NEW Monte Power Shift Video - Wow!

[dlow206]

Spent more time on this today, while paying close attention to where certain ingrained movements started to creep back in. The following are areas where old movements could creep in during my swing

 

1. I previously have the tendency to stand up to some degree during the backswing. On the takeaway and first part of the backswing, I really need to feel the weight going to the rear heel. It feels almost like a mini-sway, but i need to be careful that doesn't turn into an actual sway.

 

2. When moving pressure to the left, I have to make sure to get the pressure to the front toes. Things go wrong for me if I don't get to the toes, sometimes i find the pressure more towards the ball of the foot and in the direction of the target. That might not make sense, but I can feel when it goes wrong.

 

3. My right hip still wants to move towards the ball early in the downswing, aka early extension. I have to really focus on it not making that movement. 

 

If number 2 or 3 happen, either the ball striking is not so great or i miss to the right with a swing path from the inside and open face, push or push fade/slice. 

[olemiss5931]

On 6/27/2023 at 3:23 PM, jonsnow said:

olemiss5931, are you in Augusta? I recognize Wedges and Woods, I hit balls there almost every Saturday!

 Oh yea I live like 10 minutes from there! Love stopping by after work to hit a bucket a couple times a week

[ucmike11]

I am a natural left hander, and I have been playing golf right handed my entire life.  For some reason, I cannot fully implement the proper movements into my swing, even with lots of rehearsals and practice.  I am someone who also jumps off my right foot, and I am right eye dominant. My golf skills have stalled, and I am not able to get the consistency I desire, even after a decade of playing.

 

So...I tried a left handed club, on the course, no practice swings. The resulting ball flight was hilarious.  But seriously, the lower body movements, with no practice, just a grip and rip for fun....I think there is potential and if I swap to playing left handed, it could benefit me long term.  Am I crazy? 

 

Compare the two face on videos:

 

 

 

[Jayjay_theweim_guy]

On 7/5/2023 at 4:02 PM, ucmike11 said:

I am someone who also jumps off my right foot, and I am right eye dominant. My golf skills have stalled, and I am not able to get the consistency I desire, even after a decade of playing.

 

So...I tried a left handed club, on the course, no practice swings. The resulting ball flight was hilarious.  But seriously, the lower body movements, with no practice, just a grip and rip for fun....I think there is potential and if I swap to playing left handed, it could benefit me long term.  Am I crazy? 

Nope.  As someone who is also left-handed and somewhat right-eye dominant (but is left-footed), I can absolutely see where you're going with this.  For me, getting back to my left foot and pushing off my front toes is very natural.  But I'm left-footed, and played a bunch of soccer growing up.  Getting to my right foot would be much more challenging.

 

Worse comes to worst, you can make a 'fresh start' with golf, approaching things from the other side.  I'd solicit @Righty to Leftyfor advice, as the screen name implies.

 

I'll just caution that these are difficult movements to incorporate, and it's supposed to take you a long time to get them to where they're unconscious.  Whether that's right handed or left.  Monte mentions in (IIRC), No-Turn Cast that learning these movements are like rubbing your head and patting your belly.  You're trying to do a combination of rotational and translational moves in sequence, very quickly.  It's not going to work for you without a lot of practice and time.

 

But if you've given it a good thorough try (weeks, a month or two) and you aren't making any progress. I don't see the harm in trying it the other way.  Certainly there's a lot more left-handed golf equipment to choose from these days vs 30 years ago.

Edited July 7, 2023 by Jayjay_theweim_guy

[maigre]

@ucmike11, I've been there. I'm a natural lefty who learned to play right handed decades ago. I always wondered if I was cheating myself by not playing left handed. So finally, I made the switch. This was more than 20 years ago. In a lot of ways, I don't think it made that much difference once my comfort level left handed caught up to the right side. It's not like I became a significantly better player or ball striker all that quickly.

