Call it progress? working out flaws

[-o0DanKNesS0o-]

I intend on not moving my head laterally at all.. is that desired?
I will watch those links and I appreciate you posting them.
My transition thought is shifting my weight to my left foot and firing my hips then letting my arms and hands follow and hopefully falling into place on plain. How much of that actually happens isnt always the same tho. I don't feel like I'm releasing early, and my normal shot is a four yard draw... Wouldn't an early release cause a fade?

I'll put in some work and update with the results.

[GatorPaul]

Feel isnt always real. Yes better players can draw the ball with an early releaae. A pull is common too.

Study some YouTube swings. Watch the lower body action particularly in the right leg for you. Most tour players heads will move slightly back and down through the strike which is an unconscious movement resulting from a good unwind.

[-o0DanKNesS0o-]

Cool good insight! My right leg (the one that had the ACL surgery) is very inactive on the downswing. My contact point looks similar to my address stance. As you pointed out my right knee definitely isn't tucking behind the left until well after contact. In my driver head on swing would you also say my hips are behind at contact? Should they be opening up to the target more? Hopefully by getting rid of the sway and practicing that right.knee drill my hips will be traveling less and in better position.

[GatorPaul]

I think your hips can only go as far as your leg action allows. Improve the footwork and the hips at impact will be improved.

Focus on one or two small things at a time. Golf is hard enough. Work on the sway and the legwork on the range. When you get to the course, just play golf. The hard work in creating new muscle memory in practice will eventually show on the course. I would expect about 2 months or so, if you work on it consistently.

[-o0DanKNesS0o-]

I think two.months is a little long.. I'm not sure i have video from before my injury but I know I was not a swayer, and hit the ball much better. Finding the flaws i developed getting back to form is what im trying to determine and work out. I'll put in a ton of work though cause hopefully I'm not to far away

[-o0DanKNesS0o-]

So far keeping the head still is proving easier then I thought. Feels normal already and that sliding crap feels just wrong. Hopefully if i resort back to this during a round I can quickly notice it. I think focusing on a backswing w width and keeping my head still during a practice swing, it will be a good routine before the real swing, no thought except the number.
Ive been taking as much slow motion practice swings I can all day and night. I've hit balls and like i said the head sway feels like a thing.of the past, but the footwork/ knee movement is a different story. Trying to tuck my right knee behind the left, the half swing "kiss the knee" drill isn't as easy as just not swaying. As i tried a few swings no.ball at.like 30% power but full swing, I instantly felt tightness in my.right knee. I was trying to start the down swing by transferring weight to the left foot instep and activate right knee towards left.

Besides the tightness in the right knee im getting off the right foot MUCH sooner.. good bad? I've heard both. I like the feeling of kinda pushing off the ground w my right instep, that I think can add some power just a little concerned w getting that right heel up before contact. The only video I have saved is by my 5year old and not very good. I'll add some in a week or two to after I try to ingrain some muscle memory.

Never got a reply to.my posture at address, I'm 5' 7"... Next to Kim it looks like I'm bent over more so I've been standing a little taller.

I'm really excited how the swing is coming around, once I get my leg work set I think ill be where I want. Getting rid of the sway and getting my right knee more active really looks a lot better already. Hopefull after this is ingrained all I need to do is fine tune here and there.

[Obee]

When is the PAT?

[GatorPaul]

I dont think you have to push off of the right instep, but rather feel it roll. Try to get the sensation that the entire length of the inside right foot is touching the ground while the entire length of the outside right foot feels like there is some space (air) appearing under it. This will get your right side lower body moving out of your way and give you better space to get the arms delivered (dropped) into the hitting area.

Once youve got that grooved, you can fire everything together - hips included for maximum power. Be careful with your injury ofcourse and dont over-do anything that feels tight.

[jdhallissey]

Alright everybody is talking about the swing...... We are forgetting the NUMBER 1 in a golf swing......... SETUP. Your setup is horrible no offence. You are squatting way to much. You need to straighten up your knee flex and stand taller. This will allow you to clear your hips without the over the top move. Also if you are feeling to much pressure on the knees (including the one you injured) point your toes out. Away from the center of your body. That will take almost all the pressure of the weight transfer of both. I don't have any pictures at the moment but look at the ones shown already and you can see the big difference.

[-o0DanKNesS0o-]

ok... my head still moves during the downswing, im working on changing that to vertical vs lateral.. ala tiger/ rory. i need to study a shorter guys swing as i know im short. here is my progress call it what you will

[-o0DanKNesS0o-]

driver dtl

[-o0DanKNesS0o-]

sob i guess to youtube they go

[-o0DanKNesS0o-]

head on- excuse the us open ruff

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhQ6-78CluU&feature=plcp"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhQ6-78CluU&feature=plcp[/url]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNexV67Tfz8&feature=plcp"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNexV67Tfz8&feature=plcp[/url]

[-o0DanKNesS0o-]

dtl

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkkjCP_7BRc&feature=plcp[/media]

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-7mad8NjC8&feature=plcp[/media]

f the sway guys i know.. its gotten better but needs more work. aside from that fire away.

including some positive notes on anything im doing better is of course always a nice confidence builder.... for those that want to call it all crap and i need to start over- i welcome your insight to my awful swing as well.
all in good fun guys, i just want to be the best i can be

thanks in advance

[-o0DanKNesS0o-]

I think a powerful transition is my main goal right now, not much else I hate about.my current swing.

