by adjusting my alignment. No different hand action is needed.

[dbren1]

IMO 'getting stuck' is when the lower body is out of sync with the upper body. It is the right elbow that gets 'stuck' behind the right hip so the club comes from the inside. From that position you can hit pushes or 'save' the shot with your hands. When you overdo it, the result will be a low hook. Get someone to look at your swing as there's a number of things that could behind this.

Also, if you're worrying about hitting a bad shot, your mind/body will subconsciously do what it can to hit that shot. That's why better players don't hit the ball until they've 'seen' the shot in their mind. Try to visualize the shot you want and commit to it. Don't get too caught up on swing mechanics during a round.

[dap]

Yes,being stuck is when the shoulder pivot lags too far behind the hips.The right shoulder and right elbow can't "win the race" with the clubhead to impact and you end up flipping the club with the hands to square it up.

Tiger has always had a problem with the hips flaring open but the shoulders too closed in relation especially when he tries to kill the driver.

One way to fix this is to "feel" the right shoulder and right hand drop down behind the right elbow on the transition.Initiating the downswing with the hips is not a good idea for this type of player because their hips are too overactive already.

[Jim Waldron]

Great question! Like many golf instruction buzz words, this one suffers from imprecise, vague and even multiple definitions. Here are a few. To hit a golf ball well, you need to have "space" literally a free passage for your arms/hands and by extension the clubhead to pass through just before, during and after impact. There are many ways to lose that "space" or never have it to start with. Upper arms "swinging" sideways on the backswing too much is the most common cause of being "stuck". The torso is now "in the way" of the arms swinging freely back through on the downswing, especially if the right elbow is at the golfers side or even behind the side for the very flexible golfers. The only way to make a free-wheeling motion when in this "stuck" position is by a very fast body pivot that is wide open with both hips and shoulder girdle at impact, ala Jim Furyk.

Too fast a lower body move, hip rotation especially, during Transition is another way of becoming "stuck" - Tiger's flaw. This creates arm lag pressure from intertia and thus increases the arm to shoulder girdle angle past 75 degrees. As dap explained so well, it also causes the shoulder girdle to lag too much behind the hips.

Standing up out of the address forward spine angle is another way to lose "space- as the tailbone/pelvic girdle is thrust toward the ball, the body is now blocking the path the hands must take to swing freely and on-plane through impact.

"Stuck" can also refer to too much in to out clubhead path on the downswing, ie at the Halfway down position the butt end of the club is pointing well to the right of the target line instead of the shaft being parallel to the target line and more or less over the toe line as it should be.

Early wrist **** angle release - if you maintain your forward spine angle posture - will effectively steepen and thus "lengthen" the clubhshaft, which will cause a very fat shot behind the ball. You sense a lack of space in the vertical dimension and will compensate by chicken winging the left elbow to effectively "shorten" the shaft or stand up out of your forward spine angle or usually both. Increasing the forward spine angle creates the same issue - another of Tigers flaws.

Being "late" with the release - even in the case where there is no mechanical reason for the "lateness" - is also often described as being "stuck", or caused by being "stuck" - when in reality it is often just poor timing of the release.

[dolleris]

I'd really like to hear more from the experts here...I'm also lost in this 'trap'

[swoop16]

Easiest way (for me) to fix any swing path problem is to put something in the way. With getting "stuck" or coming too far from the inside on your downswing, I would put my golf bag just off and slightly behind my right hip (for a right handed player).

Like another poster already said, check your spine angle on video and make sure your not thrusting your hips towards the ball on your downswing.

[Yuck]

"Most of last year, and all of this year so far, I'd say 75% of my shots are pull hooks, snap hooks, or dead pulls. Throw in a bunch of low heel shots, and a few HUGE push rights, and I am about as screwed up with my swing as I can imagine ever being."

"


You mentioned pulls as one of your symptoms. If they are true pulls, divot path is left of target for a right hander, you are not stuck, since being stuck does not allow an outside in swing path. However if your pulls have the divot starting right of your taget, but the face is shut down so badly, the ball goes left to left, you may be stuck. Look at your divots for diagnosis.

[ChipDriver]

[quote name='madness999' date='01 May 2010 - 04:43 PM' timestamp='1272750223' post='2412290']
Most of last year, and all of this year so far, I'd say 75% of my shots are pull hooks, snap hooks, or dead pulls. Throw in a bunch of low heel shots, and a few HUGE push rights, and I am about as screwed up with my swing as I can imagine ever being.

