Lefty struggling to break 90 these days....

[Lefty_3Jack]

I do not know what happened, but I am terrible now and I do not know where to look for help. I started the year out shooting mid 80's and hit the number 5 or 6 times. Since the beginning of August things have went down hill quickly for me. I took a lesson from the instructor I worked with all last winter and I wanted to see where I was since I had not seen my swing on video or had a lesson all season. She moved me closer to the ball as I was addressing it off the toe (as you can see here) and wanted me to swing out more. This quickly resulted in a 2 week battle with shanks and scores that exceeded 100. Since curing the shanks I have had two rounds in the low 80's and most in the 90's with a few exceeding the 100's. One thing that has changed is the variance with my scores. I frequently play 9 holes by myself now and will shoot +10 up to +15. In between that I'll have rounds where things will work and I'll get in the 30's. I had one round where I shot a 49 and a 36 for an 85. Things are to the point now where I feel pretty lost and have thought about taking up a new hobby. I have the time and dedication to practice and I am a fairly athletic person. With all of that said I AM LOST AND DON't KNOW WHAT TO PRACTICE OR HOW TO PRACTICE!

 

Please help.

 

 

What my swing used to look like (March).....

 

 

What the hell happened (Septembe)

 

 

Again.... What the hell happened

[Lefty_3Jack]

Added info....

Misses are pulls and pushes (mainly pushes) and have struggled with slices this year.

Prior to this year and the new swing changes I hit big big pushes and low hooks. Ballflight is very high, lost a clublength each. I struggle to hit a PW 120yds these days.

[Bobbyf]

It looks like you are swaying more than turning through the swing. On your back swing your left leg has straightened and your weight is centered over your foot. Your finish has your weight slightly in front of your right foot. This will create a lot of inconsistency in direction and angle of attack.

You also have your arms well behind you (inside) on your back swing. Your last video does not show your set up at that angle so this is just a guess. I am betting that you have little or no spine tilt away from the target in at address. The position of your right shoulder, being so high, leads me to believe this to be correct. Most people wind up tilting their shoulders back when trying to add spine tilt which results in leaving your weight on your back foot when they swing through. Instead set up as you normally do then, while keeping your shoulders in place, move your hips an inch or so towards the target. This will add spine tilt and help you rotate your weight properly onto your right foot through your swing.

Most important is to keep the angle in your left leg on the back swing. Feel that you are rotating your shoulders against your left hip. Don't worry about "feeling" that you are getting a full turn, just rotate the shoulders to a comfortable position against the left hip. Often with this type of correction people will tend to get their arms too active trying to feel that they are making a full turn. Your arm angle, though too flat right now, is good and you want to maintain that while correcting the other things.

Hope this helps,

Bobby

[Lefty_3Jack]

When you say "arm angle too flat" are you implying that I need to make a more upright backswing? My guess is you are telling me swing the club out and up more vs low and in.

Swaying has been an issue for me since day one. I resorted to using the ole hockey slap shot backswing last night when playing (making a shorter pitch shot type backswing) to keep the ball in play and make better contact. This helped save the round from getting higher than +10.

[Bobbyf]

[quote name='GQnGolf' timestamp='1317321791' post='3603713']
When you say "arm angle too flat" are you implying that I need to make a more upright backswing? My guess is you are telling me swing the club out and up more vs low and in.

Swaying has been an issue for me since day one. I resorted to using the ole hockey slap shot backswing last night when playing (making a shorter pitch shot type backswing) to keep the ball in play and make better contact. This helped save the round from getting higher than +10.
[/quote]


I don't think you need to worry about your arms if you correct the spine angle. The spine angle combined with rotation against the hip will most likely get you more down the line. You will probably notice that your right shoulder goes a little more down when making your back swing which will also make your left shoulder a little more up and put your arms right between in a good position. Work on the lower body (maintaining the rotation against the hip) and having your hip a little forward of your shoulders to get a good spine tilt away from the target. The rest should fall into place.

Bobby

[Lefthook]

Perhaps you should try to stand closer to the ball and lower the hands slightly at address. With that adjustment you need to swing the arms more up & down in front of you than you're doing today.. You can still get the club head back behind you by rotating the forearm in the backswing.

It looks to me like you're standing so far from the ball that you're forced to dump everything early to reach it.

[Lefty_3Jack]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnj6C58MrFs[/media]

Here is a video of the swing from this weekend. Working on swinging the club more in with less lift. My lead arm still pulls away from my body on the downswing and holding the angle has been an issue.

[scratchswinger]

I thought this thread was about Phil.