Maintaining Spine Angle

[virtuocity]

Hitting the ball better than ever and vids will follow (arranged a weekly video session with a mate over the winter) and whilst I don't want to tweak my swing too much, given that I am hitting the ball OK, I was mucking about at the range yesterday forcing myself to keep my spine angle as it was at address. Results were startling and weirdly comfortable for someone who often stands up in the swing and moves their torso towards the ball but still needs a lot of work to bed in, IF it's correct.

Should I be working hard i.e. fighting my body to hold the spine angle (with reverse K) throughout the swing?

 

[Jensen]

Well, well, well, that's weird but that is my actual swing thought at the moment to maintain my spine angle, so I would of course say yes this is important.
If you think of it logically you must maintain your spine angle in order to keep the angle of the club the same right through the golf swing. If you mov then all the angles will be out of sequence. I've been guilty of standing up rather than staying down on the swing which has given me a high finish.
Unlike you I have a one plane swing where I swing around my body so the reverse K position doesn't apply, but the spine angle does and if anything maintaining this is probably more important for a 1 plane swinger than a 2 plane, but it's still important for both.
I'm having a bit of problem with the driver caused by me not maintaining my spine angle but actually shifting it toward the target on the downswing, the effect is I then come down too steep on the ball and hit the ball high with it coming off the top of the club face. I think to solve this I need to not only maintain my bent over spine but as important I need to maintain its position at address where the spine is leaning away slightly from the target as this will then help me to attack the ball on an upward arc resulting in hitting the ball more out the club face. I can get away with not doing this on irons, rescue and 3 wood to an extent because the ball is sitting on the ground, however when it's off the ground it's a different story.
So yes I strongly believe you need to maintain that spine angle.

 

[JustOne]

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Good post Jensen.


Dave.... into impact the hands should be more forwards than they were at address, head behind the ball and the right shoulder lower.

Because we have the hands forwards and 'more angle' in the club shaft we have actually SHORTENED the radius of the club head arc.... so ideally you should feel like you need to be LOWER thru impact so that the club literally doesn't just pass over the top of the ball... if you're feeling like you need to stand UP then something is wrong.

If your problem is driving, make sure you have enough spine tilt away from the ball at address and that your shoulders aren't open to your toe line. Try and 'sweep' the ball by having the hands forwards whilst the head stays back. You COULD be standing too close to the ball also..... remember... it's a driver not a 9-iron.

If you are over-swinging it could be the left shoulder pulling you up and out of your posture as it gets under your neck

A vid would help.... you can PM me one if you don't want to post it :thup:

 

[virtuocity]

I can only imagine it's overswinging James- it's been the major problem since I started and at the top of my backswing it drags my posture UP and my head AROUND so I don't see the ball.

Vids on Thursday will confirm whether this is the case- will post on here.

I've not really been caring too much about this as I've obviously had Gainsborough, 2 big comps and a medal final as well as a few away days and as I was scoring better, I didn't want to tweak things too much. Now the winter's here, it's a different story.

This thread comes from trying to hold my spine angle the other day and instantly hitting my 9 iron 15 yards further

I noticed that I was standing up (goathumping, I think the WRX term is?!), not because my swing REQUIRED it, but because I was USED to doing it. Simply having the swing thought of "hold the spine angle" was easy peasy.

Driver doesn't seem to be the problem. I have plenty of reverse spine tilt- you'll probably tell me that it's TOO much! However, the big stick is getting better and more consistent so I'm quite happy.

I do believe that I have found a way to deliver the clubhead square to target with my hands a little ahead of clubhead (well- I'm not fatting or thinning shots anymore). It's only PATH to be sorted, which may involve 1000 swing changes including holding spine angle- we'll see.

Bit of a cheek even talking about full swings to be honest. If I sorted out my 3 putts, I'd be down to 14 handicap. Add to this- If I took a 5 at the easy par 4 at the weekend, I would have played to 10 handicap. Clear where I need to practice.

 

[JustOne]

Bit of a cheek even talking about full swings to be honest. If I sorted out my 3 putts, I'd be down to 14 handicap. Add to this- If I took a 5 at the easy par 4 at the weekend, I would have played to 10 handicap. Clear where I need to practice.

If you're aware of the swing problems why can't you fix them? Is it that you don't understand them?

Putting is always a bugbear if you don't practice your lag putting or are too enthusiastic on 6ft putts Expectation is the killer.

 

[virtuocity]

If you're aware of the swing problems why can't you fix them? Is it that you don't understand them?

I believe I have a much better understanding of the golf swing than I used to and I've practised really hard. However, in doing so I've neglected to practise the short game.

Contact on chips and pitches is superb. It's distance control that I struggle with but should sort out with an hour a day practice over the close season. Same with putting.

 

[CMAC]

no sound for me but came across this, any help?

[video=youtube_share;ZJnBwRJ8VZI]http://youtu.be/ZJnBwRJ8VZI[/video]

 

[Jensen]

Thanks JustOne.

Well, I played today and maintained by spine angle, in particular with the driver where my spine was tilting slightly away from the target. Very pleased with the results, the ball was flying further with more penetration on a better trajectory. The mark on the club face was more out of the centre rather than high towards the top edge.

So to hit better drives and all shots maintain that spine angle, not just bent over but also the tilt when needed.