I think at address I'm still looking for that perfect posture, shoulder lean,and hip angle.

Any insight is appreciated

[-o0DanKNesS0o-]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTR8QBn3nRM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTR8QBn3nRM[/url]

The latest attempt to get my swing back to its former self.... it has commentary from swingbyswing pro looper- my free trial has ended though. any iput is welcome. im haveing a hard time keeping my head back without hitting it higher then high and short. i imagine my next goal is to keep the head back w the rest of the body facing target at impact. any input on drills or thoughts that might help are of course welcome and encouraged!!

thanks for taking the time to look

[DonMega884]

cut your grass

[-o0DanKNesS0o-]

Lmao... And then? Swing harder?? I'll post his comments on me hitting out of that crap... Anyway its not.my lawn I just ran out of free trial time and.made due w what I had.

[bacination]

Hey there,

I always start with the positive, you have good tempo and I would venture to say a nice smash factor ratio.

That said, I don't know what your specific goals are as to how much golf you want to play and at what level. If you want to get much better, you have some work to do.

First step is the backswing. Freeze the face on iron view at the top of the backswing and look at it. Do you see how your torso and your legs form a "C"? This is not a great thing, as it will force you to make all sorts of compensations to get the club where it should be at impact.

The key to a great golf swing is not how pretty it is, or how perfectly positioned it is at any particular place. The magical key to the golf swing is having to make the least amount of compensation to put the club on the ball square and descending (except w the driver, in which you want a peaking or ascending blow).

The trick to making the fewest compensations possible is to avoid big glaringly obvious moves. If you get your torso in this kind of shape, you need to really adjust on the way to impact. As you will see, currently one of your first moves down is to correct this shape by rushing your torso and your arms forward, all but eliminating the most efficient power generators in golf: the legs.

I am not criticizing your swing in a negative way, after all, there really is no right or wrong way to swing the club... but there are easy ways and hard ways. An example of pros who have very difficult golf swings would be Dustin Johnson, Jim Furyk, Brendan de Jonge. The reason the make it work is because they are talented natural athletes and the amount of practice they put into their swing have grooved the compensations they need to make.

Everyone is different, but my advice for you is to work away from the current top heavy swing that you have now into a ground heavy swing. Plus its easy to strengthen your legs and let them do the swing work for you. What I mean is, you can strengthen your quads, glutes, hams and calves in half the time it would take you to get your upperbody muscles into the shape you would need to stabilize your current swing

I would look at the swings of someone like Bo Van Pelt. Nice and compact and very leg centric. Or sam snead. Man what I wouldn't give for snead's swing

I hope this helps.

[-o0DanKNesS0o-]

thanks for the great reply!
My current goal is to pass the PATs first time around.. im about a 6 handicap but low 80s or low 70s is day to day. i have high hopes for much more as i was 24 and scratch before i tore my acl.

Im currently working on keeping my head behind the ball through impact aswell as NOT turning too far back in my back swing. I see and feel what you are talking about and to my recolection this move is called double cross? i pretty much kill my spine angle then try to find it on the down swing. I can see like the pro in my video says, i already have a good shoulder turn but try to get the club further back resulting in the C shape you described. SO im working on keeping good spine angle stopping my turn and if need be for a "longer" swing letting my wrists hinge at the top.
I have been doing well with the feeling that my downswing is effortless- vs throwing my arms violently trying to crush it. Ive found that this "effortless" thought turned motion has the ball traveling further then the "swing hard" thought. HOPEFULLY video will confirm that my lower body is leading the way and my head is staying back on it and maybe moving slightly down if at all.

Its amazing but ever since my surgery ive noticed my 3/4 swings go as far as my full swings... go figure!

Any more insight you have is great. ill try to get an update up soon too

[-o0DanKNesS0o-]

Another key element i think im seeing in my uphill battle to recovery is my loss of flexablility that to me is why i make the move at the top that is awful and looks like a C. When i was younger i would have a Sam Snead like back swing but with a straight left arm at the top and both feet firmly planted on the ground. SO hopefully some yoga can help me get the turn i desire without the tilt of the spine at the top. Does that sound pretty accurate?

[bacination]

Making any change in your golf swing, even minute, is extremely hard. So I suggest looking at the whole puzzle and breaking it down by sections.

I will use myself as an example.

My current official ghin hcp is 1.0. Not bad right? But yet I feel as though I can swing the club so much better with just a little more tweaking. I know exactly what I need to do, but I have my swing so engrained in my muscle memory that it is really a challenge to do it.

So I break it down, For me the next two big things i want to work on are:
1. I want to get my hands underneath the clubshaft at the top so that my clubface is square at 45 degrees. Right not it is at 30-35. We are talking literally an inch different at the top to get the 10-15 degree difference.
2. I want to create space between my thighs to initiate my transition.

These two things sound simple enough right?

If i went out on the course and tried to put those two thoughts in my head every time I swung the club, I would hit OBs, shanks and more.

So you see the process is to slowly start engraining the things you want to tweak into your muscle memory. Over time magic will happen.

Right now make a list of no more than 3 tweaks you want to see happen with your swing. Take them one step at a time, and if in 12-18 months you have achieved them truly, then you will have accomplished significantly more than you think. Then you have the short game, which you can never neglect and can make up for the worst swing you can possibly make that does not take the ball out of play; or it can completely negate the best swing you could possibly make that does not put the ball in the hole.

We have chosen the toughest damn sport on the planet. Agreed?