More of a single plane swing vs taking it back more on the outside

jjinsa · February 7

I took two videos recently, whereby I tried two different things.

1 - take the club back my normal way, maybe ever so slightly "inside" but not too much, try bow my wrist and turn through the ball (this is what I "think" I am doing haha). Not much of a plane change from backswing to downswing.

2 - take it more outside and feel it shallow at the top, and then turn through. I can DEFINITELY feel this happen, how much it shows visually I am unsure.

Looking for comments on the two swings - typically an issue I have had is I start dropping my hands down and turning my shoulders all at once, not very good sequencing. (As far as I know should be lead hip dropping down and back, hands drop down and then shoulders turn through). I have also "flipped" my wrists a bit at impact quite a bit, and sometimes early extend. So trying to stop all of those

I feel like the one I took the club "outside" my normal line, was better? Yes/No?

These were 5 irons by the way. Both went pretty straight at target. I certainly am not struggling with accuracy at the moment, more so inconsistent strikes.

Valtiel · February 7

Agreed that the second swing has more good stuff going on:

The main differences are in the fact that the second swing gets you going up steeper which allows your hands to work straight up "in front" of you to the top where you're able to create a perfect little shallowing move in transition with the left wrist bowing just a tiny bit and the clubhead moving left. The first swing sees the hands working a little deeper and more "across" your body with the shaft plane flatter. When you arrive at the top your hands have to work out slightly. Nothing critically wrong here or anything, just that the second swing feels far more "neutral" in terms of the lines and paths created, plus your upper body/head is more still. The first swing sees an element of drift towards the ball, likely a product of your hands having to reroute up slightly and the shaft being a little too flat:

That little move towards the ball on the left isn't present on the right, which tells me your brain/body aren't feeling the need to reposition in response to where your hands or the club are. The fact that you can consciously feel what is going on in swing #2 is great, keep that feeling.

I'd still argue that your hands are too close to your body at address. Your right side kicks into where they start and you're forced to raise the handle in response, which is a problem both in said address position and in rotation (too much right side coming forward). Both of these are better than previous videos however, and I can't imagine the boot on your right foot is helping at the moment. 😅

jjinsa · February 7

1 hour ago, Valtiel said:

Agreed that the second swing has more good stuff going on:

The main differences are in the fact that the second swing gets you going up steeper which allows your hands to work straight up "in front" of you to the top where you're able to create a perfect little shallowing move in transition with the left wrist bowing just a tiny bit and the clubhead moving left. The first swing sees the hands working a little deeper and more "across" your body with the shaft plane flatter. When you arrive at the top your hands have to work out slightly. Nothing critically wrong here or anything, just that the second swing feels far more "neutral" in terms of the lines and paths created, plus your upper body/head is more still. The first swing sees an element of drift towards the ball, likely a product of your hands having to reroute up slightly and the shaft being a little too flat:

That little move towards the ball on the left isn't present on the right, which tells me your brain/body aren't feeling the need to reposition in response to where your hands or the club are. The fact that you can consciously feel what is going on in swing #2 is great, keep that feeling.

I'd still argue that your hands are too close to your body at address. Your right side kicks into where they start and you're forced to raise the handle in response, which is a problem both in said address position and in rotation (too much right side coming forward). Both of these are better than previous videos however, and I can't imagine the boot on your right foot is helping at the moment. 😅

The boot actually hardly makes a difference, just slips occasionally haha.

so just taking the path a little more outside, causes all of those small changes to happen. Crazy - and i did not try one thing else, just the take away and backswing.

Would you say my right leg is moving too close to the ball? Or just too close to where my hands started, which is actually a fault of my address... so meaning if i just started with my hands a little more forward (arms are currently straight down, if not slightly angled towards body a degree or two), it would be good.

Or should I do above, AND try stop the right thigh moving forward?

My hips also moved a bit more appropriately I think, on the second swing. right hip back, and then left hip back. Not quite pro level, but decent?

Valtiel · February 7

18 minutes ago, jjinsa said:

The boot actually hardly makes a difference, just slips occasionally haha.

so just taking the path a little more outside, causes all of those small changes to happen. Crazy - and i did not try one thing else, just the take away and backswing.

Would you say my right leg is moving too close to the ball? Or just too close to where my hands started, which is actually a fault of my address... so meaning if i just started with my hands a little more forward (arms are currently straight down, if not slightly angled towards body a degree or two), it would be good.

Or should I do above, AND try stop the right thigh moving forward?

My hips also moved a bit more appropriately I think, on the second swing. right hip back, and then left hip back. Not quite pro level, but decent?

Yeah it's definitely interesting to see the downstream effects of upstream changes.

I would say its a little bit of both re: hands and hips. Yes the hands are too close at address and yes the right hip coming forward is also part of the issue. Handle raising to a certain extent is normal, you'll see it with plenty of pros. Handle raising as a product of intrusion of the right leg into the space the hands were at address is the issue, because it means your hands are forced to return to a different location as opposed to simply raising as a product of naturally arriving there, like: