Help me understand the swing…

[mallrat]

Little background, was a 7 handicap but have steadily slid backwards. I just want a reliable swing. I have taken lessons off and on and have an instructor who kind of looks over me (I work at a course and he works with me for free but it’s really hard to schedule time together). My first instructor (went to him for 6 years) was a pull the handle/hold the lag guy. Well that creeps in all the time. He also was a more pull the arms back and fold the right wrist vs hinging the wrist. This has led to a life long chicken wing. We get rid of it and it creeps back in.

 

Now my question is sometimes when I’m frustrated I will try and do the exact opposite feel wise. It feels like I fan the club open (but not really rolling my arms over) and then slam it shut. Almost more of an L to L. Why I do this I normally hit the ball very well, I generally do this from waist height to waist height. My contact is always crisp and generally a straighter ball flight. 
 

I guess I’m confused, should the swing be more a door opening and shutting 180 degrees vs a wrecking ball swinging back and forth? My current instructor is more of a DJ position at the top (left wrist bowed vs a traditional position) and it’s just a conversation we’ve never had.

 

thanks

[calebm12]

Highly recommend 3 hours watching Mike Malaska videos 

[nitram]

Well, for starters, the swing is on an arc . . .

[Valtiel]

Quote

Help me understand the swing…

...I guess I’m confused, should the swing be more a door opening and shutting 180 degrees vs a wrecking ball swinging back and forth?

The first things you can do (if you REALLY want to go down this road) is accept that there is nothing about the golf swing and it's fundamentals that can be summed up with any cliched or simplistic visuals/descriptors like "door opening/closing" or "more like a wrecking ball". Those are fortune cookies that can mean different things to different people are unlikely to be of any help. 

The golf swing is a series of movements and positions that have both objective and subjective elements that are on a continuum, and there is NO one right way to sum it all up in a "the golf swing is ________" format that will help anyone understand it better. The only universally acceptable word to fill in that blank is a pejorative. 😅

You learn the objective areas and experiment in the subjective ones. You start with fundamentals; the static ones like stance, grip, weight distribution, posture, address/ball position, alignment etc, and the dynamic ones like weight shift/sequence/timing, various joint movements/rotations, swing path, swing length, tempo etc. Every element has an objective range than can be considered "neutral", a subjective range slightly outside that which is acceptable but requires equal and opposite matchups elsewhere in the swing, and an objective range further outside that that can generally be considered "bad" in all but very specific cases. The number of variables is daunting, and that is coming from someone that definitely does NOT to know them all. Learning them one by one allows you to start seeing them, and once you learn enough to piece together you can start getting a decent picture of the whole swing, but even that is only the beginning because to see once you manage to put together *one* picture, there are dozens, even hundreds more, and you still need to bridge the gap between seeing and feeling. 

As for what you described about your own swing, unfortunately golfers are usually very unreliable witnesses when it comes to this. What you described could just as easily be dead accurate as it could be completely the opposite and anywhere in between. "Feel vs. real" and all that. If your main goal is to learn about *your* swing then videos will be necessary. Definitely current ones and ideally some ones with examples of these other patterns/feelings for comparison. 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Valtiel

[KD1]

22 minutes ago, Valtiel said:

The first things you can do (if you REALLY want to go down this road) is accept that there is nothing about the golf swing and it's fundamentals that can be summed up with any cliched or simplistic visuals/descriptors like "door opening/closing" or "more like a wrecking ball". Those are fortune cookies that can mean different things to different people are unlikely to be of any help. 

 

What that guy said!

 

But I've also had good results with this concept: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrjVU7jL_rK/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

Mike Malaska, mentioned above, made the exact same point/demo a few years ago in a YouTube video, might have been in a "be better golf" video. It's a concept I often fall back on.

[Smash Factors]

As a former 7 index your swing is probably pretty darn good. You just need to find a way to make it simple and repeatable.

 

For me that was doing the glove under the left armpit drill, but making sure not to do a level shoulder turn. It's really easy to screw up that drill with a level shoulder turn.

 

Left shoulder needs to work down and right shoulder needs to work up. Maintain the connection between the left arm and the upper body until it naturally starts to disconnect. Your whole upper body and arms will work together and in sync.

 

Worked really great for me. Easier to get the hands and club back into the slot as well.