 

Funny thing is, I was taking a lesson one day, maybe 10 years ago. Swinging right handed was kind of lost to me by then. The instructor told me that a lot of the other pros at his course/range play to their opposite hand and that I never should have switched, that having the left hand dominant on a right handed swing is an advantage that is more important than any disadvantages. There are star pros who have played to their opposite hand, for example. Since then, I've made a point of making sure that I recovered some of my lost right handed swing. If nothing else, it impresses people at the range who are better players than I am. :)

 

I'll say one thing in favor of swinging left handed for me. The various actions on the downswing feels stronger and more natural than they do right handed. But I do have to make sure, at times, that my left hand doesn't become so dominant that it creates other problems.

 

If it's eating away at you, give playing to your natural side a try. Unless you're a really strong player, there's not much to lose. Give it some time, though. And don't completely abandon your right handed swing. It's probably good for your body to play from both sides. I feel like it gives me some balance in how I use it. And my right handed swings give me some feel and perspective that help for the left handed ones, which are 95% of what I'm doing. It's like speaking more than one language.

[ucmike11]

1 hour ago, maigre said:

@ucmike11, I've been there. I'm a natural lefty who learned to play right handed decades ago. I always wondered if I was cheating myself by not playing left handed. So finally, I made the switch. This was more than 20 years ago. In a lot of ways, I don't think it made that much difference once my comfort level left handed caught up to the right side. It's not like I became a significantly better player or ball striker all that quickly.

 

Funny thing is, I was taking a lesson one day, maybe 10 years ago. Swinging right handed was kind of lost to me by then. The instructor told me that a lot of the other pros at his course/range play to their opposite hand and that I never should have switched, that having the left hand dominant on a right handed swing is an advantage that is more important than any disadvantages. There are star pros who have played to their opposite hand, for example. Since then, I've made a point of making sure that I recovered some of my lost right handed swing. If nothing else, it impresses people at the range who are better players than I am. 🙂

 

I'll say one thing in favor of swinging left handed for me. The various actions on the downswing feels stronger and more natural than they do right handed. But I do have to make sure, at times, that my left hand doesn't become so dominant that it creates other problems.

 

If it's eating away at you, give playing to your natural side a try. Unless you're a really strong player, there's not much to lose. Give it some time, though. And don't completely abandon your right handed swing. It's probably good for your body to play from both sides. I feel like it gives me some balance in how I use it. And my right handed swings give me some feel and perspective that help for the left handed ones, which are 95% of what I'm doing. It's like speaking more than one language.

 

I took a lefty 7 iron out to the course this past weekend to hit a few shots while playing righty.  The leg action feels so good, but the arms are obviously not trained yet.  I'll hold off on the switch for now, and see where my game is in the fall.  I have all winter to train, so I will re-evaluate then.

[DaveLeeNC]

I just started into Monte's Power Shift video. I am a 'one thing at a time' kind of person so (obviously) the backswing is the obvious starting place for me. 

 

My (first day) experience is that the pressure on the left toes at the top of the swing is kind of a distinctive feel that I think is what is being taught here. And I think that I am learning to get there. The back to your right heel and  THEN  back to the left seems a bit vague to me. If I really am getting to that 'pressure on the front lead toe' position at the top, is there any reason to work on where I was halfway into the backswing? Quite frankly, I am not sure where I am halfway back.

 

Thanks. 

 

dave

 

ps. Kudo's (yet again) to Monte for solid and well presented video instruction. 

Edited August 20, 2023 by DaveLeeNC

[Spiral]

Anyone have issues with thin and/or low trajectory shots after implementing these swing feels? For me, swing speed/and distance are up, left-right dispersion is better, and athletic feel has improved. A net improvement in my book just trying to adjust to the new miss and lower flight. 
 

I’ve really enjoyed this series. Really helps fill in some gaps from the other videos. Seemed to magically fix being underplane and too inside on the initial part of the backswing. Which has had positive downstream impact throughout the swing.