Downswing Transition

[blugold]

Over the weekend I was experimenting with a few things. First, I was shortening my backswing, stopping when my shoulder contacted my chin. When I started doing this, the number of fat shots diminished.

Second, when I started my down swing and bumped my hips forward I bumped them to the right of my target line. Like this:

The picture is an exaggeration, but that was the general feeling I was going after. When I was doing this, I stopped pulling my shots and was starting the ball out to the right. Does this make sense? Is this a feeling I should continue to work with?

 

[trae*]

i must be reading that photo wrong because i cant picture the hips going the way im seeing it in that photo. where is the ball in realtion to all that? or hte target line? or are you a lefty then it would make sense lol

 

[blugold]

I'm a righty. The compass represents the target line. The ball postion is not relevant to my question I guess.

The picture is a general idea, not an actual representation.

 

[Tadashi70]

Based on the videos you have posted this move will eventually end up cause a push fade. The left hip should be clearing as the right gets on top of the ball. reduction of the back swing will help with your timing and reduce the missed shots have you have been seeing but if you continue to 'bump' ad you have described it will cause something you don't want.

If you stand closer to the ball and allow the hands to hang directly under your shoulders it will make your swing more upright. This I belive is waht you are looking to, not have such a flat swing. If anything I would quiet your lower body and stand closer with shorter swing and a natural hip release and you should be fine. I'm going off the videos you have posted.

 

[blugold]

I guess I should clarify there Freddie,

I still do clear my hips, but that is the direction I am bumping my hips. And the picture is definately an exaggeration of the feeling I am creating. I couldn't get a good overhead picture, because the course I play frowns on my using a small crane or boom to film myself from above.

 

[Tadashi70]

oh I understand what you are doing and if anything that bump should be left not right. The bump left isnt what is causing the pulls.

I guess I should clarify there Freddie,

I still do clear my hips, but that is the direction I am bumping my hips. And the picture is definately an exaggeration of the feeling I am creating. I couldn't get a good overhead picture, because the course I play frowns on my using a small crane or boom to film myself from above.

 

[ohio_striker]

I guess I should clarify there Freddie,

I still do clear my hips, but that is the direction I am bumping my hips. And the picture is definately an exaggeration of the feeling I am creating. I couldn't get a good overhead picture, because the course I play frowns on my using a small crane or boom to film myself from above.

I understand where your coming from i think bumping your hips to the right is counteracting a bit of an over the top move wich could be causing the pulls.

I worked on bumping tward the target and not clearing my hips in my swing because the hips tend to be clearing too fast causing pulls and left to right shots.

Another point is when.you bump the forward motion clears your hips for you without trying to at least from my experience

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[interlooper]

If I am understanding this correctly, this could cause numerous unintended consequences in the future.

Bumping your hips towards first base or the second baseman (which it sound like you are doing) is something that many golfers often try to avoid doing. To combat that, many commentators would suggest the feeling of bumping a little left with your left hip. If you start bumping right, it is likely that you will not and cannot keep the "tush line". That causes many people to make adjustments to compensate for this move and often causes a push or worse, a slice depending on face angle. Indeed, if you look at videos of people who have problems shanking, they often don't keep the tush line because their initial move in the downswing is to move their lower body closer to the ball. I am not saying you are going to shank now, just letting you know problems that this has created for other people. If you need to bump towards the right, my first reaction would be that you might be standing a bit too far from the ball.

I am the other way around, I always need to concentrate on the feeling of getting my left hip moving towards third base, rather than down the line.

 

[pjcedog]

In my opinion any intentional manipulation of the hips that isn't part of the downswing sequence is a mistake, you can turn your hips faster or slower through the ball but ideally you want your right hip and right hand to arrive at the ball at the same instant (if right handed, opposite for left) and it should not be significantly in front of or behind the ball either one. If your lower body lags behind your hands - as when a player gets tired or when you try to swing at less than full without good control - you will see pulls and pull hooks result from the lower body not turning through properly and releasing properly in sequence, the hands and arms race past and a pull is the result. When you are overly aggressive from the waist down as many younger players are, especially athletes with strong lower bodies, the tendency is to hit a push or push slice out of that as their hips clear ahead of their hands which lag behind and that opens the club face. This is why also that you will hit slices when you tense up and grip too tightly under pressure, the grip pressure slows down your arms and hands. Only accomplished players can control gripping tighter and hitting harder on purpose (Tiger's stinger for example) and not hit a serious left to right banana ball. The best way I know to get both lower body and hands/arms in sync is to do the slow motion drill that Payne Stewart did often and if you watch his tempo you can see he isn't rushing any part of the swing but still hits it a ton, that is because his timing with hips and hands and all is very much in sync. The slow motion drill basically is back swing as slow as possible without a wobble and then from the top of the swing swing down letting gravity take over so the club basically drops back to the ball and just guide the club to the ball making sure everything, hip turn, posture, spine angle, stays intact through contact. You will be surprised how far you can hit the ball doing this, fully 80% of your normal distance or more, and then it is only a matter of moving slightly faster keeping all in sync and balanced to hit the ball to your max controllable distance. This drill also helps to cure contact problems like fats and tops as it is much easier to make good contact when you are not trying to kill the ball. It teaches the feeling of swinging at less than 100% and getting good results in the process.