My Swing - where should I focus next

[lee36328]

Seeking feedback from the experienced WRXers here

Hi all, good day.

Relatively new to golf, this being my second year, but the bug has bitten really hard.

The level of knowledge here is tremendous, and I've enjoyed learning from the comments on various topics.

I've been wondering what the experienced eyes here would make of my swing. It took a while, and it's been recently rebuilt; far too many things wrong with the previous one so I did not bother posting that here.

I look forward to all comments, I feel there's no such thing as negative feedback because I feel they all feedback help me to identify room for improvement.

Thank you guys in advance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTfVcpUKEVA

[russc1597187869]

[quote name='lee36328' timestamp='1301482426' post='3101728']
Hi all, good day.

Relatively new to golf, this being my second year, but the bug has bitten really hard.

The level of knowledge here is tremendous, and I've enjoyed learning from the comments on various topics.

I've been wondering what the experienced eyes here would make of my swing. It took a while, and it's been recently rebuilt; far too many things wrong with the previous one so I did not bother posting that here.

I look forward to all comments, I feel there's no such thing as negative feedback because I feel they all feedback help me to identify room for improvement.

Thank you guys in advance.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTfVcpUKEVA[/media]



[/quote]
After only two years ,you have made fantastic progress.The future improvements are going to be more subtle.The main thing that I see is the need to get your hips slightly more open at impact. If you look at your hips when the the club is parallel to the ground near impact and compare them to those of Sam Snead shown on the richie3jackblog a few days ago,you will notice that his are considerably more open than yours are.
You are going to have to experiment with different types of feel to help achieve this. Among them are pressuring the LEFT HEEL at transition,crushing the bug with your left heel at transition or pushing your hips 45 degree left of your target at transition.Transition involves a small lateral move to set your left ankle area as your downswing pivot point around which your core rotates on the downswing.
Among the drills that you might try is called the punisher drill or the extended club drill .You do this drill by cutting a small hole in the butt of a grip and sticking a rod into the butt end.Place some padding around this shaft.You can see a picture of this drill on the golfwrx website.Just search for "punisher drill" and goto to the post on the anti flipping drill. setup with the rod against your left side.Hit 1/2 shots only
Another drill is the trailing arm only(right arm for a righty ) drill.Just hit balls with your right
only.again only 1/2 swings
Both of drills will train you to pivot more effectively
Good Luck

[MonteScheinblum]

[quote name='lee36328' timestamp='1301482426' post='3101728']
Hi all, good day.

Relatively new to golf, this being my second year, but the bug has bitten really hard.

The level of knowledge here is tremendous, and I've enjoyed learning from the comments on various topics.

I've been wondering what the experienced eyes here would make of my swing. It took a while, and it's been recently rebuilt; far too many things wrong with the previous one so I did not bother posting that here.

I look forward to all comments, I feel there's no such thing as negative feedback because I feel they all feedback help me to identify room for improvement.

Thank you guys in advance.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTfVcpUKEVA[/media]



[/quote]

I agree with russc that there could be a little more hip clearance and your improvements will be subtle.

Here is where I see the issue. Your first move down is to drop your hands vertically and that gets them a bit behind you and your turn must stall a bit to get the club back out in front of you.

IMO, if your hands go directly to the ball without dropping, your hip turn will improve.

[lee36328]

Russc and MonteScheinblum,

Thank you gentlemen both for your insightful replies. I am humbled and honored by your gracious feedback from your vast experience. This is why this site rocks, in the parlance of the younger generation.

Russc, thanks for the comments and the drills. The image of the left ankle being the pivot point around which the core rotates immediately hit home for me. "A small lateral move to set the left ankle " - you are speaking to my proprioceptors directly sir. I will be trying the exercises this evening at the range for sure!

Monte, you've pointed out a good food-for-thought for me. A more direct connection between the left hip and the hands, the hip turn bringing the hands directly in a straight line (straight line of compression) at the ball, if I understood correctly.

So, combining the two, my initial concern was risking coming over the top. To avoid that, I think I need to make a backswing that is deep enough, something russc has mentioned in his previous posts (am I on the right track?) while ensuring I bring it up on plane in the backswing. I prefer not to bring it back under plane, I tend to cross the line at the top when I did that in the past.

If my practice swings in my indoor swing station is anything to go by, I am liking this new move! Can't wait to try it outdoors this evening at the range.

Once again, my gratitude gentlemen.

[russc1597187869]

[quote name='lee36328' timestamp='1301541736' post='3104591']
Russc and MonteScheinblum,

Thank you gentlemen both for your insightful replies. I am humbled and honored by your gracious feedback from your vast experience. This is why this site rocks, in the parlance of the younger generation.

Russc, thanks for the comments and the drills. The image of the left ankle being the pivot point around which the core rotates immediately hit home for me. "A small lateral move to set the left ankle " - you are speaking to my proprioceptors directly sir. I will be trying the exercises this evening at the range for sure!

Monte, you've pointed out a good food-for-thought for me. A more direct connection between the left hip and the hands, the hip turn bringing the hands directly in a straight line (straight line of compression) at the ball, if I understood correctly.

So, combining the two, my initial concern was risking coming over the top. To avoid that, I think I need to make a backswing that is deep enough, something russc has mentioned in his previous posts (am I on the right track?) while ensuring I bring it up on plane in the backswing. I prefer not to bring it back under plane, I tend to cross the line at the top when I did that in the past.

If my practice swings in my indoor swing station is anything to go by, I am liking this new move! Can't wait to try it outdoors this evening at the range.

Once again, my gratitude gentlemen.
[/quote]

A face on video would also be helpful.Using the "swing academy" site is very useful to see slow motion swings.
I believe that Monte and I agree on the need NOT to try to restrict your hips from rotating on the backswing.Natural anatomical restrictions associated with the brace of the right knee will stop the hips from turning too much.I mention this in the context of going deeper on the backswing.If you have to rotate deeper,it certainly won't be very much..I would not worry too much about coming over the top as, OTT is often associated with a takeaway that is too far inside and you seem OK on the takeaway..With your swing we do not want to ruin the fine job that you have already achieved.You just need a little tweaking.
Monte's comments about the hands are perceptive as usual.The flip side to having your hands go directly to the ball is that this move insures that your hands are on plane.
Monte is one the best pros on this site. I believe that he gives internet instruction.

[lee36328]

Just came back from the range, trying to put in place the various swing techniques described above.

 

I was not prepared for the outcome.

 

OMG...what's happened to my swing, after taking advice from the internet?

 

Tried to revert to my old swing... it's gone for good!

 

It was too dark to take a video; I will return tomorrow morning to document it.

 

I will start another thread tomorrow with my swing video, the AFTER story, It will make for interesting, possibly thought-provoking, and perhaps even a bit controversial reading. Certainly not what I was expecting when I went to the range today.

[lee36328]

Here's what happened.

[url="http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/460604-my-swing-the-after-story-unexpected-outcome-dtl-video/"]http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/460604-my-swing-the-after-story-unexpected-outcome-dtl-video/[/url]

The impact was so significant and unexpected I feel it deserved a new thread.