Playing over 2 years, still unable to connect with ball

The lesson thing can be a marathon not a sprint. We don't always see improvement immediately or in a regular straight line progression. It can be hard.

Does your instructor use technology like Trackman to give you numbers? What is your instructor asking you to work on? What are you doing between lessons to work on that?

We have not used that device yet, the lessons consisted of only my 7i and a few reflector sticks. More of trying to get the motion of the swing down.
 
IMHO looking at your video you are moving around too much. My instructor says that if you can control your center (slightly below the base of your neck) you will control the club face. You seem to be shifting forward and back with your center and this is tough to do consistantly. Your hips need to clear and rotate around but your sturnum stays still until the club hits 9oclock, then you rotate.

Two lessons is not enough to flush out engrained bad habits. My range has a program where I get weekly group practice sessions with my instructor and monthly private lessons for less than many people pay for one lesson a month. Maybe try and find something like that? This is a tough sport but the lessons really helped me. I've been playing about a year and a half and I just broke 90.

HTH,
Whiskey

Thanks @Whiskey! I can totally see my head, shoulders, upperbody moving around like crazy. I feel when i try to hold it all together, I chunk it. But, I agree - these are all bad habits. I totally agree, I need to just be around others learning to play as well (maybe more group lessons supplemented by one on one). Cheers!
 
He looks like he does a decent job of staying centered.

In my very amateur analysis, I'd say some of his problems are:

- Grip
- Distance to ball (reaching)
- Fanning the club open on an inside takeaway

But I'll let Freddie verify if any of those are correct and/or suggest solutions.

@wadesworld Thanks!!!!
 
Freddie is the man, listen to him. I see flaws but I'm no instructor so I'll absolutely defer here.

But what I do see is the degree of athleticism that you mentioned. The only thing holding you back is ingraining the fundamentals which will allow that athleticism to shine through. Freddie, another certified pro, I'd committ to following through with a plan if you truly want to realize your potential with this game.

You're not as far off as you may think.

@WMac19 Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback. It's great to hear i'm not that far off... I think I've developed bad habits and they are going to be tough to break.
 
The key to any golf swing is the set up. There are fundamentals that you need to incorporate.

Knee flex
Weight on balls of your feet
Hip flex

If someone were to try to push you over, it should not be easy. In your current setup if I wanted to push you back, you’d topple over. So get into an athletic position at address.

The motion you have now is a sway/lift. Your center (sternum) moves off the ball and your arms lift the club to the top. This means when you return the club to ball your address or center is now a few inches behind the ball. With your grip and lack of knee flex, you’re flipping the hands and catching the ball of the lower part of the club.

The shoulders turn 90* and the arms follow. The shoulders turn back and the arms swing. If your have kept your center and maintained knee flex, you’ll hit it flush.

@tadashi70 - Totally! I do not feel balanced at all. It's funny, I do not feel the sway when I swing, but then watching the video... it's ridiculous. It's such a bad habit. Are there things I can do to force myself not to sway/lift?

Thanks again!
 
I should add that finding a good instructor for you is key.

There are many instructors who may essentially teach the same general concepts.

But finding one that helps it make sense for you is key.

I personally spent several months with one PGA pro and never really improved. In fact, I actually got significantly worse. This same pro was effective for others I have met.

I switched to a different pro and the strokes started melting off.

Also, it may take a few lessons to really start seeing a benefit. It's actually quite common to play worse after a swing change as you are attempting to groove the new changes.

Stick with it.

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Thanks @Anithero! I do agree, it can be the pro/student dynamic. It's not always the right fit. I find myself, trying to digest all the advice, taking it back to the range...working on it for 2 weeks...then start scrambling around to get a swing that kind of works again. Back to square 1. I need to stick with something and keep repeating it.
 
This is what I was saying in my post on the first page. Think of your swing as a rotation around your spine. Rotation gives you the power, not swaying or moving up and down. You are moving your upper body up and back in your backswing imo. Try not to focus on hitting it a mile, but rather a nice smooth 3/4 swing keeping your head mostly still through the swing until just after contact. Keep loose, tension is bad. My 2 cents.

Thanks @~QQ~ I did try to hit it smoother and when I do connect...it goes just as far as when I try to kill it. It's just repeating this each time is what's difficult. I say its about 50/50. I think I resort back to the "hard" swing because I feel if I swing harder..I stay more linear and there's a better chance of connecting. It's a mental thing? The slower I swing the loser and wonky it gets and I feel I lose control... But I totally understand. It's a mental thing.
 
