KEV

Proud 2018 The Grandaddy Alumni
Joined
Jul 10, 2015
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Location
Southeast, South Dakota
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This last weekend I had the chance to play 27 holes of golf with my brother before his wedding and asked him to take a picture during my swing. Well, to my surprise my super flat backswing has once again reappeared. I only have this picture right now and I'll get some video this week. Any suggestions or swing thoughts you guys recommend to fix this without causing more issues?

A good buddy recommended focusing on getting my left elbow higher and that definitely seems like a great thought but I wanted to ask for any other recommendations. 08DE07C5-F42E-4B5E-8C36-1DD8B9BDFE18.jpeg
 
This may help. Take note of the lie angle of the shaft at address and try to get your left arm to match that angle at the top of the backswing. When you get it right the arm plane will be above the shoulder plane which will give you a better separation between arms and shoulders during the downswing. When they are on the same plane or if the arm plane is lower, then any forward movement of the right shoulder will push the arms outwards towards the ball/target line.
 
kev are concerned about the backswing not being deep enough, or about the being too laid off?
 
I always feel like I can achieve my optimum backswing plane by thinking of the relationship between my left arm and right shoulder at the top. I like to feel my left arm getting to a position between my right shoulder and head, right in the middle of my neck.
 
Are you having ball striking issues with this type of back swing? If not, TBH who cares what your back swing looks like? Why go changing things that could potentially spiral you into new issues? I've always had a very flat back swing as well and it works, so I never changed it.
 
I'll just warn you to proceed carefully.

I used to struggle with an extremely flat backswing as well and I eventually managed to fix it, but ever since then I've had to have an extremely shut face to compensate for it.
 
So i was super steep a few years ago. big slices. To "fix" it, I figured, I just have to work on flatter... well I got to a point where I was wayyyyyy too flat and under shoulder (ask @OITW).

I had to fix it. First thing I worked on was my posture. I had a ton of hip flexion along with decent flexed knees. Next my grip was pretty weak which was putting my in a layed off position. Once i had those worked out, my plane was better but I was still wrapping my arms behind me instead of turning my shoulders.

So, I focused on a more upright posture, thinking about turning my shoulders, while feeling my hands stayed above my right ear. This gave me width, and a better position to rotate back though instead of throwing my hands at the ball. This has helped me greatly in my driving.
 
Gorgeous view btw, who cares about the Flat Backswing, take in that view. 💪💪💪

Why do you think it's an issue?

I will say that that's a driver, so the shoulder plane and swing plane will naturally be flatter vs. say a 7-iron. A good way to check is to take an iPhone and use the Edit feature on pics, then click on "MarkUP" (take a screen grab of video if you have it) and use the ruler within markup to measure the angle of the shoulders when your shoulders get about 90 degrees rotated. Ideally, we'd like a 7-iron to be 45-50 degrees, and slightly flatter for driver.

If you do a little digging and think it's too flat, and want to get a steeper shoulder plane, which we would HIGHLY recommend, you need to First change your SetUp.
  • At SetUp, stand taller (slight knee bend) - Get the legs to look like the right one in your pic....tough to really tell because of the camera angle, but looks pretty good from what I can see
  • Do a Standing crunch to get your lower, mid, and upper spine to round out
  • Then from there, do some drills without a club, feeling like you're shooting a bow and arrow at the ball? This will get you to feel what it's like to keep your shoulders steeper.
Let me know how it goes.
 
To me it looks more laid off like a Daniel Berger than overly flat. Like stated above I am sure more shoulder tilt would be good too.
Good luck.
 
So i was super steep a few years ago. big slices. To "fix" it, I figured, I just have to work on flatter... well I got to a point where I was wayyyyyy too flat and under shoulder (ask @OITW).

I had to fix it. First thing I worked on was my posture. I had a ton of hip flexion along with decent flexed knees. Next my grip was pretty weak which was putting my in a layed off position. Once i had those worked out, my plane was better but I was still wrapping my arms behind me instead of turning my shoulders.

So, I focused on a more upright posture, thinking about turning my shoulders, while feeling my hands stayed above my right ear. This gave me width, and a better position to rotate back though instead of throwing my hands at the ball. This has helped me greatly in my driving.

 
kev are concerned about the backswing not being deep enough, or about the being too laid off?

I guess I'm just concerned about my ability to hit quality shots. What I mean is it feels like I get stuck on my downswing and I wonder if I just don't have enough room to move effectively.

Are you having ball striking issues with this type of back swing? If not, TBH who cares what your back swing looks like? Why go changing things that could potentially spiral you into new issues? I've always had a very flat back swing as well and it works, so I never changed it.

I've been having huge issues with the driver this year. I feel like I sometimes get stuck and I'll occasionally have a big duck hook.

Gorgeous view btw, who cares about the Flat Backswing, take in that view. 💪💪💪

Why do you think it's an issue?

I will say that that's a driver, so the shoulder plane and swing plane will naturally be flatter vs. say a 7-iron. A good way to check is to take an iPhone and use the Edit feature on pics, then click on "MarkUP" (take a screen grab of video if you have it) and use the ruler within markup to measure the angle of the shoulders when your shoulders get about 90 degrees rotated. Ideally, we'd like a 7-iron to be 45-50 degrees, and slightly flatter for driver.

