More than just looking forward to playing this weekend.

[Crow]

After watching my game slowly fall apart over the last few months, mainly brought about by trying too many different fixes to cure a persistent shank and so ending up with a complete lack of confidence over the ball, I had a half hour lesson this evening to try and discover the true cause.

The diagnosis was that I'm setting up slightly too far away from the ball (a natural tendency if I keep hitting it out the neck) which is causing me to be too much on my toes and hence I'm falling forward as I swing.

The fix was to set up a little closer to the ball, concentrate on keeping my weight more towards my heels and finally to keep my arms closer to my body on the downswing. After a few minutes my swing was starting to feel good again, keeping my balance was helping me to get through the ball properly and I was hitting some good distances, with only the occasional shank thrown in when I forgot the above.

Range time on Wednesday and looking forward to the weekend more than I have done for a long time.

 

[Deleted member 17920]

Been there 12months ago and it's not a good place to be.

Best of luck hope the confidence comes back in no time at all and lets hope
this weekend is the start of a good season for you :thup:

 

[ScienceBoy]

You must make sure you don't keep searching for that feeling once its fixed, it will just go too far the other way.

Soon you will have to work on standing further away so be prepared for that.

I am coming from the other direction and I am working hard on standing further away but mindful of not searching for it and ending up falling into a shot.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Played crap on Saturday. Practice tomorrow before Blackmoor and then looking forward to trying again at the weekend. Like the OP I'm having issues and feel I'm too far away and bending too far over. Moving close tomorrow and standing taller to make a better turn

 

[ScienceBoy]

Played crap on Saturday. Practice tomorrow before Blackmoor and then looking forward to trying again at the weekend. Like the OP I'm having issues and feel I'm too far away and bending too far over. Moving close tomorrow and standing taller to make a better turn

Its amazing, to have people looking for the same thing from such extremes. I am looking to be almost where you are I bet.

A good drill to stop you from standing too close is to put two balls down, the second one is just over an inch or so to the right of the ball when looking "Down the Line" in other words just outside the toe of the club when looked down from above.

You then address to the ball which is nearest to you at the address position, with the second ball now sitting with just a CM or so between it and the toe. If you can cleanly hit the near ball without disturbing the second you are not going to hit the hosel. If you do hit the second you are standing too close.

My top tip is to make the second ball a wiffle ball or a soft ball. You can even tie it on a string so it does not go flying off down the range!

I think bobmac suggests a similar drill with a headcover. Either way you probably need to both work on standing "closer", I would probably want to call it "better" so you dont fall into the shot but also not close to the ball so you push out and hit the hosel.