My swing thoughts - by James

[JustOne]

1) Hip slide

We've often heard "turn don't slide" and relate that to being a bad thing. The thing is that relates to the BACKSWING and not the downswing. You don't want to slide your lower body away from the ball on the backswing, only towards the target on the way down.

Transfering the weight to the left during TRANSITION or 'sliding' allows the club to drop down onto the same plane (or close) to the right forearm and assists your swingpath the approach the ball from the inside rather than the outside. It also moves the point that your club will hit the ground forwards so you are less likely to hit the ground before the ball.

It also stops the right heel flipping out (it rolls onto it's side a little more), set the hips and allows you to hit DOWN aggressively into the ball.

Video...

[video=youtube;Slyu5noOUjA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slyu5noOUjA[/video]

 

[JustOne]

1) Hip slide, cont..

Here's a picture of a player who has the clubshaft BETWEEN his arms on the way down, this is taking the club to the OUTSIDE of the ball. He needed to employ some weightshift of his lower body to the left so that he drops the club closer to his right forearm plane on the downswing as per Hunter Mahan (on the right of the picture).

[click picture to enlarge..]




A drill to help with this feeling of not coming over the top is as follows...

[video=youtube;Cq2ANLxN79E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=Cq2ANLxN79E[/video]

and this drill can be enhanced with the idea of holding a pencil in your right hand and literally scratching a line right across the back of the chair so your right wrist remains 'cocked', you can't do it if your right wrist breaks down, or 'flips' as you'll then STAB the chair!. Don't stand too far away from the chair - that's CHEATING.

(Disclaimer: OK, you might not want to try that on your best furniture!).

 

[chrisd]

The move in the 1st video is so vital but there are pro's out there who still dont teach it?? I don't get that its not taught at the very beginning of the downswing lesson to every newbie golfer - or is there money to be earned later in correcting the ingrained over the top swing?

Good video James - nice and simple

 

[StrangelyBrown]

That's good stuff James, it's the move I'm working on now as I'm a world renowned 'over the topper'.

 

[Region3]

From 10-30 seconds on the first video. That's me that is.

 

[DelB]

JustOne in useful post shock!!

Only joshing Chief! Nice one! :thup:

:clap:

 

[MadAdey]

Really enjoyed that video James. Great legs, nice hips, great movement and those black trousers make her ass look great....

 

[JustOne]

1) Hip slide, cont..

So what happens when you don't hip slide?

Well we've established that it sets the club onto the correct plane else the club will get outside the ball but it also makes the shaft plane too steep, using the picture above we can see that the club golfer has the shaft coming down much more vertically than Hunter Mahan (on the right of the pic)...

[click pic to enlarge...]



... and this has consequences.

If the club is coming down too steep it's either going to stick straight into the ground (taking some major divots) OR you're going to have to shallow out that steepness.... basically an extra move that you don't need as it just builds complexity and inconsistency into your swing. Possible ways to shallow the club include:

1) Flipping the clubhead which causes fat/thin shots as well as pulls, pull-hooks and weak slices if the path is THAT bad.
2) Dropping the right shoulder backwards or not rotating properly, which causes blocks, hooks and fat shots.
3) Early extension (or 'standing up' prior to hitting the ball) which will rob you of that precious swing speed and lead to inconsistent striking

None of these 3 things are something that you'd encourage in your swing... and a hip slide to set the club (as per the first video) will help prevent all of them.

That concludes my thoughts on hip slide.

 

[bobmac]

I agree

 

[Jimbooo]

so does the head also move forwards (toward the target) on the downswing?

 

[JustOne]

so does the head also move forwards (toward the target) on the downswing?

Ideally it's a HIP slide not a HEAD slide, it sets the club plane and shallows the descent angle so it's not too steep :thup: That said it doesn't matter if your head moves forward a BIT, many tour standard players move their head towards the target a little in transition.. if you take a look at the first 45 seconds of this video you can see that Robert Rock's head moves both forwards and down (easy to see if you watch the tree trunk to the top right of his head)

[video=youtube;wl2ryXDxJYg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl2ryXDxJYg[/video]

I agree

Thank you.

 

[Region3]

So it's a miracle I can knock it round in a reasonable score considering I'm OTT compensated by early extension.

Just need to sort that little puppy out and the future's bright
I might even be able to knock a shot off my handicap next year!

 

[StrangelyBrown]

and allows you to hit DOWN aggressively into the ball.

James,
How does this work with the driver, as I've always been taught to hit up on the ball with the big dawg..? I assume that ball position takes care of some of this, as does having my left shoulder higher than my right (i'm right handed).
Cheers
SB

 

[Alex1975]

I work on this move every day, I have a grip on a bit of shaft at my desk and when I go to smoke I take it and work on this move as I smoke, I get home and as soon as I get in the net I make the move with my hips before I even make a shot. Rotation is really what I am working on, I want to feel it in my gut on the right hand side to feel how the impact will feel. Clearly as you have pointed out there is some slide but you need to clear the hips too hu?

