jlukes Attempts to Fix His Swing

[McLovin]

My main focus going forward is going to be stopping my pelvis from moving towards the ball on the downswing, causing me to stand up into the shot and get very steep

Here's some drills I'll be trying

Stay In Your Posture by Jim Williams: https://youtu.be/Y55kdjJIDgw

Stop moving into the ball: https://youtu.be/AlTbAT7vhY4

Don't stand and move into the golf ball: https://youtu.be/-DlZo7pt9KI

Stay in your posture through impact: https://youtu.be/qCiYm6eoYCQ

i hope this is something you've been working on, and not something you're just now working on because of something my untrained eye saw. i haven't read through the whole thread, but if freddie has you working on anything in particular, i'd say to stick to his plan until he says otherwise.

i'd expect to see a lot of toe hits when you first start working on this. you're so used to standing up, you likely won't maintain your spinal inclination enough. i know that's my big struggle when i do this, and mine is exacerbated by being in poor shape with poor core strength and a general lack of mobility. but when it works, the results are awesome. you find yourself posing, and kinda hoping someone around you just saw the shot you hit

 

[jlukes]

Nope it's something Freddie and others have pointed out to me before but I worked on cleaning up some other things.

I was also limited by my physical fitness. My core strength was lacking and my hamstring flexibility was so poor that I couldn't even get into a good address position. Now I'm in really good shape so it's time to fix this part of my swing.

 

[jlukes]

Posture

April 2014 vs April 2015

 

[Tadashi70]

Swing is looking bettr, I think you'd benefit from a bit more stability in the lower body. Your weight still get to far over to the left and you swing way to deep with your irons. This results in a frantic delivery into the ball with some energy being spent outside of the impact of the ball.

 

[jlukes]

Swing is looking bettr, I think you'd benefit from a bit more stability in the lower body. Your weight still get to far over to the left and you swing way to deep with your irons. This results in a frantic delivery into the ball with some energy being spent outside of the impact of the ball.

Stability meaning less movement in the legs? Hips too?

 

[Tadashi70]

Stability meaning less movement in the legs? Hips too?

That is just what I am saying. You're too loose

 

[jlukes]

That is just what I am saying. You're too loose

Gotcha. I need to find the middle ground of stability without getting overly tense

 

[Agent Jay]

Gotcha. I need to find the middle ground of stability without getting overly tense

When you PULL you arm under your body during your set up position, you are firing some muscles in your shoulders you don't need to be doing . Meaning, you might feel more tense because of this. If you would let your arm hang naturally at your set up, that might help take away that feeling?

 

[jlukes]

Freddie, why would I be striking my irons better off mats than off grass? Do the mats make it easier to bounce cleanly through the ball? Is it mental? Is it both?

 

[MBurnham]

Freddie, why would I be striking my irons better off mats than off grass? Do the mats make it easier to bounce cleanly through the ball? Is it mental? Is it both?

I have the same exact problem.

 

[jlukes]

I have the same exact problem.

So frustrating. I get what feels like crisp iron shots on the range, but struggle duplicating it on the course.

No issue duplicating my driver (tee) and 4w (off the deck) results from the range on the course.

 

[MBurnham]

So frustrating. I get what feels like crisp iron shots on the range, but struggle duplicating it on the course.

No issue duplicating my driver and 4w results from the range on the course.

Just Saturday I was warming up for a round hitting balls on the range off mats. All my irons shots were great and I was very confident. Once I got on the course everything changed. Could be just the mats or it could be mental I guess. There aren't very many grass ranges around here.


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[emart2173]

Freddie, why would I be striking my irons better off mats than off grass? Do the mats make it easier to bounce cleanly through the ball? Is it mental? Is it both?

Probably has something to do with it. Use a towel or alignment stick or some other object that won't mess up your club or health, put it a few inches behind the ball and avoid hitting it. You'll know pretty quick if your hitting "fat" shots that have been aided by the mat

 

[Tadashi70]

Freddie, why would I be striking my irons better off mats than off grass? Do the mats make it easier to bounce cleanly through the ball? Is it mental? Is it both?

