Built like a linebacker!

[ande1rk]

I'm 5'-10", 205 and have fairly wide shoulders,(23" wide) and just average arm length. The problem I have is when I square everything up, (stance, shoulders, club etc) it all feels fine. The trouble is when I try to swing the club on the down swing. As I pull the but of the club down the line, my left arm pulls my right and it opens my shoulders resulting in a pull hook or a block to the right if I fight to hold on. It does help somewhat if I swing more up right and not around, but to swing more upright, I have to choke down on the club and the ball is really close to my feet. I'm not sure if I should square the club with the club in my left hand or my right hand first. Sounds like I am a mess.

[jportz]

First of all....welcome to my world. I don't know how many times I've been told that I'm built for football not golf. I'm 5'8" 200 lbs (solid) and have wide shoulders and short arms. I've struggled to find a swing that works for me too. I'm now a 5 hc and feel like I have the swing but it was a hard long road to go down to find it.

 

What's your hc? Have you ever had lessons?

 

Guys like us are better off using a 1 plane swing.

 

I also fought a pull hook for a long long time. The trick is, too much right hand is a hook, too much left hand is a push. You've got to get the two working together and keep your grip pressure consistent throughout the swing.

 

Get back to me and I'll see if I can help you out.

[ande1rk]

Sounds just like me. I am a 7 hcp. I have been trying to tighten my swing up and swinging more up right. It helps with the irons but the driver is another story. Let me know what I can do. I am pretty thick chested from weight lifting in high school an college. I didn't pick up golf until I was 30 and I'm 43 now and am a golf addict. It is hard to get the hands and arms to work together. I saw some swing sequences of Notah Begay who is built similar but it looks weird. Any help will be appreciated.

[abewley]

i am the same way... 5'8"-5'9" 230... former bodybuilder.

 

the key is to slooooow down.. took me forever to get it somewhat undercontrol.

 

the problem.. your powerfully built and you know it, so you want to use it and just kill the damn ball. cause u know u can.

 

solution... remember your stronger than the avg. joe.. so swing smoother than the avg. joe.. cause YOU don't have to try to kill the ball.. this is what i have learned.

 

hope it helps.. oh and get a lesson. :)

[jscw]

I had had the similar problem (big hook) before and I finally figured out the reason -- my bone structure is a little different from normal people's. (My palms didn't face back when hands down -- they face my body)

 

I changed my grip -- from standard grip to weak grip. Then it works. I lost some distance (6 iron 150 yard) but the balls always fly straight now.

 

Just my one cent.

[Zach Heusser]

In my experience most bigger or thicker guys have alot of trouble shallowing the golf club. I would work on playing a nice fade, and not worry about it.

[jportz]

That's funny you mention a lot of things that I did. I also played HS and JC football, lifted weights, then started playing golf (when I was 25, I'm now 31). I also studied Notah Behay's swing since he has the same nickname as me (T-Rex) because of his short arms. His swing looks a little funky and I'm not sure it would work for me.

 

KascoPro was right about having trouble shallowing out the club. I have a tendency to come into the ball too steep so that's why I went to a 1 plane swing....by bending over a little more at setup it allows more room for my arms to travel on a shallow plane through impact.

 

Here's another problem we have:

 

Skinny guys can turn their shoulders back 90*....so can I

 

Skinny guys can get their arms straight back against their chest so it matches their shoulder turn....I can't. My arm muscles and chest muscles get in each others way. Although my shoulder turn is full, my arms can't get back as far....I used to struggle...trying to "force" my arms back farther. Of course that's a bad move. I've finally discovered I can get even more power and accuracy by widening and shortening my swing. I feel like my hands only go back to shoulder height, it feels like a 3/4 swing at first but you'll get used to it.....then I can power through impact.

 

Just don't try to swing like Tom Watson or Colin Montgomery.....we're not built for that lanky, whippy, long and smooth 2 plane action.

 

We need to keep our action wide, short, compact, and tight. Good luck and keep me posted if you discover any secrets.

[cjdrcc]

I'm having the same problem. Let me know if you find any helpful hints.