We have not used that device yet, the lessons consisted of only my 7i and a few reflector sticks. More of trying to get the motion of the swing down.

The first thing you might do is stand squarely in front of a mirror (no golf club necessary).
Look at your face in the mirror. While keeping your face/head stable turn your body to the the left.
This is essentially what a fundamentally sound back swing pivot (turn) should look and feel like.
 
Thanks @~QQ~ I did try to hit it smoother and when I do connect...it goes just as far as when I try to kill it. It's just repeating this each time is what's difficult. I say its about 50/50. I think I resort back to the "hard" swing because I feel if I swing harder..I stay more linear and there's a better chance of connecting. It's a mental thing? The slower I swing the loser and wonky it gets and I feel I lose control... But I totally understand. It's a mental thing.
The speed of your swing is not the issue. See what Freddie said above about raising up and catching it on the low grooves (which very likely means swinging up on the ball). That is the reason for loss of distance - you aren’t compressing the ball. I share this challenge. We have to swing down with our irons and hit it in the meaty part of the face to get distance.



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Tadashi nailed it on the head. Watch both videos and see where your head is right before you start your swing. I paused it right there then continued the video and your head moves a lot during your swing. When the problem is contact issues 99% of the time it's head movement. The other 1% is the lead arm breaking down during the swing your right arm stays pretty strong during your back swing. Just a bit of elbow bend but not too much. The issue for you is the head movement. Have a buddy get a alignment rod or club shaft and have them stand directly in front of you and they hold the rod against the left side of your head. Feeling that against your head will make you super aware of you head and keep it still during the swing. Also like Tadashi said a lot of the head movement is happening because of your set up. Get more comfortable and balanced so you can turn without swaying and rocking.
 
This is fabulous advice.

@Tadashi70 - would the drill where you put a pole or stick over your shoulders behind your head, setup with your butt touching a stationary object and you rotate your shoulders back and through be a decent drill for the OP to do?

I like the stick through the belt loop for a good shoulder turn. If you’re flexible the stick will remain straight. If you’re not then the hips will rotate 30 to 45* as the shoulders turn. If your slide the right side of the stick will get a bit higher than the left.

Or place a stick in the ground next to the rear heel. If you bump it on the back swing then you more than likely swayed.
 
Another vote for lessons, but it is important to remember what lessons are for. Lessons show you what is lacking and give you something to work on. Practice based on lessons improve your ability. That translates to scores.

I just started this year. I have taken 15 lessons or so. The first two or three, I didn't swing a club at a ball. We spent that time working on stance, grip, posture, etc. This was at my request. Those first couple lessons have helped me all the way through, because I can always go back to them in my mind and check myself (before I wreck myself). Most of my most recent lessons are around specific clubs, or even specific shots with specific clubs.

In a given 30-60 minute lesson, you are really only going to be able to work on one, maybe two things. If one goes into a lesson with the request of "everything is wrong, help me" then the pro can't concentrate of focus on anything.

IMO, YMMV
 
One issue I noticed in your setup, is you are keeping your head tucked down too low. Then when you make your back swing, your shoulder wants to hit your chin so you are forced to stand up out of your posture to give your shoulder room to complete the turn.
Just something to check.
 
Just wanted to say thank you to all! Great comments and feedback. Thank you for taking the time to watch the clips of my swing and provide analysis. AMAZING. I have a lot of work to do, but am confident I can improve. I am going to work on all suggested and post videos of progress. I am also going to continue with lessons.
 
Just wanted to say thank you to all! Great comments and feedback. Thank you for taking the time to watch the clips of my swing and provide analysis. AMAZING. I have a lot of work to do, but am confident I can improve. I am going to work on all suggested and post videos of progress. I am also going to continue with lessons.
Hang in there.

With some determination and a little good help, you'll start to see improvement soon.

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Caliheights, I'm also in San Jose. There is more going on than mentioned, but I absolutely agree with Takashi on where you need to start. If you run through your video, you'll see your head is 4 or more inches higher at impact than it is at the start of your backswing. You'll never be able to make consistent contact until you get rid of that sway and stand up motion, especially with the way you are reaching at setup. You are also capable of hitting it a lot farther and that should excite you.

Anyway, I make it a point to never interfere when someone is working with another instructor. But if you want to go out to the range sometime, tell me what your instructor has you working on and have another set of eyes see where you are on applying what your instructor wants you to do, I'd be happy to do so.
 
Caliheights, I'm also in San Jose. There is more going on than mentioned, but I absolutely agree with Takashi on where you need to start. If you run through your video, you'll see your head is 4 or more inches higher at impact than it is at the start of your backswing. You'll never be able to make consistent contact until you get rid of that sway and stand up motion, especially with the way you are reaching at setup. You are also capable of hitting it a lot farther and that should excite you.