Looking at your photo I have a kinda question. I spend a lot of time making sure or working on getting my club more upright on the way back but you are saying be ware not to be too steep on the way down... so why the hell am I working so hard to be steeper on the way back? I know the answer is "you don't want to get the club stuck behind you" but god, can this not be a little easier!!!

I personally find this move also gives me the feeling of dropping my head back away from the target, I dont know if it actually does but it feels like it, it is a powerful feeling. What is more it seems to give me more room to swing through and for sure more momentum as my arms have to follow my body and as a result they can not lead the swing, again a powerful feeling.

The hard part for me is keeping lose, if i do not then I dont give myself time to make the move and end up faking it like my wife does, all too little too late. Timing Timing Timing Timing for me!

 

[Alex1975]

I work on this move every day at the moment, I keep a grip with a bit of shaft at my desk and when I smoke I work on this, when I get home and in the net I make the move over and over before I even swing the club at a ball. It is to tell/remind me of the feeling at impact.

I find that this move gives me the feeling of getting my head back away from the target, it feels really powerful, I don’t know if I do get my head back but it feels like it. I am really working on rotation but there is a slide with that, I want my hips to clear. It feels like it gives me more room for my hands, it also feels like my arms follow my body, again a very powerful feeling and stops my arms leading the swing.

A question, you talk about the club not getting too steep on the way down. I spend a lot of time making sure I do not get too flat on the way back so in my mind I am trying to be what I consider to be steep on the way back only to be not getting too steep on the way down…. I know I don’t want to “get the club stuck behind me” but jeeezzzz could you make this a little easier please!!! (Smiley).

For me this is all about timing, I have to be smooth or I do not give myself enough time at the top to make the move. I thought I had it down and then videoed my whole session the other day, on review I was over swinging so so much to try and make time, ugliest thing I have ever seen!! It is all about timing timing timing timing for me on this at the moment. The overswing gives the hips such a long way to travel back to impact; I have to create a lot of resistance on my hips to cut the overswing down.

Anyway, I love it, I love everything about it….

 

[chrisd]

so does the head also move forwards (toward the target) on the downswing?

For me the two parts of your body work independently at the start of the downswing. The top half - chest and arms and especially the head, stay still, whilst the hips, legs etc all slide (?) laterally sideways and eventually start to turn. This brings the arms down slowly and into the right side of the body and promotes a clubhead which comes in to out and accelerates through the hitting area rather than a big yahoo from the top.

Correct James/Bob?

 

[JustOne]

James,
How does this work with the driver, as I've always been taught to hit up on the ball with the big dawg..? I assume that ball position takes care of some of this, as does having my left shoulder higher than my right (i'm right handed).
Cheers
SB

With the driver it's VERY important to shallow the descent as it's the last club in the bag that you want to be steep on. As the ball is generally tee'd more forward when hitting the driver you can be very aggressive with the hips moving left and yet still not get to the ball.

Yes you can hit up on a driver if you want to (50% of pros hit down slightly, verified by Trackman) in which case it makes sense to tee the ball higher and/or have it more forward. It's better to experiment with the ball position and tee heights than changing your whole swing to accommodate where you've accidentally tee'd the ball.

Whilst I personally don't particularly like the way Camillo Villegas gets so much over his right leg, just look how far left he goes with his hips from the top of his backswing...

Watch (with commentary) from approx 30 seconds...

[video=youtube;8IHf07Cg0oQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IHf07Cg0oQ[/video]

 

[StrangelyBrown]

No youtube at work, but I'll check it out tonight.

Thank you

SB

Edit: - A further thought occurs... I had a couple of shanks with a six iron on Saturday. Could this be caused by spinning my hips too quickly or is it separate issue of me getting my weight too far into my toes?

 

[JustOne]

A question, you talk about the club not getting too steep on the way down. I spend a lot of time making sure I do not get too flat on the way back so in my mind I am trying to be what I consider to be steep on the way back only to be not getting too steep on the way down…. I know I don’t want to “get the club stuck behind me” but jeeezzzz could you make this a little easier please!!! (Smiley).

If golf were too easy it would be boring

Yes the club goes up a little steeper than it comes down, and the steeper you take it the more it has to come down. It's typically thought of as a reverse loop where it goes up steep then moves away from the ball as it shallows.... as the hips slide.

 

[bobmac]

If golf were too easy it would be boring

Yes the club goes up a little steeper than it comes down, and the steeper you take it the more it has to come down. It's typically thought of as a reverse loop where it goes up steep then moves away from the ball as it shallows.... as the hips slide.

I agree