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David Leadbetter's A Swing book

ShotScope
BamBooBender said:
That has been my problem with single axis golf, scooping/flipping. Still have to be able to have a firm/somewhat bowed left wrist through impact, you can still hit the ball straight while flipping but lose distance exactly how you are describing.
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I think the key is making a full forward turn to square the club face versus scooping/flipping with a flatter, single plane swing. The problem for me is that it is easier said than done.
 
Blazer said:
With MN's swing don't you sacrifice one lever?
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If you mean wrist cock, no. This was explained to me by someone much smarter than I am, whom I have tried my best to prove wrong, but can't, that wrist cock doesn't add any swing speed, it's just something that has to recovered from. I made a device that attaches to the club and allows no wrist cock, bowing, or cupping, (left wrist) and hit the ball more solidly than I ever have. Wish I could play with something like that, or have my left wrist fused. lol Think J.B. Holmes swing for a good visual of the idea.
 
-CRW- said:
I think the key is making a full forward turn to square the club face versus scooping/flipping with a flatter, single plane swing. The problem for me is that it is easier said than done.
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That's true to some extent, but I find that Kirk Junge's "minimalist single plane" swing is the best way to achieve what you are talking about here. It has helped me immensely with my driving this year.
 
BamBooBender said:
That's true to some extent, but I find that Kirk Junge's "minimalist single plane" swing is the best way to achieve what you are talking about here. It has helped me immensely with my driving this year.
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I watched one quick video on it, but will watch more of his stuff when I can. It looks like he is just pre-setting his weight on the lead leg to make sure he gets his weight forward and follows through on/after the down swing.

What I'm talking about looks like the same thing but just focusing on the turn rather than the weight shift. This video shows what I'm talking about:

http://membership.haneyuniversity.com/free-lessons/swing-magic/lagging-club/
 
I tried this a swing ( briefly the last few days). And I think the secret might be the grip, which may help people more than the whole motion in general. Really have the sensation you have a ton of range of motion and freedom in your wrists. Whereas I have the feeling of being stiff wristed at times with my old grip. This gripping in the fingers (extreme) finger grip lets me do what I want with the club. So now I'm kinda grasping how taking it back vertical and rotating drops the shaft. This finger grip lets the club unhinge in the right area in transition as long as you pivot.. It almost unhinges shallow naturally.

Im excited to be able to play next week; but I'm not sure if I'm confident to take this to the course. This might be something to work on during the off season in the nets or on the heated range. But I did "feel" and see it on video. That shaft really really drops
 
Anyone able to explains the move to square the clubface of driver with the a swing? I have the book and feel like I'm doing what is correct but am push slicing the bajebus out of it.


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Jmilla said:
Anyone able to explains the move to square the clubface of driver with the a swing? I have the book and feel like I'm doing what is correct but am push slicing the bajebus out of it.


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I will be honest, I had the other problem (over hook drawing) . I felt like I was swinging so far from the inside the ball had no where to go but hook left. Again , a fun book to read but with the weather turning nice I'm going to focus on just having fun when i go play. This isn't an easy fix method one that will require a lot of work. I do agree what many posters mentioned, best to tackle some stuff like this with an in person instructor
 
So had a chance to go to the range and really put some work into this. After about an hour I was getting consistent contact and a predictable flight. Going to stick with this one as I am playing stress free for the first time in a couple of years.
 
Mystery Meat said:
I will be honest, I had the other problem (over hook drawing) . I felt like I was swinging so far from the inside the ball had no where to go but hook left. Again , a fun book to read but with the weather turning nice I'm going to focus on just having fun when i go play. This isn't an easy fix method one that will require a lot of work. I do agree what many posters mentioned, best to tackle some stuff like this with an in person instructor
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Realizing you do not want to experiment too much with this swing, I did not see the start of the backswing different from what 30 and under Tour players are doing. I saw a video from one of Led's instructors and the entire backswing was similar to what we see frequently on TV -- no crossing of the line but not laid off - like Goldilocks, just right. Coming down, they had less explanation.

