Positive AOA Driver/Body weight hanging back?

[jabwind51]

Info on my golf game

RH Golfer

7 HCP

Good ball striker, play blades since forever

Weakest part of game is driver miss right

 

So I tend to be a steeper iron player with a fade but struggle leveling out or having a slightly upward AOA with the driver. What feels like 8 degrees up is like 0.7 to 1. I’m looking for some advice on this bc when I try to swing up, it actually is pretty neutral and the flight and spin is great, but I have a tendency to remain on my right side and not get left. Feels like I’m hanging back. With the downward strike I know I get left.

 

My driver fitting showed that +AOA I had 2200-2600 RPM driver but -AOA I was way over 3000 and losing 30-40 yards.

 

Advice on that hanging back not turning through?

 

Thank you.

[Popeye64]

> @jabwind51 said:

> Info on my golf game

> RH Golfer

> 7 HCP

> Good ball striker, play blades since forever

> Weakest part of game is driver miss right

>

> So I tend to be a steeper iron player with a fade but struggle leveling out or having a slightly upward AOA with the driver. What feels like 8 degrees up is like 0.7 to 1. I’m looking for some advice on this bc when I try to swing up, it actually is pretty neutral and the flight and spin is great, but I have a tendency to remain on my right side and not get left. Feels like I’m hanging back. With the downward strike I know I get left.

>

> My driver fitting showed that +AOA I had 2200-2600 RPM driver but -AOA I was way over 3000 and losing 30-40 yards.

>

> Advice on that hanging back not turning through?

>

> Thank you.

 

I could have written this question myself word for word. Never had any luck increasing AOA with any consistency as my body fought the changes every step of the way. By any chance do you have a stocky muscular build with broad shoulders?

[jabwind51]

> @Popeye64 said:

> > @jabwind51 said:

> > Info on my golf game

> > RH Golfer

> > 7 HCP

> > Good ball striker, play blades since forever

> > Weakest part of game is driver miss right

> >

> > So I tend to be a steeper iron player with a fade but struggle leveling out or having a slightly upward AOA with the driver. What feels like 8 degrees up is like 0.7 to 1. I’m looking for some advice on this bc when I try to swing up, it actually is pretty neutral and the flight and spin is great, but I have a tendency to remain on my right side and not get left. Feels like I’m hanging back. With the downward strike I know I get left.

> >

> > My driver fitting showed that +AOA I had 2200-2600 RPM driver but -AOA I was way over 3000 and losing 30-40 yards.

> >

> > Advice on that hanging back not turning through?

> >

> > Thank you.

>

> I could have written this question myself word for word. Never had any luck increasing AOA with any consistency as my body fought the changes every step of the way. By any chance do you have a stocky muscular build with broad shoulders?

 

Yes. I regularly lift weights 3x a week and I was a college athlete about a decade ago.

 

Hopefully we can find some insight and tips

 

 

[Hackattack1]

same here!!! any good advice much appreciated.

[airjammer]

Post a swing..pretty sure that getting to your left side isn’t the problem if you won’t post a swing..who says getting to the left is a problem. Most long hitters pressure trace goes trail foot-front foot-trail foot “or not all because they are airborne

[jabwind51]

> @airjammer said:

> Post a swing..pretty sure that getting to your left side isn’t the problem if you won’t post a swing..who says getting to the left is a problem. Most long hitters pressure trace goes trail foot-front foot-trail foot “or not all because they are airborne

 

 

Thank you. I will attempt to get a current swing today or tomorrow to review.

 

[tthomasgolfer605]

I don't know what your speed is but the average tour player is -1.3 down with the driver. The driver shouldn't require a different feel just a stance adjustment. You could be setting up with the spine too vertically with the driver or too narrow of a stance.

[b.mattay]

Try hitting the bottom of the tee with the leading edge of your driver tends to promote a fairly level angle of attack. A negative angle attack shouldn't lose you 30-40 yards and jump spin that much though, that just sounds like poor contact (low on face perhaps).

[larrybud]

There's negative, then there's negative. -1 isn't going to kill your distance. -5 will. (I would know!)

 

So it depends on what the OP means.

 

[jabwind51]

> @larrybud said:

> There's negative, then there's negative. -1 isn't going to kill your distance. -5 will. (I would know!)

>

> So it depends on what the OP means.

>

 

 

-5 to -7 is what I was seeing in my fitting until I started to change the AOA and get closer to -1 to +1

 

I’m starting to think it’s my shoulders at address perhaps they are too open and need to be more closed and that is why it feels like I am hanging back by trying to hit up on the ball.

 

If I can close the shoulders and drop the right one back a little more and swing more level that may be the fix

[nsxguy]

Miss right could be a slight grip change (slightly stronger) or a function of too much weight forward and the club trailing too much (open face).

 

I had the same problem(s) most of my golfing "career" LOL.

 

About 8 years or so ago I demo'd a driver in a shop's LM. The teacher happened to be watching and turned on on the video. Almost 4K backspin and a tremendous loss of distance - pretty normal for me then.

 

What the camera showed - a full weight shift forward BUT including my whole upper body, head, of course, included. Yikes !!! So with all my weight forward I was coming down with a negative AoA and the club wide open and trailing badly which often resulted in a right miss.

 

He helped me get and keep my head back while allowing my thighs and hips to rotate forward,,,,,,,,,, but NOT the upper body. Voila !!!

