In the slot, can I do it?

[RGDave]

Today....I saw the light.

It was big and bright and saying to me "sort this out Dave and you might get good again".....

I had a lesson and discussed my recent bad form of struggling with pulls, lack of distance and general loss of confidence.

BUT, the good news is that my pro feels I've made enough improvement with my backswing to start tweaking my downswing.

He showed me "how" to get the club "in the slot" at the start of the downswing, what to do (and not do!) with my body and arms.

INCREDIBLE. He put me in a position where I thought "ok, so now there is no chance of me hitting the ball from here?!", but I did! Not only did I hit the thing, but the flight was a small draw, 15 yards further with a 7 iron (now up over 160) and I can honestly do the drill without getting confused. I tried my driver and...same thing...powerful, zipped through the ball and ran out of range!!!



There may (after all) be a magic move in golf.....it just takes the attitude to go to a place where you can't believe a golf swing is like this and still hit the ball.....

Tomorrow, the whole day on the practice ground!!!

 

[USER1999]

Hmm. I think I need to visit your pro. I was worse than rubbish today. Weak slice with all clubs.

Lucky you. I hope this lasts.

 

[RGDave]

Cheers Murph.

I'm guessing (from the lack of interest) that folk on here either
1) don't know what this is all about and
2) are good enough not to need help with coming over the top or slicing/pulling.

Oh, well.....can't please everyone....

I expected a few questions t.b.h.

This is Golf's magic move.....maybe it's too far fetched for the crowd!!!

Todays practice got the draw going, but not the distance....

 

[bobmac]

Come on then Dave, spill

 

[viscount17]

dave, I'm in Group 1

signed

Puzzled of Putney

 

[RGDave]

In a way, I'm wary of trying to explain my individual predicament.....but I put the thread up because for some of us, a lot of time is spent on basics and backswing...

My theory (and this isn't from my pro, so could be deeply flawed ) is that a good usable swing is a sequence of motions (events) and the further along you get, the harder it is to improve something. Now, clearly some things are fairly easy to change and others less so.

Tweaking the downswing seems (to me) to be quite a challenge.

I saw a good hitter at the range today waste £6/8 on balls...he sliced/pulled the lot, every ball. I watched his swing and thought, there's a good golf swing, but he's just ingraining the slice/pull to an even worse state for tomorrows game.... , he was unable to fix anything....poor guy....

Anyhow, I have the challenge of taking the club to the top, then coming down in a new and uncomfortable way. Rather than opening my shoulders, I have to keep them from opening and instead, pull/turn my right pocket towards the ball (opening my hips) "drop" the hands down (pull the chain, milk the cow, smoke da weed, etc.) and pull my hands down towards impact whilst leaving the clubhead WAY behind my hands. From this position, pulling/slicing is almost impossible, and....drum roll....there is also improved lag in my downswing.

Complicated?....yes....difficult? hmm..,.. yes fairly, but as my pro said.....do it enough and I'll get it.....
having hit a couple of dozen (out of 100-ish) that flew long and draw-ish, I have to say, I'm a believer!!!

Have I explained it well? dunno, I guess it depends on what you may or may not already have in your swing.....

 

[OldWindy]

I understand what you're doing and good for you. It sounds a lot like Pennick's "right elbow in and plant left heel" stuff. Of course, there's lots of other mechanics but one should kick start another, hopefully in the right sequence!

 

[RGDave]

I understand what you're doing and good for you. It sounds a lot like Pennick's "right elbow in and plant left heel" stuff.

ABSOLUTELY.....and here's the lesson for free.....

http://www.golfdigest.com/instruction/video/mcleanslotdrill

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I understand exactly where your coming from Dave. From a personal perspective there is too much going on on the takeaway to cure first but it is something that I'm working towards hopefully as the main building block next winter.

 

[andiritchie]

IMO its all about the downswing,the backswing sets up the downswing

On my downswing i TRY to get my right elbow tucked in to my side and have my right arm slightly bent at impact,its hard to do if my hips are not fully clear so thats another thing i work on

 

[TonyN]

I like the sound of this Dave, I can't wait to see it on Monday, maybe I can pinch some ideas

You hit a great ball anyway so I cant wait for you to crack this!

I am suffering a pull with my driver now. I am wondering if because I now hit a draw, that because the club is draw bias and sits closed, the draw is made into a pull??

If i try to lay the club open slightly, it fades when I dont want it!

 

[USER1999]

I have spent the last month working on just this, and when it works, it is defo the key to curing the over the top action that kills my game. However, for the last week it has deserted me. Nearly got it back a bit today, will see if it is there tomorrow. It does deliver a draw, and more power, although for me it also delivers way more back spin than I want.

 

[TWM]

My lessons have been back swing cock the wrists, down swing timing and now on Monday, on the course with the pro, try to hit the ball............
Wish me luck.

 

[birdieman]

I think one of the keys to this is to keep it all slow going back and through the transition.

I bashed 150 balls at the range this morning and it was mostly rubbish but on a few occassions when I managed to keep it slow and retain some width it flew beautifully basically because I had dropped the club into position as outlined in this post rather than heaving my shoulders out as usual.

 

[RGDave]

IMO its all about the downswing,the backswing sets up the downswing

Defo, this is what most of my lessons have taken as the start point, i.e. that a bad backswing gives you very little hope. But for me, as I've fiddled a lot with this (and it's now OK-ish) I'd kind of "lost" the feel for the downswing, hence the lesson choice by my pro (I guess).

Just don't argue this subject Jim Furyk.....now, he's in the slot!!!

 

[RGDave]

I have spent the last month working on just this, and when it works, it is defo the key to curing the over the top action that kills my game.

Brilliant.....sorry to hear it's deserted you though of late.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I was looking at getting more width on the takeaway as advise by the GM top 25 coach when he had stopped laughing at my video recently. I can definitely see some seeds of progress but there were a lot of problems with big carves right or quick snappy downswings and overactive hands hitting fats and hooks. However when it did work there was a better rhythm and a more solid feel so I'll be working on it and maybe booking an extra session with my coach