No topping and new swing after one youtube video from Shawn Clement

[WayneN]

Thanks fr sharing...agreed descending blow and divot after the ball is my goal

Thanks fr sharing...agreed descending blow and divot after the ball is my goal

Welcome to THP!
It's all about the descending blow I am discovering lately as well. While he does demonstrate the 7 iron you can tell he is robbing himself of much power, so this overcompensation would only be useful on chips and pitches. So the trick is to get to that weight forward position without starting there it seems.

To help with swaying I Like how this video shows the use of an umbrella to stop the hips and head from going back and teaches to focus the weight to the inside part of the leg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpwXifyLCSU




The reason I was swaying was that I was trying to take the club back in a perfectly straight line. Now I am starting to swing the arms around the body in more of an arc.

Thanks for the Welcome!

Taking club straight back and then swaying is something that I had to address by using an impact bag placed on the inside of my trailing leg and keeping leg against impact bag when taking backswing. I am finding it best to simply "brace" as instructed by Mr. Clemet to prevent sway. Seems to be working and will provide more details in follow up posting.

 

[WayneN]

Follow up to OP September 11th; "Topped shots have recently become an issue with..."

Follow up to OP September 11th; "Topped shots have recently become an issue with..."

I apologize for the length of this posting. However, I want to be comprehensive on my personal efforts to work with Shawn Clemet’s technique on improved ball striking. I went thru process during two sessions at the range and a round of golf yesterday.


Range session one: Initial drills. I focused on short irons (61 degree, 56 degree, gap and pitching wedge). I liked the contact improvement. Tthen moved up to 9, 8 and 7 irons and made decent contact. I knew I was contacting the ball properly more often than not by the sound of the crisp “clack”. Moved on to hybrids and contact was good when I focused on making descending blow. Consistency (accuracy & distance) is work in progress.


Range session two: Same as above; confidence level with irons improved. Then focused on driver and pitching and chipping. The driver is work in progress. I am working on consciously soling the driver at address with the sternum notch position at the bottoming out of club head…behind the ball…hence I should then catch the ball on the natural ascent of the swing with the ball simply getting in the way of club head….again, work in progress. Note: Soling the driver with a gap between the ball and club head seemed to be similar to how Moe Norman addressed his driver. I then went to the chip, pitch and putting green area. I used the same set up method for chip and pitch shots with focus on using hands and arms and keeping lower body quiet. I did widen (I used to keep feet close together) and flared my lead foot just slightly and was making very crisp contact with the ball.


On the course:


Highlights: More than usual “crisp” fairway irons with ball ending up around the green…need to still work on dialing in distance. #10 sliced ball into #9 fairway…had to make 160 shot back into #10 fairway but had to go between two large trees…it had to carry or it would come in contact with over hanging branches on descent…very crisp contact and lands in opening between trees…left with 100 yd. shot to green. Birdied #16 with a crisp choked down pitching wedge from 113 yds followed by 10’ putt. #18 after hitting tee shot into water hazard, took drop from 167 to pin…took 6hybrid and focused on sequence to hit down on ball…crisp contact…nice low ball trajectory and lands on front of green and rolls pass hole (back of green) and stops on fringe total distance 177…chipped up to 4” gimmie putt…bogie with a penalty stroke…acceptable.


Note: A total of 3 chip / pitch shots that ended up close to the hole as gimmie puts (this includes #18). Making crisp contact (press, check back, brace trailing leg) and keeping lower body still helped.

Played to a 19+ (1 over handicap) with a loaned putter from Starter’s Office…forgot putter at home.


Lowlights: Forgot putter at home….putting was challenging. #13 I wanted to focus on using 3hybrid and ended up with two topped shots. Assessed that out of bad habit I just moved ball position up in stance and did not press forward enough. Work in progress.


Comments: Another golf instructor mentioned quite often the importance of taking a divot pass the ball. References the bottom of the club face impact lined up with the placket of the golf shirt which is below the sternum notch. However, Shawn provides (at least for me) an easy to implement method of moving the sternum notch ahead of ball…turned cheek to back of ball to “bracket” ball and then bracing the trailing leg to support the pivot around spine to prevent swaying and keeping things in position for ball strike. In addition, the forward press of the hands also seems akin to what was mentioned in another instructor’s video. Posing at an impact position with bowed the wrists and holding this position…then taking stance and taking a swing at the ball. A bowed wrist will result in proper or slightly delofted contact versus a cupped wrist that will add loft and a bunch of other problems (fat shots).



Note: There is another Shawn Clement’s YouTube video on further explanation on weight shift. Basically weight shift occurs via centrifugal force of arms moving back…occurs naturally. Then toss and fall, fall. You may want to check this out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CSHqnYNijw


In closing, I am not by any means close to being as competent of a golfer as others on this Forum and what I have shared are my own personal results and opinion. For those who are working towards contacting the ball crisply and taking a divot after the ball (minimize topping)…give this a go and allow enough time to assess if it will help.

 

[wadesworld]

Keep at it. Just like traditional lessons, you likely won't be able to implement Shawn's teachings overnight. It will take months or even years. The difference is rather than fighting positions and a myriad of swing thoughts, your battle will be with yourself to give up control.

Always, always, stay target focused and do not make the ball your target. When you really get there, wonderful things will happen. It's just a lot harder to get there than you might realize. There have been many times when I thought I was doing what I was supposed to do, only to realize later that I never actually let go of control. But keep the faith, the rewards are worth the journey.