Early Extension

[Jamie23]

Anyone got any magic cure for this?

Been plagued by this for years, seems to come and go when I can be hitting the ball well and then all of a sudden the heel strikes start again and seems to be caused by early extension

It’s got to the stage all I can think about in the downswing is making sure my backside doesn’t move forward at all and this does give me some success but even that doesn’t seem to stop it altogether. It’s like an uncontrollable urge to push my weight forward on the downswing.

Anyone got any tips of swing thoughts to help with this?

 

[USER1999]

Your description comes across as very unclear. By forwards, do you mean towards the target, or the ball?

 

[Jamie23]

Sorry should of been clearer, towards the ball creating heel strikes

 

[the_coach]

sadly like most things there's no 'magic' cure - unless the root or first cause of the issue is properly identified

in this case what is 'visibly seen' as the fault is the ee itself but the real root cause will be something else

ee in most cases is there because of some other fault that took place earlier on could be set-up related could be partly backswing related & then subsequently transition related or a some combination of those things

without seeing the grip hold - setup & swing motion (dtl & face-on views) it's impossible to say what the cause of your particular ee problem is

yep you can try & keep the tail-bone back but unless that also somehow stops the real root cause of the issue it will recur - which is what is goin on by what you say in the op

when you are playing reasonably well is the ball flight in the main left to right (fade/slice/pull) or right to left (draw/hook/push) ?

 

[Jon_T]

Yes I have a cure. The same issue has plagued me for the best part of two years and I have recently found the cure. Keep your right heel down through impact. Absolute game changer for me.

 

[Jamie23]

Usually pretty straight when playing ok, don’t tend to slice or hook but usually seem to start hooking the ball a lot before the strike issues seem to start again

 

[Jamie23]

Yes I have a cure. The same issue has plagued me for the best part of two years and I have recently found the cure. Keep your right heel down through impact. Absolute game changer for me

Ok definitely worth a go

 

[Jensen]

This following link by Peter Finch works wonders

https://youtu.be/zUI_ckgBF_A

 

[Jamesbrown]

I don’t think there is a cure. Your left to develop some extraordinary strike skills whilst suffering from that disease.

 

[Wilson]

Yes I have a cure. The same issue has plagued me for the best part of two years and I have recently found the cure. Keep your right heel down through impact. Absolute game changer for me.

This is what I’ve used, has helped massively.

 

[the_coach]

Usually pretty straight when playing ok, don’t tend to slice or hook but usually seem to start hooking the ball a lot before the strike issues seem to start again

then without knowing what the swing is like but given you say the hook starts often times before the bad strike issues start would look at a couple of things

watch at transition you are not sliding the hips laterally towards target a bunch as this then tends to tilt the upper body trail shoulder down (commonly referred to as the upper body 'backing up or backing off coming into the ball') gives a feelin that the arms & club get stuck behind - also call it that 'lateral hip overslide' tends to create more of an in to out swing path

subsequently you feelin stuck behind some with that upper body working or leaning back off aways from target & you having then to swing a bunch more in to out the brain works out that only ways to get the club head to the ball is to lose the pelvic angle so early extend & stand up with the trail leg/hip working out towards the target line this pushes the arms hands/handle & club further out so heel or hosel to ball

during the backswing make sure you make a hip turn - turn 'into' the trail hip socket make sure it's not a lateral hip slide off of the ball goin back

so at the top of the backswing if you stopped stayed in position & simply put the shaft across your hips it would be at around a 45º angle then at the start of transition just feel the hips stay in that angle while you just kind 'fall' some weight into the lead leg & then swing down keeping the trail heel on the ground throughout the transition & at least until the lead arm gets to horizontal to the ground in the disowning

just set-up n' do a number of reps of backswing 'hip turn 45º' "fall weight to lead leg hips still at 45º" "bring arms down to lead arm horizontal to ground trail heel still on ground" so from set-up repeat that drill slow - backswing to that lead arm horizontal to ground say 3 times slowly then with that 'feel' in mind hit a shot - repeat process
at first you probably goin to mishit a good few but stick with the process get the 'feel' & the strike will come back

{sometimes it helps folks to do this standing on an alignment stick runnin thru the center of both feet as being conscious of the stick helps keep the trail heel down during transition}

 

[hovis]

just be mindful that most early extension drills stop you getting through the ball. most people don't realise that early extension is just that "early"!!! you still have to extend to release the club.