If you do a little digging and think it's too flat, and want to get a steeper shoulder plane, which we would HIGHLY recommend, you need to First change your SetUp.
  • At SetUp, stand taller (slight knee bend) - Get the legs to look like the right one in your pic....tough to really tell because of the camera angle, but looks pretty good from what I can see
  • Do a Standing crunch to get your lower, mid, and upper spine to round out
  • Then from there, do some drills without a club, feeling like you're shooting a bow and arrow at the ball? This will get you to feel what it's like to keep your shoulders steeper.
Let me know how it goes.

Great stuff and I really appreciate it. I'm going to work on these tips when I get to the range this week. I've been struggling so bad with driver that I need to get it fixed so I can get my handicap back to where it should be.
 
I guess I'm just concerned about my ability to hit quality shots. What I mean is it feels like I get stuck on my downswing and I wonder if I just don't have enough room to move effectively.



I've been having huge issues with the driver this year. I feel like I sometimes get stuck and I'll occasionally have a big duck hook.



Great stuff and I really appreciate it. I'm going to work on these tips when I get to the range this week. I've been struggling so bad with driver that I need to get it fixed so I can get my handicap back to where it should be.
Make sure you video yourself to see if you can do it correctly, hit a ball, check video, hit a ball, check video...that's how you work it at the range.
 
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I guess I'm just concerned about my ability to hit quality shots. What I mean is it feels like I get stuck on my downswing and I wonder if I just don't have enough room to move effectively.

so tread lightly, but you might want to read through my swing journey with tyler mcghie. your backswing looks a lot like mine. hands should be more over your shoulder than behind it, club should be more set through the hands. if you can add that in, you'll see an increase in launch and spin, or at least I know I have on the rare occasion I get close to doing it. but it's been a freaking nightmare trying to make it happen and i'm still not even close.
 
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I guess I'm just concerned about my ability to hit quality shots. What I mean is it feels like I get stuck on my downswing and I wonder if I just don't have enough room to move effectively.

I've been having huge issues with the driver this year. I feel like I sometimes get stuck and I'll occasionally have a big duck hook.

I'm with you. I know that one of my recurring swing issues is getting too flat on the takeaway and backswing. I can end up with an OTT move because there isn't enough room coming down. I tend to start fading/slicing or having pull hooks, and the more I try to swing out as the correction, I get flatter yet. I find having a wide takeaway (avoiding early wrist set) with club outside of hands helps me. Then open hips and turn shoulders to rotate. I end up more upright at the top and have better options for how I bring the club through. My consistency increases and I can adjust shot shape with more subtle changes. At least this is how my brain interprets what I do when I am striking the ball well. :D
 
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Do you remember how that shot turned out?
I'm seeing the face open at the top.
You look like you took the club inside quite a bit on this one. Little stuck. Maybe a tad close to the ball?
From the pic, it would take some timing to have it work out repeatedly.
27 holes. Were ya tired by this point? The bad habits creep in when we're tired.
 
Do you remember how that shot turned out?
I'm seeing the face open at the top.
You look like you took the club inside quite a bit on this one. Little stuck. Maybe a tad close to the ball?
From the pic, it would take some timing to have it work out repeatedly.
27 holes. Were ya tired by this point? The bad habits creep in when we're tired.
I remember that one went right on me. I teed up a second ball and pulled it left. This was just a nine hole round, the other 18 was the day before.
 
Try this...I didn’t say this but feel like you’re pulling your obliques to take your takeaway and backswing


This is awesome! I'm going to work on this in my garage in the evenings to get that move ingrained. I really appreciate the tips! I'll throw up some updates as I go along.
 
Let's gooooooo

7632FB88-0330-425A-9972-D78465D87346.jpeg
 
This last weekend I had the chance to play 27 holes of golf with my brother before his wedding and asked him to take a picture during my swing. Well, to my surprise my super flat backswing has once again reappeared. I only have this picture right now and I'll get some video this week. Any suggestions or swing thoughts you guys recommend to fix this without causing more issues?

A good buddy recommended focusing on getting my left elbow higher and that definitely seems like a great thought but I wanted to ask for any other recommendations. View attachment 8955322
WOW! All I could think of was "is that Sergio Garcia?"2020-07-28_18-45-55.jpg2020-07-28_18-45-55.jpg
 
Pretty much the same right? Except for the lack of hand/eye coordination, athleticism and talent. 🤣

I do have better control of my temper though :D.
It's all about impact, if you can get into anywhere near his position at impact who cares about the backswing? Lol. You even look like Sergio....sans the groupies!
 
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I like the "push the ball back" drill for ya.


No thinking, just swing with this one. (y)
 
This last weekend I had the chance to play 27 holes of golf with my brother before his wedding and asked him to take a picture during my swing. Well, to my surprise my super flat backswing has once again reappeared. I only have this picture right now and I'll get some video this week. Any suggestions or swing thoughts you guys recommend to fix this without causing more issues?

A good buddy recommended focusing on getting my left elbow higher and that definitely seems like a great thought but I wanted to ask for any other recommendations. View attachment 8955322
I would just focus on trying to get my hands head high at the top of my back swing
 
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