Simple drill required

[Canary_Yellow]

I had a lesson last week and something was pointed out about my swing that I need to fix, and when I get it right, it makes a massive difference to my golf. Struggling to replicate the right feeling though, so need some help with a simple drill if possible.

The issue is that on transition, my right shoulder works down behind me (rather than out towards the ball on plane), this means I have a steep swing on the wrong plane (swinging from behind my right hip with my right elbow behind me to high hands away from my body - think cricket shot, which is my background).

So, I need a drill to get that feeling at transition of my right shoulder going toward the ball and my right arm working more in front of my body. It's a very different feeling to the one I'm used to, so need something to help me get used to that feeling (i.e. not something I'll be able to adopt just by hitting balls with a full swing and concentrating on this particular feeling.

 

[the_coach]

I had a lesson last week and something was pointed out about my swing that I need to fix, and when I get it right, it makes a massive difference to my golf. Struggling to replicate the right feeling though, so need some help with a simple drill if possible.

The issue is that on transition, my right shoulder works down behind me (rather than out towards the ball on plane), this means I have a steep swing on the wrong plane (swinging from behind my right hip with my right elbow behind me to high hands away from my body - think cricket shot, which is my background).

So, I need a drill to get that feeling at transition of my right shoulder going toward the ball and my right arm working more in front of my body. It's a very different feeling to the one I'm used to, so need something to help me get used to that feeling (i.e. not something I'll be able to adopt just by hitting balls with a full swing and concentrating on this particular feeling.

understand where you're coming from & all this looks a ways too long & long is complicated - except it isn't complicated long yes - but it's a simple drill

but if the intention or real reason or cause of the issue is not really understood then it's too easy to give up on the drill because it might not work straight off

in a 1 to 1 live lesson it's easier to just go straight into the fix cause students can be shown both why the issue is happening through demonstration either by the coach/teacher show & tell - or by hands-on moving the student both in the current wrong ways then immediately into the new pattern so can 'feel' the difference - but if you trying to do this in a post when you also have not seen the swing there's a bunch of stuff that kinda needs to be spoken too

- so it is difficult to give 'a' cure all drill especially not having seen the swing live
- but also am wondering what was the drill/s or/& feels that you came away from the lesson with ?

my take - & what I see often times with folks who have at transition the trail shoulder working down in a kinda 'tilt/turn' so trail shoulder movement motion is 'leaning down & back' to the pants trail hip pocket - is that in transition what's playing into that is that the lead shoulder is moving 'up' ways to soon so at the start of the transition that lead shoulder begins to rotate 'upwards' & behind - which tends to tilt the upper body back & aways from target & means the trail shoulder is making the motion in the direction to the pocket (or the heel line would be another ways of looking at the shoulder motion)

& one big reason the lead shoulder can tend to move up too soon & too much - is that during the backswing the lead shoulder did not move 'down' enough during the rotation from the move aways from the ball - meaning if you looked at a similar swing from dtl view at the top 'the shoulder plane' a line drawn across the shoulder line is very near to bein parallel/horizontal to the ground - not enough downwards tilt - the lead shoulder just stayed at the same at more or less it was at address & rotated

so all that said would say you need to take a close look from dtl at the top of your swing & the angle of your shoulders to the ground first off - may well need some more of an angle so more tilt with the lead shoulder lower - then at transition first motion after weight pressure transfer keeps the lead shoulder lower during the first part of the downswing - that motion would mean upper body would not tilt trailside so much & trail shoulder work to the pants hip pocket or another ways of looking at it more to the heel line - & keeping the lead shoulder as the rotation starts changes the direction of the trail shoulder - this needs to happen along with a feeling of the trail arm straightening from the top (yep know that sounds counterintuitive especially if folks have been worked on trying to maintain lag - but that also often times part of the problem- & something I see over n'over using 3D analysis)

so basically my take now sounds like there is too much of a down & tilt back motion to the trail shoulder with not enough outwards or forwards trail shoulder rotation

take a look at this easy 'clap hand' drill - as to do it the trail shoulder has to rotate a tad down but also out to the ball target line & forwards - would do a bunch of clap hands drills to the lead hand at impact - then after a few when clap hands & body is at impact position

- & just to add a further step to this drill than is here in the vid - from both palms together & body at impact then swing both arms palms together up to a good balanced finish with hip turn & upper body rotation & with that finish position the trail shoulder should be about the most forwards position of the body

do that a bunch of times then pick up a 6i iron & try to repeat the 'feel' of that motion to a balanced finish position that mimics the finish without a club - would be better to have ball on a small tee so just off of the ground so take the fear ground contact out of the equation - may struggle firs off to get good contact or good shot contact or direction but from the very start that is not the object of the drills - the object first off is to really feel and get the motion which should feel completely different maybes uncomfortable - so just keep the discipline of the objective of the drill which is to change the angles of rotation of the upper body & trail shoulder 'plane' movement & just work through any bad contact or bad shots initially as those won't mean the drill is not working it's just that you are unaccustomed to the change of movements in your skill set

although the title & intro to this video drill no doubt appear to be about something else - in order to do be able to do the drill - the trail shoulder will have to move on the plane you looking to achieve & also take out the unwanted upper body lean back

[video=youtube;U7YNdNy05aI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7YNdNy05aI[/video]

 

[Canary_Yellow]

Thanks Coach. I like the simplicity of this. I’ll give it a go.

I do have a video of my swing - I’m not that keen on posting it on here, but happy to email it over to you if you PM me your details.

That said, no obligation or expectation, I’m quite happy with the tips supplied.

Interesting that you’re thinking about my shoulder plane on the backswing, you could have a point there.

Giving you the full story, I started slicing the ball out of nowhere and (in my amateur brain) attributed that to an over the top move. That was of course completely wrong - I wasn’t over the top, I was steep and from the inside and leaving the face open (high fades!). My efforts to fix this (erroneously thinking I’m over the top) was to try and keep arms and body connected, but all I achieved was a flat shoulder plane and fanning the club face open on the backswing - open face plus steep from the inside = disaster!

It was all pretty horrific. A lesson quickly fixed the fanning issue, but I still had the steepness to resolve. A further lesson identified the issue described in my first post. But the explanation of how to fix it during the lesson didn’t really resonate with me and I’m struggling to implement the change.

Going back 5 years or so, I was really struggling with duck hooks. Looking back, that makes sense to me as being the same issue. Steep, from the inside, right shoulder dropping, hands flipping shutting and delofting the club. What I find ridiculous is that until last week, no-one has really pointed this issue out to me. It’s clearly a fundamental flaw in my swing that hasn’t been spotted and dealt with despite a number of lessons over a long period.

Hopefully that makes some sense - I haven’t read it back!