[dejadrew]

I'm so glad I saw this topic....just like you guys, I have a very stocky build from lifting. (5'10 and 197 with low body fat) I've been playing golf since I was young so I still get away with scoring around the mid 70's, but I have had to play a really nasty hook since I've been bigger and struggle with overactive hands and my shoulders tend to fly out of the shot early if im not careful. All my friends and people at the golf course want to see big drives as usual but all I want to do is have consistent ball striking with my irons. I'll try and get my swing on here soon but if anyone has any drills to stop my early release it would be appreciated. Also my left wrist has had some pains recently from golfing which I'm assuming is from it breaking down before impact, if anyone else has experienced that also I would like to know what you did about it!!

[abewley]

bubba is skinny and lanky...

 

better to look at someone like KJ Choi...

[littlepoison]

Honestly, I never considered myself to be of the same build at only 5'5" but realized something after getting back into working out... I don't lift weights... I use plyometrics and smaller weights set to one of those martial arts style workout programs, but i look like I've been hitting the iron... and now that I think of it, when I was lifting heavy back in college, I was built like a gorilla... all chest and shoulders, and two thick stumps for legs. You guys just helped me picture my swing and the swings I made today when I hit good shots I can't remember who mentioned it above, but my best swings came from when I felt like my hands got barely higher than my shoulders... I owe you guys a few rounds! ;)

[glcoach]

Some of you may like the option of a more "hitting" action as opposed to "swinging"

 

Several instructors out there who teach hitting.

[jportz]

I just saw a very interesting review of Craig Stadler and Craig Perry's swings and because they're both thick chested guys and have short arms they can't swing the "conventional" way. They both almost pick the club straight up on the backswing and come down with a very steep angle of attack on the way down, a bit over the top in comparison to the PGA "norm". They both play a little pull fade and play it very well throughout their careers. The pro that was reviewing their swings said that if they had tried to force themself to swing on plane and from the inside they wouldn't of made it on the PGA Tour.

 

I found this video review at www.golftipscc.com I can't remember exactly where you go from there but there's a link to a bunch of Pro Swings and the one of Craig Stadler and Craig Perry is perfect for this thread.

 

I just proves that there is no such thing as one perfect swing for everyone....find an instructor who understands this and will help you find YOUR own swing.

[JoeF]

Being 5'8" and 210 this will be very useful to me as I try to fix my push/push fade problem with the driver. I don't have that problem with the iron probably cuz I seldom try to make a full swing with the irons.

 

Here' the link to the parry/sadler lesson

 

http://www.golftipscc.com/practicetee/prac...2_03/index.html

[BIGGUY52]

This is exactly my problem......I don't want to swing like Craig Parry though.....I love my slight draw but it turns into pulls and hooks sometimes with my driver.....maybe the one plane swing is the answer....I will keep following this post.....this is the only thing I've ever seen for our body type!!

[spk74]

I'm built more like a nose tackle than a linebacker...but when I was fighting a case of driver yips last year, I broke down and got a lesson. I chose a pro at the local range because he is built like me (perhaps us)...and I thought he might be more in tune to the kinds of issues I would be facing. ultimately his advice was to swing more around my body. unfortunately, before my 3rd lesson my driver yips went away and I stopped taking lessons...before I really implemented his ideas.

 

since then I've read the Jim Hardy book...and noticed a lot of similarities between what he says in the book and what my Pro had suggested to me last fall. Despite learning from Hogan's book initially, I'm a 2-planer. But now, based ont eh Hardy book I realize that I take a moderately strong grip and tend to bend/hunch over quite a bit (both of which are 1-plane swing fundamentals according to him).

 

I didn't always hunch over. Back in highschool (pre-beer) I hunched over less...and I am sure that the hunching/bending over (now) is due to the space restrictions around my midsection (post-beer)...in order to have my arms hang naturally from my shoulders I have to lean over more or my elbows would violate my gut. ahhh pretty mental pictures.

 

so leaning over more means I'm turning my shoulders (and hips together) on a more vertical plane, coupled with swinging my arms on an even more vertical plane (my 2-plane swing) and this results in a very vertical ultimate swing plane. It was very refreshing to watch the video of Mr. Parry and Mr. Stadler...especially when the narrator pointed out the vertical nature was almost a pre-requisite for that body type. So should I stick with what I've been doing or change it drastically? Adopting a 1-plane swing would mean a lot of work, probably a lost golf season for me...has anyone out there gone through with it? Was it worth it? Did you switch back?