As to coming from the inside, been there, done that. Visualize inside on the backswing, outside on the downswing and the path should clear up ... if you feel as if you start everything together on the downswing and the club is coming from the outside, it's amazing that video will show that you are still coming from in to out but not as extreme. In fact, I was able to zero out the path with this visualization. Not OTT at all because the lower body is engaged.
 
So how many people who have tried this have a baseball background?

I played baseball all through my youth until I got into high school and haven't played since but just from watching the videos explaining the backswing, it reminds me of how a hitter would cock the bat back before starting the swing. The only piece missing is the step towards home plate.

As someone who is in his late 30's and new to golf and only seriously picked up clubs a couple of years ago, I wonder if this will help me make better contact with my irons. I tend to be thin more often than not.

I guess I'm not sure how much it would help me though as it seems people seem to be losing distance with this. Although if it helps me hit the sweet spot more, especially on longer irons it could be a benefit since I can relate from a baseball perspective.
 
I played varsity baseball way back in the day. But in all honesty , golf never ever felt like baseball to me . At all , not even close . Infact most great hitters in baseball stink at golf . I saw Ken Griffey play a few years back and he stunk


Golf and baseball are total opposite. I noticed they try emphasizing a baseball connection in this book. But it really isn't feasible or practical. Wish it was , as baseball came more natural to me and i never had to constantly take lessons like i do in golf.
 
Mystery Meat said:
I played varsity baseball way back in the day. But in all honesty , golf never ever felt like baseball to me . At all , not even close . Infact most great hitters in baseball stink at golf . I saw Ken Griffey play a few years back and he stunk


Golf and baseball are total opposite. I noticed they try emphasizing a baseball connection in this book. But it really isn't feasible or practical. Wish it was , as baseball came more natural to me and i never had to constantly take lessons like i do in golf.
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Which is interesting. You had a gif and a quote in your signature for a while that said something to the effect of, "a 300 yard drive is just a home run swing."
 
blugold said:
The part that I have a hard time with, By taking the club back very upright, it will reroute itself on the way down. It will find a balance. It doesn't always reroute on plane, it may reroute under or even over the plane. It's really unpredictable for players who can't repeatedly make the same movement
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The proposed grip keeps the face from straying too far from the line though.

He's pretty much teaching furyks swing.
 
Your right blu . I did , but I was also using the 10 finger baseball grip as well. That is what made me feel more like swinging a bat to me. But with the ball on the ground , and golf being more on a tilted plane . I'm feeling less and less like this has anything to do with baseball of any kind. It is just so far from different in how I see it. I've noticed just about any youth pick up a baseball bat for the first times and it will resemble an adequate swing motion to hit a baseball. Whereas i have witnessed many pickup a golf club for the first times and it was a disaster

Such a brutally hard game we like. Why I chose this is beyond me :)
 
gmiller598 said:
So how many people who have tried this have a baseball background?

I played baseball all through my youth until I got into high school and haven't played since but just from watching the videos explaining the backswing, it reminds me of how a hitter would cock the bat back before starting the swing. The only piece missing is the step towards home plate.

As someone who is in his late 30's and new to golf and only seriously picked up clubs a couple of years ago, I wonder if this will help me make better contact with my irons. I tend to be thin more often than not.

I guess I'm not sure how much it would help me though as it seems people seem to be losing distance with this. Although if it helps me hit the sweet spot more, especially on longer irons it could be a benefit since I can relate from a baseball perspective.
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I picked this book up on Friday & have messed it around with it for a few days. I have had a bad two golf months & was willing to try anything. I agree that the swing seems and feels similar to a baseball swing. So far...so good with it. I am making good contact & consistent distance. The only issue I am having is sometimes I hook the ball or hit a dead pool left. I have to work on hitting out to 2nd base.
 