More importantly, I consider myself a "feel" player who is usually able to make adjustments on the course by feeling my swing, and I can feel nothing right now. The closest thing I feel sometimes is that all my weight is on my right heel sometimes, and some of my swings feel like they are being done with nothing but my arms.

Finally, by the end of 18 holes, and usually about the beginning of the back nine, my back is stiff, feels tight, and I usually get a tight pain sitting under my right shoulderblade.

I used to be able to play to a 6-7 but no where close to that right now.

My topic question is in response to what a couple of people have said to me - that I am "getting stuck" and also even when watching the Masters, the description of Tiger Woods' shots going left sounded like mine (although not as often or as bad for him of course) and all the announcers kept saying is he was stuck, but they never really said what that meant.

With the assumption that my descriptions above mean something, or the comments a couple people have said to me mean something, can anyone describe what "getting stuck" is, and more importantly, how do I fix it if that is what's happening?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts...


[/quote]



Getting stuck is when your hands get behind your torso. The space "in front" of your torso is the area between the outsides of your shoulders...and the "triangle" formed by your arms should stay within that area (in front) throughout the swing. When you start to rotate the body first, sometimes the triangle of the arms gets outside or "behind" your torso area - and on the down swing the arms are blocked or stuck by your right hip - and you push the ball.

A feel-cue is to try to correct this is to try to point your chest at the ball at impact.

[upanddown]

Getting stuck is when you come off your right side to quickly on the downswing and it blocks the arms from falling down in front of you. I think Leadbetter talks about it in his book. Watch how DLIII's right foot stays flat for a long time on the downswing. That is the way to cure it..

[Mike_C]

[quote name='Jim Waldron' date='02 May 2010 - 03:35 PM' timestamp='1272832552' post='2414147']
Great question! Like many golf instruction buzz words, this one suffers from imprecise, vague and even multiple definitions. Here are a few. To hit a golf ball well, you need to have "space" literally a free passage for your arms/hands and by extension the clubhead to pass through just before, during and after impact. There are many ways to lose that "space" or never have it to start with. Upper arms "swinging" sideways on the backswing too much is the most common cause of being "stuck". The torso is now "in the way" of the arms swinging freely back through on the downswing, especially if the right elbow is at the golfers side or even behind the side for the very flexible golfers. The only way to make a free-wheeling motion when in this "stuck" position is by a very fast body pivot that is wide open with both hips and shoulder girdle at impact, ala Jim Furyk.

Too fast a lower body move, hip rotation especially, during Transition is another way of becoming "stuck" - Tiger's flaw. This creates arm lag pressure from intertia and thus increases the arm to shoulder girdle angle past 75 degrees. As dap explained so well, it also causes the shoulder girdle to lag too much behind the hips.

[b]Standing up out of the address forward spine angle is another way to lose "space- as the tailbone/pelvic girdle is thrust toward the ball, the body is now blocking the path the hands must take to swing freely and on-plane through impact.[/b]

"Stuck" can also refer to too much in to out clubhead path on the downswing, ie at the Halfway down position the butt end of the club is pointing well to the right of the target line instead of the shaft being parallel to the target line and more or less over the toe line as it should be.

Early wrist **** angle release - if you maintain your forward spine angle posture - will effectively steepen and thus "lengthen" the clubhshaft, which will cause a very fat shot behind the ball. You sense a lack of space in the vertical dimension and will compensate by chicken winging the left elbow to effectively "shorten" the shaft or stand up out of your forward spine angle or usually both. Increasing the forward spine angle creates the same issue - another of Tigers flaws.

Being "late" with the release - even in the case where there is no mechanical reason for the "lateness" - is also often described as being "stuck", or caused by being "stuck" - when in reality it is often just poor timing of the release.
[/quote]


[url="http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/75087-swing-faults-early-extension-hip-thrust/"]This thread[/url] from the swing fitness forum addresses very well what I have bolded above. And the fact you say you get stiff as the round progresses, is something to consider.

I found out a few years ago I also was getting "stuck", and it was as described in that thread and above, forward hip movement/loss of spine angle as I started down, and then my arms had no where to go......the result? Sweeping duck hooks, pull hooks, and also the big block right......

[TucsonGolfer]

Holy super long answers...

