Desperate for help

[MCL116]

I'm trying to make a comeback after taking a year off from playing.

 

I started taking lessons with somebody that's worked under some amazing instructors to try to come back the right way.  Make sure I'm working on things that will help me play a more enjoyable game.

 

My ball striking is very inconsistent.  My first move is consistently to steepen the club from the top.  I don't really feel like I'm yanking down on it but it looks like I am.

 

I've tried thinking about getting my right elbow to the ball, in front of my stomach.

 

I've tried thinking about just rotating as hard as I can to the left and seeing what happens.

 

I'm really not seeing any changes or improvements and I find I'm really not even sure what to be focused on and what to do to improve that priority at this point (even seeing this instruction every 2 weeks or so, may look for another at this point).

 

So I've come to all of your golf lovers and addicts to please please help me!

 

 

 

Edited June 17, 2022 by MCL116

[tthomasgolfer605]

Feel like you're coming over it for a while. Left shoulder down and hands out. 

[Valtiel]

A few interesting things going on here, and if you're working with a good instructor then I would take these ideas to them. Obviously you have a very smooth, easy tempo, basically nothing violent going on anywhere. However I reckon your inconsistencies are coming from the little loop at the top of your backswing, what happens to the club when you do that, and what you're doing to compensate. The first two issues are related to how that loop at the top is getting you a bit stuck. Your hands deepen (get further behind you) and the club actually steepens:

 

These two things together present a problem because they're actively putting both your hands and the club in a more difficult position to deliver. That little drill that you did at 1:54, the sort of "hold the angles and rotate" thing, that can't apply to your swing with this move. In the first frame of the gif above you are in position to execute that drill move, as you are in the actual drill itself, but the next frame which shows your hands deepening and the shaft steepening puts you out of position to use those "hold and turn" ideas. It may just be a matter of trying to hit balls slowly while using that drill as your guide, because it's this move that you need to get rid of basically. 

The next set of issues comes from what your body is doing to compensate for this move. You have, in slightly varying degrees across these swings, a bit of a lower body "hump" towards the ball in the downswing, which is a super common compensation for the club getting to stuck and steep behind you. This is again in opposition to the drill at 1:54 because those moves see you driving your left hip back and dropping the club down in front of you, but the club is both stuck behind you and too steep, therefore you can't simply turn and expect to come into the ball without compensations. 

The most interesting bit IMO if what we see with the back to back shots at 2:36 and 2:46. When you're stuck inside and have to hump and flip a little bit to make decent contact you'll be fighting the fact that your path is too inside which will typically give you the two way miss of weak blocks to the right when don't shut the clubface enough and quick hooks left when you over do it. 2:36 sees what looks like the weak shot to the right, and probably poor contact too. 2:46 then sees you actually make a very different move with your lower body. You tried to hold it back, maintain depth, and execute something similar to the 1:54 drill, and you completely drop kicked it off the end of toe with imagine some form of "that stupid xxxxxx drill isn't working" going through your head. That is exactly what happens when you don't execute that lower body "hump towards the ball" compensation that you need to get the club unstuck, which you return to with the following shots. 

I would take these ideas to your teacher, basically "I'm getting myself too deep/stuck/steep in transition and getting stuck on the inside because of this move i'm doing, help me NOT do that so I can execute this "hold and rotate" drill correctly" and see how they can help you. You have a lot of decent components otherwise and I think if you can get out of that transition move and neutralize your path in the downswing that you'll see noticeable consistency improvements. 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Valtiel

[MCL116]

14 hours ago, Valtiel said:

A few interesting things going on here, and if you're working with a good instructor then I would take these ideas to them. Obviously you have a very smooth, easy tempo, basically nothing violent going on anywhere. However I reckon your inconsistencies are coming from the little loop at the top of your backswing, what happens to the club when you do that, and what you're doing to compensate. The first two issues are related to how that loop at the top is getting you a bit stuck. Your hands deepen (get further behind you) and the club actually steepens:

 

These two things together present a problem because they're actively putting both your hands and the club in a more difficult position to deliver. That little drill that you did at 1:54, the sort of "hold the angles and rotate" thing, that can't apply to your swing with this move. In the first frame of the gif above you are in position to execute that drill move, as you are in the actual drill itself, but the next frame which shows your hands deepening and the shaft steepening puts you out of position to use those "hold and turn" ideas. It may just be a matter of trying to hit balls slowly while using that drill as your guide, because it's this move that you need to get rid of basically. 

The next set of issues comes from what your body is doing to compensate for this move. You have, in slightly varying degrees across these swings, a bit of a lower body "hump" towards the ball in the downswing, which is a super common compensation for the club getting to stuck and steep behind you. This is again in opposition to the drill at 1:54 because those moves see you driving your left hip back and dropping the club down in front of you, but the club is both stuck behind you and too steep, therefore you can't simply turn and expect to come into the ball without compensations. 

