2 years later…

[cardinal2sabine]

Going to the range this weekend since I finally have a weekend off. Need some help on what to work on. 
I play a baby fade most of the time. I can sometimes hit the draw when needed but I struggle with a heel strike miss and I can’t figure out why it’s happening. I don’t keep a handicap but I usually shoot about 78-82

Edited June 30, 2023 by cardinal2sabine
Made title more relevant to today

[Valtiel]

Pretty good swing overall! What I am seeing that could lead to heel misses is a potential clubface rotation issue and maybe some minor setup and positional things:



A bit to explain here, but i'll break it down. 

In Panel #1 we see a pretty good setup that *might* be a little crowded? Your shoulders and neck look a little tense, like you're in a bit of a "shrugged" position that could be relaxed a bit by keeping your head in the exact same spot but sliding back maybe an inch, nothing big. Your hips look a little open as well with your right knee and hip feeling like they are sticking out a bit towards the ball. This might be a feel thing but its worth noting. 

In Panel #2 you have rotated well with the lower body (the red line serves as a marker for the hip depth you have established at address and are maintaining) but the club is very flat and inside. Not the worst thing in the world (I struggle with something similar) since there are some pros out there that have this move, but it sets the stage for a bit of an over the top/steep move in transition which i'll get into coming up.

In Panel #3 we see a good overall position since you picked up the club from the flat position it was in in Panel #2, but we see a pretty clearly open clubface matching a slightly cupped wrist angle. Ideally in a neutral position we want the clubface matching your left arm plane, and we can see that it doesn't. Your left wrist has cupped and opened the clubface a bit which tells me that you have a fairly neutral left hand grip (good) but that you are now forced to compensate for this open clubface on the way down (not so good). This is the fork in the road that can lead in a number of different directions and will be dependent on your feel and what works for you. To compensate for this we would normally want to see a more aggressive bowing of the left wrist and squaring of the clubface early combined with the hands dropping down in a shallowing move, but instead....

In Panel #4 we see a less severe version of the typical compensation for an open clubface. The first move in the frames between Panel #3 and #4 show your hands moving towards the ball (steepening) instead of dropping (shallowing). This is normally in reaction to the fact that our brain knows the clubface is open, and that open clubface = right, so a move is made to drive your path a little over the top and to the left to compensate. We see this more in what your body has done over your hands, because the club is not THAT steep. What we do see is the loss of hip depth in transition (your pelvis coming towards the ball). This pushes your path over the top and is sort of the "unhealthy" way to hit a fade. 

Panel #5 shows the logical conclusion with a few extra markings for clarity. With your lower body coming towards the ball, you are forced to raise your hands and steepen the shaft plane. The yellow brackets show the almost perfect 1:1 relationship between loss of hip depth and how much your hands had to move from their original position in response. The red dot that shows where your hands were at address (where you are trying to get back to) is right up against your right thigh, which is a space you could still conceivably get your hands back to but would likely feel weird. 

So what to do then? Overall there are a lot of good things here and your impact position aside from the depth issue is quite good. Since these "problems" are all compensations, you can attack this a few different ways based on whether or not you want to focus on your body or your hands first.

For the hands, you could work on getting your left wrist into a better position at the top to square your clubface. You roll it open in the takeaway a bit which is part of what causes that inside path and neutralizing this by taking the club back straighter and more "shut" feeling might get you into a more neutral position. The problem is that if it DOES, the compensation you are making with your body needs to go away as well as it will just lead to pulls with a more square clubface. The goal in Panel #5 is for your left hip to be up against that red line. That shift/rotation of your lower body away from the ball creates the room for your hands and arms to return to a more original position (the red dot and line shows that position at address) and will need to happen in conjunction with a more square clubface to keep things neutral. 

For the body, reference this video for info on hip depth and rotation. I would say that what you are doing is one part more "pro" move (initial hip rotation in takeaway) and one part "amateur" (what the hips do in transition). 
 

 

[cardinal2sabine]

9 hours ago, Valtiel said:

Pretty good swing overall! What I am seeing that could lead to heel misses is a potential clubface rotation issue and maybe some minor setup and positional things:



A bit to explain here, but i'll break it down. 

In Panel #1 we see a pretty good setup that *might* be a little crowded? Your shoulders and neck look a little tense, like you're in a bit of a "shrugged" position that could be relaxed a bit by keeping your head in the exact same spot but sliding back maybe an inch, nothing big. Your hips look a little open as well with your right knee and hip feeling like they are sticking out a bit towards the ball. This might be a feel thing but its worth noting. 

