Swing Reconstruction!!

[ritchieis]

I have been working on changing my swing for the past few months as I suffered from a slice with my driver and long irons. As I am fairly new to the game I decided that I might as well fix my swing now instead of starting off on the wrong track and this then becoming ingrained.

I purchased some instructional books such as Hogan's 5 Fundamentals, Tigers How I play golf and a Leadbetter book. All have similar fundamental points and I have altered my set up and swing in line with the recommendations contained in the books. I now have a flatter, less upright shape and a more simple swing with far less moving parts. It has eradicated the slice for the most part and I now hit a draw when I am hitting it well with irons and woods.

However, I have the occasional off day down at the range and on days like these I have no control over where the ball ends up. I slice, hook and push the ball straight right. I can not understand why this is. The only thing which does not feel right on these occasions is my shoulder turn. I feel that I really need to force myself into that position at the top of the backswing where your back is facing the target and shaft parallel to the target line. This feels unnatural to me and I was wondering if this is something which I just need to keep working on in order to get muscle memory and create flexibility in the relevant muscles? If I am not getting to this position correctly and leading the swing by turning the left hip could this be the reason for the off shots which I have mentioned above?

I have 4 lessons to take which I will do over the next month or so, but I was hoping for some feedback to take to my next range session. I will also try and get my swing on the site soon but do not have a digital camera at the moment.

Thanks so much for your help, I have found this forum invaluable to date and much appreciate anyone's comments. Apologies for the long post.

 

[slugger]

ritchies, i have had similar problems to you as far as shoulder turn goes recently but have now sorted than out. One thing i find quite important as far as this goes, is to get the feeling than your body and arms are turning in unison, both on the back swing, and the downswing right through to follow through. This makes sure your hands aren't getting left behind your body (or infront of it) when they go through the ball at impact.

In the new copy of Golf Monthly, there's a good instruction article by Rory McIlroy that confirms this. He also mentions he needs to get the feeling that he completes the back swing properly to enable everything to work in sinc and makes sure he feels like he pauses for a split-second at the top of his backswing to ensure that he has turned properly.

Also, see my thread about shoulder turn... could help. I find stretching properly before playing very beneficial.

 

[ritchieis]

Thanks, I do try and maintain the triangle between arms and chest on the backswing. I think it is on the transition/ downswing where it all falls apart but can't quite figure out why!!

Work in progress I guess - thanks for your thoughts. I will have a look at the McIlroy article.

 

[Region3]

There are some big hitting tour players that don't get anywhere near horizontal with the club at the top of the backswing.

Having said that though I think you need to be consistent. If your timing is based on starting from horizontal at the top then it might throw everything else out on the downswing if you're not stretching as much some days.

 

[slugger]

Yep... as far as i can tell, you don't necessarily need to get horizontal - i know i'm no where near it - but you should get to the top of your back swing, where-ever that may be... i think that is what he was getting at in the article.

 

[Cookiesdaughtersdad]

You should judge the length of your backswing by your shoulder turn and not where the club goes.
The difference between your hip and shoulder turn is a main source of power and as long as you stretch your muscles you will have plenty to hit the ball with.
Don’t wait to have the lessons book them now.
The only tip I would give without seeing you swing would be to turn on the backswing until your left shoulder is under your chin, make practice swings at home with something heavy like a broom, as this will improve your tempo and teach you that the lower body has to start the downswing and finnaly to use the machine gun drill, this is where you line 5 or so balls up in a row about 4 inches apart and hit them one after another without stopping.
Set up to the first as normal with a short club and hit it, watch it fly for a moment and then swing slowly back down as you take a small step forward, continue the swing at normal speed to the top of the cack swing and then hit the next and so on.
If you haven’t tried this before you may find it difficult but is well worth learning, here is a link I found of a chap doing it (badly) but you get the idea
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiLPKcXordU&feature=related
Have those lessons asap!

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