Tool: Swing with forearms and relax wrists

Was comparing my son's swing to Rory's, to mine.  We noticed that he and the pros really snap over the right arm after impact.  We looked really closely at the action of the right elbow.  Mine kinda rolled over right at impact and not snapped after.  Went to the range to work on this and for some reason started also working on my finish position which is always not completely followed through and tight.  Well to get a better finish I always had to loosen up my wrists and arms but then my swing felt too loose but my finish was better.  So then I tried to loosen up just my wrists and not my arms.

This seemed to really work!  The feeling was swinging with my forearms and any adjustments to my swing were made with the forearms and arms, elbows, etc. but my wrists were free to just pivot freely.  This made my entire swing feel much more relaxed, smooth, and flowing.  The balls were also flying well.  So I think I'm on to something will have to test it out more.  But added another tool in the toolbox.

Here's a treat video of my son's great swing.  He's 12.

Increasing lag

Had a good day at the lab yesterday and had to get down these swing thoughts before I forgot them.

• keep right elbow tucked in on backswing
• downswing with forearms connected together
• really layoff for increased lag
• synchronize right toe pointing at same time as hands go by
• feel like right hip/right elbow is driving swing
• really turn over right hand after impact

Swing 5.8: Clearing hips and not knees

Well my swing was looking better but it was still funky.  I figured out that I was clearing out my knees more than my hips.  I just looked at my video and realized this.  I have to laterally move my hips whereas I was starting with and clearing the knees.  This will help me get in the proper strong aligned left side at impact.

Also worked with Ryo on his left wrist at impact.  He had it down during our golf camp and then lost it.  We tried everything for about three sessions constantly filming but nothing worked.  Then finally I thought about his wrist position and thought that if his right wrist was more closed then it would be flat or bowed at impact but then the ball would fly off to the right.  Then I realized that if his grip was weaker that would compensate for it.  I told him to try a neutral grip which is what I was trying to get him to have for a long time and it immediately worked.  He was subconsciously squaring the club face by flipping or scooping since his grip was so strong that he couldn't supinate.  So this was a great mystery solved and he's now happy again because he was pretty obsessive about getting it perfect.  And this is a pretty fundamental thing in the golf swing.
Here's the swing:

Swing 5.7: Crunching down

Filmed local pro swinging from rear.  One thing I noticed was that he had a short backswing and then really cleared his hips.  Clearing my hips has always been a difficult thing for my body to learn.  I was also trying to get my right elbow more infront of my body to get a better lag.  Well one thing I did was just raise my hands on my backswing.  This really helped because I then had space to get my elbow tucked infront of me.  This helped a lot.  Then the next thing to do was to work on clearing the hips.

I went home and once again compared my swing positions to Rory's and other pros and it just seemed like my downswing was too around my body or was just wrong.  Then I noticed that they were really crunching down on their right side during the downswing.  I tried this and my swing felt completely different but the tape showed that it was more correct.  I almost felt like my swing path was outside in.  I just throw my hands up and then crash down to the ball.

Swing 5.6: End of major operations. Turning the hips

Like a war I want to finally declare that I'm at the end of all major operations with my swing and now at least it's not embarassing.  The before and after from this summer is amazing.  Here's a list of things that I've corrected and what swing thought or tool in the toolbox was used:

Starting with the takeaway and going till the end.

1. Arms too bend on takeaway - keep arms straight and think of them as one unit.
2. Club too high - take away more around body
3. Reverse C and club way past parallel at top - shorter backswing and keep wrists almost stiff
4. Downswing starts with arms and shoulder - turn hard with legs and hips, try to have left hip touch back of right shoulder, let arms lag
5. Left wrist cupped - layoff club
6. Standing up - bend over at waist
7. Hands too far away from body - keep hands close to hips
8. Rhythm fast to slow - think slow on downswing then fast
9. Hips square at impact - think of hips facing target at impact
10. Left wrist breaking down at impact - lead with back of left hand like swinging with legs together
11. Hands in center of body and extended at impact - keep right elbow tucked into stomach
12. Left side at impact not aligned - don't lean so far left instead turn around body
13. Chicken wing - keep left arm glued to left side.  Used bicycle inner tube around arms to keep triangle and arms as one and keep arms straight
14. Hands too low at finish - still a problem and need to correct

I'm sure there's more stuff and now the problem is going to be regression once start playing on the course and not just working on my swing.

The final and last piece was getting my hips to turn.  But I finally did it.  I have to feel like my hips are facing the target at impact while bending laterally over the ball.  Even when looking at the video my hips are barely turned but more correct.  Left side is aligned and ball flies good.  Still need to work on maintaining spine angle.