Yes the club bounces ball off mats. If you're having this issue you're more than likely hitting it a little fat on mats. The sound should be click, thud off mats.

 

[widespot]

I had an instructor that called them confidence mats.

 

[ArmyGolf]

Hitting off mats over the winter can groove some awful things.

Grass ranges here just opened and it's a game changer for sure.

 

[Colt]

I had an instructor that called them confidence mats.

Hitting off mats over the winter can groove some awful things.

Grass ranges here just opened and it's a game changer for sure.

I found that putting a piece of tape down on the mat behind the ball helps a lot. Great shot....tape is wrinkled up....not so great of a shot. Fix it!


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[oxepyonxo]

Hey there!

I am a lurker here, but I couldn't help but think that we have similar issues in the golf swing. I too have a problem with early extension that I am just recently beginning to feel like I am making a good effort to resolve. I have also been dealing with a flip. I am going to explain my issue and how I finally was able to reduce the problem. My body is still getting used to the change, but I feel my impact position has significantly improved.

Like I mentioned, I have had a chronic problem with early extension. My hips tend to move towards the ball during my downswing, and my arms end up having to flip since they have no room to come through. I think my flip was more pronounced than yours. This led to a 2 way miss for me. If i didnt flip fast enough, I would push the ball to the right. If i flipped too late, I would end up with a duck hook of some sort.

Previously my issue was fighting a slice, and in order to combat this, I began to overly exaggerate hitting the ball from the inside. On my transition, I would end up just dropping my shoulder straight down in order to establish an in to out path. This is no good. Dropping my shoulder straight down, instead of rotating around my spin, I was forced to early extend, or the club would basically just impale itself into the ground. I had to basically stand up a bit to create space for the club to swing, but this ends up blocking the arm path, which leads to a flip, so the arms can move around the body.

My personal fix was making sure my shoulders turned around my spine. For me, I had to feel like my right shoulder was going around my spine. Your right shoulder must move out and around your spine, not drop down. In addition, a helpful feel was feeling that my elbow was chasing my belly button in transition. These two feels, basically make the body do the same thing. It shallows out the club, creates space by not encouraging your hips to early extend towards the ball, and really puts your club on the proper plane. These 2 combined feels did wonders for my ball striking. I felt that I was now able to "cover" the ball. I didn't feel like my upper body was moving up away from the ball. Also, it allowed me to have proper shaft lean at impact, instead of a straight up and down shaft due to my flip. Initially, my right shoulder going around my spine almost felt like I was going over the top because I was so used to just dropping my shoulder, but with slow practice swings, I could see that the club path was significantly improved.

These videos really demonstrates what I am trying to explain. Again, this is what helped me deal with my early extension and flip. I hope it helps you. BTW your posture has improved very much!

Lead with the right elbow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS_ijg82Ogg

The perfect shoulder turn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aee8zAlL6sA

I hope this helps!

 

[Tadashi70]

Joe what is going on with your swing? What is your miss now? How's your trajectory? What do you want the most out of your swing?

 

[jlukes]

Joe what is going on with your swing? What is your miss now? How's your trajectory? What do you want the most out of your swing?

I just want consistency. Left is not an issue anymore. Driver and woods have been fantastic. The miss is a weak push fade with the irons but today I had much better results. Really been focusing on maintaining spine angle and keeping my pelvis from thrusting into the ball.

Saw some of distance return with my irons today which was great. Still had a few too many iron shots where I caught the bottom of the club face with the face open,but it's a work in progress.

 

[jlukes]

So I decided to do some statistic tracking this year. Here are my YTD stats

 

[salisboss]

So I decided to do some statistic tracking this year. Here are my YTD stats

This is good here. I track stats but then I never do anything with them.

 

[jlukes]

This is good here. I track stats but then I never do anything with them.

Yeah, I got inspired by Ethan's article on his 2014 golf stats.