The most interesting bit IMO if what we see with the back to back shots at 2:36 and 2:46. When you're stuck inside and have to hump and flip a little bit to make decent contact you'll be fighting the fact that your path is too inside which will typically give you the two way miss of weak blocks to the right when don't shut the clubface enough and quick hooks left when you over do it. 2:36 sees what looks like the weak shot to the right, and probably poor contact too. 2:46 then sees you actually make a very different move with your lower body. You tried to hold it back, maintain depth, and execute something similar to the 1:54 drill, and you completely drop kicked it off the end of toe with imagine some form of "that stupid xxxxxx drill isn't working" going through your head. That is exactly what happens when you don't execute that lower body "hump towards the ball" compensation that you need to get the club unstuck, which you return to with the following shots. 

I would take these ideas to your teacher, basically "I'm getting myself too deep/stuck/steep in transition and getting stuck on the inside because of this move i'm doing, help me NOT do that so I can execute this "hold and rotate" drill correctly" and see how they can help you. You have a lot of decent components otherwise and I think if you can get out of that transition move and neutralize your path in the downswing that you'll see noticeable consistency improvements. 

 

You sir are a legend.  thanking you so much for taking such a close look at what I'm doing and giving such an in-depth response.

 

It's been a pretty frustrating comeback so far.

 

First I've been working on my backswing.  When I do it well, I don't have that loop or it's not as exaggerated.

 

And at the same time, I'm trying to work on the rotating in the downswing which requires an early shift to the left.

 

So it's been tough trying to think about making a good backswing, which tends to have me gather myself at the top, while also trying to work on proper rotation, which requires an early shift and totally different move than my body naturally does.

 

I will continue to work on my backswing because I understand that a lot of what happens on the downswing is because of what happened going back.

 

I will also work on doing those feeling swing in between all of my shots so it's fresher in my body and doing everything at half speed and not worrying about the ball flight.

 

I check the video I'm taking after about every 5 shots so regardless of ball flight I'll check to make sure my body is making the correct movements.

[Valtiel]

16 hours ago, MCL116 said:

 

You sir are a legend.  thanking you so much for taking such a close look at what I'm doing and giving such an in-depth response.

 

It's been a pretty frustrating comeback so far.

 

First I've been working on my backswing.  When I do it well, I don't have that loop or it's not as exaggerated.

 

And at the same time, I'm trying to work on the rotating in the downswing which requires an early shift to the left.

 

So it's been tough trying to think about making a good backswing, which tends to have me gather myself at the top, while also trying to work on proper rotation, which requires an early shift and totally different move than my body naturally does.

 

I will continue to work on my backswing because I understand that a lot of what happens on the downswing is because of what happened going back.

 

I will also work on doing those feeling swing in between all of my shots so it's fresher in my body and doing everything at half speed and not worrying about the ball flight.

 

I check the video I'm taking after about every 5 shots so regardless of ball flight I'll check to make sure my body is making the correct movements.

No problem, i'm glad that was helpful. To expand on what I meant my the club plane stuff, lets look at the drill swing vs. your normal swing:



Notice the consistency in plane and how your hands stay connected and in front with the drill swing vs. the separation and steepening on the right with your normal swing. The first frame of your normal swing is a position you'd want to start down from. 

[MCL116]

8 hours ago, Valtiel said:

No problem, i'm glad that was helpful. To expand on what I meant my the club plane stuff, lets look at the drill swing vs. your normal swing:



Notice the consistency in plane and how your hands stay connected and in front with the drill swing vs. the separation and steepening on the right with your normal swing. The first frame of your normal swing is a position you'd want to start down from. 

 

Yea totally see it.  It's not something I feel when I'm making a full swing at all so very hard to monitor or figure out why I'm doing it.

 

I've resorted to only working on my lower body and rebuilding from the ground up.

 

Take the club to the top full speed.  Pause, lower my hands, feel the pressure shift and hit a shot.  Being completely focused on the feeling of getting the pressure into my left heel and feeling like my left leg pushes as far back as possible.

 

I think I lack some muscle coordination in my left leg (which actually led to a running injury a couple of years ago that I just worked myself out of) so feeling what I need my left leg to do is a little tough and I think it's going to be tough to feel it in a full swing but I'm going to continue to focus on just that until I really have a feel for it and I can consistently do it every time.

 

Then I'm going to work on the arms dropping from the top properly because anytime I try to do more than that little drill, my arms don't work properly so will have to isolate that.

 

Really committed to building a good swing.

 

Thanks again for the help!

Edited June 19, 2022 by MCL116