Anyway, I make it a point to never interfere when someone is working with another instructor. But if you want to go out to the range sometime, tell me what your instructor has you working on and have another set of eyes see where you are on applying what your instructor wants you to do, I'd be happy to do so.

Right on @leftshot. Sure, let's find some time to hit the range. That would be great! Let me know which is your preferred range, and I'll work around your schedule. I worked on some of the feedback today at the range, trying to keep my head still, what resulted is me chunking a lot of shots. It seems that if I try to keep my posture still, my club ends up going into the ground.
 
One issue I noticed in your setup, is you are keeping your head tucked down too low. Then when you make your back swing, your shoulder wants to hit your chin so you are forced to stand up out of your posture to give your shoulder room to complete the turn.
Just something to check.

Thanks @chenrio - I tried a few things like this today. Getting my head/chin out of the way was one of them. I have so many bad habits that it feels "unnatural" and have to fight the urge to go back to the bad swing. It's going to be a process!
 
Thanks @chenrio - I tried a few things like this today. Getting my head/chin out of the way was one of them. I have so many bad habits that it feels "unnatural" and have to fight the urge to go back to the bad swing. It's going to be a process!

The reason it stood out tome is because I used to have the same bad habit of keeping my head tucked down- it was an over exaggerated "keep your eye on the ball". Made a huge difference when I corrected that issue. Keep working at it-progress will come.
 
The lesson idea is good. The right teacher can help you develop the fundamentals necessary for a good swing. The longer that you ingrain bad swing habits, the harder it may be to overcome them. The things i mention below are simply static indicators that don't necessarily conform to what is considered proper swings movements by most of the teaching profession.
I single-stepped your face-on video and have a few observations. You appear to be athletic enough to eventually be a good golfer. You load the club fairly well and your transition is not bad. Your lower body starts first and your shoulders and arms begin to follow. However, you do have some over-the-top movement and a bit of forward head motion. Your arms are coming down a bit over your back swing plane and you begin to lose your club lag as your left arm approaches parallel to the ground. You hands become active and by the time the club shaft is parallel to ground, your hands are a good foot away from your trailing leg and when the hands reach the trailing leg you have zero lag. From this position, you can only flip your wrists thru impact and that is what you do. The idea is have the club be at least parallel to the ground when your hands are over your trailing leg and than rotate your body thru impact as you post up on the leading leg. These are typical swing problems that most people have starting out in golf without any formal instruction, and I certainly include myself in that group. Of course, the golf swing is a dynamic process and static positions have no place in such a process.
 
You've got to learn a process for learning the game. Your issues are very common with people starting out...you haven't learned enough about the golf swing and its mechanics, or developed a proper practice routine.

First thing you need to work on is the appropriate golf swing sequence, or Kinematic sequence. Until you learn that, you'll struggle. Then you should focus on building a swing with short shots around the green, and with a wedge on the range.

Far too much for me to write here, but hopefully this will help you get started.
 
Your setup is all over the shop. You reach out to the ball a mile (you need the hand eye coordination of a circus juggler to make solid contact), your stance is too narrow (no solid platform for a swing and you sway all over the shop). Just starting with those fixes will do heaps, I reckon.


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Like tadashi said, you lift up & sway back in your back swing. I do the same thing & my contact suffers. It gets progressively worse the harder I try to hit the ball.
I think I do it subconsciously trying to get more power.
 
I am totally willing to take lessons. I've taken 2 lessons and want to continue, but I feel that I am not improving enough between lessons to even make sense of the next set of instructions. It's almost like I am missing something crucial in order to make sense of the next lesson. Or maybe just diving in and signing up for 5 lessons the way to go?

I'm a late comer to the game and lefty also. Finding a good teacher who can help you focus on one step at a time will be the key. What you'll need out of a teacher is someone who will have you focus on one thing at a time. Building a full and complete swing comes from many pieces and you won't fix everything at one time. I've found in my lessons is that we take one or 2 things in each lesson and focus on those items. Those become the building blocks for the next lessons and so forth. I wouldn't worry about improving enough between lessons if you are getting good instruction. It won't be perfect but you'll want to work towards progress over time. You'll probably get advice like I did to work on 1 or 2 specific drills each time. Many of which you can even do without hitting a ball to work towards building the muscle memory for a better swing.

I teach drums to high school kids in my spare time and a similar concept applies to how I teach them so this concept really applies to learning anything.
 
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