Granted, I have had zero range time as with all of the rain in the Dallas area I can't remember the last time it was open. However, I tried incorporating some of the A Swing concepts into my swing on the course with very mixed results. On the other hand, I ran across Monte Scheinblums "no turn and cast" drill and used that as my swing thought during another round with great results, especially with the irons. I have always thought my swing was too upright and not flat enough but this idea of just setting the wrists and thinking "no turn" seems to have put me in a steeper but much better position at the top of my backswing, keeping the club in front of my body. Leadbetter certainly may have something with the steeper backswing in the A Swing but there are multiple ways to get there and certain thoughts that work better for some than others.
 
Between living in Minnesota (winter means no golf) and having a baby in December, I haven't been able to get out hardly at all. I picked this book up a few weeks ago out of curiosity. I'm not good enough to know too much about how different it is vs traditional swings and don't really have any time to go to the range. But I'll keep reading and trying to pick up some stuff from it.

The grip is interesting. Until last year, I unknowingly had a lot of bend (cupping?) in my right wrist (I'm a lefty). I straightened out my ball flight a bit by focusing on keeping the wrists straight, but lost about a club length in distance. This year I've gotten out to the range once after reading this book, and I gained that club back. Ball flight was decent but I was pulling the ball and didn't know why.
 
my coach was talking about this book the other day. In my last lesson he seems to think at least some of it will be a good fit for me. I should probably pick up the book so that I could see what he's talking about.
 
-CRW- said:
I watched one quick video on it, but will watch more of his stuff when I can. It looks like he is just pre-setting his weight on the lead leg to make sure he gets his weight forward and follows through on/after the down swing.

What I'm talking about looks like the same thing but just focusing on the turn rather than the weight shift. This video shows what I'm talking about:

http://membership.haneyuniversity.com/free-lessons/swing-magic/lagging-club/
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Sorry I missed this, but you are exactly right about the turning. Todd Graves proved this a while back with some video of Moe from the front and back. Apparently he asked Moe if he was laterally sliding or just turning, and Moe stated emphatically "turning, only turning!". Then he posted up some videos of Moe that showed, from behind, that Moe was only turning since his spine never slid laterally, when viewed from behind.
 
last night i watched the me and my golf guys' breakdown of this swing. i tried to envision myself making some of these moves, and all i could think about was bad stuff happening.
 
Well, after playing arpund bit I haven't had a whole lot of success. Most shots end up as a push into a fade/slice instead of just a slice.

so frustrated i went back to my old set up and was bombing them straight again arrrrgh.
 
So, I got the A Swing book for Kindle, and I've perused through it...I don't think it's Furyk's swing...but I don't think it's terribly far from it. I like that it's a clear, understandable path for the club to move through the backswing, and I like that it seems to create a feeling that makes an in-to-out swing a little easier to visualize, IMO. It just feels kinda cramped. Ball position, recommended arms and hand position at the top of the backswing just feels kinda narrow. I'll have more to say about it after this weekend, but I don't think at this point I would feel like adopting the swing, though there are some elements of it I like.
 
From watching his instructions and on school of golf. I'd say it's most like Ryan Moore. However it's not a strict upright to flat plane swing. I believe the concept is so your shaft is no longer OTT with an exaggerated inside loop. This basically cures most people's swing issues. The straight back and straight through swing a la Adam Scott is pretty and everything but for most people they don't have a consistent back and down swing to make sure it's on the same plane. The A swing makes sure your exaggerated movements achieve the inside to out swing path, eliminating slice from your vocab. While not every instruction works for everyone, I believe this particular instance, with practice, everyone can be a much better striker with better consistency.

And so what if it looks like Furyk, we can all be so lucky to be such a consistently great ball striker.
 
Fortunately my vacation rental has an extensive library on the subject of golf. Nice to be able to see this in full size.
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From what I've read, I really feel like this is a swing that can create a reliable in to out swing path. Really excited to give it a try on the range Saturday if not tomorrow.

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