Practice strategies for grooving a new path

[me05501]

I’m working through a series of live lessons with a local pro. My issue has always been pulling the club back too far inside and coming over the top. We’re working on reversing that, focusing on an outside/closed takeaway and a reverse motorcycle move during transition. So far so good.

During my solo range sessions I am using a slow practice swing to ingrain the changes I want to make. Then I’ll hit a ball and start over. I hit some great balls and a lot of bad ones but my misses are different now so at least I know things are changing.

One big thing I notice is more tension when I’m trying to feel the new swing. Obviously that’s not good, so I’m trying to be more loose and athletic when attempting a shot. I’m waggling the club more and keeping my feet loose and trying to make a confident, loose swing while not losing the path and hand action changes. The risk though is that feeling loose and comfortable seems likely to invite my old habits back to the party.

Does that make sense? I don’t want to feel too comfortable and revert to my old habits, but I don’t want to depend on a wooden mechanical swing either.

Any tips for practicing a new path without tension?

[glk]

Use feedback. Do everything slow - drill and hitting balls. Ignore ball flight and judge progress on motion - need to video. Only try swing faster if you can do the motion well at least 7/10 attempts - if do faster and can’t get 7/10 then drop back in speed. Use partial swings and build up to full.

[Scottbox]

Visuals are always helpful. Notice the two sticks on the ground. Use the one on the left to create a visual for your takeaway and the one to the right to help you with your path coming down. You can even put the "right" stick behind the takeaway stick, pointing slightly right, to check yourself at P6 (club horizontal to the ground just before impact). Be careful though: you want to do this with your club shaft, not by dropping your rear shoulder. That will create a host of other problems.

 

[me05501]

Thanks. Your last sentence underscores what I’m thinking about. I don’t want to replace one problem with a couple of others.

[glk]

One of most effective drills to change path is the stick drill (it can work other issues too) Is this part of your practice? If not you should consider it.

[Golfbeat]

Not sure what you mean by relaxed but you will need tension to get the correct arm and wrist structures in place. After many correct repetitions is will start to feel more natural or less tense but in the beginning it will feel alien and tense. A follow through with extended arms for example might feel very tense and unnatural as will a take away with a straight right arm. Keep working at it. It will become second nature at some point.

[ChaosTheory]

I learned a new move over the course of a winter by swinging indoors without hitting a ball. It was so much easier that way. The ball messes with our minds. Once I got out to hit the first ball of spring, I was shocked and delighted that I was able to automatically use the new move. I realize this might not be practical as you want to improve NOW. But my advice would be to do a lot of work without a ball.

[hoselpalooza]

to add to what @glk said: try doing mirror work before your practice. take notes and bring them with you to the range. review and update them during your practice as necessary. instant video feedback can be very helpful, too.

[DallasDan]

I've been an OTTer for 20+ years. I recently installed a simulator in my gameroom and my normal swing path was/is 10-15 degrees out to in. Early extension the whole nine yards. Massive power leaks everywhere. 7 iron 135. I've tried all the drills mentioned on this and all other threads. For some reason I cannot make my body swing in to out. I have recently found a swing key that is helping me reduce that out to in where my swing path is now anywhere from 1 degree in to out (yay!) all the way to 3 or 4 degrees out to in. 7i now goes 150 with a smooth swing (my driver ss is 90-93 mph). Here is the swing key that I use:

When you are looking down at the ball at address imagine a clock. The target is 12:00 and if you pull the club straight back that is 6:00. On the backswing I am only concerned with a smooth takeaway(I tend to snatch it back). Start the downswing with the lower body(in my head it's a slight pause at the top that syncs me up otherwise I start the ds with the hands and it's OTT city with no hope from there). And here is the MY key: the toe of the club swings out to 1:30 on the clock and I let the natural body and arm rotation square up the club face and finish with full rotation. I shot 73 at Pebble on TGG2019 which is my best ever on that thing. I'm hoping and praying that this isn't one of those honeymoon fixes that will go away because I am hitting some nice shots.

[me05501]

Thanks all.

I was digging through my spare club bin and found a couple of old friends. These are the Whippy Tempomaster 3w and 6i.

The Whippy clubs are built on very thin and flexible shafts and are weighted correctly to hit balls with. They help you find the efficient path and make a body-driven swing. Anything else will let the head get out of control. If you think of the old image of a weight on a rope, you’ve got the right idea, except these are functional clubs.

For today’s session I alternated between my own 7i and the Whippy 6i. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the moves my instructor is showing me work very well with the Whippy club. I was hitting it high and straight.

This helped me determine that some pull hook misses with my regular club were coming from poor sequencing...letting my shoulder turn start the downswing instead of my body turn.

I’m going to keep using the Whippy club in my range sessions and show it to the pro at my next lesson to make sure what I’m feeling is what he wants me to feel.