Flat golf swing

[zaid]

I’m an 11 handicapper and here is my swing issue.

i have a tendancy of having a flat swing, by trying to keep my right elbow tucked in to get the power I have to try and rotate more and thus my swing can get flat as I am swinging it around my body.

with a driver I am lethal, I tee it a bit higher and have it off the front foot, and I hit a high power fade carrying 260 yards in winter!

The problem is with my irons, there are some days at the range I am also lethal with my irons with my ‘flat swing’ results in a lovely baby draw. However, the bad shot is straight and thinned, not running across the floor thinned but slightly stings my hand and a lower trajectory and slightly less distance so generally a good bad shot to have, however, some days 1 on 10 shots will do this, other days 7 in 8 shots will do this.

when I try and go steeper, generally no issue with he short irons, but have a tendancy to slice my mid to long irons or really pull them.

essentially I would like a fix to reduce the number of thinned iron shots with my flat swing. Some days it’s not an issue other days it is and can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong on those off days.

much appreciate any help.

 

[bobmac]

I take it you don't take much of a divot with your irons?

 

[zaid]

When I hit it well, it’s a shallow divot, when I thin it, it’s almost the perfect fairway bunker shot!

 

[bobmac]

I would suggest you start by checking your ball position, it may have sneaked forward a touch.

 

[zaid]

THanks,

i will check this next time. Hoping it’s a simple fix as This swing is so much more repeatable for me

 

[Maninblack4612]

I have the same problem at times. A flat swing is more suited to the longer clubs. In "The Plane Truth" the author, Jim Hardy, says that the worst thing that a one plane swinger (which it's likely you are) can do is to lose his spine angle i.e. the amount you are bent over, during the backswing or downswing. He says that the heads of best one plane strikers, if anything dip slightly on the backswing & sometimes on the downswing. May be worth taking a video to check.

 

[the_coach]

I’m an 11 handicapper and here is my swing issue.

i have a tendancy of having a flat swing, by trying to keep my right elbow tucked in to get the power I have to try and rotate more and thus my swing can get flat as I am swinging it around my body.

with a driver I am lethal, I tee it a bit higher and have it off the front foot, and I hit a high power fade carrying 260 yards in winter!

The problem is with my irons, there are some days at the range I am also lethal with my irons with my ‘flat swing’ results in a lovely baby draw. However, the bad shot is straight and thinned, not running across the floor thinned but slightly stings my hand and a lower trajectory and slightly less distance so generally a good bad shot to have, however, some days 1 on 10 shots will do this, other days 7 in 8 shots will do this.

when I try and go steeper, generally no issue with he short irons, but have a tendancy to slice my mid to long irons or really pull them.

essentially I would like a fix to reduce the number of thinned iron shots with my flat swing. Some days it’s not an issue other days it is and can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong on those off days.

much appreciate any help.

hard to say exactly without seeing posture & swing - a 'flatter around swing' is always goin to work a tad better with a driver as obviously the ball is 'above ground' so there doesn't have to be as much 'down' in the motion

but would check that with the iron set-up that there is a good posture so good forwards bend angle to the spine when looking from down the line - the angle coming from a 'bend' at the hip sockets not the stomach belt line

a takeback that's trying to have a right elbow tucked in so working back depth-wise is going to do a couple of things - so it will have then the arms go back a tad 'flat' & behind
but also importantly then tends to see the left shoulder either stay the same height as it was at address or even raise up a tad as the player takes the club away - so essentially that's goin to lose some/most/all of the forwards spine angle so the swing back to ball is way too 'flat' hence the hands stinger thins

if during practice you record your swing from a dtl viewpoint pay close attention to how the lead shoulder moves during the early take back it's likely it stays too high - the lead shoulder goin back needs to rotate 'down' as it also rotates back that ways that ways the posture of the spine can be kept (meaning the shoulder line rotates at 90º to the spine - so if you drew a line across the shoulders at the top of the swing looking from down the line that line extended would intersect the ground several feet the other side of the ball/target line - it that line across the shoulders when extended is not inserting the ground but heading out almost parallel to the ground then obviously the posture has changed & everything is a good ways too flat)
so goin back the lead shoulder needs to rotate down & back but also the lead shoulder needs to initially stay low as the transition starts the downswing

would tend to think that the slices with the longer irons is also a bunch tied all of the above & not being able to keep posture as instinctively there's a subconscious worry over getting the ball up in the air with the lower loft so a tad of trying to help the ball up some - lean back off the shot with hands trying to add loft & there's goin to be more of an 'open' face that's 'wiped' across the ball so slice - sometimes the face angle will get square to the path bit of extra trail shoulder & you get the pulls