 

However,,,,,,,,,, after the fix(es), occasionally I would "hang back" and there it goes, pull hook left and (usually) dead. Ugh.

 

I've found a fix for that "hang back" though, and it's been mentioned before many times. In my case I think of the Stenson "press". Right before he pulls the trigger Henrik's got a slight move forward with his back (right) knee. This, for me, gets the weight to the inside of the back foot.

 

Pretty hard to sway back with that knee and foot position.

 

A couple(?) of instructors here on WRX (iteach ? Monte ?) have said NOT to "chase" an upward angle of attack. I think that's good advice however, you DO need to keep the head back behind the ball while allowing the mid section to turn fully.

 

If you make the proper moves and get in a good position I wouldn't worry about the AoA.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

[YoungJedi]

AOa is related to path. Get your path more in to out for the driver, and you will see AOa get more more positive.

 

Bump hips forward, and spine back at address. Swing out. Just get face square (which will feel closed to you since it’s normally open).

 

There you go

[DaveMac]

> @jabwind51 said:

> Advice on that hanging back not turning through?

> Thank you.

 

 

It’s not all about the body, perhaps the change you are looking for can be found by releasing the driver earlier in the down swing.

 

Have a look at this video and see if the ideas are something you might want to experiment with.

 

[shanksaplenty]

> @"b.mattay" said:

> Try hitting the bottom of the tee with the leading edge of your driver tends to promote a fairly level angle of attack. A negative angle attack shouldn't lose you 30-40 yards and jump spin that much though, that just sounds like poor contact (low on face perhaps).

 

+100.

 

This one tip has revolutionized my driving. Martin Hall describes here: https://www.golfchannel.com/video/school-golf-curing-high-and-low-mis-hits-tip

 

I think we get so focused on “hitting up” with the driver, we hang back, flip our hands, and catch the ball below the driver’s equator. In fact, a positive angle of attack can be pre-set. By simply using the correct ball position (use left instep as starting point for a RH golfer), setting the ball at the correct tee height (ball halfway above the driver’s crown at address), then adding the above tip, you can then vary the height of your tee shots by the amount of spine tilt at address.

 

Let us know how the changes progress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jabwind51]

Thanks very much I will try it out when the rain stops

[jabwind51]

[jabwind51]

[jabwind51]

Club info

 

TS4 at 9.5 with Ventus 6S

Club head speed 108-110

265-280 distance with the Garmin launch monitor.

 

Not very good smash factor tonight....

 

 

[jabwind51]

> @jabwind51 said:

> Club info

>

> TS4 at 9.5 with Ventus 6S

> Club head speed 108-110

> 265-280 distance with the Garmin launch monitor.

>

> Not very good smash factor tonight....

>

>

 

Also noticed a lot of early extending. Some old bad habits...

[Krt22]

 

> @YoungJedi said:

> AOa is related to path. Get your path more in to out for the driver, and you will see AOa get more more positive.

>

> Bump hips forward, and spine back at address. Swing out. Just get face square (which will feel closed to you since it’s normally open).

>

> There you go

 

A positive AoA shifts path left...

[airjammer]

You are definitely getting left enough..too much actually and at the wrong time.

 

Backswing is the beginning of your problems.

 

What are your goals and how much time do you realistically have to improve?

[jabwind51]

> @airjammer said:

> You are definitely getting left enough..too much actually and at the wrong time.

>

> Backswing is the beginning of your problems.

>

> What are your goals and how much time do you realistically have to improve?

 

 

Thank you. So I worked with an instructor last year and it really helped get my HCP down to a 7 but I can see myself Really early extending in these vids so reverting to old habits. I will take another video this week reinforcing what I had learned.

 

Goals are close to scratch golf and realistically weekends for practice and maybe 1 weekday I can devote. I’m rather work on practice then go play kinda guy.

 

[larrybud]

Back swing is far too long, which is causing your upper body to move towards the target. Check out how much more forward your head is at impact than at address. At that point you're going to be steep and will have to manipulate the crap out of it to somehow get a neutral AoA.

 

 

[airjammer]

 

 

This is the first thing that hopefully your instructor has touch on. Instead of your right hip getting deeper or at least staying back, it gets significantly closer to the ball at the top. It makes you have a stupid flat shoulder plane.

[jabwind51]

> @airjammer said:

>

>

>

> This is the first thing that hopefully your instructor has touch on. Instead of your right hip getting deeper or at least staying back, it gets significantly closer to the ball at the top. It makes you have a stupid flat shoulder plane.

 

Noted. Yes I have always been standing up and spinning my right hip which is what I’m starting to do again here and going close to the ball.

 

We worked on maintaining the glute line and when I do so I am always hitting a lot more GIR and fairways. Ball striking has always been good but it’s a lot better with a shallower divot when staying back or getting deeper as you say.

 

Much appreciated! Lemme know what else I need to do!

 

 

[jabwind51]

UPDATE: Iron swing is much improved and more consistent and it also has translated to a more shallow AOA with the driver! But I still struggle with maintaining the glute line and early extension specifically with the driver

Anyone have any really good tips or feels on how to get rid of the driver early extension? I have some screen shots to see thx!

 

 

 

[MonteScheinblum]

You have to address the why.

[jabwind51]

Monte! Any idea on the why? I’ll share my full swings over to you via email if you’d like...

[Meesh]

Do you have a more recent video? I would try a stronger grip and keeping your inclination to the ground on the backswing.

[jabwind51]