Alright:

Getting stuck to me simply means getting your arms " Behind " your chest coming into impact position. Which will result in a complete block dead right ( for a right hander )

OR

If you know you are about to get stuck, you can " FLIP " your hands over, and then you get the wonderful Duck Hook, hard left. It can also be a pull depending if you are steep or flat etc..


TO fix it: Keep your arms and chest in sync the entire time of the golf swing, and make sure you get your chest to your target.

[fdbrian]

I also have this problem and I'd like to thank everyone for their imput.

[flatnstuck]

Well, first you swing very flat, and then your hips fire away like crazy leaving your shoulders and arms behind and you get stuck. It's a sorry way to play golf.

Spent 7 years trying various methods to get unstuck with varying degrees of success. Even with my best results I would still hit my right leg on the downswing from time to time. Not trying to make an overt advertisement here, but I ran across martinez19696 and he's well on the way to curing that crap. The solution he offered was to swing it further inside and then make the mother of all OTT moves. I'm not there yet, but the progress is very promising given only a few months time with the method.

[anycards]

Yes,being stuck is when the shoulder pivot lags too far behind the hips.The right shoulder and right elbow can't "win the race" with the clubhead to impact and you end up flipping the club with the hands to square it up.

 

Tiger has always had a problem with the hips flaring open but the shoulders too closed in relation especially when he tries to kill the driver.

 

One way to fix this is to "feel" the right shoulder and right hand drop down behind the right elbow on the transition.Initiating the downswing with the hips is not a good idea for this type of player because their hips are too overactive already.

 

This is in response to all of the posts on the internet about getting stuck.

My name is Luke. Apparently everyone is talking about getting stuck, and there seems to be dozens of theories as to what causes it. The following paragraphs outline my understanding of getting stuck, and how to get unstuck while still hitting from the inside.

 

You cannot move or clear your hips in the down and foreward swing unless the hips move laterally away from the target on the back swing. If you do not move your hips away from the target during the back swing you will get stuck with no reliable path or slot to swing the club into, and therefore have inconsistent results. (I still do not like the term downswing, it is really a down and forward swing).

 

Your left lead hip should be lower than the right trail hip at the start of the down swing, no matter what club you are using. The most reliable method of getting your left hip to be lower than the trail right hip at the beginning of the downswing, is to shift you hips away from the target during the back swing. Of course one could argue that any back swing in valid as long as you get into a good position during the transition, and that may be true, however in this post I am suggesting a reliable method I use to create a slot for the club, that is simple and makes sense when one tries it out for size.

 

Of course with this simple method, my center of weight never goes further away from the target than the instep arch of the right trail foot during the back swing.

If you get to the top of your back swing and you turn your torso hips and shoulders enough (and or twist our legs), and if you do all of that, and if at the top of your back swing, if your center between your two hips are closer to the target than your center of gravity of your torso and upper body, then in that case, you will not be in a position to create a slot for your club from the inside to travel down and forward to hit the ball reliably. At the top of your back swing, you right trail hip needs to be further away from the target than your center of gravity of your upper body and trunk or torso.

 

If you want your hips to slide and turn towards the target on the down swing, then by the law of Symmetry, you need to slide and turn your hips away from the target during your back swing. Of course you could respond by saying that the law of Symmetry does not apply in this case. Maybe so. But I do know that the method I describe in this post is the only method I have at this point in time, that allows me to not get stuck and at the same time it allows me to time my hip movement properly such that my lower body gets out of my way at the exact same time I need my upper body, shoulders and arms, to have room to hit the ball from an inside single or multiple plane swing.

 

 

 

 

Good regards to you and yours

 

Luke

[pacman16]

If your right elbow falls in front of your right hip (and the shaft shallows) but you’re aimed far right ..can you be stuck ?

[vietnameeh]

... wow 10 year old thread!

getting stuck is definitely a long term problem!

[pacman16]

 

haha it’s an important topic!

 

So many poor players eventually learn to swing from the inside and then unleash this power they never knew they had inside them.

Then they start coming from the inside .... with a stall ... a flip with a closed face and duck hook the ball over and over again.

This makes them question their sanity.

 

So my question is this

 

’You can come from the inside as long as you ........

 

1) Have space between your right elbow and torso at the top of the backswing ...

 

What else ?

 

 

 

 

 

[mgoblue83]

10 year old post of gold... LOL