In Panel #2 you have rotated well with the lower body (the red line serves as a marker for the hip depth you have established at address and are maintaining) but the club is very flat and inside. Not the worst thing in the world (I struggle with something similar) since there are some pros out there that have this move, but it sets the stage for a bit of an over the top/steep move in transition which i'll get into coming up.

In Panel #3 we see a good overall position since you picked up the club from the flat position it was in in Panel #2, but we see a pretty clearly open clubface matching a slightly cupped wrist angle. Ideally in a neutral position we want the clubface matching your left arm plane, and we can see that it doesn't. Your left wrist has cupped and opened the clubface a bit which tells me that you have a fairly neutral left hand grip (good) but that you are now forced to compensate for this open clubface on the way down (not so good). This is the fork in the road that can lead in a number of different directions and will be dependent on your feel and what works for you. To compensate for this we would normally want to see a more aggressive bowing of the left wrist and squaring of the clubface early combined with the hands dropping down in a shallowing move, but instead....

In Panel #4 we see a less severe version of the typical compensation for an open clubface. The first move in the frames between Panel #3 and #4 show your hands moving towards the ball (steepening) instead of dropping (shallowing). This is normally in reaction to the fact that our brain knows the clubface is open, and that open clubface = right, so a move is made to drive your path a little over the top and to the left to compensate. We see this more in what your body has done over your hands, because the club is not THAT steep. What we do see is the loss of hip depth in transition (your pelvis coming towards the ball). This pushes your path over the top and is sort of the "unhealthy" way to hit a fade. 

Panel #5 shows the logical conclusion with a few extra markings for clarity. With your lower body coming towards the ball, you are forced to raise your hands and steepen the shaft plane. The yellow brackets show the almost perfect 1:1 relationship between loss of hip depth and how much your hands had to move from their original position in response. The red dot that shows where your hands were at address (where you are trying to get back to) is right up against your right thigh, which is a space you could still conceivably get your hands back to but would likely feel weird. 

So what to do then? Overall there are a lot of good things here and your impact position aside from the depth issue is quite good. Since these "problems" are all compensations, you can attack this a few different ways based on whether or not you want to focus on your body or your hands first.

For the hands, you could work on getting your left wrist into a better position at the top to square your clubface. You roll it open in the takeaway a bit which is part of what causes that inside path and neutralizing this by taking the club back straighter and more "shut" feeling might get you into a more neutral position. The problem is that if it DOES, the compensation you are making with your body needs to go away as well as it will just lead to pulls with a more square clubface. The goal in Panel #5 is for your left hip to be up against that red line. That shift/rotation of your lower body away from the ball creates the room for your hands and arms to return to a more original position (the red dot and line shows that position at address) and will need to happen in conjunction with a more square clubface to keep things neutral. 

For the body, reference this video for info on hip depth and rotation. I would say that what you are doing is one part more "pro" move (initial hip rotation in takeaway) and one part "amateur" (what the hips do in transition). 
 

 

Thank you! That’s super informative. One thing I’ve noticed while trying to bow the wrist a little more is I can’t quite get the club back as far. So just a flexibility thing I’m assuming. I’ll work on this! 

[Valtiel]

11 hours ago, cardinal2sabine said:

Thank you! That’s super informative. One thing I’ve noticed while trying to bow the wrist a little more is I can’t quite get the club back as far. So just a flexibility thing I’m assuming. I’ll work on this! 

No problem! Regarding backswing depth, I would be curious to see if flattening your left wrist actually did shorten your backswing or if just *feels* that way. The cupping and subsequent opening of the clubface and slight move towards being across the line can feel like "more" backswing when in reality it is just the club moving more behind your head. If you wouldn't mind videoing some swings that way while just trying to swing as normal as possible it would be interesting to see. 

[cardinal2sabine]

Okay, we’re back. Over 2 years later and about 45lbs down and definitely feel like I’m swinging better overall. Got two swings here. Both struck well. The driver swing was a dead yank. Tried to kill it off this tee but upper body went first I believe. 

What do you guys think I should be working on?

RPReplay_Final1688094441.MOV
RPReplay_Final1688094562.MOV  

 

Edited June 30, 2023 by cardinal2sabine
Royally messed this post up. added video to post. hopefully working now.